The Miscellaneous Folder
by Senyor Fier Mensheir
Summary: Other authors have spell dumps, story dumps, special files or folders, vaults, cabinets, closets, and all those and more. Well, here's my own one. This is my story/idea dump. The miscellaneous folder, the folder that contains all the stuff that just didn't make the cut. So here I, Senyor Fier Mensheir, am sharing them with you. These other wonderful worlds of my Imagination.
1. Endangered Species

Disclaimer for this page and all succeeding pages: The only things I own are the new ideas added onto what other more prominent people in the world own, and the OCs. So yeah. No copyright infringement intended, no money is being made out of this. This is purely for fun and fan entertainment.

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**Senyor Fier Mensheir**

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**Proudly Presents**

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**The****Miscellaneous Folder**

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******Endangered Species**

A bright green light raced from a robed figure that had just, moments before, downed two particularly strong warriors, in their own right, and was in the process of assuming the triumphant position in the world. The Magical World that is, or just Magical Britain for the time being, the man that was nearing his goal was still not as powerful or influential as his predecessor in the Dark Lord business. Gellert Grindelwald, now that was a Dark Lord, one with an attainable vision and the means to achieve it, if only the Americans hadn't interferred, and if only Japan hadn't been so overconfident.  
The bright green light moved at ta snail's pace from the point-of-view of one Harry James Potter, aged one year old, his intelligent emerald eyes had witnessed what the green light had done to his mother. It had made her stop moving. That was enough for the child to know that it was a very bad thing that the light was headed in his direction.  
But he had also seen his mother not avoid the light, she actually got in its path. So he decided, even at such a young age, not to move and face the thing head on, like a brave little Gryffindor should, not that he knew what a Gryffindor was.  
As the light finally touched his skin, the man that had sent it his way grew a little bit happy at the sight, that was when time seemed to move even slower, it almost seemed like time had actually stopped.  
The light was seemingly absorbed into the child's body, it coursed through his body like his blood did his veins. It was rather unnerving how such a foreign energy could simply do that. It was hungry, searching for something, something that it desired. The energy seemed to be alive for some unfathomable reason, it was probably due to it having come from a living creature.  
While the foreign energy raced through the child's body in search of the completion of its objective for invading the boy, the boy himself gained a sudden change, his eyes grew even more intelligent, his mind's potential grew in a way, as did his body, and his innate magical ability. His reserves grew with every moment that the foreign magic coursed through his form. It was a chain reaction, his body, or some instinct within him, was making him undergo a sort of evolution. Something in him knew what the green light actually did, and it was moving to prevent it from happening.  
He was changing at a molecular level, and it was all happening thanks, in part, to his magic, the other part was most likely or possibly his survival instinct.  
The energy, the magic, finally found what it had been searching for, but unfortunately for it the life force of the child as well as his very soul were protected by a defensive layer of an astounding will to live, a powerful ancient magic, and the child's magic. There was such a strength in the power of the barrier that the foreign magic could not even dent the barrier between it and its target.  
When it tried to push harder, as it was supposed to, the very magic itself was powered in part or mostly by the will of its caster, by the will and intent of the caster, that it could do nothing else but bulldoze its way, or try to, through anything that stood in its path. The Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, was a man or monster that couldn't stand it when things actually stood in his way. He strove to rid the world of anything that could hinder him even a little bit, one such thing being his mortality. Another being the other person or being stated in a prophecy that concerned himself. Prophecies, while not real most of the time, was something which could not be overlooked for there was still a possibility of it being real. A slim possibility, but a possibility nontheless.  
The harder the death magic pushed, the harder the barrier became, it was as if the battle between the two forces was lasting an eternity, when in fact not a moment had moved in the world beyond the borders of the shell of the soul of one Harry Potter. Then a single moment passed by, the Dark Lord's face contorted into horror as the Killing Curse he had sent the young child's way was flung out of the small body and sped over to his form. He didn't have a chance to move out of the way due to the sheer intense ferocity and speed of its ejection. While it may not have been able to get its target, the magic decided to take something else from the boy as compensation for its loss. It took the boy's ability to be entirely human, it took away the child's ability to care about the difference between good and bad. All it left the child was the sense of selfishness and survival of the fittest.  
It had left the child barren of somethings, while left it with a base for forming its own future. The death magic had killed the innocence of the child and left in its place a monster. Its master would have been pleased had he known what his magic had wrought, as well as if his very own magic had not ejected him from his mortal shell, flinging him into a disoriented wraith of his, now, former glory, sending the less than a spirit to far off places unknown even to itself for the better part of the next near decade.  
The child was more than simply self-aware, he hungered now, just as the energy that had unleashed the monster within him, the one that everyone had in them, locked away in the deepest and darkest depths of the human being, the human mind, and the human soul. That innate animal within him had been unleashed upon the world, sort of.  
He crawled out of his crib and made his way to the source of the green light, he poked the body with his chubby little fist. The body didn't react to his touch, thus he decided that well, it was better if the bodies that littered his room did not go to waste. What remained of them would be better used by something else immediately.

The Potter family had been living in a secluded part of the world, hidden away by powerful magics that hid them, like a secret, from discovery by the enemy. It was left on the shoulders of one entity to hold their secret, the Secret Keeper, to keep them safe. Unfortunately for them, this highly trusted individual had thrown away their trust like a rotten dishrag and shared the secret with a monster that was to become less feared in the future as compared to a monster that had been unintentionally released or created.  
There were other select people that knew the secret location of the Potters, one of two families that were at the top of the Dark Lord's hitlist, the other being the Longbottom family. One of this select group of individuals just so happened to be Albus Dumbledore, a powerful and wizaned war veteran, he also happened to be the first to arrive at the scene of the murder, the second to arrive was his ever loyal henchman Rubeus Hagrid.  
Dumbledore retrieved Harry Potter from the relatively devoid of life house and handed him off to Hagrid for safe keeping until such a time that he would summon his henchman with the child to be delivered to a place where the boy would be forced to live for the rest of his childhood. The house was also devoid of bodies of the recently deceased, all that remained to be found had been the clothes of the recently deceased, even the Dark Lord's own garments were left on the ground, a pile of them. But his wand was also missing which pointed to the possibility of an accomplice being present at the time of the attack.  
Perhaps it had been the secret keeper of the secret of the Potters' whereabouts that had been present during the execution. Dumbledore could only really speculate, but there was something else in the house, one which could not be seen with regular eyes. The house had a concentration of dark magic in it, the place reeked of death magic. The foulest of the foul of stenches of magic in the world.  
The boy had survived the Killing Curse, that much Dumbledore was certain, and that was what he informed the press as soon as they heard the news through the grape vine.  
Sirius Black was then hunted down for leading the Dark Lord to the Potters' location, ending in their deaths, but since it also lead to the Dark Lord's demise the man was shipped off to Azkaban instead of receiving the Kiss as he rightly deserved. No trial was held, not that the public knew about it, but the Ministry needed to be seen as doing something, like most governments are wont to do.  
Harry Potter was delivered to Number 4 Privet Drive where he would spend the next ten years of his life in the cupboard under the stairs, Dumbledore had left a letter detailing what was expected of the Dursley family, but also left a note in it stating that the family would be left alone, not to worry about anyone checking up on the boy, and the like. Dumbledore was aware of their views about magic, and knew what he was getting the boy into, the harshness of the world. He was counting on the Dusleys to train the boy into getting accustomed to how cruel the world was in order for him to want to change the world for the better so that others would not have to live the life he lived.  
The Dursley family were thrilled when they realized that they could do whatever they wished with the boy placed in their care, they tried to train him to become their willing servant or slave, but they failed miserably as the boy kept doing something freaky whenever they tried to scold him. Babysitters never wanted to return a second time to keep watch over the little terror, Dudley also grew to ignore his cousin instead of try his hand at bullying him, it just wasn't a safe practice.  
The teachers of Harry's elementary had leared early on not to bother Harry in any way that was not related to his studies. He took his privacy seriously, as well as his personal space. He would respect those that respected him and kept away from those that didn't care about it one way or another. But what he didn't like was people that got in his way, insulted him, invaded his personal space, or people that refused to listen.  
The reason why the teachers learned early on to ignore Harry was because one teacher had decided to punish him for his _arrogance_, since he had told her that she was wrong with one of the things she was teaching him, he didn't know why she claimed he was arrogant, but she did have him stand in front of the class and was whipped by her ruler. Her clothes were found by her locker where police found half of her remains crammed inside of it. There was no blood though. Her corpse also looked as if a wild animal or a pack of wild animals had ripped into it.  
From that day forward, as well as the criminal investigation that followed but had yet to turn up anything useful other than possibly charging a kid with next to no solid proof that he did it, no teacher or student for that matter bothered Harry Potter.  
When he was in grade school Harry was treated much the same way when several bullies vanished on day only for their clothes to be found in gym locker rooms and their corpses found in separate locations, each one looking to have been left half eaten by some pack of wild animals. The last person they were seen as having bullied was none other than Harry Potter. Investigators took one look at his almost frail-like form and scoffed at the idea of him having done something so inhumane and preposterous.  
By the time Harry turned eleven his body count had rise to close to a hundred, ranging from school bullies that most students didn't miss to actual criminals and the occasional annoying cat lady, the kind that loves cats more than people. Not all of the people that Harry had taken out of the circle of life were bad in the eyes of the law or most people's moral code. He had a taste for the flesh and blood of humans, though he did have a thirst or hunger for something else. That being the reason why he stopped half way through every meal, they all had lacked something he was looking for, something which he had consumed in minute amounts as a one year old.  
What that thing was, was Magic.  
Harry not only consumed the flesh of his victims, but everything else, from blood to organs. He even sucked out their souls reminiscent of a magical race of soul suckers that were bound by ancient magics to serve the government of Britannia.

He gained from each time he killed and consumed, he acquired graeter strength, speed, and enhancements to the physical aspects of his being, he also gained some additional skills and some bits of knowledge. He was in a way like the characters in a role-playing-game gaining experience with each kill and gaining a larger range of a skill set with each level gained, though in his case a level was just a kill. He got some money as well as items, but not all the time.

His eleventh birthday brought him the knowledge of what he yeared for, as well as the actual considerable supply waiting to be consumed by him. There were many with magic in them in the world, he had only to find them. The unlocking of the hidden darkness within him as well as his lack of inhibitions had the effect of also gaining him another form, or more forms. There was his human form, which seemed weak, and his Hunter form which was what he transformed into when he was on the hunt and feeding.

His relatives didn't keep the first letter away from him, they actually wrote down his acceptance to attend the school well before informing him of a world hidden from the eyes of most people where he could go and never have to return to them ever again, where he could blend in with his own kind and hopefully never darken their door ever again. They didn't really like him at all, but at the same time they only lived because he had need of them.

Harry accepted the fact that they were trying to get rid of him. So he chose to leave, but since he wasn't in the habit of leaving witnesses, he set Number 4 Privet Drive on fire and made sure that his relatives wouldn't be able to escape the incinerating blaze. The smell of burning flesh wafted through the neighborhood, some people actually swore that it smelt like an over the top barbecue what with the smell of too fat pork.

Harry didn't care, he had the magical world now at his dining disposal, he had a lot more to consume now, and this time he wouldn't be leaving a corpse as evidence of his deeds. Not that he knew quite what he would be leaving yet.

He needed to erase all other possible connections he had to the neighborhood, and thus began his cleansing of it from himself by taking care of all of his former babysitters, those girls and women that didn't really do much save for boss himself and his cousin around before he did something that caused them never to want to come back, of course there were a few that never did come back to their homes even. Their bodies had been found in their boyfriends' backyards.

He took them down one by one, tearing into them so fast that for the first time he was leaving more than just a corpse, but shredded clothes and more of the body than before. He wasn't hunting, per se, he was on a mission to decimate all that had a lot more memories of him. Magic was real, thus so was mind reading and memory viewing, he didn't need his evil deeds discovered. He started with the youngest of those that had at one point in time or another been in charge of him and moved on to the older ones from there. The last one being Arabella Figg, the crazy cat lady. Apparently she knew quite a bit about magic, but didn't possess it in the amounts that Harry was hoping for. But he did get his basic introductory knowledge from her.

He knew the names of important people as well as generalyl important recent events starting with the end of the last war which he himself had ended somehow, he had a feeling that his incomparable will to live must have had something to do with it. He also learned about the general terms used in the magical world like pureblood, halfblood, and muggleborn. The information formed a kind of booklet or encyclopedia of some sort in his, rather organized, mind.

He used the Floo and arrived at the Leaky Cauldron where he politely asked the bartender to open the entrance into the alley for him, the man obliged, and he thanked the man before walking off into the relative safety of the alley, of Diagon Alley. It was night by the time he walked down the path of paved cobblestones, he made his way, in muggle clothes, to the dark alley that most seemed to be avoiding. There was a lot of magic there, he could taste it in the air, the different sources of the delicacy.

As soon as he stepped into the darker shadows alley grew even more quiet than it had previously been, the whispers in the dark ceased as the dark creatures felt something that caused their instincts to tell them to get the hell out of the alley, Knockturn Alley, as fast that they could by any means necessary. Of course being the stubborn asses that they were, they chose to stick around and wait out whatever this potential danger was. They were the dark creatures after all, the most feared by the wizards that ruled the Magical World. What was this one sudden threat that caused their base instincts to scream at them to run for their very lives.

What was Harry Potter indeed.

The shadows coalesced around his small form. He then changed within their cold embrace, the gradual changes hidden by the black mist that shrouded his figure. From a scrawny eleven year old, messy black haired, emerald green eyed, and glasses wearing boy, he transformed into his Hunter form. One emerald eye morphed to a crimson ruby while the other into a dark amethyst. He also gained a third eye lid more commonly known as a nictitating membrane. His nose moved inwards as not to hinder him as he ate, it also grew into slits ones that could close at his will in order for nothing to get in. His teeth morphed as well, growing sharper and in a way comparable to an combination of the teeth of predators of the animal kingdom, from piranhas to sharks to the big cats to even crocodiles and serpents. He had their teeth, and could switch between blades at will depending on his cutting or piercing needs. Then there was also the serpent or snakelike ability of his to gain a greater maw which would allow him to swallow his prey whole if he so wished, scientifically impossible but not when one is an everready bunny battery of magic. His skin also changed, from a mere thin coat of protection from minor gashes and scrapes, it toughened up matching the protection of a basilisk's or a dragon's hide. His hair as well underwent a semi-transformation, it turned slicker, as if gaining a kind of outer layer to each strand making each and every single one feel as slimy as a slug, but the strands could also be moved about by Harry, they writhed on his head like a den of serpents, each one also with the ability to lengthen into tentacles. The last outer physical change were his hands and feet, they turned into claws, the slashing, ripping, tearing, and piercing, kind. He could scale walls with, or even crawl upside down on the ceiling with them.

When the shadows hiding his changing form finally curled away from where he had stood, he was no longer there. He had already began his hunt for the first of many a morsel to feel his ever growing unsatisfied hunger for flesh, blood, knowledge, souls, and magic.

He was already creeping along the walls, in the shadows of outcroppings, windowsils, and the like, his form moved. His transformation was in a manner of speaking similar with that of an animagus transformation, his clothes were transformed into something else, possibly adding to his hide, or body coloring.

He moved unhindered slinking along the walls and using his senses, all of them, to locate his first magical meal in the nearly forsaken alley. His eyes pulsated occasionally with an unearthy glow of power, but otherwise they could simply see clearer in the dark, they sapped some of the magic in the air and used that to add fuel to their night vision.

His nose picked up and analyzed all the scents and smells around him, differentiating each one, identifying the ones he knew and cataloguing the ones he didn't for when he eventually found out what they were. This sense could also sense magic, but not in such a magic filled environment, and it wasn't that strong yet.

His ears he used to pick up all the different sounds around him, doing the same as with the smells, but he could not hear magic, but the panicked breathing and beating of the hearts of his prey, now that was something else. There was a number of them, but with such sounds echoing off of walls and other structures, pin pointing their exact locations was such a bothersome activity.

He also used his tongue in the same way that a snake or serpent would, tasting the air, though tasting shit in the air was a tad bit bad, he never really did like the taste and smell of it. Both senses working hand-in-hand. He could, in a manner of speaking, taste the magic in the air. There was just something different with magic, something that made it stand out from other forms of energy or power. The main difference and uniqueness of it was that it was in a sense alive.

Harry didn't know how true that was, though it was doubtful that he would anytime soon.

Even though his hands and feet had gained claws, or the fingers and toes had turned into them, they were in a sense retractable. They could shift back to being the most sensitive parts of the body that were used when it came to the sense of touch. He could literally feel the vibrations around him with this sense, and when his hands and feet were occupied, he still had his tentacle like hair that had the abilities of his skin and tongue.

His first prey was what was known as a hag, they were said to love children or so the information Harry had gaiend from Arabella Figg claimed. It was ironic that a child was what ended the lives of a coven of Hags, all of them falling prey to the claws and maw of Harry, his tentacle like hair could also harden into spikes or spears, which he used to tear these magical beings apart.

He gained some upgrades and enhancements magically from the consumption of the Hags, they had nothing on them that peaked his interest. As many things in the magical world could be used in item creation and potion making, their effects were directly transferred to Harry's body, the good ones only that is. He also gained a greater ability for illusions and persuasion. He could be like the piper of Hamelin when speaking to children younger than himself.

For once in his life he was actually half full from his kill and meal. But there was still room in him for more, which prompted him to spit out a hag's skull which he hung on the wall using a hardened strand of hair as a hook. He moved on from there before anyone approached, as he couldn't afford to be seen.

He roamed the alley, following his senses to the oldest thing in the alley, some instinct telling him to go for the oldest thing there. He didn't know why he was following that instinct, but he guessed that it didn't really matter. A meal was a meal was a meal after all. His senses and instincts hadn't steered him wrong before.

He was lead through the shadows to a hovel at the end of one of the side streets of the darkened alleyway. There weren't that many things in the place, it was as if it was hidden to all but whatever lived there and him. There was only the scent of his prey, and the slight vibrations it made as it moved within the hovel. There was nothing else alive there.

He leapt off of the wall, and stalked his prey that wasn't going anywhere as it continued to stay in the run down structure, it was even more run down than the rest of Knockturn Alley. He moved closer and closer to it, analyzing all the possible routes of entry, as well as determining the exact location of his prey.

He sensed no fear in the place, as if he was being expected, so he shifted back into his base form that of the Boy-Who-Lived, the eleven year old form of a young tween and knocked on the door to the hovel. Movement caught his still heightened senses, and soon the door was opened from within. He was met face to face with a rather pale older man.

"Yes? How can I help you?" the man asked him politely.

"Why isn't anyone else in this side alley, sir?" Harry asked politely in return, his tone bellying a little bit of true curiosity.

"Ah, that is because I enjoy my privacy, and let only those that are truly curious of the nature of the world to even see the alley," the man said, "You seem like the sort of person I have been expecting. You are not only curious, but very powerful I can tell, else you wouldn't even be here. Welcome, welcome."

"Thanks...I think," Harry said, a tad bit disturbed, "So what happens now?"

"Why don't you come in for a moment," the man said as he moved aside to give Harry some room to move past him and into the hovel of a home. Harry did so and looked around at his barren surroundings. While he was relatively new to the magical world even he knew that a house should have at least had some sort of furniture especially if one were to invite someone inside even for but a moment.

"It looks as if there isn't anywhere for me to rest a bit, since I have a feeling that I'll be staying for a while," Harry mentioned and motioned at the rather empty space.

"Oh you'll be staying for quite a while," the man said, "I can imagine that you're rather confused at the moment, what with you being in the magical world for the first time in your life. I imagine that you were somehow separated from your guide, and wandered into Knockturn Alley on accident. My wards keep out all those in the know of our world, it is to protect myself you see. My wards only let in the newbies, as they, like yourself, are not in the know," he then moved to block the only visible exit from the place, "My wards lure in those that won't be missed, using their own magic agaisnt them, the more powerful the individual the more they will be lured here to my home. You would have probably made waves, but alas...you will not be getting the chance to shine in the magical world. Thanks in advance for the meal that you shall be providing me, your magic shall last me for a hundred years or more."

"I don't think I like where this is going," Harry stated, his eyes visibly hardening, "I believe you somehow intend on eating me or sucking out the magic from me to sustain you. I can't have that happening, not when I haven't had my fill yet."

"What do you think one such as yourself can do against me?" the man said, "Your meat I shall use to make this body even stronger, your blood shall quench my thirst, your magic shall empower me with the healing magics that I need to survive, and your your youth shall make prolong my life and give strength to my wards. There was a prophecy long ago about a monster that would set the world on fire or at least move in the ways of its destruction. My wards keep me from being found, if the world is to die, I would rather live through its destruction than be a part of it."

"I see," Harry said, then shadows began to form around him, wisps of darkness slithering along his body, "Well, I see why I was brought here. The sickly, the young, the weak, are usually the ones that perish in attacks first. They are the most vulnerable," he then pointed a finger at the pale man, "You sir are a coward," he then lowered his arm, and spoke more clearly and more harshly to the man, "I am not yours to consume. No, it is the other way around. You said that the stronger the magic the more likely to come to you, their magic being used against them. Well, I love to burst your bubble. I'm strong, and while you may be stronger, that's where you lose and why you lose. I bet none of your former victims ever fought back."

"Some had tried," the pale man said, as his eyes changed from black as night orbs to red ones, his teeth began to grow into a set of knives, and his nails grew to be a bit longer, "But in the end they all failed to even managed to scratch me."

There was a light whooshing sound followed up by a searing pain originating from the pale man's gut. He looked down only to find Harry's entire right arm embedded in his gut, his hand had also protruded from the man's back and in his grasp was part of the man's spine. The next thing the pale man experienced was a searing pain originating from his chest, it was like a punch at first then as if his heart had been ripped right out of his chest. Looking in that direction he did find a hole where his heart should have been.

"Looks like there's a first time for everything," Harry said as he opened wide in his Hunter form and swallowed the still beating heart whole, then began the meticulous process of consuming his fellow monster, an unknown hybrid, but with a hint of vampire in him.

The memories gained were far too many for Harry to comprehend, most of it was lost to him, the only thing that remained was how to suck blood like a vampire, he also gained that ability, and he gained some workable knowledge when it came to ward construction. He also became full, and it looked like he would be able to move about the wizarding shopping district without having a craving for some magical flesh anytime soon. He was in a way like a serpent.


	2. MF 0002

**Aftermath _-_**_was supposed to be part of New Folder_

He had found the End and the Void, it was gnawing and scratching at a light purple boc that looked tocontain the shattered remains of a star. The shattered remains, like glass, still contained some shine to them, but the light they gave off was more comparable to the light given off by dying embers than the light of a freshly lit flame.

He felt Imagination shudder and pieces of it crumble to dust as each pulse of fying light came. He saw the most recent particles merge with the box as well as with the End and the Void, but instead of making the beast stronger it seemed to grow weaker and whimpers of pain briefly escaped its lips. Something was definitely wrong.

"_**It hurts...**_" the beast suddenly spoke raspingly in a voice that vaguely resembled the voice of two overlapping entities, "_**The Spark...the pain...**_"

His eyes widened upon hearing the beast mention The Spark, it was referring to the point of Beginning of Imagination, the first idea, the one that started it all. The very core of Imagination itself.

the End and the Void was just a part of Imagination as each member of Those Five were, it was also just as closely connected as them along with the Gates and the Core Worlds. Bnut with the End and the Void being the representation of the final destruction it came as no real surprise that it could feelt ha agony of The Spark.

He wondered why he, who was the representation and embodiment of nullification and was very closely intuned with destruction, could not feel the pain and agony of The Spark. He simply could not feel it, he could only feel the crumbling of Imagination, slow as it was thanks to the efforts of his four comrades. He was the caretaker and somewhat master of the beast, as well as a member of Those Five, he had to do something now that he was at the source of Imagination's illness.

He had to act.

His decision was both the worst and the best thing he could do in his situation. He assumed that the beast was trying to get to The Spark, and so he nullified the barrier around it, then as he and the beast turned their attention and power to nullify the damage and restore The Spark to its former whole self, an explosion occurred.

The Guardian of the Gate of the Exit and the beast were not meant to heal, but to destroy, such an opposing action to their natures and base responsibilities was the catalyst for the explosion. Creation was also not meant to occur within the Beyond, which was the space after the Gate of the Exit.

It was something the likes of which Imagination had never experienced. To balance the explosion that shattered the Exit, the Before, which was the space before the Gate of the Entrance where all ideas and inspirations flowed from or took form, released an explosion of its own but on a smaller and slightly weaker but equally as intense scale.

The opposing forces smashed into one another, reaping destruction within the combined domain of Those Five, the center of Imagnation, but also shielding the rest of Imagination from the debilitating blast.

While the Gate of the Exit lay in ruin, the Beyond remained in its place not a single piece or even particle of it moving or creeping beyond it's designated place in all things. It kept itself where it had always been, beyond the boundary which the Gate of the Exit had provided.

The bodies of those that had tirelessly strived and worked to seal up and block off the Gate of the Exit lay on the ground of the plane on which the gate had previously been found standing on.

As soon as the danger had passed the able members of Those Five got to work organizing search and rescue teams and dispatching them all across Imagination. As soon as they had relayed their orders, each of them collapsed. They had expended far too much of their latent powers and energies in keeping Everything together. They had sacrificed too much of their respective selves to remain conscious. It was a good thing for the Administrators of Stories that they had been kept conscious by teams of aiding medics and healers.

The Administrators of Stories were Crius Crossworld, who was the leader of Those Five and, in a way, the mediator between Those Five and Imagination itself. Then there were Alexandre Westwurld, who took care of everything that had to do with Western Civilization, and Kiyonshi Toukou, who was in charge of everything that had to do with Eastern Civilization.

Shadow, sometimes called Shadow Shaijo, was found propped against the still standing Gate of the Entrance, of which he was the Guardian of. Scattered around and near his unconscious form were marbles of different colors, but six stood out among them as their colors caused any that saw them to think of one of the six main or major elements which were earth, fire, wind, water, light, and darkness. These were what he symbolically used to channel his power.

Shadow had been keeping his part of Imagination together as well as keeping his Gate in-check, both done simultaneously. The task clearly wore him out.

The final member of Those Five was the very same one that was at the start and partial cause of the explosion that stopped the slow decay of Imagination. Nul Nusquam. He had been found by the rescue teams a week after the unnatural disaster that shook the entirety of Imagination. He along with his pet had been found buried deep beneath the rubble that had once been his respective Gate of responsibility.

His cloak was in tatters, his body was fine, but his mind was blank as tests found him to be close to brain dead, but all knew that he couldn't possibly be All Dead.

the End and the Void was another matter altogether. What once had been a massive black wolf, was now two animals. The End was a pure black regular sized crow, while The Void was a plain black regular sized wolf. Both forms that represented what once was one single form were connected to one another by what looked to be, and was later confirmed as being, a Thread of Eternity, which was an unbreakable chain that would only break if Imagination ever truly and actually ended existing.

The beast's two yet still connected forms were rushed to surgery as their guts were litterally spilling out of them, their injuries mirrored those of their master, Nul, who was relatively unharmed and unconscious, while they were conscious the whole time.

But even though the Five that governed and were basically the second to the highest powers in all of Imagination, second only to Imagination, they still did their respective jobs, but were unseen forces while their physical forms rested. Imagination needed to keep moving forward, needed to constantly be in motion, new ideas, stories, experiences, and inspirations needed to constantly flow ever forward, ever onward.

Imagination, itself, contributed to the rebuilding with its own awesome power.

#

"How are you feeling?"


	3. MF 0003

**Servitor**

Picking pockets was quite simple and easy once one got the hang of it.

That was only one of the things that he had had to learn in order to survive in what the world considered as one of the toughest cities in existence. On the surface it might not have seemed to, but behind closed doors, during the night, in the back alleys, side streets, and everywhere else that most normal folk chose to either ignore or simply try and forget about, this city was as blanketed in darkness as they came.

Picking pockets was a very minor but not uncommon occurrence. Residents of the city knew better than to leave their coin purses or money bags not secured in some fashion be it by normal means or the more unconventional means, such as the magical kind.

It was those visitors or those unused to such a city that fell prey to those that walked in the world of shadows. It was their coin and their cash that fell into the hands of those that considered pickpocketing, among other things, as hard work. Which in a sense it really was. Hours upon hours of training was what lead to the perfection that these, normally considered as criminals, hard workers displayed.

Picking pockets of the unprepared and unused was mainly a right of passage for those that walked and worked in and from the shadows, it was procuring purses and pouches from those that knew to watch out for such things that showed one's true worth in the art of thieving.

Aside from picking pockets there were those that did the 'breaking and entering' kind of thieving. This kind was a little bit harder to gain proficiency in, since getting caught landed one in more than just a night at the local guard station or overnight holding cell. It was not only those that enforced the law that dealt out punishments, but also one's fellows, one's comrades within the world of shadows.

Most wouldn't really view it as punishment, but to be looked down upon and shown a lesser amount of respect was a kind of punishment on its own, and it was the kind that those that walked amongst the shadows tried to avoid as much as possible. Even the slightest red mark on one's record could haunt one for the rest of one's life.

There were only a few ways to be rid of such a mark, one such way was to make everyone that one viewed as important figures to fear oneself, there were other ways of course. But the fear and respect approach was one that most tried to use as numerous times as possible. There was just something about power that was intoxicating and alluring.

'Breaking and entering' had various levels of difficulty, successfully completing a heist gained one the respect and sometimes jealously of others in the community to varying degrees depending on the level of difficulty of course. The levels of difficulty were not only determined by the place which would be broken into, but of what tier of regular society did the place belong to. The lowest tier being the slums or poor sectors, which could be found at the very edges of the city, while the highest level being the inner city where all the nobility could be found.

After breaking and entering was of course kidnapping, thievery at its very core but different at the same time. There was also extortion. Protection rackets. And a host of other things. At the very top of everything of course was managing a family, or a shadow born empire.

Having the power to raze a small city to the ground at the simple inclination of an eyebrow was the epitome of what all denizens, or most of the more ambitious ones at least, strived to achieve.

One had to be a master, not just proficient, in all forms of thievery and law breaking or loophole locating, to get to that highest tier.

There were many a man and woman that fit the bill and ran their own families and held their own territories within the city of Frosthaven, but among them there were only six that held the title of Shadow Lord or Lord of Shadows. Each one of them also just so happened to be spawns of the nobility, ones that their Houses could do nothing but welcome them back with open arms lest the nobility suffer in big ways, like vanishing overnight entirely, to be replaced by the numerous heads of what could be considered as the shadow nobility class of society, both regular and shadow.

Frosthaven was considered as one of the richest cities in all the world, boasting many merchants and nobles. It was also one of world's economic super-powers able to sway prices and all sorts of supply and demand of goods all over the world with but a whisper. It also served as one of the largest criminally infested places in all the lands. If the shadow world had a capital, Frosthaven would be it, the only thing that was really missing was someone that all of the shadow world could consider as its king or emperor like all the other lands, countries, isles, and whatnot had.

"*"

He had been living as part of the lowest tier of both regular and shadow societies. A mere pickpocket, one that targeted those unsuspecting few that dared venture deep into the maze that was the poor districts, the slums. He targeted those poor souls that wished to aid the poor and downtrodden. Good intentions, sure. But when one needed food and drink, one didn't really think about sharing or what morality would have otherwise dictated.

He took what he could, when he could. Which wasn't really all that much. Money was not the only thing he took though, as these kinds of people were smart enough to not carry that much on their persons. He took food from them, not the stale kind that he and his kind usually managed to scrounge up. Clean water too, that was a commodity that was eerily difficult to come by.

He needed to survive, that was all he knew, all he remembered. He took food and drink, the money was just a bonus to him. Like his fellows, he made sure to keep the money well hidden, he didn't want his hard work to have to go to waste. He kept his small horde hidden and away from possible theft, in his own little corner of the sewer system and catacombs that ran throughout the city, or rather under the city. It was a nerve wreaking maze of tunnels and all sorts of other obstacles and passageways, some normal and others must have been designed by those that had lived long before the upper part of the city had been raised even higher with all the buildings that polluted what must have at one point been a forest or something.

He found that he was somehow able to find his way through the underground maze, he had found that he could bypass the many obstacles that littered that place, if any of his fellows knew of his ability there would have been many a family after him to become one of their prized members. No one really knew what secrets the underground held after all. To have someone that could go deeper than anyone else had ever managed would surely be a coveted asset.

He wasn't really aware of his value to others, and at the same time wouldn't want to be seen as a prize. He was his own person, with his own dream, that being reaching the very top in society, to stop being someone that was overlooked and instead become someone that others just couldn't help but either respect or fear, or both, he wasn't that picky.

He would work his way from the bottom to the top. To the very top, it didn't matter how long it took him, but before troubling himself with the how to get up there, he had to survive first. He had to live long enough to gather enough resources that he would not need to worry about getting enough to eat or drink and have enough time to actually think of a plan to getting to the very top of the food chain.

He worked day and night, night and day, until he finally managed to find the courage to try his hand at a slightly higher level of difficulty.

He was easy to spot, as he only had tattered rags to cover himself, and the water he did use to clean himself wasn't very clean to begin with either. This made his job a whole level of harder, but his willingness to try did gain him some meager respect in the eyes of his fellow bottom-feeders.

He had to plan for his first job, he knew that much. If he wanted to really move up in the world he had to make sure that his first job was a success and not a failure. He knew that much, and subconsciously a little bit more.

He found himself a spot that had easy access to several escape points as well as at least one entrance to the sewers where he would rush to stash away his prize. It didn't matter how big or small the haul, so long as he got something.

He found the perfect spot, and even found a visitor from out of town that passed by the same route every single day. He even found out that the old man had no plans of leaving for quite some time. This old man was the perfect target.

So that was what he did, he laid in wait for his target to pass him by before he sprung out and walked with a drunken stagger, bumped into the bloke, his experienced hands and fingers doing what needed to be done, before he was shoved aside by another passerby. No one aside from him being the wiser as to what had really happened.

To ordinary residents of the city, he looked to be of the truly inexperienced sort, but none of them would later be able to recall his face, or anything that had to do with what he looked like other than that he looked just like every other ruffian that prowled the streets and preyed on the unprepared.

The last anyone saw of him that day was of him ducking into one of the more unused alleyways and simply vanishing. What really happened was that he made use of what most would consider as an inoperable entrance into the sewer system, it was said to be something from either the actual founding of the city or from even before that.

With that first success, he rested for the rest of the day, returned to thieving for some grub for the rest of the week, then after his resting period was through he ventured back into the more open parts of the city and scouted out yet another potential target. Made a plan. Found the perfect spot to ply his trade, and did it for the second time.

He did the same thing, more or less, over and over again. But of course made sure that he did not do the same thing to the same person more than once, and also made sure that he did not perform at the same place more than once. It would not do for someone to catch wind of him and lay a trap for him.

After a month of steady work, he noticed a change in how his fellows, or former fellows, treated him. There was surely some respect mixed in with some jealousy. Then of course came the time when he was run out, or at least it seemed that way, from the home he had made for himself among them. The jealousy won out against the respect.

His former fellows had admired him for a short time, but that eventually gave way to their jealousy and then moved on to dislike of him. He became no longer welcome in their company. This was because he was no longer like them.

It couldn't really be helped that there was a kind of discrimination amongst peers. That stuff just happens. It was just yet another part of life.

Upon joining that tier of society, he found that he had even fewer friends than before. Meaning he didn't have any allies at all, anyone that he could mooch off of when he had nothing to survive on. That too was life. He was a new person in a whole new world, and things were not likely to get any easier unless he did finally manage to gain more respect from others or more fear from others, than jealousy.

Simple pickpocketing, as he had found out, could no longer be his only source of income. He had the choice of either getting, what normal folk would consider as real, a real job or moving up even faster in the difficulty level ladder.

He no longer had some nook or cranny in some wall or hovel in the downtrodden parts of the city to get back to. All he had were his sewers, catacombs, and the maze of tunnels and whatnot underneath the city. His new place in society, dictated by his actions and the actions of his former fellows, his former comrades-in-pickpocketing.

Tattered cloth and rags were no longer suited for one such as he. With this change in status, he found through logical reasoning and pure common sense that one could not come by quality garments from mere picking of pockets. One had to move even higher up in the world, get into someone else's residence or shop, and pilfer whatever was needed from there.

It was harder than working with what was already available as well as what was predictable. This time he had to make plans within plans for eventualities that, while unlikely, could indeed come to pass. Such as some members of the city watch chancing upon him as he made his daring escape.

He had to resort to some of his old tricks, which was taking from those that just so loved to try their hand at alleviating those poor unfortunate souls from their lot in life to a higher one. He needed food and drink to survive still, and of course he didn't have the look that would allow him to actually use his savings for something other than being a part of what he considered as a considerable horde.

Once he got some decent rags he might be able to actually purchase a real and good meal. But before that he had to work with what he already had and knew to do. After...well after was another story entirely.

When he finally did find a place that he deemed worthy of his attention, he studied it even more carefully. Getting caught really was one of the things that all of his kind did place some importance in. Importance in the sense that it was one of the things that one of their kind was to avoid at all costs, even if one had to sacrifice a comrade to do it. Survival of the fittest and all that. Though he might be able to change the rules a little bit in the future.

He found to his slight dismay that the place he had chosen also happened to serve as the residence of that one old man that he had taken a rather heavy coin pouch from during his first foray into higher than bottom-feeder society.

But that didn't stop him from getting down to business.

He made his move as soon as night had fallen upon the town. The same time that all of his level of worker went out to begin their nightly professions.

He snuck in through the front door. It was an unexpected move on his part, but he did it all the same. No one stopped him, and no one bothered to ask him what he was doing in the place. It was assumed that he was some sort of visitor at the inn, and it was indeed an inn. A visitor that had the unfortunate luck to run into more than simple ruffians. There was no pity for him though, and he was grateful for that.

He moved up into the second floor to begin his perusal of goods that he would be taking away with him.

He picked the locks of the locked doors, making sure to press his ear against the doors to make sure that the ones living within were either sound asleep or not presently there. His ears were quite good, better than most that practiced the same trade as he. It was one of the things that he didn't have to hone through extensive training, it just came naturally to him. This sometimes did make him wonder what manner of creature of the world he was, of what race he did indeed belong to for he was quite certain that he wasn't human.

He performed quite well, though when he reached the last room, he found that determining if the resident was in there sleeping or out, was rather difficult. His senses, all of them could not tell what lay beyond the door. Whether the old man was within or without.

He didn't want to leave things like that, with such a mystery unsolved. He was a curious kind of person, and didn't enjoy riddles remaining unsolved for too long.

He took the chance then and there, and checked to see if the door was locked, and found that it was not. A surprising development. He pushed open the door, choosing that if it was some sort of trap then he would gladly accept the punishment for such foolishness on his part. He had already collected quite a lot from the other rooms and had even already prepared his escape route in the form of the window of an unoccupied room with a window overlooking a back alley that conveniently had access to his beloved sewers.

"Ah, glad to finally get to meet you," the old man greeted him from the inside of the room, and unearthly force pulled him into the room and closed the door behind him and also caused the lock on the door to secure itself.

He was then forced into an unoccupied chair, before thick arms of wood melted out of the wood that the chair was made out of and encircled him, giving him no room to wiggle away to freedom. Not that he would have ran, not in such a situation or circumstance. He knew he was at fault, and that his action had been folly.

This was all done with the old man standing before his own bed not moving an inch and just standing there.

"Alright, you caught me, so...you gonna call the watch on me or not?" he asked the old man, a little bit impatient.

"I am doing no such thing, unless of course you prove to be uncooperative," the old man replied before sitting down on his own bed, smoothing out the creases from the robe that he wore. It was a rather simple thing, that would make most mistake him for a normal man, not one that had the gift of magic in him.

"Uncooperative in what way? I'm not about to rat out on anyone else that might have taken something of value from you," he said to the old man, with a rather defiant flair. Leaving another man to take the fall was one thing, ratting out on the other members of society was another thing entirely.

Once one became known as a rat, that was one brand that would never be washed of, it was as permanent as 'change'.

"Oh I'm not about to ask you to do that," the old man said, "Unlike most other 'outsiders' as I would be called, I know all about your lot, your 'world', your 'society' and how it works."

"Alright...so what do you need or want from me?" he asked the old man, or was it old elf of some sort, there were far too many different kinds of elves for him to be sure which specific one this old man was.

"I want you to get something for me," the old elf said.

"Alright, what is this thing, and how hard will getting it be?" he asked, getting something by underhanded means sounded rather interesting to him and not just because he was more or less tied up, "Also...why me?"

"Because you were the only one in this whole," he gestured all around him, "City that managed to get that coin pouch from me. It is spelled in such a way that only two souls would be able to actually take it from the other without the other knowing about the, pardon my words, theft."

"No offense taken," he said, "So...you knew about me, I caught that you used the word soul instead of person or people."

"Ah, good, perceptive, I like that," the old elf said, "The item that I need or want you to get for me requires the soul to be compatible with it, your soul actually. I'd get the item myself, but I'm not as spry as I once was."

"I can see that, you must be what...500 years old?" he guessed, the man's smirk made him think that perhaps he had said too great an age and that the powerful mage was insulted in some way and was about to have the wood constrict him.

"Do I really look that young?" the old elf said, and acted all haughty or high and mighty like, it was a bit funny if he was honest with himself, but there were more pressing matters at hand and it wasn't time to make fun out of old people, even an old elf that could indeed kill him and vanish his body so that no one would know that he had ever been there, aside of course from his stash of goods that he had kept in that one unoccupied room down the hall.

"My..." he was about to apologize but the old elf stopped him with a bark of laughter himself.

"No apologies necessary, I'll take it as a compliment, I'm rather old truly," the old elf said, "500 is a bit young for one such as I. I'm closer to around 3000, give or take a century or two. Now back to business. What I want you to get me is a scepter, or at least it will look like a scepter at first."

"What do you mean look like a scepter at first?" he slightly impatiently asked.

"What I mean is that it was left on its pedestal in the form of a scepter," the old elf explained, "Once you touch it, it shall transform into any straight, rod-like, or bladed item that you can think up or of. It is at it's core a magical construct, one that is tied to two souls, one master and one...well...aid or assistant of sorts, that second one being myself."

"Ok, I'll get this scepter for you, what's in it for me? Aside from getting out of this chair of course," he said.

The restraints fell away as if they had never been there after that one statement, of course the chair went with them as well, causing him to fall on his ass for all his verbal trouble.

"You'll see when you get the scepter to me," the old elf said, "But for now, I guess I might as well share a secret about that pouch you took from me, which in a sense is yours now, rightfully and otherwise."

"I'm listening," he said.

"It can hold up to...well...I've never actually found out how limitless such a pouch can be when it comes to space. I once fit in a small hill's worth of rocks, so imagine what you could keep in there," the old elf said.

"That's...rather...interesting," he said, "Thanks for the tip, now about the whereabouts of this item?"

"I know for a fact that you've been able to go places that no other has managed to go before, or at least go in the last 2000 years. In this world of gods and men, that's saying something. In the lowest and deepest reaches of the underground is a room, take nothing else but the scepter and your reward shall be greater than anything you could think of at this very moment, but take even a coin from there back with you, to the surface, and all you will ever have is that one coin. Do you understand?"

The old elf said the words in such a way that he wouldn't be forgetting them unlike what others would have done. Such treasures, just thinking about them made his greed show its hide, but he shoved it aside as another part of him, the curiosity part, wanted to know what could be more valuable than riches not seen in the last 2000 years.

He left the room with the mage in it, or whatever the heck class or tier of magic wielder the old elf was, made it to the unoccupied room and found out that he was not lied to about the coin pouch that he had pilfered from the old mage. He snuck out through the window, and vanished into what remained of the night.

He didn't know of whether or not he had a time limit, all he knew was that he wanted to know what else he could get out of the agreement with the old elf as soon as possible. Though there was a feeling of urgency that he got from the back of his mind or something like that, he didn't mind it that much as he did actually want to see what indeed there was to see in a place that had not seen life in it for close to 2000 years.

He packed what he thought he would need and left the rest of his loot where he kept all his other treasures. This of course included most of the clothes that he managed to get in that one night. He did wonder what excuse the old elf gave regarding the fact that nothing had been taken from him. The old elf would probably have played the old age or old man card or something to that tune.

He left his stash where it was, in an area that no one would guess he kept such things, and ventured into the world, just so that he wouldn't be missed. He didn't pick any pockets, or scout out a potential target, and this odd behavior put him in the crosshairs of one of the many families that controlled the district that he usually haunted or hunted in. Good or bad of a sign, only time would tell really.

He didn't notice of course, for as soon as the moon began to rise, he slid himself into a sewer and off he ran, not bothering to look back or make sure that he wasn't followed.

He was followed of course, by those that wondered what he was up to, what with his odd behavior and all that. As soon as he managed to pass through an unmarked entrance and losing his tails, they knew that whatever it was that he was up to, it was big, and they of course, being the lords of the territory wanted a big piece of it, and should there be more of it, they wanted all of it.

They chose to wait for him, no matter how long.

"*"

He lunged through hoops, rings, and quadrilaterals of fire, jumped across moats of boiling water or was that last one acid, swan through gunk and grime and shite. He avoided pitfalls that hadn't been there the last time he passed that way. He avoided all manner of trap that had been deactivated the last time he had taken a stroll through the maze.

There were all sorts of death traps all over the place and he wasn't quite sure half the time if it was worth it. But every time that such thoughts entered his head, he was forced onward by an unseen force, that and the path that he had taken could not be taken again as one thing or another made sure that he could not turn back once he decided to take even a single step forward.

There was also the fact that it was only sentient and rational life that had not seen these lower levels beneath Frosthaven that had not been seen, the more instinctual and animal life...well...that was a whole other story entirely. Up to this point he had come across quite a lot of creatures that still made him either shit in his pants or sent more than your average shivers running up down and around his spine.

There had been spiders the size of houses to these serpent or lizard like creatures with skin as black as the shadows that they hid themselves in. Those last ones were the worst, they moved about like ants, and he had the unfortunate luck to have run into several of what must have been their eggs. He was rather lucky to have escaped from those eggs alive, though the giant spiders weren't as lucky as him. They were mauled to extinction, or at least the ones that had been chasing him down after he had killed one of their number that is.

At present of course he wasn't really with much luck since he did managed to somehow get himself between some lava golems of all things, there weren't any magma or lava pits around anywhere yet he found these ones, and on the other side of him were of course those serpent-lizard-black things that acted like a nest of ants, the kind that were very very dangerous and seemed to always be rather hungry.

He didn't really have much with him in terms of weapons, and he doubted that he could take on something made mostly out of molten rock, the black things he had some chance of fighting against, but he lava golems...that was something else..

He needed to think up a plan, but couldn't really come up with one that would get him out of his predicament unscathed.

He did of course run out of time to think since the two sides saw each other as threats and decided that he could be their prize after they beat each other to death or something like that.

It was a rather interesting fight, with no clear winner in sight. For some reason those black things, while weak against things that could burn them, were plentiful enough that while several burned at the touch of the golems the others could use the burning yet more solid surface as tools to bring one of the golems down.

But there was one good thing that came out of the fight breaking out, he could run deeper into the underground now without having to worry about what seemed to be hundreds of those black things coming after him. Their numbers just kept swelling as compared to the lava golems that only gained around ten allies at a time.

He didn't really care to watch more of the carnage, and just ran off as fast as his feet could carry him, bypassing any traps or obstacles that he came across. He could really run when he put his mind to it, it was as if his body had no limits to what it could accomplish, and by extension he had no limits to what he could accomplish.

Though he wasn't really sure about that yet and wasn't really all that much aware of it quite yet.

His running, jumping, sliding, and dodging eventually brought him to a room unlike any other he had ever seen in his whole life. It was a room as large or probably larger than any warehouse he had ever been in, and it was filled to the brim with gold items, jewels, and all other sorts of things that mortals would consider as valuable treasures.

He understood then what the old elf meant by warning him about such things.

He knew his objective and had to quash any urges to take even a single coin. He did touch quite a few trinkets of course, there wasn't any warning about not touching anything, just not bringing anything to the surface except for that scepter.

He passed through the room, taking his sweet time, but remembered himself since he began to feel something foreign enter his mind. It was as if the allure of the treasures was growing stronger, trying to overpower him and have him just remain in the room. Remain in the room for all time.

He rushed out of there as quick as he could, and managed to trip on a number odds and ends the whole of the way out of the place.

Of course not the same way he had come into the place as that way had sealed itself up. Barring him from leaving the same way he had come.

This next room was filled with nothing at all. Nothing except for a single pedestal upon which lay a scepter, the very same one that he old elf wanted him to retrieve. It wasn't theft, which wasn't normal for him, but it was a job, one that he wouldn't normally be willing to take, but this time something was definitely different from what real jobs were like.

He threw stones around the room to make sure that there were no traps of any sort that would hinder him from his goal. He then followed that up by throwing rats around as well. He knew that they would bite him back for doing such a thing but he promised himself that he'd end their measly lives permanently once he got his hands on his objective.

Of course once he did, he found himself stuck in the middle of a room and surrounded on all sides by rock golems from the stones that he had thrown around and human sized wererats of all things.

He didn't really like his odds all that much.

"Oh...crap...I did not sign up for this..." he said to himself out loud not that anyone that could understand him could hear him, he looked upon the thing he had come down to get and remembered what the old elf had told him about it, "Well, if you can really change into something else...then change into something useful," it was a plead that he thought fell on deaf ears, not that the scepter had ears in the first place.

It did not not listen to him. It reacted, it responded to him, his will, in a way that he was not expecting. It shifted in his hand, changed it's shape. Ending up with him holding onto a cane sword, with the rest of what made it a cane being its sheath.

Surprised the fear out of him. Though he did wonder what such a thing could do for him in such a situation.

There was no time like the present to find out of course, and what with the rats finally deciding that being treated as playthings of sorts was worth attacking him, well...

He just went with the flow, letting his own instincts direct his body in how to move and where to place the cutting edge of the sword he grasped in one hand and where to snap the whole solid bar of the cane end of his little toy to.


	4. MF 0004

**B for Boring**

It was a fresh world.

A clean reality.

An untainted dimension.

An unaffected and unaltered universe.

It was untouched by THOSE higher powers that had nothing better to do with their time.

It was boring.

Plain and simple, it was as canon as canon could be.

Of course, normally there would be someone that would be interested in messing up all that order. Be it Aetas, Magic, Death himself, or even Devil himself. But Aetas was busy with Quidditch, Magic was busy with a tournament, Death was busy with work, and Devil had a war to wage and win.

It was boring still, that simple fact remained. It was bland. It was...perfect for messing with.

It was a clean slate, more or less.

All that was required for it to become more than what it already was was for someone or something to drop seven brand spanking new books onto the lap of one Harry James Potter just after he finally was chased out of his relatives' house. This was a time that he would, in this reality, spend outside and just after his tenth birthday too.

That was the only only anomaly so far in this canon-ish world.

The seven books had a compulsion on them, the kind that once they came within viewing distance of the rather malnourished Harry Potter in the hidey hole that he had managed to make for himself in the sewers would force the boy into reading each of the seven books from cover to cover and remembering all of what he had read. The seven connected stories would then forever be imprinted in his mind like some sort of second set of memories, that as of yet had not yet had the pleasure of happening.

Suffice to say the books also came with a uploaded straight to the kid's brain specially tweaked version of eidetic memory as well as auto-mind magic knowledge and defenses. There was also a soul-virus purger in the package which removed the parasitic soul piece that had been stored in the boy's scar, but of course leaving anything that could prove to be useful to the boy in the future.

"What in the world?" the boy couldn't help but say once he was through reading all seven books in a row.

He didn't have much time to say anything else before he found himself falling in a dark abyss of nothingness.

He didn't have time to shout either, since before he even could he found himself being pulled by some impressive gravitational forces downward through what must have been water. He didn't drown because he found himself, before he could drown, sitting on top of a white bed, in a white room, with a man in a white doctor's lab coat who was grinning rather madly in his direction. Someone else in wherever the heck he was was laughing rather loudly in a very very terrifying manner.

"...good good," the doctor-looking-person said, "You seem to be adjusting to the changes rather well," he then called out over his shoulder, "Prepare the portal for our test subject!"

"Aye aye mon capitan!" the boy heard someone rather far away shout back in reply.

"Uhm...?" the boy was not given the time to ask any questions as the bed he was on jerked and began moving on its own. Out of the room and in the direction of what sounded an awful lot like the shouts of people being tortured rather painfully.

He was rushed, by the bed, into the same room that the screams were coming from. The screams were apparently coming from a radio and were part of some really weird song that was out of this world, or at least he thought it was.

Before he could ask any questions, again, he was shoved through a glowing purple and pink swirling portal that shined between two pillars of peppermint sticks the height of flag poles.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" the guy that had prepared the portal asked, his face or clothing of choice was unimportant.

"Enhanced mind, all aspects of that, mental defenses that will see gods stumped," the mad scientist replied, "Enhanced senses when he focuses enough, shape shifting abilities, chameleon skin..."

"Chameleon skin?" the portal preparer asked.

"Who needs a cloak of invisibility when you can vanish without the need to put on a cloak?"

"I see, please continue then."

"Phoenix abilities," the mad scientist continued, "Reality manipulation.."

He was interrupted once again.

"Reality manipulation?"

"Well he didn't have any magic in him at all! How could he have survived in a magical world without having something that could sufficiently emulate having magic?" the mad scientist asked.

"I have no idea, you're the mad scientist and pediatrician, not me," the portal preparations expert said, "How'd you give him that ability anyway?"

"I dug deep enough into the reality that we just dropped him into and plucked a binding connector from it and imbedded it into the boy's genetic makeup," the mad scientist said, "Sadly, this reality manipulation thing will only work in the test subject's new world and has also locked him into that reality. To view the results of this experiment we will have to visit him."

"I see," the portal person said, "Anything else?"

"He can't stay dead for long," the mad scientist grinned madly, "What good would our test subject be if he died?"

"Good question, I think I'll use that as a basis for my next thesis," the portal person commented.

"Sounds like a drab idea," the mad scientist said and continued once more, "He's also psychic now, you know the kind, can read minds and all that...actually reading minds and mind manipulation is about everything left."

"Does he know he has all this?" portal person asked.

"Upon arrival, no matter where he landed or ended up on in that world, he will fall asleep where he will then be forced to read a rather thick book containing as much information as I deemed necessary for him," mad scientist said, "Which is basically just a list of what he has and good luck to him."

"Cruel and unusual," portal person said.

#

Things did indeed happen in the manner by which the mad scientist said that they would happen. What the man had failed to mention to the young Potter was that he had landed in the past, years before he would have been kidnapped.

He arrived just as baby Harry Potter, the one of the reality he had been dumped in, had been left on a cold November's night on the doorstep of Number 4 Privet Drive.

A COLD November night.

Suffice to say, with Petunia not coming out to check what the noise outside was, the baby Harry Potter did not survive the night. The ones that had left him there were not responsible enough to keep watch over him and make sure that his relatives received him.

Petunia did not rejoice when she found the dead baby on her doorstep in the morning, there wasn't even a note that she could use to trace whoever left the baby there. The letter that came with the baby had been blown away by the night wind.

The death of baby Harry Potter came at the arrival of 10 year old Harry Potter, which made the transition from and between baby Harry Potter's place in the reality to and with the 10 year old much easier and smoother.

His base form, since he was a shape shifter and not a mere animagus or metamorphmagus and had infinite forms, would remain looking 10 years old until he actually reached that age in this reality once again. But that did not mean that his body would not change, it would adapt or evolve and change into a body befitting a healthy 10 year old boy.

That would be even if he did not get the right nutrients in his body.

The immortality of a sort that he got didn't mean that he didn't need to eat, drink, or rest, it just meant that he wouldn't stay dead for long and that he had an advanced and accelerated healing factor, much like Wolverine in the Marvel Universes and realities has.

He would need to train up on the abilities he had gained. He was rather thankful though for the hint that his imagination, belief in the possible and impossible (to others), and will would make things a whole lot easier for him. Nothing ever remained impossible for too long after all.

He was a whole level more mature than most children his age, this was thanks in part to his treatment by his relatives, the other part was the mental upgrade he had undergone by way of that mad scientist that thought to use him as a test subject for whatever experiment he was a part of.

This meant that he more or less knew of the basics on what he would need to survive and thank to those seven magical books that should not really have been handed to children his age or younger, he knew of the magical world and some of its intricacies.

He knew of the magical world, but more important than that was the magical bank run by goblins and the now his money that were held there.

He was told in that memory book or whatever it was that informed him of everything that was new, that he was the Harry Potter of his new reality, there was no double there to cause him any problems. The money, properties, and whatever else was there was his. It also claimed that the magic of his new reality would accept his reality manipulation as magic, but only when it came to him.

His first venture out into the more populated world was quite the headache but thanks to his mental upgrade he managed to actually gain full control of his psychic abilities. His psychic abilities were not of the fortune telling kind but of the telepathic and mind manipulation kind, the kind that could be performed on others no matter the strength of mental will, though for the more powerful or willful ones he could do only so much.

He had been staying in the sewers of Surrey and living off of rats and sewer water, which while not that healthy couldn't kill him as his body purified everything as quickly as possible. It would take a more toxic mix to kill him faster than his body could purify whatever it was.

He could also transform his body into one that could withstand whatever that was highly toxic substance was, or become fire proof, lightning proof, or whatever else he could think of.

He was still a child, even though he didn't really have that much of a childhood to begin with, he was still very much a child. And as a child he had quite the boundless imagination. Even with his more mature mental processes, he still retained his imagination. But unlike before that that was all he had had, he now had the means of making his day dreams real.

He finally, when he believed he was prepared enough, ventured forth into the magical world, to claim what was his by right, blood, and his excuse for magic. Which in reality did allow him to regain his magic, though that thought wouldn't cross his mind for a very long time and when it finally dawned on him it wouldn't really matter.

He had a feeling that he should not look at, read, or simply even bother with reading the warning or writing on the wall. He figured that it was some sort of trigger for the protections of the bank to be put in place or something like that.

He walked over to the nearest unoccupied teller and requested to be brought to his accounts manager, for he was quite sure that he had one assigned to him. Having a trust vault meant that there was somewhere that that money was coming from, and thus he wanted to know more about it as the books he had read didn't really touch much on that subject.

He also consented to the goblins performing whatever tests or rituals to confirm his identity so that he would not waste their time and they his. It was straight to the point. He didn't want to have to beat around the bush and all that.

A goblin guard lead him to a ritual chamber where some goblin mages were already at their workstations and were already prepared to perform all rituals that the bank deemed necessary to ascertain the identity of the customer or claimant. In Harry's case it was identity since he didn't have his trust vault's key on him or with him or anything of that sort that the goblins would have accepted as proof of identity.

His identity as Harry James Potter was determined as well as a number of other equally important (to goblins at least) things. These things included that Harry James Potter had no legal guardian, magical or otherwise, it was also determined that he was no longer a mere heir of House Potter but the Lord of said House. He was also the new Lord Black, due to the incarceration of Sirius Black, it didn't matter that the man was innocent of the crimes he had been sent to prison for.

Just by being deemed a criminal by the government, Sirius Black had been stripped of his rights and title of heir of House Black. It fell to the first other Black, after Sirius' father passed on, to go and try to claim the Black family vaults to receive the title of Lord Black. It was in the will of the late Lord Black that that was to be the process when selecting the new lord, he just didn't inform any of his other relatives, or even his wife, about it.

Only the goblins could be trusted enough to know about it.

There was more of course.

The Potter and Black accounts were two of the oldest and largest that the bank had. Ever. That was a rather surprising thing, but what did surprise the goblins that had attended the ritual was that it was now in the control of someone that should be still in swaddling clothes or simply diapers, not a ten year old looking kid that talked in a manner befitting a much older person.

There was also the fact that he could apparently understand them when they spoke their language, and he could speak it, fluently too and with their race's accent no less.

Not only was he an adult in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of magic, for whatever reason there was in the world. He wasn't even given a choice in the matter, the goblins simply grabbed hold of his hands and slipped the two rings on his fingers, which accepted him as their master and did their thing to make themselves fit perfectly and hid themselves for his convenience. He was also a very rich one year old, technically even with the body that he possessed.

Now those were the more expected of things and understandable things.

What did really give cause for the goblins to get a bit shaken up wasn't that he had also gained the lordship of the Peverell and Gryffindor Houses, since neither of those two existed. House-wise. Since the Peverell merely became Gryffindor, and Gryffindor became Potter.

What had these hardened warriors going pale and weak at the knees was the fact that the read out from the ritual read that he was the sole surviving descendant of a man that had come and gone from the world a long long time ago, a man that had touched the world so deeply that after he had left it had never been the same ever again.

That man bore no biologically intentional heirs, but what he was and what he left had used some of the blood that he had left behind to create an heir to his mortal self. He was a man, sure, but he wasn't entirely human at the same time.

His name had been lost to the annals of history and time, but his there was no denying who he was when his name was so clearly scribbled onto the read out of the ritual. It was written in the finest script that the goblins had ever seen, and the name itself pulsated with power.

His name was Magus Iunctio.

Iunctio was the only part of his name that had been remembered. The goblins and other magical races would recognize that name anywhere, or at least the most well learned of each race would immediately recognize the name and the significance it held. After all, Magus Iunctio was the one that brought magic to the world, to the reality. He fathered magic and was the source of all the magical races, including the insertion into the human gene pool.

He really didn't know what he was getting himself into when he allowed the goblins to present him with the ring that the first trueborn son of what could only be perceived as the Creator, which was just another way of saying god, of Magic had fashioned as the ring that would signify that the wearer was of the line of Iunctio, a House that did not rightfully have a lord for a very very long time.

It was never expected to have a lord or an heir. The ring was symbolic and the requirement to be accepted as the ring's master was that the claimant had to have the one thing that the previous owner's father had. Reality Manipulation. Another requirement, which wasn't that well known or known at all, was the inability to remain dead for too long a period of time.

So there he was. Lord Potter. Lord Black. And Lord Iunctio, it was the only style that he could be granted on such short notice and he didn't want to have to deal with the ones tied to Potter and Black, which were Duke and Baron, respectively.

He was also standing in front of what or who was considered as the head of the entire Goblin nation. The worldwide one and not just the British goblins.

The thing that was rather odd about the meeting was that the goblin in question was kneeling before him and not the other way around. It was something that he was not that used to and would have caused him to faint early on had his advanced mental abilities not stopped him.

"You can stop with the kneeling now," Harry commanded, since asking the goblin not to didn't really seem like a good idea.

"Of course your eminence," the goblin king said as he stood to his full height, which wasn't really all that tall or imposing, even to a ten year old since they were more or less the same height.

'_Well at least he didn't go with your holiness or something along those lines..._' the boy thought.

"How may the goblins be of service to you this day?" the goblin king, Ragnuk, asked, not looking at the face of the heir of the one that more or less made magic in this reality.

"I was really just here to get some money from whatever vault was available to me," Harry said, "That and find somewhere I could call home for the next ten or so years. Could you help me with that, your majesty?"

"Of course," Ragnuk said, "Though you don't have to call me that, sir, you are after all of the bloodline of he who is responsible for the creation of the magical world."

This shoved a bit of information through and into his head, the information coming from the rings that had combined into one as each was placed on a single finger. What the goblin king said acted as some sort of trigger for the knowledge of entire bloodlines deposit themselves into him, their new and latest master.

The most important piece of knowledge that he had obtained was all of the ones regarding the different magical races. Like the goblins, since they were before him, they were a race that were in the past grew to the height of a normal sized human and not these midgets that stood or knelt before him. It was a curse of sorts or a punishment, one that had been activated when the goblin nation had warred against the other races for selfish reasons.

The knowledge he gained informed him that only he had the power to deactivate the punishment curse. Only he could restore the goblins to what they had once been. Which was powerfully built warriors, ones that would give the wizards a harder time if a rebellion erupted once again.

But of course the goblins didn't know that, and he wasn't about to tell them about it. He simply assumed that they assumed that he some sort of power over them, which he actually did as some of his ancestors, those whose knowledge were somehow implanted into the ring, had found out through discrete experimentation on all of the races and sub-races even.

He got his money, more like a coin pouch that was directly connected to his trust vault, and a bank draft book. He was also given a summary of all of his assets, which was information on everything he owned that the bank was able to and did track.

He also chose to remain close to the bank which was why the property that he chose to be his residence was none other than a previously thought abandoned property located along one of the alleys connected to Diagon Alley.

It was a prime piece of real estate that had been abandoned during the war, abandoned in the sense that the shop had been forced to close due to a number of domino effect events that caused the shop's business to come to an end during that war torn era.

Whatever shop it had been was not important. It was a corner shop, one that found one of its faces being at the corner of Diagon Alley and the other remaining side being in Horizon Alley. It had two floors, the first being where the former shop had been located while the second could be used as an apartment or living space which was where Harry set up shop.

The furniture and inside of the building was in great disrepair but nothing that a little bit of reality manipulation couldn't fix. He could bent space and time to his will, but he didn't dare create any more potential paradoxes by himself traveling through time, his little addition to this reality was the extent of what he was willing to do in terms of time travel. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't play with time especially when repairing things to save himself money.

He may have lots of gold that made it unnecessary for him to work a day in life for several lifetimes, but that didn't mean that he didn't know the value of hard work as well as the value of money period. So he wasn't going to spend unnecessarily, unless it was something he wanted but didn't need, or something that he needed or wanted but didn't already.

He decided to leave the investments and all those other money making ventures in the hands of the goblins, they seemed capable and trustworthy enough and his accounts manager had been doing splendidly well so far. He was sure that due to his status the goblins would sure that nothing bad happened to him financially, politically, or in any way shape or form so long as they could help it.

In this world he was a one year old stuck in a ten year old's body, with the mental maturity of an experienced adult, as well as memories or simply knowledge to match. He also had a lot of time on his hands before his own version of the events in those seven books were to take place.

The goblins were very helpful, not only financially but also in providing for his daily needs. It was a bit over the top, but they made sure that he had food and drink, of all sorts, that would last him for the rest of the year with the promise of such stock being replenished at the end of the year. Clothes of varying shapes and sizes were also provided for him. This was only after he revealed his shape shifting ability.

He felt that he could trust them, and thus informed them of his other abilities as well. This had the added benefit of them not overreacting should he sudden fade into view or warp reality while in their presence to suit his needs.

What he didn't inform them of was his lack of magic, he believed that that would not have gone over well with the little monsters.

He spent his first year in this brand spanking new world in his apartment, the outside still looked like it was still abandoned and served as a blotch on the niceness of the alleys. That first year was spent in mastering his abilities, his mental state and abilities were a great help there.

He made sure to immerse himself in as much literature and other media as he could, one reason being that he had not been able to do such in his last world, another reason was because it could help him in the imagination department, and the last reason was because he simply could.

During his second year he still remained indoors, but instead of mastering himself, he went about creating servants for himself, making use of the gifts he had been given. He didn't just will some form of life into existence, he wanted the beginnings of these beings to have more meaning in their creation or something like that and delved into researching and reading about creation stories and myths.

House elves were rather interesting. With the knowledge of what house elves originally had been, he decided that he should probably have some of his own, the original kind of them of course and not this enslaved race that they had become due to losing a war against the wizards so many thousands of years ago.

He needed a hobby to occupy his time and what better one than the arts. Painting and sculpting, specifically. These were the bases which he used in the creation of his elves. Not those floppy earned things that they originals had ended up becoming after their war with the wizards.

He make practice sculptures, these he donated to the goblins to do with as they pleased. They weren't anything that one would expect from someone that had only truly lived 12 years, but instead somethings from those that had lived a little bit more and actually had more experience with the art. He was a natural it seemed and it wasn't something that the mad scientist had implanted into him.

It was just something that he himself had figured out on his own. The same thing with painting and drawing, or sketching.

The goblins liked the gifts from the heir of the creator of their race, and what made them like the things more, even some of the more grotesque ones, was the fact that a simple application or exposure to some magic brought them to life, but not to the point where one could consider them as intelligent life.

These things were more like golems of sorts, animals that could traverse the marble columns that were scattered about the lobby of the bank.

The wizards found them quite interesting and some of the more learned of the lot believed that they must have taken quite some time to be enchanted to move about the way they did and a bit of transfiguration to look the way they did.

Which was obviously not the case since they were just practice pieces before their _father_ started on his master works.

The master works were only truly started during the third year. One delivery goblin, delivering a monthly financial report, had commented on how lifelike one of the unfinished elves looked, flesh in stone but at the same time having that ethereal beauty that elves had once been quite famous for.

It was six months into that year that the first elf was completed, the only remaining thing left to do was _breathe _life into the sculpture.

Harry had read several fantasy novels that had elves in them and decided to imbue his elves with the personalities, morals, attitudes, and generally everything that made those elves from those novels what they were.

He wasn't really sure about the giving life to the lifeless thing but he supposed that all he needed to do was expose the statue to some active magic, which did the trick, the mental part of the elf was done mine manipulation of the psychic kind.

He made sure that his first elf knew that he was its boss, the elf was male and had receive the name Primo. Clothes were already prepared for the elf, as Harry kind of treated his little project as playing with dolls, like sized ones.

He didn't need to add anything else, since the magic of the world, which was whatever the first Iunctio had left, did whatever else was necessary in the creation of the elf and those that followed.

He let Primo name his eleven other brothers and sisters. There were twelve of them all in all, the completion of Primo made the creation of the others much easier and quicker.

With servants finally created, he used up the rest of the third year for him and them to gain a bit more in terms of knowledge in how the world worked. He was planning on using the first floor after all, along with the property that sat just at the mouth of Knockturn Alley, it too had not been used in years.

The goblins were of much help when it came to planning and actually going about the creation and opening of two alley shops, that being the one directly under the apartment in which Harry lived with his elves, and the one at the mouth of the dark alley.

The building that served as his home's first floor was to be converted into a coffee shop, which would have comfortable tables, chairs, and couches, for customers to rest, relax, read a book or magazine, and of course enjoy their coffee. There would be a shelf or two of books of all kinds that could be borrowed for reading while within the coffee shop.

The second shop would serve as a place where he could display and sell his works of art, when he finally got down to making some. It would also sell art supplies, since he noticed that the alleys had so very few of them.

His servants, or subordinates or vassals, spent their days tending to one of the two shops, alternating with each other as to which shop they would be attending per day. Harry too spent time working at his shops, but of course wearing a different face every time and a different aged body.

That was basically how he spent his days up until he reached the important age of 11 and really started to grow again...his base form that is.

#

It hadn't been just elves that he had created from relative scratch. He'd brought to life a dozen goblins as well, and a small number of others as well. The Gringotts goblins didn't really mind since these newer goblins did not bear the curse that they had.

He had a dozen of each of his creations.

The elves ran the businesses. The goblins guarded the businesses. The vampires and werewolves (they didn't need the moon to change) were the errand runners or messengers, as well as the manual laborers and heavy lifters.

There were a few others of course that served more minor roles.

But aren't that important at present.

Harry received his letter just like anyone else of his age. A letter whose contents and address weren't really looked over by any of the staff of the school that they were from.

Due to his not residing in Number 4 Privet Drive, he received regular mail, but it went mostly through the goblins first before being passed on to him. There was quite a lot of fan mail, most of which he tried to send at least a 'thank you' reply to. There were others, such as proposals, requests, business opportunities which the goblins dealt with at their own discretion, and a bunch of other things.

No curses or spelled letters, or howlers even, managed to reach him.

Back to his letter, which a school owl had managed to successfully deliver the first time round, he read it and replied to it of course. Stating that he would be attending and also added a note that no one would be needed to show him or explain to him the magical world, of which he had been a member of since birth. He didn't put that last part in of course.

The goblins had done quite a bang up job with protecting him, his Houses, and his name. There were no fantasy children's books about him or starring him, no fanciful tales that were meant to mislead little boys and girls about him, while at the same time making other wizards and witches money without paying him royalty fees of any sort.

The last thing that held a bit of truth about the Boy-Who-Lived was that he had miraculously survived the Killing Curse and ended, for the time being, the reign of terror of the darkest dark lord in the history of Magical Britain since the time of Morgan Le Fey. Though since there weren't that many accurate accounts of Morgan Le Fey and Merlin, it was possible that the witch wasn't as dark as everyone thought of her as being, not that it mattered, all that mattered was the image that such a comparison presented.

Albus Dumbledore had claimed that that was what had happened, even though the only supposed witnesses to the event had been the deceased dark lord and the, at the time, infant Harry Potter. There had also been a claim that the, at the time, infant had been sent off to parts unknown to most others for his safety and so that he could have a childhood free of the chaos that would surely present itself to him.

Little did the headmaster know that what he had claimed happened had not really happened. The goblins apparently were the only ones in all of Magical Britain to know of that fact. No one bothered to check and see if the headmaster was telling the truth, it didn't really matter all that much.

Harry James Potter was not a truly household name. He was not venerated as some sort of wizarding saint. But he was still a hero in the eyes of those that had suffered under the terror that was Voldemort. They knew nothing of him and waited with bated breath for his return to their world, even though he had been living in it for the past how many years, and had even been seen in public though only those that knew him knew that it had been him that they had seen.

He had his servants perform his shopping for him. He just handed one of the werewolves the list of things needed and the whole pack of them were off, of course no one in the alley suspected or knew of their condition, just as no one knew or suspected the vampires of being what they were.

Daywalkers and skinchangers were very very rare, to have a total of a dozen of each in one single place working together and for one human was unheard of.

They walked amongst the wizards not looking like them, but looking more like muggles, or mundanes as was a more proper and less insulting term.

They wore business suits of all things, making them look as if they were always professional.

They got him everything he needed and he didn't even have to leave his workshop, which came in the form of one of several other buildings scattered throughout Magical London.


	5. Damned 1

Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works, like the anime Hellsing/Naruto. I also DO NOT own Disney or Star Wars. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

Note 2: I'm not all that good when it comes to writing accents.

Promotional Sentence 1: Read Lord of the Phoenix's "Player" if you want a dose of what Harry could also do in his life, set after 5th year.

Promotional Sentence 2: I would suggest reading Tigerman's "Portus" (One-shot) and "RuneMaster" (novel length), they're both great fics, especially "Portus". (mail me if you want me to advertise your fanfic)

"*"

"*"

**Damned**

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_**chapter one**_

"*"

"*"

It was a dark night, the moon was out in full, there were no stars out even though there were no clouds in sight. It was a night of unforgiving hell, fate and destiny had decreed that it would be a night of destinies. One would live, while the other would die. The old would be replaced by the new, the new would bring about a change in the world, for better or for worse. No matter what would transpire that night, the world would be changed forever. The fate of everything in the world would be decided that night.

Five people were pawns of fate and destiny that night, five mortals whose lives had since been lived in the mortal coil. One was a betrayer, one a leader, one a life giver, one a life taker, and one a new life unto the world. These five were the elements of change, they were the characters in that night's masquerade. It was Ol' Hallow's Eve, Samhain, the end of summer, as well as the end of the lighter half of the year and the beginning of the dark half. It was truly a time of change.

The betrayer had betrayed his friend, his leader in a sense to the life taker, he had sold out his soul to a mortal devil. His soul was forever tarnished by such an action as not only was his leader sold out, but so were two innocents, a giver of life, and the new life which she had given, truly a gift of purity. The life taker meant to take those lives, the lives of those three. But he had one problem, fate and destiny were put into play, he had caught their attention, and had put into play one of their ploys in the hopes for change. Many knew subconsciously that the world desperately needed changing, for better or for worse mattered not, all that mattered was that change would take place.

The life taker, never a master of death for one must accept it as inevitable to have mastered it, calmly strode into the dwelling, knowing the secret that was supposed to be hidden. There were shouts from within the house, the woman ran with her babe, while the man fought the devil. Batches and splashes of bright lights lit up the house, and bathed the outside with their unearthly glows. Then an emerald green light illuminated the night, there were no more lights after that for a time. The leader and protector had fallen, and the life giver and babe were left alone to fend for themselves.

The devil then made its way toward the remaining two of his victims for that night, his two final sacrifices for his final victory. His servant, the betrayer waited for the inevitable a few feet away from his master. He was the back up plan, in case something went wrong, his master would be able to escape. But both of them thought that it was unlikely that the devil would find an obstacle that he would be unable to rid himself of.

Some shouted words, another bright flash of emerald green light, a momentary silence followed by a wail that would wake the dead. The life giver had given her life for her babe, she had given life to another, a sacrifice coupled with the powers of fate and destiny, her child had lived, while she had died. But another had died as well, the devil had fallen, and his servant, ever loyal to him, snatched his prized weapon, his tool, his medium of dealing out death, and ran. Fear had gripped him momentarily, which allowed his master's final victory to be lost to him.

The babe and the betrayer were the only ones to live that night. The betrayer had played his part, starting the chain reaction or domino effect that would lead to a changed world. A beginning of a new era, or the end of all things. The fate of the whole world rode on the shoulders of one young boy, a babe with an mark upon his brow, a lightning bolt.

The babe was brought out of the structure that he had been in, it was not safe what with all the energies floating about the house. The man that had taken him out was a true friend of the family, the one that should have been chosen to keep the secret, to have hidden his friends. As he left the standing husk of a house, he was met with a giant of a man, that requested, nearly demanded that the babe be surrendered to him. The man that had taken the babe was delirious with grief and so gave up the babe, which also translated into his giving up any right he had to the babe. It was a decision that would forever haunt him, even in death.

The giant of a man then brought the babe to some suburban area in the country where a pair of old busy bodies were waiting for them, the older of the two looked as if he were expecting the outcome of the night's events. The ministrations of fate and destiny after all were clear to him, as he was a manipulator of those two manipulators, the manipulated one another. It was not a battle, but a shared hobby of sorts, where each excelled, but only two were true masters, but due to some unwritten rules and laws were only able to influence so much. Which was why they allowed or permitted that one mortal to sow the seeds that they needed sowing, and so on and so forth.

The old man took the babe from the half giant, then laid him to rest on the doorstep of number four Privet Drive, leaving a note as well attached to the blanket that surrounded the babe that was also placed in a small basket. It was a stereotypical leaving a child on the doorstep of a house and hoping that the inhabitants took pity on the poor soul, and took care of him as one of their own. After doing the deed of abandonment, the old busy bodies, and the half giant left, not bothering to take a last glace at the babe, or make sure that the child had enough protection from the elements. They didn't even bother knocking on the door of the house or ringing the bell.

It was not a good night to be Harry James Potter.

"*"

The letter that had been addressed to Petunia Dursley had been written with a tone of a threat, one that stated that should Harry James Potter not be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, then she and her family would suffer the same fate as the boy's parents. It simply stated that he must be alive enough to attend the school, or at the very least receive the invitation as that was the way that the school would know him to be alive. It didn't say just how good his health was supposed to be.

Petunia had a deep seeded hatred for her sister, her younger sister at that, the hatred ran so deep that if it were possible she would have drowned the babe, or at the very least dropped him off somewhere in London to either be taken cared of by some random stranger or eaten by the rats. But the letter was there, and if she valued her life, she would make sure that the babe lived to see his eleventh birthday.

Harry was small for a five year old, he was so small in fact that he could probably be mistaken for a three year old, and that was saying something. He was skin and bones, a fact that not many knew about due to his constantly being covered in oversized castoffs from his cousin which his aunt had him wear. His family made sure that there were no visible marks on the parts of his body that people could see, but underneath the near rags were scars, bruises, and a lot of other things. Things that should not be seen on a five year, much more a child.

His family hated him with a passion, his cousin simply following the lead of his parents. He was starved and beaten for absolutely no real reason, or any reason that he knew about. He started to believe that he was simply put on the Earth for the enjoyment and amusement that his relatives derived from basically treating him as lower than dirt. Of course they did provide him with his basic needs, as well as the bare minimum required by law. It was also a good thing for the family of three that no social worker from child services ever came to bother them about Harry Potter. It was most likely the doing of one Albus Dumbledore, or over zealous magicals that did not like muggles meddling in their affairs.

Harry Potter only had school records and his birth records to him name in the muggle world, no one outside of his relatives really knew anything about him. Nothing he owned was ever new, and nothing he ate was either. There was no real nutrition in his body, and whenever it was suggested that he have a check-up his guardians, his relatives, made sure that they paid some corrupt practitioner to perform the checking, or simply making up some medical certificate that would state that the child was in perfect health, and that his height was due to his genes.

His grades were nothing special other than the fact that they kept to being just passing, never above, and never below, they were always on the line, tittering on the edge, and due to this no one really paid him much attention, his guardians informed the school that he was a lost cause as they had supposedly tried getting him tutors, but he simply chose to disregard the teachings, only getting enough to move up a level, and not be a burden or something like that. He was supposedly a problem child and the Dursleys were good people since they put up with him so that no one else needed to. People saw him in a negative light to the point that any bullying done to him was something he deserved, they would only interfere if things got too out of hand, which things never did when there were witnesses.

When he was around eight years old, his loving relatives left him in some Christian day care center somewhere in London, as they needed to be somewhere for the day and their regular babysitter was unavailable, and they didn't want to have to trouble anyone else in their neighborhood with the monstrosity.

It was during his stay in the day care that he was first exposed to religion, but of all the things that he was told of, he found the most interesting part of the stories were the parts he could relate to. It just so happened that the person that was telling the stories explained the things that she told them in the form of stories, always depicting some person or another being doing bad things, and being punished for those actions. There were things about revenge and whatnot mixed in there.

There were also tales about children who had turned on their caretakers for treating them a certain way. It would later be revealed that that particular caretaker had been drunk at the time that she was imparting knowledge on impressionable children. She was teaching them that bad was good and good was bad, and that karma was not something that some higher power imposed, but rather, it was something that someone decided to impose. If you wanted something to happen you would have to do it yourself, no one was going to help you, not even some high and mighty higher power that was supposed to care for everyone. If that supposedly higher power was supposed to care for everyone then why didn't it care for the less fortunate or for him. Harry wondered why this guy that was supposed to love everyone didn't care about him. He even cast out into the abyss one of his faithful ones for speaking up, for disagreeing with him or that was how Harry interpreted some of the things that the caretaker was saying.

It would also later be revealed that she had been drinking before going to work due to problems at home and with her boyfriends, lovers, husband, and friends in general. Suffice to say that her life was shit, and the only person that she managed to turn to the dark side was the child that would change the world for better or for worse.

At nine years old, he met some people, at least they appeared to be people, that would change his life forever, ones that had gone through similar, but at the same time a whole lot more different, lives. He had decided that running home would be a good idea since his relatives left him at the school again, he was sure that it was intentional, he didn't really care, all he cared about was getting home. He had dreams that would be nightmares for many other people, and surviving until he was old enough or had the means to do as he dreamed was a priority, which was why he had to get home, or to the place in which he lived.

As he ran home, his rather smaller than average body collided with something that, to him, felt like a brick wall. As he fell on his ass his eyes turned nearly skyward and staring back at him was a man, an Italian by the looks of him, Harry knew only because of some of the people on the news when he managed to catch glimpses of it.

"I'm not gonna bite," the man told Harry as he held out a helping hand to the boy, Harry took the hand and was pulled to his feet, "You wouldn't happen to know a Vernon Dursley would you? I was told that he lives somewhere around here."

"I live with him," Harry replied, not knowing why he was being so honest with the stranger, or why he was so at ease with a person that others were hurrying away from.

"Well that saves me the trouble of looking for him," the man said, "Could you perhaps lead me to him? I have some business with him, or rather my boss has some business with him."

"Are you some kind of bad guy?" Harry asked as he led the man to number four Privet Drive.

"Some kind of bad guy?" the man said, "I would think so, since everyone is a bad guy to someone else."

"I didn't think a guy looking like you would say something that sounded smart," Harry admitted as they reached the street.

"Sounded smart," the man guffawed, "I'm smart kid, I'm real smart, but my boss is smarter, just like you...you kinda remind me of him when he was a kid."

"Really?" Harry asked, "Why's that mister?"

"For one thing," the man said, "You look like him, down to the scar on your head. Though the boss looks a bit different nowadays."

"Are you wanting to see my uncle cause some random relative wants to get me away from him?" Harry asked, it was a possibility.

"Er...I'm just the messenger," the man said, "I'm just supposed to deliver a message to Vernon Dursley, after I deliver the message, you could follow me if you liked."

"Ok," Harry said, just as he knocked on the door of the house, his relatives' car was already parked in the driveway which meant that they were already home, and probably preparing his punishments for being late or something similar.

When Petunia Dursley opened the door she had been expecting her ungrateful freak of a nephew, what she got was a fist in the face and a knee in the gut, both of which sent her flying. For some reason, some higher power had made sure that none of the neighbors witnessed the half-exchange. Vernon was too shocked to actually do anything, and Dudley...well...Dudley was Dudley.

"You owe my boss a debt," the mystery Italian looking man said, "You promised that it would be paid, you even signed some pretty legal documents stating that the full debt would be paid. We've handled all of your criminal cases making sure that none of them come to light. Yet as of yesterday, the day you were supposed to pay, what did the office get? A search warrant and an arrest warrant. My boss was not happy with that, that some of his most loyal employees were brought to the precinct. You broke your word Vernon Dursley."

"What are you talking about? I don't owe anyone anything," Vernon claimed after regaining his composure, he had actually forgotten that his wife had been sent sailing across the room, "You don't have proof to your claims."

"I don't need proof," the man said, "My boss told me to get the reparations, compensations, and alternate payment for the debt to be paid in full with interest. You were forwarded to us by an affiliate, one of your workmates, one that you trusted with such delicate matters. He paid his debts, he always paid on time. I'm pretty sure he told you to remember to pay your debts. But did you listen? No. You thought that there were loopholes, you thought that you could frame us. Well, you thought wrong."

"Dudley, call the police!" Vernon bellowed, his son...well...his son did what he did best, whatever that was, Harry didn't really care all that much from his vantage point which was just inside the door of the house.

"The police will not be able to aid you," the man said, "Your honor and your word are worth shit now, you disgrace of a man, of a human being. Normally when a client displeases the boss with their actions, one of my subordinates are sent out to collect what was due. But you did something else to incur the wrath of my boss."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Vernon demanded, his eyes darting all over the room looking for something he could use to protect himself, "I don't owe you squat, you didn't do anything to help me, there's nothing that can prove that I've made some sort of deal with you."

"You still don't get it do you," the man said, a hand reaching into his coat, a move that most would think signaled the pulling out of a gun or something similar, he pulled out a gun, "The dishonoring of an agreement would have only lost you your mobility. But to treat your nephew as less than trash, well, my boss doesn't like it when family is treated like shit."

"Uhm...excuse me," Harry said, standing behind the man.

"Yeah kid?" the man said, his gun pointed squarely at Vernon, his eyes never leaving the whale of a man.

"What do I have to do with the situation and your boss?" Harry asked.

"The boss is interested in you as well," the man said, "Though you don't need to come with me if you don't want to. Its your choice, the boss just doesn't like it when family does not care for family, like your relatives. We know about the abuse, but we did not and still do not have a legal way of getting you away from the scum."

"Oh," Harry said, "So what happens now?"

"This," the man said as he pulled the trigger of his gun, Vernon Dursley knew no more, the man then shot Petunia, then walked over to Dudley, then put the gun in the kid's hand, and spoke in a whisper in a language that Harry could not understand, "_**You bought the gun from a Piers Polkiss since you needed a way to get revenge on your parents for not doing what you wanted them to do. After not giving into your temper tantrum, you decided to punish them by shooting them. When we leave you with your parents, you are to run out of the house and go to Arabella Figg's house and shoot her cats since they're annoying. Shoot all the annoying people you find, and when the police ask you why you did it, just say that your Aunt Marge told you to do it.**_"

"What did you say to him?" Harry asked once the man began to gather Harry's things, and putting them into a duffel bag that hadn't been there before. Dudley stared into space as the man moved about, as if his mind was not there yet.

"You need not concern yourself with that, yet," the man said.

"So..." Harry said, "I'm clearly not normal since I've just watched you kill two of my relatives and I'm not freaking out."

"I noticed," the man said, "Listen, the name's Alfonso, my boss knows about what you've been doing this past year, its part of the reason why he's interested in you."

"H-How..?" Harry asked, worried, and for once acting normally, he had done things that would force the courts to try him as an adult, it was practice for the future.

"We've got our ways, the boss most especially," Alfonso said, "The boss keeps track of such things."

"B-But.." Harry said, dread seeping into his veins.

"Don't worry so much about it," Alfonso said, "Our monitoring of your actions began to moment you committed your first...well...sin. We keep a tally, just to make sure the Hall knows where to send you...or whoever it is that runs the Hall."

"The Hall?" Harry asked, calming down.

"Never you mind that," Alfonso said, then asked, "Anything else here you be wanting to take with you?"

"I don't think so," Harry said.

"Very well then," the man said, "You coming?"

"I'm coming," Harry said, "I want answers, and your boss interests me as well."

"That's good to hear," the man said, and led Harry out of the house, and pulled him aside as Dudley burst out the door and made his way to wherever he needed to go to perform the tasks that Alfonso had set him out to do.

The two of them walked in silence, up until they reached a parked hearse of all cars, it was parked by a fire hydrant too and didn't have any tickets plastered over its windshield. Leaning on the thing was a man that looked exactly like Alfonso. His name was Dino.

"What took you so long?" Dino asked as he spotted the two of them, "I've had to silence several officers who wanted to give me a parking violation ticket, do you know how many bullets that is? Wasted on puny insignificant souls!"

"Shut up Dino," Alfonso said as he opened the door and motioned for Harry to get in, then followed the kid in, "Get into the car Dino!"

"Ha! You think I'll listen to you! Well..." Dino said, but entered as soon as he saw his brother's glare, "So...where to?"

"We're meeting Mario near the Cauldron," Alfonso reminded his younger brother, "So step on it!"

"You got it bro!" Dino said, then fastened his seat belt, Alfonso did the same, and told Harry to do so also. They weren't safety addicts of anything like that, it was just that with the way Dino got them to their destination, it was a good thing that they had worn their belts, else the hearse would have served a greater purpose than to simply bring living people to some alleyway.

When they got there and stepped out of the car, they were met with a man with a lollipop stuck in his mouth and was leaning of the wall. Like his two look-a-likes he was wearing something like an Armani suit, and a fedora hat. They were triplets, identical triplets.

"Yo," Mario greeted them, "The name's Mario Zabini, in case you didn't know," he told Harry and held out a hand, which Harry shook, "I'm the eldest, followed by Alfonso, then Dino bringing up the rear. The boss has been expecting you little one. Come follow me, that I might lead you to him."

They didn't proceed into the Leaky Cauldron, which was a derelict looking structure that looked out of place in London, which Harry had noticed for the first time when they walked passed it, Dino sneering in its direction for some reason. Mario led the group to a condemned looking building, pried open the door, and told Harry to get inside, and head for the top floor. Their boss was waiting for him there. They would keep a lookout, play protection detail of some sort. Harry complied and entered the place.

The first thing he noticed was that it was unusually warm inside, it wasn't as drafty as he thought it would be seeing as on the outside it looked like a condemned building. It was surprisingly clean, and Harry thought that it looked a bit lived in in some places. As he walked up the stairs of the place, he noticed and felt a little bit creeped out by the paintings and portraits that seemed to follow his every step, as if waiting in anticipation for something great to occur.

Once he reached the top of the stairs, the top floor of the building, he found himself instantly transported into what was clearly an office. There was a desk in the middle of the room, two comfortable looking chairs, a few cabinets, a computer, and several monitors lining one wall. In one of the chairs, the one behind the desk, sat an old looking man, with a clean shaven face, and jet black hair. He wore an Armani business suit, no hat, and what made him look old were the lines on his face, his age lines, his wrinkles. But his eyes burned with an inferno of an inner fire for some reason. It was the only thing about the man's expression that could be called an actual expression.

"Greetings," the old man said in greeting, and motioned for Harry to take a seat in the unoccupied seat in front of the desk, which Harry took and tried to get comfortable, "I hope that the Trio treated you well."

"They did, sir," Harry replied.

"Splendid," the man said, the way he spoke kind of freaked Harry out since it was devoid of any emotion whatsoever, "I, as you may already have figured out, am the boss of those three Zabini. My name...well...names are power, but in your case my name would not give you any power over me. I am known by many names, but you may call me Lord."

"Nice to meet you Lord," Harry greeted in return, "Why are you interested in me?"

"Straight to business, I like that," the old man said, "My interest in you is your potential, there are many forces in this world that are at play at the moment, all vying for power, the power to rule the world. You, in a way, are one of these forces. I have monitored your progress, and know that your potential is great. It was a good choice on your part to practice and rehearse with animals instead of people, though that one big wolf wasn't an animal, but a werewolf. Tell me, where have your morals gone?"

"Out the proverbial window," Harry replied, "I guess. In my life the only one that matter is myself, and those I deem worthy of my attention, and in the future my protection."

"Good to know," the old man said, "I like your mindset and your goals...or its general outline."

"So what are you? What do you want from me?" Harry asked after a short moment of silence.

"I am...well...in a manner of speaking I am a god," the old man admitted, "A long time ago I was but a small voice crying out in the darkness, my plea unanswered, and so I took matters into my own hands. But that was a long time ago, and in another world altogether."

"I think I can believe that," Harry said, "Every man is a universe unto himself and all that."

"Interesting philosophy," the old man said, "But not really all that applicable in this case. I am a god, whether your believe me or not is your choice. What I want from you is to form a kind of contract with you. Are you interested?"

"What would the contract entail?" Harry asked, "What do each of us get out of it?"

"You don't sound like a nine year old at all," the old man remarked, "The contract involves you getting the means, early, to make your dreams a reality. What I get out of it is entertainment, as well as you ridding the mortal and after life of a few souls, and I assure you that I have the backing of two other gods in their own rights."

"Is this the you give me powers and I do what you are unable to do due to some rule against divine intervention?" Harry asked.

"Something like that," the old man replied, "Though I wouldn't call any interference I make 'divine'."

"Oh...so no asking for my soul as payment?" Harry asked, knowing just who or at least what he was faced with at the moment.

"I wouldn't ask that of family," the old man said, "Worlds apart distant, but still family. I recall one of my subordinates informing you of the family resemblance."

"Oh," Harry said, not really having much of an alternative choice in the matter, he simply agreed to the matter, "So...let's do this then, I have no qualms when it comes to killing, though I hope you will explain how I am to rid the after life of some souls, also, do I stay mortal and for that matter, human?"

"Just sign on the dotted line," the old man slid a single piece of paper and a quill across the table to right in front of Harry, "Its a blood quill, illegal in some parts of the world, but we're not ones to care much for laws are we? No, I don't think so, what with all the cruelty to animals laws that you've broken...the quill will draw blood directly from your body to use when writing. So simply sign on the dotted line, that's full name and signature in case you didn't know what I meant."

"You still haven't answered the rest of my question," Harry said as he examined the quill.

"You will, for the most part remain as you are," the old man said, "Meaning that you shall remain as a magical human and mortal. Though, as far as powers go, you will gain another or a few other forms."

"Who are the other higher powers that you have backing you?" Harry asked as he looked over the contract trying to locate possible loopholes, and finding none in all the terms.

"Death and Magic," the old man replied, "And no, you will not be meeting them, their...servants perhaps, but not them. Its in the contract as I'm sure you've noticed having gone over the thing."

"Yes, I read that part of the agreement," Harry said, "Well, I don't really see a downside, so here goes," he then signed the contract. Once he was done, he clutched his chest as a searing pain shot through his body, it was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off within his chest, and was affecting only him.

"I'll have someone prepare your palace," the old man said, then picked up a mirror and spoke to someone on the other side, in a language that Harry was sure that he would be learning, it was part of the contract after all.

Harry was going to get power alright, loads of it, but that was that for that part. He would still need to learn how to use all of it, control it, and not destroy the world on accident. That was how much power he was getting as he writhed on the floor in silent agony and pain. Pain before pleasure and all that. He was physically stronger, faster, magically as well, and all that. He was powerful, he was a level short of being a god, but that didn't mean that he was below demigod status. He had that, since part of the contract made him take up the formerly vacant position of Vice-Governor of the Ninth Circle of Hell. With that position, he got his own demonic army, palace in Hell, a devil form, one where he would look all devilish. Due to the contract he was also able to use more of his brain, more of his mental capacity. But while he could become really smart, whether or not he made the effort to become great or not would really make the difference.

The souls that the contract spoke of getting rid of from both the mortal plane and after life ones, belonged to a number of people. But the important ones were a certain headmaster, a certain halfblood, a certain politician named after a dessert, and a certain thing that not even the Devil himself wanted to have to deal with. Oh, and a certain fairy. There was of course also a relatively short list of must remove from the mortal plane of existence.

Fifteen minutes later a pair of skeletons walked into the office, picked up the writhing nine year old, and carried him off to his palace in Hell, while the old man completed the schedule for the moment he got everything up to his eleventh birthday. He also wrote down letters to the teachers for the youth, as well as made lists for the things, the tools, and other such things that the youth would be needing in his rushed training.


	6. Damned 2

Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works, like the anime Hellsing/Naruto. I also DO NOT own Disney or Star Wars. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

Note 2: I'm not all that good when it comes to writing accents.

Promotional Sentence 1: Read Lord of the Phoenix's "Player" if you want a dose of what Harry could also do in his life, set after 5th year.

Promotional Sentence 2: I would suggest reading Tigerman's "Portus" (One-shot) and "RuneMaster" (novel length), they're both great fics, especially "Portus". (mail me if you want me to advertise your fanfic)

"*"

"*"

**Damned**

"*"

_**chapter two**_

"*"

"*"

He had demonic tutors, some of them the greatest minds of their eras, they taught him not only the ways to work his new demonic powers, they also taught him about politics, diplomacy, the demonic hierarchy, as well as blackmail, underhandedness, how to properly kidnap, torture, and kill a person, without getting caught, he was also taught how to frame others for his deeds. He was also taught how easy it was to be evil, by a rather ginormous red dragon by the name of Ommadon.

Ommadon was an interesting dragon in that he had a habit of randomly quoting verses from the Book of Revelations. The dragon had also taught him cooking of all things, it was a skill that none could do without or so the fire breathing immortal said. He had learned that the dragon had gone and fought with the forces of the Heavens in two wars, one from a lifetime ago, and the other, the second one was from something close to seventy years ago, but in another reality altogether. Harry didn't really know how to react to that.

He also had magical tutors that guided him into expanding his imagination, that led him down the path of nothing being impossible, that anything was possible, and the only limitations one had were the ones that they placed on themselves. They did of course remember to teach him the mundane side of things, science, maths, history, the arts, and a host of other things that children normally took up in school. These were added onto lessons on potion making and brewing, magical maths, magical sciences, ancient languages. How they managed to fit all of his lessons in was explained in time management. The magical tutors were provided by Magic himself who had sent them via portkey, a mode of magical transportation, one that had gone a long way from that rather uncomfortable mode to a more comfortable one. The Old Man, or Lord as he wanted Harry to call him, just loved traveling via portkey some of his subordinates informed Harry.

Harry learned from the best minds that the Circles of Hell could provide, as well as the mists from the world of Magic could send at such short notice, and it was short notice, considering that Magic was busy monitoring the progress of one of his apprentices of a sort.

He not only exercised his mind, magic, and demonic powers, but also his body. He may have been young, but that did not mean that it was too early to start becoming healthier, there was also the fact that he needed to get his body to the way it should have been had he not been abused, neglected, and specifically suffered from malnutrition. He should not have been as short as he had been when he had first met with the Old Man, the Zabini Trio, Ommadon.

When his eleventh birthday struck he had been lazily looking out and over his earldom when some of the other Hell Nobility barged onto his palace's main balcony, each of them ready for his final exam for his rushed education. When in Hell, Harry took on his demonic devil form, it was the stereotypical horned, tailed, and winged, devil look. His devil form was like an athlete's in build, it was like a marathon runner's body, it was built for speed and maneuverability. He had been granted the title and rank of Earl, due in part to his part time desk job, or he saw it as one, as the Vice-Governor of the Ninth Circle of Hell. He didn't really do much, since his direct superior loved work, and was very efficient at it, only handing over a tiny percentage or fraction compared to what other Vice-Governors receive.

He six feet flat in height in his devil form, while he was five foot five inches in his human form but still had a slight athletic build. He kept his emerald green eyes in either form, as well as his ebony black hair, though it wasn't as unmanageable in his devil form since it was normally long and tied in a ponytail. In both forms he had retractable fangs, like a snake or a vampire. His skin color was the same in both forms, which was of a regular color and complexion, which denoted that he did get enough sun, but not enough to get him tanned.

If one would think that due to his station in life he had to wear a certain style of clothing, then one would be wrong. Devils could wear anything they wanted, so long as they presented themselves in semi-formal to formal attire when meeting with the Old Man, who Harry learned was the Devil himself. As for the reason why he didn't want Harry to know his name, well his status wasn't it. Harry didn't care after six months about the name thing.

As a human he kept to wearing dark tones when it came to his shirts, and either jeans or slacks for pants, nothing that had more than four visible pockets for the pants. He didn't like wearing shorts, unless for swimming. No matter what his clothes were, he always wore dark blue rubber shoes. He didn't know why that was, but he simply chose to wear those shoes. He did own several sets of that Japanese style black high school student uniform. He preferred those over business suits.

When in Hell, he wore a floor length black leather duster coat, over dark blue cargo pants, and a dark green mythril shirt. He wore no boots due to their restrictiveness when it came to his feet that resembled dragon's feet, down to the sharp talons for toenails. He did not have black leathery wings, but black feathered wings, the kind that a fallen angel is sometimes depicted as having. His wings were retractable, when not needed they were hidden within his body somehow. Harry never really paid much attention to where they were kept. He did not need remove his top to free them and use them, they simply bypassed his clothes somehow, it was a very useful property that they had. He wore dark red cloth gloves, for the simply reason that he thought that they looked nice. His hands were clawed but managed not to cut the gloves as the claws were as retractable as his wings.

He had a tail, it was prehensile, and Harry didn't know why in the world it resembled the tails of the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies, but it did. It was just as black too, and as skeletal looking. It was usually wound around his waist underneath his coat. The thing ended in a stinger, a retractable one. His body parts had a thing for being retractable.

His head was probably the most human of his Devil form body parts, and it was not retractable, apart from the fangs. He looked like an older and more mature version of himself. But with the addition of the ability of his jaw being able to be dislocated and act in a way like a snake's. He could lengthen his facial structure giving him a kind of snout or muzzle. But he preferred to keep his face more human. His smile was not at all that normal, since when he smiled or bared all of his teeth, his lips stretched a whole lot more to show a lot more teeth, his grin was kind of like Venom's grin from the Marvel comics. He also had two pairs of horns that jutted out of his head, and curved backwards, one pair was shorter than the other.

While he had been taught how to wield a number of weapons, ranging from the medieval to the modern. He opted to use his body as a weapon in itself instead of relying on something that could potentially be discarded in a fight. His hands were his favorite weapons, not his claws, but the whole hand. He used them to slice and pierce things. He had practiced on some live humans that had been sentenced to death by the courts. His favorite killing blow was not decapitation, but literally thrusting his hand through the person's chest and pulling out the heart.

His final exam consisted of him fighting whoever the heck invaded his palace and challenged him. It was very archaic, but at the same time enjoyable and simple. The goal of the exam was for him to survive, without killing any of his opponents, though they didn't have the same rules and limitations placed on themselves. They could come at him with the intent to kill and actually kill him in the process.

His reaction to the expected attack was to immediately form two fists and meet his opponents head on. If he did happen to fail his exam, no one would be able to say anything bad about him as he entered battle willingly, and not as coward running and hiding and not giving much effort to surviving at all. He may not have been allowed to kill or maim, but he could give concussions and send others to blissful unconsciousness.

Most of the devils and demons resorted to physical ways of fighting, very few had resorted to using magical means, like throwing fireballs, gusts of wind, having parts of the palace give way. The few that did resort to being long ranged attackers, threw the most powerful of their arsenal at him. Directly commanding the more powerful versions of the elements in Hell to do their bidding and attempt to tear Harry asunder.

He received a number of hits, and at the very end had to resort to fighting on sheer willpower alone. He had received enough injuries to have crippled his human form, but since he was in his Devil form, he was stronger, and he even had an accelerated healing factor, one which was not as accelerated in his human form. During the entirety of the fight he had actually forgotten about his tail and wings, which he could have used. He did manage to remember to use his horns in the fight, as he could rip them off, it was a bit painful to do so, and used them as throwing weapons. He could grow them back by concentrating his Devil powers in healing his injuries. He could do that to accelerate his accelerated healing. Which would allow him to regrow his lost left arm in the span of four hours, as opposed to the usual twelve.

It could be faster for lost human body parts, it was slower in Devil form to reform, regrow, but not reattach, body parts since Devil anatomy was a little bit more complex than human anatomy. But he healing power was generally faster in Devil form.

He passed the test with good marks, basically no one had died, but he did suffer a lot of injuries. It was both a good and bad result. The Old Man didn't really care for the results other than the fact that Harry had survived. He would have a few more scars added to his already extensive collection, some of which would vanish over time, while some others would remain. He even had a would that once healed would become a scar along his neck, it was one of the things that lessened the points he had gained, since he almost was decapitated.

"Congratulations in living to see the remainder of your eleventh birthday," the old man said as he appeared right in front of Harry as soon as Harry got his bearing back and was calmed down from all the adrenaline running through his system. The man had appeared in a manner that made him look like he had been there the whole time.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said in reply to the congratulations, he knew it was praise even though the tone of voice and facial expression of the old man said otherwise. It was one of the Devil's quirks, the ability to completely mask emotions. He had emotions, but refused to show it or something like that. Harry didn't really understand of know.

"While in the mortal world you are still considered as a child," the old man said, "Down here, and in places and realms that matter, you are now an adult. Welcome to the life of Hell. I am sure that there is no need to test you on your knowledge of the other things you learned. I know you know what you learned."

"Thank you for your confidence in my abilities," Harry said, "Now onto why you are here."

"Very well," the old man said, "Owls can't reach Hell, mortal ones unless they die and...I chose that they deserved to be sent here. Your letter is winging its way to you, or its bearer will attempt to reach you."

"You didn't mention anyone worrying about my whereabouts," Harry said, "I mean, shouldn't the school administrators be worried about where I'm living. I'm in Hell, and I know for a fact that those letters are addressed to the exact address of their recipient."

"The magic writes the letters down," the old man explained, "The Deputy Headmistress uses or even can be considered as part of a system that does the whole writing, sending, and delivering of the letters to the potential students."

"So she doesn't really check anything? They don't care about where their potentials live?" Harry asked.

"I'm not all that sure about that part," the old man said, "But I do know that they do go over the list of potential students and their addresses when they want to or need to send a teacher to convince the family and child of the existence of magic."

"Oh...so the likelihood of their sending someone to me is...?" Harry said.

"Nil," the old man said, "They believe that your family has informed you about the magical world. Which also proves that they don't really give a rat's ass about you, since they magical world is ignorant of the fact that your muggle relatives are dead. Your uncle and aunt are somewhere in Hell, as I'm sure you are aware. Your cousin went through reincarnation, since Alfonso coerced him into doing what he did."

"Ok...so..." Harry said, "About that owl.."

"You'll have to go up stairs," the old man said, "I have already transferred the building that you first met me with to your name, to use as you please."

"Does it come with all the furniture and the look of being abandoned?" Harry asked.

"I had it fixed up last year," the old man said, "As for furniture, well, I had new things brought in. The only thing that will not be there, is my office, but there is a similar one in its place, for your use."

"Thank you, my Lord," Harry said, "So...when do I have to leave? Also, can I take anyone with me?"

"You have ventured back to the land of the living several times," the old man said, "While you were not permitted to bring anyone with you on those trips, you may do so now. You are Vice-Governor of the Ninth Circle of Hell, which means you are a general of some of Hell's armies. So of course you can take someone with you."

"Do I have anything in the worlds? You know, documented proof that I am who I say I am, and prove that I own what I own, and that my money is not illegally mine," Harry said.

"Yes," the old man said, "Who do you think I am? You have everything you need in your pouch for all occasions."

"How'd you...nevermind," Harry said, "So...I guess this is see you later then."

"Pretty much," the old man said, "Though feel free to summon me through a complex and complicated dark ritual if you need someone to talk to."

"I'll do that...if I find some worthy virgin sacrifices that is," Harry said.

"Not interested," the old man said, "I'm not into virgins, you're still thinking that I'm the former 'Devil himself'. Just about anyone will do, so long as they are insignificant."

"Oh..yeah," Harry said, "Sorry, I kind of had Ommadon's quotes in my mind at that moment."

"I figured as much," the old man said, "Well, see you later rather than sooner, and good luck, not that you need it, with your end of the contract."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Harry said, then blinked to find that the Old Man was no longer there. He then walked into his palace to pack his things, and send out messages and summons to his subordinates. All of whom were sure to come running or flying or phasing through walls to be in his presence. They all arrived when he was sitting in his throne room, all governors and vice-governors had such rooms.

"We're going upstairs," Harry told them, "So prepare yourselves and meet me in that address," he then had the address to his building float in flames to his side for his men to take note of, "We're bringing Hell to Earth, in a manner of speaking."

#

The building had around thirteen floors, including the roof and basement. The basement was used for storage, and the roof was used mainly as a garden, Harry liked gardening. That made eleven of the floors useable by the new residents.

Harry decided that the first five floors were to be used as offices since he had a feeling that he had some business holdings in the magical world, and possibly in the muggle world. He knew that the goblins handled all the heritages, wills, and family holdings of the prominent members of the magical society, so he would be visiting them at the soonest to get what he could from his account there. The other six floors were to be used as the residential part of the building. He of course got the top floor. The sixth floor served as the common area, the kitchen was also located there, as well as the dining room. It wasn't the palace, but it would do. For future vehicles, he had an empty lot, which he planned on turning into a parking lot soon.

He received his letter of invitation the day after his birthday, he received it while he was up in his garden, watering his lilies and petunias, he had an extensive garden, some of the plants could normally only be found in Hell, but he brought them with him anyway. He was a part of Hell, so it should be Ok, and as he found out, they seemed to like the living world more than the afterlife. They loved all the nature, even if it was suppressed by all the pollution in the world, it gave them a new sense of life. The new sense of life made them more potent should they be used as themselves or as ingredients for a lot of poisons, as alternates to some, or for potions that had been forgotten due to lack of ingredients.

His demons, and minor devils, were ordered to integrate themselves into society, build up identities of their own in the muggle world, as well as the magical world. All of his demons hadn't really had the chance in the past to really stay long enough on the earthly plane to need to make a nearly permanent identity for themselves. But this time they did, and they did it right. Making sure that their jobs in the world wouldn't catch the eye of anyone important. They used Harry's building as their dormitory, taking up the seventh and eighth floors of the building.

He sent his reply to his acceptance letter just as the owl dropped his acceptance letter of. He made it look as if an adult had done the writing, in a sense he was an adult and could pull it off. With the list of school supplies on hand he made his way to Diagon Alley, which he was very much aware of, as well as most other public places in the magical world due to his trips. He made scheduled his trip for a day in the week after his birthday.

His entrance into the alley wasn't all that spectacular, it was rather mundane as were his trappings. He looked like just about any of the other shoppers, minus the robes. He didn't really like those, they hindered movement, unless they were customized to his needs, like his coats. He was odd to some of the patrons of the pub he had entered, it wasn't the Leaky Cauldron. It was a pub called the Choco Chugger it was found in the deepest part of the seediest of all the magical alleys of London, Knockturn Alley.

The patron of the pub-slash-inn looked at him expecting to see a pedophile or something follow him into the pub. The entrance was also located in a seedy part of London. But were rather surprised when he was not accompanied by anyone. Some of the patrons that were inclined to do as they thought was happening, followed him into the alley, and in a manner of speaking met their maker when Harry pulled out all of their hearts in quick succession. He also placed preservation charms on them, shrunk them, and placed sent them through two-way portals to one of his storage rooms in the basement of his home away from home.

He liked hearts, seeing as his relatives were relatively heartless. They were also rather useful when it came to certain potions, rituals, as well as gifts for a few dark creatures. He absolutely loved dark creatures, even the ones that tried to kill him, but when they had other intentions other than the killing, he didn't like them all that much. He didn't hate them outright, he didn't know them after all, so he simply greatly disliked them.

He chose to do his shopping in the dark alley that balanced the rest of the light and the gray alleyways of London. There can be no dark without light, and light without dark, a balance to all things. In the alley he went to the second hand shops, that generally kept their well in good condition unlike the more competitive shops in the other alleys. He bought almost all of his needed supplies there. The robes, as much as he didn't want any he had ordered one of his seamstresses make for him. Cauldrons, he had a plenty, just like the Room of Requirement, a room whose location he learned of from the Old Man, Hell had a habit of getting lost things added to the Garbage Pit of Hell. The telescope bit, he had some of his minions purchase him a state of the art one, since the muggle ones were generally better than the magical world's old fashioned models.

Potions supplies were also bought in the dark alley as the selections were wider. He bought a few illegal things, which made up some of the minds of the people in the alley about his allegiances when it came to the light and dark conflict. Of course he was dark, he was a devil himself, but not THE Devil.

Being considered as dark by the dark side of life was a good thing, it meant that they wouldn't bother him, even though he didn't wear robes like most of them did. Some of the shop keepers and vendors even gave him a dark wizard discount, while they didn't tell him that, he knew. Since in some small way they did _betray_ someone or something, he was second-in-command of the Circle of the capital of All Hells that dealt with the betrayers after all.

When it came to acquiring a wand, he felt that it was only a formality, and thus sent an order down to Hell to one of his magical medium crafters to craft him a staff, one that could change size, and even shape to a degree. He then found himself in a wand crafting shop, it was considered as a second hand shop for wands, but it did offer to craft wands for a price, Harry only knew about it after accidentally spying a customer. He bought out the store actually when he was done having his wand crafted, it was a rather simple and straightforward process that required the selection of materials, inscribing some runes, applying of some seals, and dipping in some potions. He didn't really know how he had managed to convince the wand crafter, and to sell him the shop and land, and stay on as an employee. He just did it, it must have been the results of one of his lessons in Hell.

He didn't stop by the bank first since he didn't really need to withdraw any money from his vaults there. He did have a personal stash on him at all times in his _pouch for all occasions_ which had actually been given to him by the Old Man as a birthday present, before then he didn't think that he'd ever receive a gift in his life, much more from the Devil himself, it was such a surreal experience that it had haunted his nightmares for a few weeks after it had happened. The gold he actually got from taxes in his part of Hell, he also got paid for being some kind of government employee or simply employee in Hell. He also received an allowance, two actually, one from the Old Man, and the second from his direct superior, he also got a monthly stipend from a War Orphans Fund or something like that. Ommadon had explained that there wasn't exactly an orphans trust fund or something to that effect since there weren't any orphans in Hell. Any demon or devil that decided to abandon a child, was sent to the Ninth Circle and dealt with, the Old Man didn't seem to like any form of child abuse, even though he condoned it and still whispered in the ears of men to perform it. It was his job, but that didn't mean he had to like it apparently.

But what really boggled Harry's mind was the ring he had spied on the Old Man's ring finger, he didn't think that the Devil would be married. He asked around, and found out that the Old Man was indeed married, but his wife spent a great deal of her time, even in her old age since she was still alive, out in the world on adventures. So not only did the Devil give gifts and presents for free, he was also happily married, no children yet though. He was married, it was such a boggling thought. The Being had a wife, no girlfriend, no lover, no mistress. Just a wife.

Harry sometimes wondered what married life was like, as did many others in his armies, since they couldn't get married, or something similar, until he did apparently. It was either some kind of rule or tradition, or his boss Charity Cruor told them that they couldn't be happy until he was. That is not to say that they could have girlfriends, and FuBu's, or simply have premarital sex. They could do all that and more, but they were not permitted to settle down and have a family, they could have kids, live with their significant others, but not have a legally recognized family. Not until he, Harry, got married himself, something which, while he was looking forward to a family in the future, wasn't something on his need-to-accomplish-right-away list. For one thing, he was still too young, and while he was an adult in Hell, he was still a kid or a tween in his human form. He needed to be an adult in his two main forms in order to get married.

When he was done with his purchases in the dark alley, he ventured into the light, into Diagon Alley, which was the closest of all the light alleys, and one where he could get himself a third magical medium, and it was also rather close to the bank. Goblins were in a sense demons too, but they were earth bound ones. But that did not mean that they didn't work for Hell. In a war between Heaven and Hell, the goblins would love to work with Hell, or that's what a majority of their race claimed, there were of course those that chose not to do so. They could trace their root to the Fourth Circle of Hell.

Once in the illuminated by the light of the sun, Harry made his way to the closest shop to the entrance to the dark alley, Ollivander's Wand Shop, not really all that imaginative of a shop name, but it served its purpose. He entered, and after a good hour, he got his wand, in the wand chooses a wizard form. It was a thirteen inch long wand, the wood came from a rather rare, and even in the magical world considered as mythical, tree called the Qliphoth tree, there had only been around six of them in the world, as the rest could be found in only one place, Hell, and now in Harry's rooftop garden. The wand core was the a seraphim heartsting, how the hell or even where the hell the wand maker had gotten such a thing, Harry could only guess, but he had a feeling that it had been willingly given. It was pretty much a wand that would be useful in combat.

His crafted wand from the dark alley was of the same length and was made of yew, and its core was a compacted house-elf.

He liked the bit about the house-elf, since they were in a way medium for channeling magic, they channeled the magic of their masters, the stronger the master magically, the stronger they were. The compacted house-elf was said to have been a free house-elf, one who lived by siphoning off magic from the ambient magic of the world itself, and was channeling such magics when it had been compacted, which is to say that it was crushed into a size small enough to be used as a wand core.

He made his way to the bank since he really did have business with them. Business concerning his family's account there, and not the one that he had set up for himself that one time that he had managed to stay in earth long enough to set one up.

Once he stepped on the first step of the bank's front steps, all the goblins were immediately alerted to his arrival. It was protocol to know beforehand that one of the nobles of Hell was in the area, and was heading for them. They needed to be prepared for such visits as not to cause their race to be sent back down to All Hells, as much as they loved battle, bloodshed, and gold, they also love control, as well as the ability to be bankers for lesser beings, or so they believed magical humans, and some other races to be.

As he stepped into the bank proper, he was greeted by a platoon of goblin warriors, and was led to a private office, where another goblin met him and asked what his business with the bank was, then was led to his account manager's office. His account manager had to be replaced since he had been doing a lot of things that were against the wishes of the Harry's parents' Last Will and Testament, as were a number of the provisions stated in the Will, such as the no leaving Harry Potter with Petunia Dursley clause. The violation of the clause actually instantly made Harry into an adult in the magical and muggle worlds. Magic took care of filing the necessary forms, documents, and the like. It also allowed him to legally get married, but he still was far too young for such a commitment. With his instant emancipation, no hearing needed, he gained access to the full of his inheritance, which included the complete control over his finances which would give some of his still unemployed demons something to do in the land of the living and all around normally battleground between the forces of Heaven and Hell, not necessarily good and evil.

With his business at the bank over and done with, he left taking no more time from the goblins that valued their time, as well as the work they did. They were Hufflepuffs, the lot of them.

With his shopping for school supplies and his freedom in the world of adults secured, he return home to relax, then prepare for his killing spree which he planned on having to keep him busy for the remainder of the summer.


	7. Damned 3

Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works, like the anime Hellsing/Naruto. I also DO NOT own Disney or Star Wars. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

Note 2: I'm not all that good when it comes to writing accents.

Promotional Sentence 1: Read Lord of the Phoenix's "Player" if you want a dose of what Harry could also do in his life, set after 5th year.

Promotional Sentence 2: I would suggest reading Tigerman's "Portus" (One-shot) and "RuneMaster" (novel length), they're both great fics, especially "Portus". (mail me if you want me to advertise your fanfic)

This Chapter is Dedicated to Wiinddance, athenagal22, T21, and GaarasMyBoyzz

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**Damned**

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_**chapter three**_

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It was his third time doing this.

He dropped down from the ceiling behind one of the guards doing their rounds at the school. It was a private school, one that while closed at night had guards patrolling them place just in case anyone wanted to stir up some trouble, vandalize school property, or steal test papers.

Unfortunately the guard did not hear him land, and was also unable to detect the hand that had gone through his chest in a swift motion, which followed him losing his heart in the swift process. The wound Harry had inflicted knit itself back together instead of remaining as it was. He then left the body on the ground, to be discovered by one of the other members of the shift, or possibly by the students in the morning.

He decided to play the role of serial killer, some people would call them demons which was why he chose that mode of killing. He had already killed three people in the span of the past two times. Serial killers are known for their patterns, and his was a little bit complicated. It was like a triangle, he figured, the first person he killed was a security guard of a mall, after killing the man in the same way as he had done this night, he researched the man, he did take a peek at the man's ID for the address and name. From there, he moved to the next street, and picked out two residents, they too were security guards. This third time, his targets were from the street after the last one, and he had two more targets to take out.

His second target for the night was another security guard, one stationed just inside a bank. He didn't really have much of a problem getting in. All he had to do was pop right in, though he didn't use that method instead he crawled through the vents, then dropped down behind the guard and tore out the man's heart, then sent it to storage like the last one. His third and final target for the night was a man that had been assigned to watch an alley where people were said to have disappeared some of the time during that month, well a lot more people during that month, compared to any other month.

The man didn't stand a chance as Harry simply stood behind him, and shoved his hand through the man's back, and out his chest, heart in hand. It too was sent back to storage, while Harry sealed up the wounds, and left the man on the ground, dead, with nary a look of shock or surprise, he died quickly and quietly. Authorities only found his body when he hadn't called in at his assigned report time.

As he watched the news the next morning, as well as read the special edition newspaper issues about the third set of attacks from the serial killer. He liked the way that the story was presented, that there was no obvious pattern yet to the killings, there were six deaths so far.

The police were so sure that it was serial killing, since they were security guards, or simply guards since that last one was a guard of a sort. They still had no motive, no suspects, and their cause of death was limited to all the victims being literally heartless.

The manner in which all of the men had died was a mystery, as not one of the detectives or crime scene investigators could figure out in the world were the victims' hearts removed from their bodies completely, and so cleanly. Even the severed vessels within the bodies of the deceased were unable to clue in the investigators as to how exactly were the hearts removed.

He went hunting again that night. Hunting more guards, four this time, from the next street. They were not necessarily security guards, two were bodyguards, brothers too, the third was a watchman at a private cemetary, and the last man was a museum guard.

The two bodyguards were employed by some really successful businessman that had some illegal on-the-side projects. He had a meeting with some of his underground associates, and which was why, for once, the pattern would be thought to have been broken, or that the killings were not related to the serial killing. That would be up until the autopsy of the bodyguards.

It was a bit cliched, but the meeting was held in an empty warehouse, owned by the businessman. His name was Marcus Zabini, distant relations with the Zabini Trio, since they themselves were of the upper echelon of Hell. He was the seventh in a long line of men that had taken their wife's surname. It looked like he was going to be snuffed out, for once, not by his wife, but by someone else entirely.

Harry snuck into the warehouse, undetected. He had decided to wear his high school japanese uniform rip off, otherwise known as his black uniform. But of course he still wore his dark blue rubber shoes.

The meeting was between Marcus Zabini, and the head of of a big time smuggling group, the goods were drugs of course, as it was quite profitable. Harry's didn't really care all that much about their business. So while the negotiations between the two heads was going on, he struck. Taking out he guards by surprise. No one knew what hit them until it was over. He simply moved to fast for their eyes to track. The twin bodyguards were the first to fall, their hearts immeidately sent to storage, their bodies looking uninjured, while at the same time missing their hearts. The other men were not so lucky, not so pristine.

Harry tore them apart, limb from limb, literally. There was no time form pleading, simply bloodshed, the warehouse walls were painted crimson, and the floor was coated with their entrails. When Harry left, he made sure to use one of the moblie phones owned by one of the dead smugglers, and phoned the police about a disturbance in the area. After which, he went off in search of his next target.

It looked to be a night of deviations from the pattern, since his next stop being the private cemetary had a few more people in it, than he had expected. He expected only his original target, but apparently there were more. Teenagers, having a bit of fun, enjoying their break while it lasted.

Harry moved in on the guard before he could alert the teens or shoo them away. The man was dead before he knew Harry was there. His body was carefully and slowly leaned against a tombstone, while his torch was placed in his hand, to make it look as if he had felt a bit weak, leaned on the tombstone, then died. It would only be noted that his heart was missing after the autopsy. There was sure to be an autopsy since the CSI would also discover the obvious remains of a group of around seven teenagers. Their body parts strewn about, but there was to be no blood left at the crime scene. Harry decided to keep it stored, just in case he ran into vampires or needed human blood for something.

In exchange for not painting the place red, he mounted the teenagers' heads on whatever was available to be made into pikes. The materials he used were the branches of the trees in the area. He made sure to leave evidence that they were having an orgy before something happened to them which led to their imminent demise.


	8. CR 01

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

Note 2: Disregards Kushina being the former host of the nine tails...for now.

Note 3: Contains References to Senyor Fier Mensheir's works.

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**Complicated Reincarnation**

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_**chapter one**_

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He watched many a world come and go as time passed him by. Ancient as he was, ageless as he wished, time had no meaning to one such as he. One who simply existed, an important element to that which created himself, that which created all things, as well as the nothing. He was one of five, the ruler, the master, the guardian, of the Eastern realms, of the Eastern worlds, of the Eastern planes. He watched over his worlds, those tampered by the force which created him in the first place. That force which assigned him the seat of nigh ultimate power within the vast nexus of all things.

He had seen heroes evolve from ordinary men, as well as villains who shed their virtuous selves to become the banes of their worlds, to become that which they strived to protect others from. He had witnessed ordinary men perform extraordinary deeds, the likes of which countless other worlds, countless other realities, countless other fates, countless other existences, had also seen. He viewed them all from the comforts of his own home, a fortress the likes of which would not be seen in any world save for his own, one which was born out of his own power, his own imagination. His ties to such a force were strong, in that he was a master of its use, and had already aided a chosen or select few into becoming more than what their potential would have then reach.

Out of all the world that his world was a nexus of, there were those few that caught his attention, much like his brethren in this occupation of his, or his superior for that matter, he took an interest in a select few of those world. One such world he helped mold a man, that could be likened to a god. That was merely one of his many worlds of interest.

His latest interest was one he shared with another, one of his brethren had procured one of his world, and taken it as one of his own, a very rare occurrence, one which he originally cared not for, until one of its own alternate realities came to an end.

The life story of one young man played out right before his end, from beginning to end. But what an end it was, dying to save his very own reality. He died not once but seven times. His name was long and varied, each time was a body, a mortal shell, each one dying before the last, the core of his very being. It was interesting to note that such a creature was born partially not of his own world, but of a combination of two others, or three for that matter.

The first word the origin of his line, the birthplace of his heritage, was a world unlike his own, yet in a way quite similar. Whereas his world was saturated by a form of energy that was brought about by the physical and spiritual aspects of the world, the first world was one saturated by a greater level of technology and a deeper and more mysterious form of energy. The second world, it was different in more ways than one, from it, the creature's ancestor gained far more power than he ever hoped to achieve, he may have had a potential, but one which was severely limited, or would have remained such had he not allowed himself to be influenced by the second world. The possible third world, while not adding directly to the lineage, to the heritage, to the bloodline, was one of something greater than the divine. It was a world unlike any other, yet at the same time was similar to a select few. It too shared a common trait with his own world, the being that viewed the creatures alternate life from start to finish. It was a nexus of worlds itself.

The hero of a world did not deserve to simply go out like a light. While he may have left his story to that world, one that would serve as his legacy, he was unable to truly live. Live as his ancestor had been able to before him.

The hero needed a second chance, a chance that would be granted to him. He had lived seven lives, what would be wrong with adding another one to the mix.

The being walked away from his viewing pool, that which he used to watch his countless world and realities from. He walked away until he reached the very heart of his home, the very core of his own being, as the fortress was as much a part of him as he was of the world he created, and the beings he had birthed through his powers.

"It is time for your next great adventure," the being said, reaching out a hand toward the darkness of the room then grabbing hold of a single spark, followed by six more, he then crushed them into one spark, one ball of light in the darkness, he then cast it out from his home, and waited until it left the nexus that was his world.

It flew on, passing pre-existing realities, passing alternates of his original home, then finally descending into the womb of another being expecting.

"**I, Toukou Kyonshi, grant you life!**" the being spoke with a commanding voice, one which echoed throughout existence, "Show me an adventure worthy of your heritage, **Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.**"

#

The nine tailed fox, also referred to as the Kyuubi, and formerly also known as the ninth piece of the whole that was the Juubi, had managed to make it to the gates of Konohagakure no Sato, and what a marvelous gate it was, made out of the strongest of chakra infused wood anyone would ever hope to encounter. It was a testament to just how powerful one of the founding fathers of the village was. But to the nine tails, it was just another obstacle in the way.

But since it thought it to be a worthy landmark to leave behind, a symbol of what once stood there, it had been ordered after all to destroy the village, render it uninhabitable for close to a thousand or more years. It simply leapt over the thing, landing on and crushing a few of the structures within, its nine massive tails rendering even more structures as obsolete, or simply destroyed.

As it was about to launch itself skyward to deal an even more devastating blow, it came face to face with the one that the shinobi had been trying to stall for. Standing atop the head of the Boss of the Gama summon clan, was none other than the Yondaime Hokage. He had concocted a procedure to use to defeat, and hopefully ultimately defeat the Kyuubi, all it took was his life.

A sacrifice he was willing to make for the sake of his village, one that while was not really worth all that much, was necessary for a greater good, or so many would later believe.

Everything went according to plan, save for one small thing. The Kyuubi was the only one to notice it, it had actually gone through something similar to what he was witnessing. His was the normal way, he had gone from worm all the way to joining with nine others like him, to form the Juubi. But this one was something he did not want to happen, and for the next five years he slammed desperately tried to escape his prison, knowing that should he stay, he would have to repeat his reincarnation process all over again.

For what he had witnessed was the joining of seven lives, reforging that singular soul they had originated from, and finally merging with this one that was destined to die. It was a rather complicated reincarnation, but when was anything that had to do with a such a being normal. He had sent the Kyuubi's soul into the clutches of the Shinigami once, the Kyuubi was not about to experience that again. But who said he had a choice.

"_**As soon as he finds out about you, you're screwed,**_" the Shinigami whispered in his rabbit like ears, before departing, his role in the sealing over and done with.


	9. CR 02

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter two**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

A five year old boy ran through the back alleys and side streets of the great and proud village of Konoha. Celebrations were being held in the main streets, and in all the rest of the mighty village. But here in the back alleys another form of entertainment was taking place. Civilian and military alike were hunting the five year old boy, a boy they blamed for the deaths that had occurred when the Kyuubi itself came crashing down on the village ruining and ending many a life.

The boy was none other than Uzumaki Naruto, the warden of the Kyuubi. It was his birthday, this day, and he ran, not knowing why every year since he was kicked out of the orphanage he was chased, and beaten, and left for dead in some dark alley, or dumped in the sewer system of the village. So now he knew after countless beatings, and brushes with death, that when the crowds gathered, he had to run.

He didn't know it yet, but this year was going to be a very lucky year for him, for this year, no, this day, he was finally going to awaken from his slumber, it was also the day that the beast within him dreaded and feared the most.

He was finally cornered in a back alley, all possible escape routes were blocked. He thought that perhaps it was the end. The people moved in, like wolves moving in for he kill.

He suddenly felt it, a sudden rush in his mind, memories of unknown origins sweeping into him, filling his mind to the brim, then bursting that, filling him with even more than simple memory. The memories were vague, some faces, voices, events, blurred, as if they were from another life, allowing him to live this new one, but with the experiences, some of the knowledge, and the abilities from that past life at his disposal.

As the blows rained down on his prone form, he felt none of the pain, as he was focused more on these additional things to his being, as well as the man pulling a rabbit eared fox from an open cage.

"_**Told ya, you were screwed,**_" he heard the man say as the man dragged off the fox, he was barely aware that they were all in his mind.

"I'm crazy aren't I?" he decided to ask the dragging and struggling beings in his mind.

"_**Not at all, Naruto-kun, not at all,**_" the Shinigami said, "_**Now, I've left the Kyuubi's power in the cage, once you've gone through your added stock of knowledge, you'll know how to access and use it, as well as the other things at your disposal. Now good luck, have a nice long life, and show me an adventure worthy of your heritage!**_"

With those final words, the shinigami left the boy's mind, rabbit eared fox in tow.

"Hey Mister! Where the heck am I?" Naruto shouted inside his mindscape.

"_**In your mind gaki!**_" the Shinigami replied, "_**Now kickass!**_"

Not really knowing what to do, Naruto walked up to the sealed door, the one which held the Kyuubi former powers. But before touching it, a second door of similar make appeared right beside it. Two doors holding back two of the same powers. He had eighteen tails worth of power.

"That's a lot of power," Naruto said, speaking to no one else but himself, he then noticed on the wall opposite the two sealed doors were seven doors, each one with a kind of symbol or picture representation of what lay within. He walked towards these doors.

The first door had the five major elements depicted on it, as well as an hour glass, a sapling, and a weird looking dagger. Upon resting his hand on the knob, the knowledge that lay within firmly fixed themselves into himself, entrenching themselves within him. A life's worth of accumulated wisdom was his to command. Names, faces, techniques, and places, flooded his mind, integrating themselves within him, but keeping away a set of powers behind the door, waiting to be unleashed.

Each door had a similar effect on him, each door integrated their contents with his very being. The second door had the picture of a drop of water, a tear, from within it he gained the wisdom and experience of a Hyuuga, one unlike any he had ever encountered. The third door had a pair of cards, each one depicted half of the yin and yang symbol, below them was a single blurred hand. The fourth door had a single skull on it with a maniacal grin. The other doors, while each having a symbol, were blurred out, as if they were not yet ready reveal their contents, but allowed some of it to pass through.

Some of the knowledge told him how to enter and exit his mindscape, and how to avoid entering it when he went to sleep. With such knowledge in mind, he exited his mind only to be met with pain beyond all he had ever experienced. It was as if his body was on fire.

There were no visible signs of this unseen flame, but it was there, as if his gifts from past lives were also physically integrating themselves with his present body. Coupled with the beating he was on the receiving end of, it was truly an unimaginable experience.

When they were satisfied with their handy work, they all left him for dead. He so desperately wished to be someone else that night, and lo and behold, a memory surfaced, one which showed him how to change his form, a henge but not, a true transformation. So he transformed, his mindscape opening the first door a fraction of an inch to let out the needed power for the change, while the second door swung open fully to complete the form.

Where once lay, Uzumaki Naruto, now lay a Hyuuga, perfectly healthy, woundless, and clean. His clothes shifting into a different form, just as body did. With this new form, he was confident that he would be able to walk amongst the people, unharassed and unmolested.

Which was precisely what happened.

#

It took him one whole year for him to physically master the first two doors, the Kyuubi's power was simply a boost of his abilities, while at the same time having abilities of their own, but he couldn't practice those lest he incur the wrath of the village's inhabitants more so than usual. Mastering the first door was easier than the second, since the second dealt with control, it wasn't only his chakra he had to control, but also his emotions as they could be used to either make him stronger or weaker.

From the knowledge he had gained he knew that one of the most important things he needed was control, control of anything and everything that affected or had to do with him, not complete control of everything, but he had to at least have some control over things. What better way than to get that control than by being a Hyuuga.

Unlike what most of the memories told him, he was actually able to mix and match all of his forms, kind of like a metamorphmagus, but that didn't mean he had to shift a certain body part to use a certain ability. He could activate the Byakuga, which he couldn't really figure out how he had it, but he simply knew that even if he wasn't a Hyuuga in this life he would still be able to call upon it. He didn't need those white eyes for the doujutsu to activate, all he needed was to think it, to imagine it, and to will it to happen. There was also the important factor of belief.

He was slightly oblivious to most of the events happening around the village, while at the same time aware of such events. He had a hidden wealth of information about the entire shinobi world, but that was not something he wished anyone to realize or know. He didn't have the personal experience needed to back up his ability to know how to remove the caged bird seal of the Hyuuga. He didn't know how he would explain how he knew how to alter and remove the heaven or earth cursed seals created and used by Orochimaru, heck he didn't even really know who that guy was, but he knew the man's face, name, and a number of techniques he used.

It was his birthday today, his sixth to be exact, and in his mind a memory flashed of an event that was to happen this day, one that had nothing at all to do with him. But one which caused feelings of anger to spring from the confines of the second door.

He had an inkling of what it was, but since it was the second door that was reacting, then that meant that it had something to do with the prestigious Hyuuga clan, a clan whose techniques, mannerisms, styles, and secret were known to him for some reason.

He didn't know why he had the memories, the knowledge, the wisdom, and the powers, but all he did know was that they must have been a gift and he was going to use them as tools to survive and to reach his dreams.

He had seen how the people of his village looked at the Hokage, there was an unmistakable gleam in their eyes of love and respect. He wanted that, he wanted that respect, he wanted that love, he wanted to be seen as himself, recognized by the world around him. But he knew that while the Hokage was the most respected and most powerful in the village, he was also its greatest protector. That was his dream, his goal.

Since he knew that it was a Hyuuga related incident, he tranformed into his Hyuuga state. Waist length black hair, tied in a loose pony tail, and white eyes. To make himself stand out from the usual Hyuuga, he wore a black cheongsam, black ninja sandals, and a black bandana with a tear drop over a spiral pictured on it.

He waited by the perimeter of the Hyuuga compound, which was more like a mini-district than a simple compound in size, and waited for a sign, something to tell him what his memories were pushing him to stop. The sign he was looking for came a little after midnight, just as he was about to go home as so far his vigil had yielded nothing.

He saw a shinobi leap over the walls of the compound, carrying a sack slung over his shoulder, headed for the borders for the village. He instantly chased this would be kidnappr, he saw the signs, he noticed the normally unnoticeable movement from within the sack.

Unlike the normal Hyuuga, veins did no sprout out of the side of his head when he activated his white eyes' special ability. The world around him simply grew clearer. With this ability activated he saw what, or rather who was in the sack. So he pushed himself to move faster, the person in the sack was his classmate, Hinata, and therefore he would not let anymore harm come to her.

He activated one of the powers from the third door, as he ran he passed by all solid objects that got in his way. This was the only ability of that door he had a generally good control in, he could only move his molecules that fast for short periods of time, which is why it was still in the mastering stage and not mastered.

As he sped through the trees, he moved closer and closer to his target, and when he was finally near enough, he launched his attack. Being mindful of the girl in the sack, he attacked the target making sure that the man was unable to do anything more than twitch. Naruto had made sure that the man remained on his feet, as he closed almost all of the man's tenketsu. When he was done he took the girl from the kidnapper, and laid her unconscious form on the ground, then and only then did he pay more attention to the would be kidnapper.

"_One more hit is all I need to end your life,_" he whispered into the man's ear, "_One simple tap, and your life is forfeit. So I have decided to give you a choice...I will release you before reinforcements have arrived, should you chose to live longer you will confess your crime against Konoha, but should you chose to try and fight, or try and flee, I will kill you before the Hyuuga get a chance to, I won't tell you how, but as it stands, one hit will be all I'll need._"

He then hit the man in rapid succession, unknown to him Hinata had come to and watched as he delivered chakra powered strikes against the man's tenketsu. He was slightly taller than her, but he didn't look older than he should look for his age. He was simply tall for his age, she did not recognize him, but was thankful and grateful for his timely intervention.

While Naruto unsealed the man's tenketsu, he also placed tiny explosive notes on the man's body, aligned to each and every tenketsu point.

"_Any use of chakra will ignite the tiny tags I've place on your body,_" he whispered before leaping away, and out of sight, "_I suggest you confess, lest I activate them all myself, and I am not bluffing._"

A moment later Hiashi and a number of the elite of the Hyuuga arrived on the scene, as he was about to attack the man who was revealed to be a Kumo-nin, he had to stop as the man dropped to his knees confessing what he was tasked to do, as well as the plan b in case he was killed in his attempt to flee the village with the heiress. That was all that stopped him from getting killed that day.

"Now please tell your that boy that attacked me to remove his explosives," the man pleaded with the Hyuuga lord.

"What boy?" Hiashi demanded of the man, for he sensed no other presence for those that he could see.

"He was a Hyuuga too..." the Kumo-nin admitted, "A boy...I begrudgingly can respect..."

"Hmph," Hiashi simply said, then knocked the man out, and noticed some slips of paper fall off the man's body, just as many in number as there were tenketsu, examining the slips of paper he couldn't help but ponder, '_But a boy so young to have access to such advanced tags does not exist..._'

"Hiashi-sama," one of the branch members said, "Hinata-sama is awake, a little tired from the ordeal but awake...she claims to have witnessed her rescuer in action before leaving just before we arrived."

He walked over to his daughter that was now in a sitting position on the ground..

"What did you see, daughter," he addressed her.

"A boy..." she said shyly, "He was in black..."

"Was he a Hyuuga as well? Did you recognize him?" Hiashi asked, he knew that being harsh in such a situation would not gain him any results.

"He looked like a Hyuuga," she said, "I've never seen him before..."

"What did he do?" he asked her, crouching in front of her.

"He used Jyuuken," she said, "He didn't use our eyes..."

"Which would explain how the man can still move," Hiashi said..

"But before I saw him...do that," she said, "He couldn't move...he just stood still as the boy...said something to him."

Thinking that his daughter had told her everything, he stood, and faced three other members of his clan, and ordered them to take the Kumo-nin to the Torture and Interrogation Department, and ordered three others to search the surrounding area for any sign of his daughter's savior.

"*"

Naruto had made sure to disengage the transformation once he was far enough away from the crime scene, in order for no one but him to know that he was responsible for the rescue of his classmate. He didn't need such attention at the moment. His involvement would have caused more harm than aid, he knew that much, not due to the gifts he received from his complicated reincarnation, but his gut feel.

What he didn't deactivate was the power to move extremely fast, the one that allowed him to move all his molecules fast enough to pass between the tiny spaces between other molecules, it was more like squeezing through holes than walked through or moving though.

He tried his best to cover his tracks, but alas, he was not even a genin, and had yet to actually practice hiding his chakra signature, and it was also something which he could not do, no matter how advanced he was. Even though he could compress his chakra to the point of ceasing to appear on the radar, he could not yet contain all of his chakra, leaving some of it to contaminate his surroundings a little. This is what led the Hyuuga to his apartment in confusion.

As they didn't want to appear uncivilized, they knocked on his door, just to ask him if he had seen anything unusual. They couldn't tell that the chakra trail they had followed was his, but they suspected something was not right in the world when they finally faced him.

"What do you want Hyuuga-san?" Naruto asked, feigning sleepiness, it was early in the morning after all, he still had some energy from the run, the adrenaline was still pumping.

"Have you seen a boy in black pass by?" one Hyuuga asked, there was no longer a simple trail to follow as the place was saturated with Naruto's chakra presence, "Or do you know of any Hyuuga that might be living here?"

"Dunno," Naruto replied, "Why?"

"He rescued Hinata-sama," the Hyuuga said, "Listen, if you see that boy, he was around your age, pass on our thanks, it doesn't look like we'll be able to find him anytime soon."

"Haaaah-ai," he said amidst a yawn, real or fake the Hyuuga didn't notice, they thanked him for his help then left his apartment building.

'_Phew...but how did they find me..._' he wondered as he closed the door, as a memory surfaced one about totally hiding his presence, and not allowing his chakra to leave a signature, even a faint one. He found another skill to master, one which he would be mastering alongside the fourth door's powers, and the rest of the third door's.

"*"

The attempted and thwarted kidnapping had resulted in Kumo losing face, and having to give into the demands of Konoha, the surrender of one of their Jinchuuriki, the other option was to face war, something which Kumo while having the strength to, did not think that their two jinchuuriki would stand a chance against the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, along with the legends of the leaves.

Nibi no Jinchuuriki was transferred to Konoha within a month's time, forcibly so, and was even branded with a seal similar to the Hyuuga's caged bird seal which was used more to keep the branch house in line rather than the protection of their eyes.

When Naruto heard the news of the new addition to Konoha's military ranks, he was ecstatic, something good, aside from rescuing a classmate, had come of his timely intervention.

Nii Yugito was nineteen years old when she first entered Konohagakure no Sato. Naruto knew her from his past life's memories, he did not personally know her or so his memories led him to believe, but he knew her face, and a lot of information about her, as well as the fact that she had a demon sealed within her.

The Sandaime had announced that she was the tribute that Kumo had sent over to appease Konoha and prevent war to break out due to their treacherous kidnapping attempt just after signing a peace treaty. He did not disclose what exactly she was to the populace of the village, but made sure that his jounin were aware of her status. He told the people that the reason she was chosen was that she was the last of her bloodline, he didn't describe exactly what it was or what it did, only that she had something that made her unique.

Naruto observed her as she entered Konoha, and continued to observe her while he set up his pranks all over the Anbu HQ. He watched as the special seal was applied to her, over her heart with something like invisible ink. The fourth door opened slightly and allowed him to memorize and analyze the seal, as well as figure out everything it did and how to remove it as well as apply it. While it wasn't exactly a power, it was more an extensive knowledge on seals that allowed him to perform such a feat. But he doubted he had what it took to actually remove the seal, his body was not yet that good at precise movements.

He did not like the fact that someone had a seal placed on them to keep them prisoner or to control them, should a seal be used as a means or as a tool for protection he would have approved its use, but not for harm.

It took him a few days to find out where she lived, and once he did, well...the Anbu HQ had been forced to be fully refurnished when Naruto unleashed his second wave of prank attacks. For the life of them, the Anbu could never find any evidence to prove that Naruto had been the one responsible, they couldn't even fathom how the hell an academy student had managed to get into the HQ in the fist place.

They wanted to do two things to him, respect him and recruit him into their ranks, while at the same time wanting to kill him, bring him back to life, then kill him, again. The only one spared from the prank attacks was Yugito, and she didn't really know why. The Anbu figured that Naruto just didn't think it was a good idea to provoke an unknown.

#

It was his seventh birthday, and for the life of him Naruto couldn't figure out why three supposedly dead men had followed him after he visited the graves of the heroes that were buried within the village and not lost on the battlefield. While he didn't listen in class, since of the things taught there he considered to boring as compared to the assimilated knowledge he had gained from the memories of his apparently past lives, all of which overlapped with one another at some point in time.

All he did was fully open the fourth door, since he had managed to get the art of sealing down, well to the extent that he could do the advanced level ones with his eyes open, and the beginner level ones with his eyes closed, and he had even made a few seals of his own out of sheer boredom.

He still hadn't managed to master the first third of the powers of the third door. Or had he been able to unravel all the secrets of the first door. He had mastered the second door already, and didn't really need to concentrate on opening the door to access its powers. He could transform into his Hyuuga form with a mere thought, which had saved him from several beatings.

He was curious as to what he would find if he fully opened the fourth door, so far the other doors were still not allowing him full access, he knew that there was something else to be found.

Opening the fourth door fully had the effect of changing his eyes to the color black, and when he accessed his chakra in that state, a slightly glowing outline of skulls formed in them, grinning just like the skull on the door. He was looking at his reflection on one of the headstones, which had the undesired effect of surprising him to the extent that he jumped backwards, tripped and hit the places where some of the remains of the Shodaime Hokage and the Nidaime Hokage, and one Uchiha were.

The knowledge had streamed into his conscious mind, that he had reformed the bodies of the two kages and one Uchiha, and had reanimated them. While not a true resurrection, they looked identifiable, but only in that they looked like really old and emaciated member of their specific clans. The knowledge he gained told him what he had done, as well as how he would be able to do it again. Learning how to master this necromantic power would be taken in steps, ones that would be known to him randomly.

But back to his present problem, why they had followed him. He didn't order them to, and he somehow knew that they couldn't speak. They were similar to mindless puppets, but these ones might have been accidentally imbued with his wish for companions at that moment.

So he decided to hide them in his arpartment, until he was good enough to make them more...independent of him.

"*"

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, didn't know what to make of what he found when he decided to finally visit Naruto on his birthday. It was the most peculiar and horror themed sight he had ever thought he would ever lay eyes on. Greeting him at the door was not Naruto, the little bundle of joy, one of two, that brightened up his day. It was none other than an emaciated reconstructed and reanimated corpse, one that eerily resembled his very own sensei, the Nidaime Hokage Senju Tobirama. Hiruzen walked into the apartment after the zombie motioned for him to enter.

He steeled himself in preparation for any more surprises, like corpses littered around the apartment, or the Shinigami himself waiting within, along with a ghostly apparition of Naruto. What he found instead was something truly out of a horror movie, on the couch sat Senju Hashirama, the Shodaime Hokage, and sitting beside the zombie was none other than what appeared to be a zombie of Uchiha Izuna, the brother of Uchiha Madara.

He frantically looked around the room, expecting some other manner of monster to make its presence known, and wondered what he had done to deserve such a fate. The next thing he knew he was faced with something he had dreaded ever seeing, even more than facing the Shinigami.

Naruto walked out of the kitchen white as a ghost, in truth he was covered in flour which he had been using while trying his hand at baking himself his own cake. He had used far too much flour, but that Hokage didn't know that. He assumed the worst, and fainted.

"-"

Naruto assessed the situation as best as he could. He looked around the room, he saw his zombie servants, then he looked at himself. He then stared intently at the Hokage. He put two and two together, but felt that something was still missing in the equation. Then he remembered what normally happened during his birthday.

He figurd that the old man had thought that someone had resurrected the two older Hokages, and one Uchiha, to kill the Kyuubi since no normal mortal man would be able to do that. The old man had assumed the worst when he saw ghost white Naruto. So Naruto ordered his zombies to bring the Sandaime into his bedroom and had them put him in the bed, as well as put him in that one straight jacket that he had outfitted with seals to keep shinobi from getting them off, then they put him in the bed.

He ordered them to stand guard over the old man after he had turned the room hospital room white, and even managed to produce that sterile odor that permeated the hospital, or any clinic for that matter. Illusions was one of the things he had managed to pick up from the first door, and they were useful in such situations.

He then left the room to finish his cake, as well as eat some ramen to mull over the knowledge that he had gained after turning the room white. Some new lessons had just been added to his schedule.

"-"

When Hiruzen awoke he found himself laying in a bed, looking around he found that he was in a white room that smelled of those things that made the hospital sterile.

'_I'm in the hospital...but why?_' he wondered then remembered what had happened only moment ago, but since he thought he was in the hospital it seemed like a long time ago, he then frantically looked around the room and tried to move. He found that he couldn't, the only part of his body that he could move was his head.

Looking around some more, for some nurse or something probably wasn't such a good idea since the first _person_ he saw was the Shodai zombie in what looked like a lab coat, followed by the Nidaime in a similar lab coat with a clipboard in hand. But the scariest thing in the room with him was probably Izuna in a straight jacket. Little did the Sarutobi know that everything save for his straight jacket and the zombies were illusions.

He wanted to scream, but then if he didn't know any better he could swear that Izuna stared blankly at him as if daring him to scream. What followed the stare down, were the two other zombies moving closer to him.

What he did not hear was Naruto ordering them to get him out of the bed, and bring him to the kitchen. Naruto had made sure to keep the illusion of a hospital up and over the entire apartment. The living room looked like a pale green and white hall, and when he was brought into the kitchen, he was met with what looked like a morgue.

In the center of it, where a table could be found, was a single torso, this was Naruto's cake with an illusion as well. Sitting in front of and watching Naruto divide the torso into slices was a little too much for the Hokage, so he fainted yet again.

"-"

He had just sent the mighty Hokage into blissful unconsciousness. Maybe that last prank was a bit too much for the aged man. So Naruto canceled the illusions and did his best to wake the aged man. He ordered Izuna, a name which came to him after staring at the zombie for a while, to slap the Kage awake.

It didn't seem to work the first few times, then Naruto realized that it was because he was still covered in flour, and proceeded to wash the flour off, and also ordered his zombie servants to remove the straight jacket from the Hokage, or the Hokage from the straight jacket.

Returning from his bath, Naruto noticed that the Hokage still wouldn't wake up. So Naruto decided to resort to something he had been wanting to save for another time. He ordered his zombies to leave the room.

Once he was alone with the Hokage, his hands flashed through a handseal set, then he poked the Hokage in the eye. The effect of the jutsu was that it made the person who got poked to experience the most mind blowing and reality shattering ecstasy like feeling one would ever hope of ever experiencing in a lifetime. The effect lasted as long as the caster wished, and Naruto only wanted it to last long enough for him to shout in the old man's ear to wake up, stay awake, or he'd get the zombies to come back.

Suffice to say, the Hokage was roused from his stupor, the blissful one and the orgasmic one.

"Have some cake, Jiji," Naruto said as he placed a slice of cake on a plate and set it before the Hokage. It was a rather plain looking cake, but the only reason that it was was due to Naruto's lack of other ingredients.

"Ah, thank you, and Happy Birthday, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said, then asked, "I'm glad that I was only dreaming, for a moment there I thought I saw my senseis again."

"Ah...uhm about that," Naruto said, then pointed behind the old man, where the zombies were standing just outside of the kitchen, "You weren't seeing things...your mind...just...ah...overreacted."

After taking a look at the zombies, the Hokage simply went into Hokage-mode, and demanded an explanation from his young friend.

"Well...see...I was visiting the cemetery like I sometimes do, just to say hello to the people no one visits anymore," Naruto said, "I know how loneliness feels after all...then I accidentally accessed this other chakra, it scared me, and I fell, and those three popped out of the ground and followed me home..."

"I see, and when did this happen?" the Hokage asked.

"Erm...earlier this morning," Naruto said, a little sheepishly, "I'm sorry about the prank, it was in bad taste I know."

"Since we've cleared up this mess..you re forgiven," Hiruzen said, "But you'll somehow need to find a way to get rid of them..."

"I know," Naruto said a little sadly, "They'll think I'm the Kyuubi for real if they knew I could do what I did, accident or not."

"You know about that!?" the Hokage asked in surprise, "Who told you?"

"Eh...some creepy dude in my head," Naruto admitted, "He was dragging the big rabbit by the ears out of this huge cage," he emphasized the size be spreading his arms, "It was so cool! That's how I know, since he said we were in my mindscape."

"You must understand that that information is an S-ranked secret," the Hokage said, "Only two people can tell anyone about it, you and me. Please keep it a secret."

"I will, I mean, I didn't bug you about it when I found out, and that was ages ago," Naruto said, exaggerating a little bit, but the Hokage didn't need to worry about such a tidbit.

"Fine, I'm trusting you with this secret," the Hokage said, "It is yours to keep, and tell, but please refrain from telling the world, not everyone should know about it, as it could bring danger to our village."

"Hai," Naruto said, and even saluted with a serious face which looked misplaced when it came to his face.

"Enough with the serious chatter," the Hokage said, "Do you want to spend your time in your apartment, or do you want to go have ramen?"

"I think...I'll stay in today," Naruto said, "Hey Jiji.."

"Yes?"

"Can I have a house somewhere?" he asked the old man, "I mean, I know I can't afford one now, but well...I don't like it that the villagers know where I live...I was thinking somewhere that no one really goes to...like...somewhere near the cemetery."

"I...I'll see what I can do, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said, "Try and enjoy your birthday Naruto-kun, I'll ask Teuchi to bring you some ramen later, ok?"

"Ok," Naruto said, "I think I'll sleep in today.."

"Then enjoy your rest," the Hokage said, then left the apartment a slice of cake in hand. By the time he reached his office, he would only then wonder where Naruto had learned how to bake such a delicious cake.


	10. CR 03

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter three**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

Hiding the zombies was easy, Naruto simply ordered them to get back into their graves and wait for him to summon them. So they waited, and had been waiting for a full year, and would probably have waited for more years had someone not decided to raid their graves. Naruto sensing the slight distress of his creations, he didn't know how he felt it and neither did his past life's self, as no flow of knowledge made itself known. That's how he learned to harness his necromantic powers, lessons came with a need.

So he simply called for them to come, he knew that no matter where he was, and no matter where they were, they would come to him. Distance didn't matter, as they were connected with a bond of master and servant or slave. It was a case to case basis thing.

It scared the hell out of the grave robbers who vowed never to rob another grave again. They did more than simply wet their pants, they crapped in them, and went so far as to run non-stop to the Fire Temple to confess their sins to the monks there. Which earned them a sound beating.

It was Naruto's birthday again, and this time, the Sandaime brought him some good news. He had been given a piece of land directly beside the cemetery. No one wanted the land, and the Sandaime didn't mention who was to live there. There wasn't even a house, just a piece of land. He offered to help Naruto have someone build a house, but the child refused. He claimed to have found something that would be able to do the job for him, at no cost. The Sandaime did not bother to ask who or what Naruto had found, since it would most likely cause him to not sleep for an entire week, just as he had after Naruto's last birthday.

He was eight years old on the day, and he decided to quickly move out, while he may have been given an entire apartment building for his fourth birthday, a lot of people knew that he lived there, and since it was in the village proper, he couldn't really rig the place to explode or something when there were unwanted guests visiting in the wee hours of the night.

The zombies made quick work of transferring all of his stuff to the land he now owned. When he got there, the Sandaime having given him a map and a set of keys, he found that the place actually had a high fence surrounding it, and a single locked gate. He was also given a note which detailed why exactly it was locked, and why there was a high fence around the property. It was a rather large property.

The note detailed that the reason why it was fenced and locked, during the founding of the village the single piece of land had seen the most bloodshed in all of Konoha. It was the reason why the cemetery was placed beside it. No one really wanted to be on that particular piece of land, and the reason why it was fenced was because people had an irrational fear of zombies or spirits of the dead coming back to haunt the living. It also was in place to keep uninformed civilians, and children from getting hurt in the one place in Konoha that even Anbu had a hard time walking through.

A village's worth of belief had shaped the place into the haunted forest that Naruto found himself staring at. None of the stories really mattered to him, since he had three zombies at his beck and call. So he pushed on, unlocking the lock, and walked into the great unknown.

An hour or two later, he found a clearing within the haunted forest, one where he decided to have his house built. He set his zombies to work, while he practiced with a new ability, this one from the first door.

He had found out that he had the ability which he was practicing when he was watering his plants six months ago. He was practicing something at the time, and was not really paying attention. Dealing with death had the effect of killing his plants. In a bout of frustration he sent chakra through the plants, along with something else. The first door, sensing the distress of the plants had opened and released something from within. The added energy and the chakra caused the pants that were near death to come back to life. It didn't stop there either, it continued to grow, up until Naruto remembered to stop channeling the new energy and his chakra.

What he was doing while his zombies were cutting down trees and trying to form a home from him, he was growing a tree. He picked it up just the other day, it had fallen from a branch within the forest of death, and so he took it with him, intent on practicing some more gardening with it.

As he watched the progress of the zombies, he couldn't help but think that refusing the Sandaime's aid was probably a bad idea, since the zombies were just standing there, looking stupid.

"_**You might want to resurrect them, or bring them closer to life...**_" the Shinigami decided to pay Naruto a visit.

"Hey, you're that guy from my mindscape," Naruto said, "What do you mean exactly?"

"_**I like you, so I'll help you,**_" the Shinigami said, "_**I have three pearls, each one is part of the soul of each of those men when they were alive. Each one once fused with their bodies will cause them to live again, they will retain their basic knowledge, how to talk, think, whatever, as well as their jutsu kowledge. But they will not be the same as they were in life. They will not know what position in the military they had held, who their family was, that sort of thing. They will continue to be bound to you, until you have no more use of them, or they are destroyed. You will be their only family, their master. Do you understand?**_"

"Hai," Naruto replied, "Is this a one time thing, or can I call on you when I want to make more like them?"

"_**I guess you can call on me, my profession gets rather dreary every now and then,**_" the Shinigami said, he then handed over the pearls, "_**These are the pearls I was talking about. You already know how to fuse them. Its the same as imbuing an object with a spirit...or like raising skeletons or something similar, I've seen it done before, and will again long after you pass on.**_"

When the Shinigami left him again, he walked over to his zombies and added their partial souls into the mix, as well as some additional things to make them look more human, and less monster. It worked, and it was his first real try too when it came to such a project. He had high hopes for the future, should he ever need more of these special dead things.

With some brains in them finally, the zombies went to work, though zombies were no longer the proper term for them, so Naruto opted to simply refer to them as servants until he found a better term.

Apparently his undead servants somehow had chakra, he had thought that only living things had such, but it looked like he was wrong, since Hashi, since the full name would draw too much attention should it be used in public, had managed to form the house by using a jutsu, a rather traditional house, but a house none the less.

Tobi had also used a jutsu, he had treated a small river to flow through the property, as well as somehow called up a hotspring which Hashi erected a wall around for privacy.

Izuna appeared to be the only one that did not have some sort of useful jutsu when it came to house or home making. So he stuck to painting the walls using ink that Naruto had, as well as some paints that Naruto sometimes used for pranks.

It took the whole of his birthday for everything to be finished, while the house and baths was done, there was still all the furniture, decorating, as well as defenses for the property. When one was a prankster that could literally booby trap Anbu HQ without getting caught, one was a trap master. But he really didn't need to do any trap making of any sort since his three servants decided to take turns fortifying the already impressive fence, as well as adding some stuff here and there.

It was just after midnight when everything was finished, the servants had a little bit more free will in them, and so without waiting for any further instructions, Izuna walked up to Naruto, and informed him of the completion of the task.

It was only at that moment that Naruto noticed what time it was. He had been concentrating his whole being in his personal task that he had failed to notice as the sun set and the day turned to night. When he looked up, what he saw was not the night sky, but the tree which he himself had grown.

"Hashi," Naruto said, "Get to the top, I want to know how big the tree is."

Hashi simply nodded and jumped up, leaping from branch to branch until he could no longer be seen. A few minutes later he dropped down back to the ground, landing in a crouch.

"The tree covers the whole of the land, and is taller than the village wall by a several feet," Hashi informed him, "I also noticed that the plant life have all merged with it, making most of the trees and plants in the property part of the big tree."

"That was unexpected," Naruto said, he truly had not planned it, "Well, its been a long day, so...mind leading me to my bedroom?"

"Right this way, Naruto-sama," Izuna said.

"I have a question though," Naruto said.

"Hai?" they responded.

"Are any of you even tired?"

"We...don't know," Tobi said.

"Well, take shifts or something," Naruto said, "I wouldn't want to find out that you actually do need rest in the middle of a battle or something like that."

"Hai, Naruto-sama," the three said, before Izuna led Naruto to his new room.

#

Six months after Naruto got his new place to live, he found himself wondering whether or not he should resurrect anyone else, or summon up more servants for that matter, the kind that simply followed orders. He's mastered the instilling a personality, basic knowledge, and some form of free will, the skills part...that was something else entirely.

Due to his inability to come to a decision at that point in time, Naruto decided to consult with a few beings older, wiser, and deader, than he was. He had in the past six months finally been able to communicate with the restless spirits that had chosen not to move on, those dearly departed souls which had escaped the stomach of the death god. They gave pretty good advice, and were really helpful in spying and when it came to planning and setting up pranks.

Since his next door neighbor was the cemetery, he could commune with the dead everyday, instead of those rare times that he actually managed to walk to the place without being molested in some way in the past. They were pretty nice folk, most of whom were rarely visited by their descendants. After a few months of a new body being laid to rest, his or her family members stopped visiting, but that was to be expected, and they had their own reasons.

"Hey guys!" Naruto greeted the ghosts as he jumped down from one of the lower branches of his tree.

"_Naruto!_" most of them cried, happy that their friend in death had come to visit, even though he looked troubled, they were happy with the fact that he simply came to them and not to one of the living, not that they would have minded.

"I have a bit of a problem," he said, "Could you help me?"

"_If you don't tell us what the problem is, we won't be able to help, you know,_" the spirit of an old lady said, a little teasingly.

"I've been thinking about creating more servants...but I'm not sure whether or not I really should," he said, "Also if I do create more servants, how many, and what kind."

"_More would be for the best, those three Kage-level ones you have would be able to help you better if they had subordinates of their own,_" one elderly spirit gave his opinion, "_You could also use the additional hands on your land, its quite a huge place to maintain for four people...even though three of them are of the undead._"

"So, green light for new help," Naruto said, he would have said hired hands, but technically he wasn't paying them, he was bringing them to unlife, "How about the type? The three I've got are at most the closest to being fully resurrected, I know there's a lot of other things I could make or summon, from shades from the after life, well you guys, skeleton warriors, demons, devils, angels, nature spirits, and a host of other things."

"_What about skeleton warriors, they should come in handy, they're like regular skeletons from what I hear, and they can fight,_" a shinobi that had encountered some weird shit on a mission in Kiri said.

"Ok...any other suggestions?" Naruto asked the conference of spirits that were gathered around him.

"_Well your present servants are revenants, you'll be creating some skeleton warriors, I think perhaps thirty would suffice, ten per revenant,_" a dead and still blind Hyuuga said, "_You know what, stick to the skeletons for now..._"

"_I'd suggest the addition of one female to your group,_" a former kunoichi that had died in childbirth said, "_I was thinking an asrai or a selkie would do the trick, you do have that hotspring, and that river running through your land after all._"

"I had forgotten about those..." Naruto admitted, he was too focused on the masculine side of things, "Good thing I have Tobi, else getting one of those would be a pain in ass."

"_Visitors approach, a new body is to be added to our number, the spirit chose the next great adventure,_" a spirit that acted as a look out spat out rapidly, "_Naruto, it would be best if you left, this family does not see you as anything close to human, I should know, they blame you for my death after all._"

"Hai," Naruto said, then jumped up to the branch, which lowered itself for him, then rushed on over back to his home, where he could perform his necromantic rituals.

When he got back to the clearing, which apparently was right smack dab in the middle of his property, he channeled some of of his necromantic chakra, or death chakra, and sent it into the earth, with the intent of causing the thirty skeletons to form from the dead bodies that were sure to be somewhere down there. Sure enough thirty of them did form, each one with everything he needed in loyal, faithful, and none complaining servants, not that his three elites complained.

Once he was done with that task, and handing out his orders to the skeletons, as well as informing his elites of their duties now that they had subordinates to look after, Naruto motioned for Tobi to follow him to the onsen.

"Fill the water with water natured chakra, until there is enough to force a tidal wave to drown a relatively small island," Naruto instructed, then began channeling his death chakra while performing the necessary handseals to control the flow, then adding his intent into the mix.

It took a while, Naruto wasn't really paying attention to the time, but eventually he had Tobi stop, right before he let loose the technique. He resurrected an asrai, with a few modifications.

Normally an asrai would be a small and delicate female fairy, not the kind that has wings, a water spirit would be closer to what one was. When captured or exposed to sunlight they would turn into a puddle of water, kind of like a Mizu Bushin.

Naruto's modifications to this particular one, which he decided to call Kasumi, were that she would not turn into a pool of water when exposed to sunlight or when captured, instead she was given the ability to turn into either water or mist or steam even, which was the reason why he had resurrected her, as the world no longer had such things or there were extremely few in number, in an onsen. He also kind of partnered her up with Tobi, just because he could.

A bonus of having a female servant was that he wouldn't need to walk in disguise as he bought some groceries, and seeds, and stuff from the shops in Konoha, he could simply have her do it for him. No one would recognize her, unlike the elites.

Funds for his expenditures was easily acquired as he had an allowance, and only really needed to feed himself, cloth himself, etc.. Aside from the Hokage, another source of funds were the things that he found whenever he went on his prank sprees or exploring in the village. The things people will leave behind or unattended were amazing finds. Finders keepers after all.

"*"

A month later, Naruto decided that he needed another source of income, so he applied his special illusions on his skeletons, giving them a more human like look and feel, and he somehow managed to get them into the bounty hunting business. One team would leave every week to go out hunting for heads, and cashing in on the bounties.

Each team as composed of a revenant, and his ten skeletons. They were tasked with leaving and coming back by the end of the week with several claimed bounties. Due to this practice a rumor began to spread in the world about a zombie apocalypse, since the skeletons, when blown to bits, due to the illusion retaining their looks, they would simply put themselves back together again, then resume what they were doing. Those victims that somehow managed to escape were the ones responsible for spreading the tales of the zombie bounty hunting teams or squads.

Due to the rumors and stories about his property, none of which had anything to do with the tree since many believed talking about it might make it grow to consume the village for some unknown reason, all manner of murder victim usually ended up at the gates of the property, the body of the victim being some kind of offering. Naruto not wanting to disappoint would send out Kasumi, and before her one of his three elites, to fetch the body.

On some occasions, Naruto himself would fetch the body, reaching out an arm from the ground, and pulling the body beneath the soil, without even breaking the surface. This was thanks to the third door.

The Hokage had freaked out that one time that he had witnessed it. He had ordered some Anbu to leave the body of one of the prisoners that died in jail in front of the gate wanting to know what Naruto would do. He personally found it creepy that two arms shot out of the ground as soon as the body was dropped there and the Anbu, having heard the rumors spoke the rumored code phrase or prayer. The two arms seemed to embrace the body before the body slowly sank beneth the soil, leaving naught a trace.

On his next visit he found the dead man sitting by Naruto's skeletal koi pond, feeding the zombie fish that swam in it. It was then that he learned about part of Naruto's secret powers. He would have scolded Naruto about playing with something unknown without supervision, but what stopped him was being surrounded the three revenants, a host of skeletons, and that one asrai who stood in front of Naruto, shielding him from harm.

Needless to say he trusted Naruto with his secrets, and did not bother to ask him again or even try to ask him about the undead army he had at his disposal, or about any other abilities he was keeping secret.


	11. CR 04

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter four**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

It was his ninth birthday, the end and beginning of every new year of his life seemed to bring about the mastery of an aspect of his being and the start of mastery of another. It was a cycle which started when he was five years old, and he first saw the Shinigami drag out the rabbit eared one from within his mindscape, as well as activating the dormant memories and powers that he had gained when he was conceived, as well as reincarnated.

He still had his elites, his revenants, his servants that were the closest things to human and being alive, as well as possessing almost all they had in life, save for memories of family and friends, and most of their personality. He still had that one asrai, who could be likened to one of the Hoozuki clan members of Mizu no Kuni, except she didn't look all that much like water in her solid form.

He had added sixty more skeleton warriors as the previous year passed by, since he realized that every time a team left for missions he was left with fewer hands to work around the property, from maintenance to security, as well as picking up the bodies that were left by his main gate.

The wall that surrounded the property and the gate, had been reconstructed, from one made out of simple metal, to one made out of rock, solid rock. Naruto had had to purchase the necessary materials for its construction, it was a good thing that he stumbled upon the rest of the powers of the third door, luck or karmic manipulation. From then on he used it when he needed a bit more luck in a situation, it didn't really require any chakra for some reason, and so he used it when gambling in the many gambling dens in Konoha, in his Hyuuga form of course, complete with what he wore when he rescued Hinata, which caused a few Hyuuga to investigate, but they were unable to speak to him outside of games. He called himself Yuurei, or Rei for short.

The Hyuuga finally knew where he hung out, but not where he lived. Hiashi didn't mind that the savior of his daughter was running around without directly serving the clan, but the elders of the clan were not, they wanted him either controlled or killed. They had control issues, since the clan head didn't want anything to be done to the boy, and he actually still wanted to thank him. He wondered still who the boy was, as well as his parents, since no one knew of him. Viewed from a certain angle his facial structure kind of reminded some of the Yondaime Hokage.

His ninth birthday came with quite the surprise from the Sandaime, he had actually been given more land, the reason was that many that owned land near his had suffered some misfortunes, nothing life threatening although there was that one guy who ended up half dead from peeping on Kasumi in one of the village onsens. Those that suffered from the misfortunes had sold the land to the Sandaime for cheap, who decided to simply purchase the land for Naruto using his money, Naruto had opened up a bank account, luckily he was with the Sandaime at the time, and therefore his money was safe from thieves. The other reason was just to get rid of land that no one would have wanted to purchase.

Most of the new land was flat and barren land where some local farmers had grown their crops, but after a year of disasters making the harvest bad, they had sold the land and purchased new land somewhere else. One part of the land had this very deep ravine in it, one which was said to have come from a battle a long time ago where the earth swallowed up an army thanks to the technique that formed it.

With the new lands, Naruto had Izuna purchase new raw materials for a fence to be made around the property extension, viewing his original piece of land as his personal compound, and the rest as his kind of garden. He also needed to make sure that the ravine was cordoned off, he didn't want to see any recent corpses in there of stupid people falling in. He also commissioned his skeletons to build a bridge over the thing so that crossing was easier.

But that was only one of his birthday surprises, the second one came at night, when the day was about to end, actually it was closer to midnight already when it happened. While looking up at the sky from the top of his tree he saw a great many spirits rise up into the sky before vanishing into nothingness. Looking out over the village, he noticed that they all seemed to be coming from the same place, the Uchiha district.

Thinking quickly he jumped off the tree, free falling knowing that before he hit the ground one of his servants was bound to catch him, out of all their responsibilities was ensuring his safety, unless he directly ordered them not to. Which is what happened when Hashi suddenly leapt off from a branch he was resting on to catch his master, and bring him down to the ground. Naruto's couch was still right beside the base of the great tree.

"Izuna," Naruto spoke, "I need to know what's happening in the Uchiha district, I fear something despicable is afoot."

Izuna nodded, and left the compound, using shunshin, he headed for the Uchiha district as fast as his undead legs could carry him. What he saw were some fifty individuals massacring the clan. The bodies of men, women, and children littered the streets, the homes. There was blood and there were bodies everywhere.

His eyes locked on to whom he believed were the ringleaders of the operation, and found himself looking at a pair of Uchiha. Traitors to their own clan, or so Izuna believed, he himself knew that back when he was alive he was an Uchiha, he knew not of his family, or friends, or even enemies, but he had a feeling that he was supposed to know the older of the two traitors.

He sensed that there were still a few among the living in the area, none of which held any killing intent, but rather were more intent on hiding, running, protecting, and generally fighting for their very lives. He made a split second decision to engage the two ringleaders, knowing that his master would feel or know what he was doing, somewhat.

He remembered to cover his face, it wouldn't do for anyone that didn't know of his existence to see his face. He quickly engaged both men, drawing his two ninjatos that he had picked up on one of his missions, that was mostly how his fellow servants had gotten their gear, clothes were magically given to them by their master.

The two murderers were surprised when they were suddenly attacked from out of nowhere by a person that they had failed to sense. It was a dance of death which they weaved in and out of each other's blows. Even with their Sharingans active they were unable to really track his movements as he had a pair of his own as well, not that they knew that.

The other operatives of the battle soon found that they could progress no further, they were stopped from proceeding by the arrival of Izuna's reinforcements, which consisted of the rest of his platoon along with the other two. They tore into these false Anbu, Tobi soon figured it out after seeing a certain tattoo.

The murderers of the Uchiha clan did not know what to make of their situation, no where in the mission briefing was it mentioned that they would fight something else beside the Uchiha. They soon found out that their opponents were far from human, they did not stop when stabbed, and kept moving forward even after their heads had been severed, their comrades simply picked up the head and reattached it to the body.

While his forces were engaged with the murderers, Naruto himself darted in and out of houses and homes in search of any potential survivors. He had located a few, children mostly that had been missed by the people that killed their parents. They had been knocked out by their parents, Naruto theorized, so that they would not make any noise.

He carted off their unconscious forms, and brought them to Kasumi that was not participating in the battle, for her to look after in case any of them awoke. It was also safer they they stay with her as she would ensure their safety until someone else arrived. Naruto was actually wondering where the Hokage was, wasn't he supposed to protect the village, even from itself.

He had managed to locate a total of ten children, none of which he personally knew, they were far too young to have been considered as proper Uchiha, or that was what he thought Izuna would have informed him of. He did find one adult alive, though barely, she was found in the head's house, which more or less either made her Sasuke's mother or older sister, not that Naruto really knew much about that matter, but he had a feeling she was the mother.

He checked her over, only to find out that she had been dealt a killing blow, she was losing far too much blood that it would be impossible to save her life even if he was well versed in healing, which he really wasn't. The only healing he knew how to do was the kind that had to do with his undead troops and with himself.

"I'm sorry, I can't save you," he told her, as she lay dying in a growing pool of her own blood, "But I'll stay with you, until the end."

She tried to smile at him, but the pain coupled with the blood loss seemed to be too much for her, but at the end she smiled, a rather strained smile.

He saw her spirit rise out of her body, but instead of floating away, it remained there hovering over her form.

"Why aren't you moving on?" he asked her since he could see her.

"_I'm dead?_" she asked.

"Pretty much," he replied, "I know I said I'd stay until the end, but I got people out there that might need my help. By the way, who did this to you?"

"_M-My husband...he said...I was a needed s-sacrifice for him to be stronger..._" she said.

"I saw his body," Naruto said, "He's dead, even saw his spirit go bye bye."

"_Since you can see me...is there anything you can do for me now?_" she asked him, "_I really don't want to be dead..._"

"Well...there is something," Naruto said, "But you'll lose some of your memories if I do it."

"_That's alright,_" she said, "_Not many of them are happy ones anyway._"

"Then its settled," he then snapped his fingers and two skeletons entered the room he was in, "Take her body home, clean it up, and also gather up the bodies of the dead children, I have some use for them as well, if there are spirits lingering with the body tell them to follow."

The skeletons nodded and one of them lifted the body, while the other went off in search for some help with the carcass collection.

No one was really sure how long the battle had taken place, but it had to end when another more noticeable chakra signature approached. Naruto gave the order to retreat, as well as to collect the bodies of their fallen foes, they would make great additions to his zombie force, shinobi zombies were a lot faster than the run of the mill civilian kind after all, he intended for their bodies to retain all wounds, save for loss of limb or head.

Izuna was the last one to leave, he was able to force Itachi and Madara to retreat, both of whom Naruto recognized when he catch a glimpse of their retreating forms. It just so happened that Sasuke had witnessed the tail end of the battle, and tried to follow Izuna back to base.

Sasuke managed to follow Izuna back to the edge of Naruto's lands, he was faced with an imposing structure, the only gate into the main compound of the lands. The only compound for that matter. He looked at the gate and tried to find a way to open the gate, finding none, he decided to wait for the man to exit the gate, so he could ask him his questions, like why he had attacked the clan, and why was he fighting Itachi, and who was that other guy.

Inside the compound, Naruto had Kasumi deal with the ten kids he had found all of them were tired and scared due to the experience, so Naruto provided them with some futons to sleep on, some food and drink as well.

Before going to bed himself, he felt a presence by the gate, so he went there to investigate, what he found was Uchiha Sasuke sitting on the ground staring at the gate.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, opening the small door of the gate to ask his question.

"You! So you were the one who hired an assassin to kill my clan!" Sasuke accussed, and prepared to attack, but stopped when the gate parted to reveal a literal army of skeletons, their illusions weren't applied to them.

"If you harm our master," Izuna warned, moving to stand protectively in front of Naruto, "We will finish the job your brother started."

"You! You were the one!" Sasuke said, preparing to do something rather reckless, he was forced to stop this time, by none other than the Hokage, who arrived with a squad of Anbu.

"Enough," the Hokage said.

"Why?" Sasuke demanded, "He killed my clan!"

"Naruto," the Hokage said, "Kindly explain."

The Anbu felt weary in the presence of walking skeletons, they had been briefed by the Kage about what they could possibly be faced with. But that still didn't help them when they came face to face with the skeletons surrounding them.

"I was watching the stars from atop my tree, when I saw a lot of spirits," Naruto explained, "I looked out over the village and saw that they were coming from the Uchiha district, so I sent Izuna to investigate. He decided that it would be a good idea to fight the attackers, and since I can tell no matter the distance what my servants are doing, I brought reinforcements. I got fifty additional servants from the battle, while the two that attacked the clan escaped."

"Did you get a good look at the attackers?" the Hokage asked.

"Yeah..." Naruto said, "I still can't believe that he would kill his family like that, I know his dad was a teme, but still to do that far...the other guy was something else too though."

"Who attacked the Uchiha? And who is this other man?" the Hokage asked.

"Itachi and I've never seen the other guy in my life, he kinda looked like an Uchiha too," Naruto refrained from mentioning that he knew the guy's name, since he'd have to explain how he knew, and he didn't really want to share that secret with so many ears around.

"Thank you for trying to save them," the Hokage said, "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah...some of the dead bodies were not killed by Itachi and friends," Naruto said, "They were killed by some of the Uchiha themselves...Sasuke's mom told me that his dad killed her for power or something like that before she died."

"Why didn't you help her!" Sasuke said, after hearing the part about his mom talking and dying.

"Moving her would have made her pass away faster, and I'm no healer, also by the time any medic would have arrived, she'd have been dead already from blood loss," Naruto said, "Hokage-jiji, I was also able to rescue ten children, they're at home resting, I have Kasumi watching them."

"Very well," the Hokage said, "Anbu, follow Naruto-kun..."

"I think maybe you should do that in the morning," Naruto said, "They've just gone through a traumatic experience, and need some rest...Sasuke should too, but I don't think it would be a good idea for him to be alone right now...or for him to stay with me."

"He does have a point, Hokage-sama," one of the Anbu voiced his opinion.

"Very well," the Hokage said, "We'll come pick them up tomorrow, Sasuke come with me."

"Hai..." Sasuke said, knowing that he stood no chance against any of the people present, or those things that called the dobe 'master'.

"*"

In the morning Hiruzen was greeted by the most unusual and even more creepy sight when he knocked on the gate of Naruto's compound. He would have jumped in, but since he had already experienced nearly dying due to the security measures of the place, he chose the safer route and knocked.

The gate parted, it did not swing, it was more like a sliding door than a swinging one after all, and there standing before him were all of the young members of the Uchiha clan. From the assumed to be dead and incinerated, to the ten that had lived.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, then noticed Uchiha Mikoto as well, though she didn't look right for some reason, it was as if she was a new person. It was then and there that he was glad that he didn't bring Sasuke with him.

"Apparently...the most recent generations of Uchiha were not so kind to their children," Naruto spoke appearing from within the group, "Many of them were conditioned into becoming emotionless killer, traumatized, and whole host of other negative things. When they died, their spirits were restless, and did not want to move on, fearing what they would see in the after life. So I gave them a choice. They could either become my servants, or I would force them to pass on."

"Then they all are..." the Hokage said.

"The ten that I spoke of are still human, and alive," Naruto said, "I had to modify their memories a little so they would forget what had happened last night. The zombies have very few memories of their lives...this should allow them to have an extended childhood, as only I and another exactly like me would be able to make them age."

"What of Mikoto? I thought she died as well, though I do admit we never did recover her body," Hiruzen said.

"She didn't want to die, and convinced me into taking the other route," Naruto explained, "She is like my three elites, in that she retains much of herself, but with a number of her memories in life no longer being a part of her."

"I see," the Hokage said, then ushered the children over to him, reassuring them that he would find homes for them, Naruto told them it was okay, and that the Hokage would indeed help them, "What is her purpose?" he asked after some med-nin arrived to take the children away, the living ones, they paid Naruto no mind.

"She is to take care of these zombie children," Naruto said, "Even zombies need a mother sometimes."

"Very well," the Hokage said, "I admit they look different from when they were alive...but just to keep them and you safe, I require a compiled list of all your servants, for record keeping and such, you understand of course."

"Hai," Naruto said, "Oh yeah, I just remembered something."

"What is it?"

"Tobi said, that the fifty other attackers were from Ne, whatever that is, though I do have an idea," Naruto said, "Since I did turn them into zombies too, there wasn't much of a personality to salvage, so I left them as they were, more or less."

"Thank you for that information," the Hokage said, "But without a testimony from a living person, I won't be able to do anything about it."

"I figured as much," Naruto said, "Just wanted to give you a heads up, before I go change for school."

"You're going to the academy today? Why? You rarely go," the Kage asked.

"I don't think being absent today would be a good idea, considering the circumstances, and what Sasuke might spread," Naruto said.

"Alright," the Hokage said, then bid him farewell as he needed to return to the bane of his existence.

#

Sometime during his tenth year of existence, Naruto found himself distracting the villagers so that they wouldn't hurt a relatively innocent individual from their hate for all things demonic in nature. Someone had let slip of Yugito's identity as a jinchuuriki, and since the people just couldn't stand the thought of there being two of them, well, Naruto had to intervene.

He made sure that all the mobs that had formed had to deal with the Corpse Brigade, which was the nickname given to Naruto's undead army, while no one could tell the difference at first, they began to run screaming for the Hokage to save them from undead assassins after one of the skeletons got blown to pieces only for it to reform itself.

It was jinchuuriki hunting day, and Yugito not knowing why things were happening was forced to flee from the mobs since she was not allowed to fight back due to the seal she still sported. Naruto planned on fixing that real soon, or as soon as he could get his hands on her.

His elites were busy scouring the village for her, the chakra detecting barrier around the village would alert the Anbu if Yugito decided to try and leave the village for whatever reason, which meant that she was still in the village.

"Don't bother coming for a visit today," Naruto told the old man, "We're in a bit of a crisis, since the villagers think that there are now two demons in Konoha, and good luck coming up with an excuse for my Corpse Brigade being in the village. They're her as distractions and protection, not assassination."

"Uh...ok...?" the Hokage unsure of himself at that moment, "Are you planning on doing something to Yugito?"

"Er...not really," Naruto admitted, "Just gonna make sure she's safe from the wrath of the village, I'm sure there are some shinobi that would want to have their way with her to appease the villagers or something."

"Where will you be taking her once you do find her?" the Hokage asked.

"Into the ravine," Naruto replied, "Ja ne!"

"*"

She was cornered and the seal placed on her prevented her from harming any civilians, even for self defense. She believed that her life was finally over, until three shinobi descended on the mob, while not tearing them to pieces, they made quick work of them, knocking each and every one of them out, before shifting their attention to her.

"Follow us," Hashi ordered, his tone allowing no room for argument, he then leapt up to the roof tops, followed by Yugito and the other two elites.

She followed them in the direction of the cemetery and the Haunted District, while not necessarily a district, the citizens of Konoha treated the place as such and only visited on a dare, a mission, or was on death's door, or was already dead. She didn't know what the three shinobi had planned, but since she couldn't attack them either, she did as she was told.

Naruto had done some redecorating when it came to the gate of his compound. He had as it look not only formidable, but by the light of a full moon, it would give off an unnatural aura, helped by the mists that his security systems produced. All sorts of illusions were also put in place within the outer most part of the compound, the trees were covered in illusions that made them look alive, alive in the sense that they looked like horrific anthropomorphic haunted forest type trees, that occasionally would grab onto any that passed them by. A few Anbu had tried to get to Naruto's home, as they considered the place even more dangerous than the Forest of Death, which was the Anbu training ground.

Yugito didn't know what to think as she was led into the compoud, as soon as the gates parted, revealing the Haunted forest that had that huge tree looming overhead. She kept her body close to the man in the lead, she swore that she had seen his face from somewhere, but she couldn't quite figure out where she had seen him, or who he looked like, or even where she had seen his likeness, or one of the other two for that matter.

As the gate audibly shut behind the group, after a few minutes of walking they were met with children of all things, some of which, she noticed, sported scars, and the like, some others also had stitches in some places.

Then the group met up with what appeared to be the children's caretaker, she called to the children to stop bothering the guest, and led them away to play somewhere else.

Yugito didn't know what to think of the Haunted District now, seeing its inhabitants for the first time. By the time they had reached their destination, she had met with or witnessed some of the other inhabitants. They moved silently within the forest. Not making a single sound.

Their destination was one she had not been expecting at all. It was a traditional looking house house, complete with a garden surrounding it, and a koi pond, she was given a tour of the place as her saviors were apparently waiting for their master to arrive. She had been shown the onsen, then finally the base of the great tree.

A woman provided her with a chair to sit on as the couch was off limits to all but their master as they waited for him. She asked them about him, as well as why she had been brought there. They did not reply to that question, but they answered anything else she asked them, like what their names were, or if the moving skeletons were real or genjutsu.

A few minutes later a body dropped from the treetops, landing expertly onto the couch.

"Nice to finally meet you,Yugito-san," Naruto said, "I am known as Uzumaki Naruto, and I am the master of all that lives in the Haunted District, as well as its owner. Do you have any questions for me?"

"You are the master of this place, and these people?" she asked him, she looked at him incredulously, "While I find that hard to believe, no one seems to be disproving you, so I am forced to believe you."

"Do you have any questions?" Naruto repeated.

"Ah..yes...I do," she said, "Why was I brought here?"

"Because this is the safest place for you while Hokage-jiji fixes the situation," Naruto explained, "The revelation of what you are came at the worst time of the year, as you should know today is the day the Kyuubi was defeated, and Konoha lost a lot of lives during that battle, a lot of lives. The villagers know how to hold a grudge."

"You speak as if you have experienced what was going to happen to me today," she noted.

"I used to get beat up a lot on this day," he admitted, "For at one point in time, I was like you."

"Then you are a jinchuuriki too?" she said, "Then why are you free to do as you please?"

"Because Hokage-jiji was kind to me," Naruto said, "That and the Kyuubi is dead."

"What? How?" she said, "No one can kill a bijuu."

"Tch, well mine's dead," Naruto said, "Although I could be considered as the new Kyuubi...sort of...Hokage-jiji doesn't know that much though."

"Why not? You haven't told him?" she said.

"It is better this way," he said, "It is better than the real explanation for why I have an undead army at my disposal, or the other things I can do."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, "I could inform him next time I see him, since I doubt I'm here for you to kill."

"Of course I wouldn't kill you," Naruto said, "I watched as your seal was applied to you, I've been waiting for the perfect chance to nullify it."

"You can do that? Wait...why would you do that? You don't even know me," she said.

"I don't like the fact that a seal is being used to control you," Naruto said, "I don't like seals being used to control people in general, if the seal applied to someone helps protect them or others, then I'm fine with that."

"Oh," she said, "So...when are you going to do it?"

"As soon as my assistant gets here," Naruto said.

"You have an assistant?" she asked, "Are you sure that they're trustworthy?"

"Oh, very," Naruto assured her, "He'd never tell, and he's only doing this cause he likes me...or something like that."

"_**I'll stick with the something like that, if I were you,**_**" **the Shinigami said appearing sitting beside Naruto on the couch which could fit three Akimichis, "_**I'm here to make sure you don't die...and if you do die, I'll make sure you don't stay dead.**_"

"What are you?" she asked, unsure of the ominous presence that she felt as soon as he made himself known.

"Follow me inside," Naruto said, standing, then issued some orders, "Strip her, an bring her to the sealing room."

"What?!" she said, as she was grabbed by the three elites, and they proceeded to strip her then and there.

"_**You can call me Shinigami-sama,**_" the Shinigami said as he followed Naruto into the house, and into the sealing room.

"*"

The unsealing and resealing was a success, though Yugito had tried to castrate the ten year old once it was done. A feat which was difficult to do when she was suddenly teleported out of the room to the grounds where she was surrounded by Naruto's undead servants.

After calming her down, stating that all that had been done was required for the unsealing and sealing, he brought her to the ravine, where he had Hashi drop her into. Free falling was one of the scariest things to ever happen to her in her life. The experience was made even more frightening when Naruto and his elites caught up to her, followed by Mikoto and the children. She thought that she was going to die, as she watched three of the elites playing Go Fish with Naruto as they fell.

She couldn't understand how they could all be so calm about falling, Naruto who she was sure was alive, and not a ghost since the Shinigami told her that he wasn't dead, didn't seem to care at all that there was no chance of survival. She had forgotten to scream, but when she was about to she was silenced by Mikoto, changed to Miko, since she was trying to put one of the children to sleep.

"You won't die," Naruto said, "Don't worry about it, we're just dropping in on my servant factory."

When they reached the bottom of the ravine they did not go splat, since each and every one of them were caught by a hand that suddenly burst from the walls, and set them down on the floor of the ravine.

Yugito didn't know what she was supposed to expect, so she was sufficiently surprised when she found something like a coal mine near where they landed. The only light there was torchlight. There were zombies, and skeletons, walking around the place.

"Welcome to my bone mine," Naruto said, "We'll stay here until Hokage-jiji decides to come fetch you."

"So you're just going to hand me over to the Hokage, after changing my seal?" she asked him.

"Pretty much," Naruto said, "Just don't tell him about the seal change, while he didn't approve of it, he doesn't need to know about it."

"Ok," she said, "So...what are we going to be doing in here?"

"Well, you can explore a bit," Naruto said, "I'll be in the factory."

The factory he spoke of really did look like a factory or some sort of processing plant. What ever was carted out of the mines were brought to the building.

"Where did you get so many undead? I mean the bodies and the bones," she said.

"Eh...you wouldn't believe how many people are left on my front door," Naruto said, "I got some of 'em from there, the others were found underground, or by accident. I only need some genetic material or body part to create or recreate a whole body. Its only the energy requirement that decides what they'll look like in the end."

"Your..uh...servants aren't going to randomly attack me are they?" she asked, having never really had to deal with authentic undead.

"They won't unless you either provoke them, or attack me," Naruto said, then walked off to bring more servants to unlife, from humans to whatever else had bones in his bone mine. He already had added some undead animals to his compound, he was still debating with the spirits at the cemetery whether or not he should unleash some to the rest of his property.

Yugito decided to walk around the mine a little bit, she was quite interested in knowing what exactly could be found within, as well as what dangers the place could hold for an invading army. While she was grateful to Naruto for eliminating the control that the village had over her, she still believed that deep down she was still a Kumo-nin, and therefore would one day get the chance to betray the leaf and show where her loyalties truly lay.

She observed the undead, most of them were slow moving, and so she concluded that they were only of use if they attacked en masse, or could be used as meat shields. But they had one big advantage over any invading force. They were already dead, and therefore would not be affected by facing such a thing on the battlefield. She also remembered that Naruto was liked by the Shinigami, and therefore would have to take that into consideration.

Inside the factory, Naruto was able to use something he had stumbled upon in his training. The first door had let loose another power, this one was the manipulation of time. While he couldn't turn back time, he could make it slow down or speed up, or stop. But there was a time limit when it came to stopping time. Inside the factory time was moving differently, it was different from the outside, in that if Naruto were to be doing what he was doing in regular time, it would take him the whole year, but within the factory at the moment it would take him just until he knew the Sandaime would arrive to pick up the jinchuuriki.

"Naruto-sama," Izuna entered the space, seeminly unaffected by the sudden change of the flow of time, "Hokage-sama, is by the bridge, I informed him that I would inform you of his presence."

"Find Yugito, and we shall rise up, with the rest, prank him a bit," Naruto said, "After all, he doesn't know just how many of you there are."

"Very well," Izuna said, and left the building to search for Yugito, only to find her as he exited the building, she looked to be about to enter the building.

"Would it be alright for me to explore the inside?" she asked him.

"Not at this time," he said, "Hokage-sama, is waiting for us."

Naruto exited the building a moment later, followed by a lot more than just human zombies or skeletons.

"Break time!" he shouted, "We'll be scaring the Hokage! So climb up those walls, and exit the mine, head for home, and I'll see you there!"

The undead army began to scale the walls of the ravine, they did so faster than Yugito thought that they could move. The ones that were scaling the walls without any tools were the skeleton warriors or shinobi zombies. The ones that actually did move slowly, were the regular skeletons and civilian zombies, these ones launched hooks, and pulled themselves up.

"No popping out of the ground!" Naruto shouted before some of the undead could reenter the mines, they could freely move through the earth without really displacing any.

There was more than human undead that were running, climbing, pulling themselves up the walls. There were also a reserve worth of undead animals, from simple animal skeletons to emaciated animal corpses to almost alive looking animal zombies. From rats to animals that Yugito had never seen, even in a book, before.

Some of them were flying, actually flying, even the skeletal ones, and Yugito didn't think asking how it was possible would make her feel any better. It really was like a zombie apocalypse.

Some of the remaining living skeletons remained with them on the ground. Then they began dog pilling one another, Yugito watched as they formed some kind of bone throne and platform. Upon which Naruto took a seat.

"You coming or what?" he asked her as the zombie children climbed onto the platform along with the elites, Miko, and Kasumi.

"Coming," Yugito said, and made her way to the platform.

"Ground floor!" Naruto said, and the platform began to rise, slowly at first, then began to pick up speed.

"*"

The Sandaime was waiting along with his Anbu protective detail, on the bridge which connected the two sides of the ravine in Naruto's property. He had been expecting Naruto to jump out or climb out with a small contingent of skeletons and his elite. What he did not expect was for his Anbu to run screaming about a zombie apocalypse as soon as zombies, and skeletons began crawling from out of the ravine. It was the first time he had ever seen skeletal birds that were actually flying.

His thoughts went to the worst case scenario when it came to Naruto and his necromantic powers. He thought that Naruto may have gone over the deep end and lost control of his powers resulting in the zombie apocalypse. Being the Hokage he decided to stay and try and either get Naruto to regain control of himself, or get rid of the source of the monsters.

He was rooted to the spot when bigger things started crawling or climbing out of the ravine. He didn't know what some of them were, but he did recognize a few from a museum he had decided to check out in his youth in the capital of the country.

Before Naruto's bone throne and platform rose out of the ravine, he had sent up an illusion of ghosts and spirits, for added effect. Which had the effect of making Hiruzen's mind go past worst case scenario to something even worse, the underworld had been breached. The old man couldn't move due to fear.

"Hi!" Naruto shouted once he was level with the bridge, which caused the Sandaime to go through something close to cardiac arrest, for a split second the old man had actually left his body, before he was pushed or pulled back into it.

The next thing the Hokage knew was that he was laying in a bed in one of Naruto's guest rooms in his house, in his compound, in the Haunted District, and no longer on the bridge above the ravine. As soon as he collected his thoughts, he decided to look out the window to be sure that what he saw had not really happened. He fainted dead away upon seeing all the monster outside the window.

Minutes later he woke to find himself with Naruto on a platform with a view somewhere in the great tree.

"Naruto," Hiruzen said.

"Hai, Hokage-jiji," Naruto said.

"Am I dead?" he asked.

"No," Naruto said, "If you were, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Alright," he said, "Now please tell me what just happened."

"You were the victim of a prank," Naruto stated, "Though now that I think about it, it wasn't that great of a prank, seeing as you kind of had a heart attack at the start, and fainted when you were in my house."

"Are you telling me that you have a literal undead army at your command?" the Hokage asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Naruto said, "I decided to fill up the Haunted District with life...well...unlife...hehe..."

"You are going to be the death of me one day," the Hokage said.

"Uh..." Naruto said, not knowing how to proceed with the conversation.

"In any case," the Hokage said, "How long was I out?"

"Three hours give or take a few minutes, why?" Naruto asked while looking at the view.

"Well, I best be going now," the Hokage said, "The villagers might start to get worried, and I need to return Yugito to Anbu HQ, I've assured the village that she is of no threat to us, as well as passed a new law concerning her. Similar to yours, but not exactly the same, since a majority know her secret."

"I have a way of making the younger generation forget her secret," Naruto said.

"Oh? What is it?"

"Its like a genjutsu, but only I can do it," Naruto said, "I could do it from here, but I'd need at least pictures of the people I will be forcing to forget the secret."

"I'll get you those pictures," the Hokage said, a little desperate to get the village back to normal, "Do you need their names as well?"

"That would help," Naruto said, then asked, "What do you think about the view?"

"Its a great view," the Hokage said, "Your district doesn't look so foreboding from way up here."

"It will soon," Naruto said, "I'm thinking about letting some of the animal roam my land, the lack of wildlife is a bit disturbing for me."

"I'll allow it," the Hokage said, "But please remember to put up warning signs, and something to keep them in and people out."

"I will," Naruto said, "Wouldn't want people to freak out even more."

"What do you mean?" the Hokage asked.

"Don't you usually go everywhere with an escort?"


	12. CR 05

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated Reincarnation**

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"*"

_**chapter five**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

Due to the Hokage having to deal with the rumors of the zombie apocalypse, and Naruto having to construct measure to keep people out of his property, as well as his monsters in, Naruto was unable to make it to his first Genin Graduation Exam, which, while not on his birthday, had been moved to a later date, and no one had told him, not that anyone at the academy knew where he lived.

Naruto didn't mind even though he had signed up for the advancement exam two years early. He waited for this year, but something happened during his eleventh birthday which made sure that his time during the exam would be spent not in the exam. The first door had once again spat out something. This time instead of powers, it was some more knowledge.

The things he learned, and had to master, memorize, and whatever, were about chemistry, poisons, cooking ,and potions, the magical kind that could regrow bones over night while tasting worse than regular medicine.

He had been enjoying his birthday ramen, delivered to him personally by Ayame, Teuchi's daughter, who didn't really mind all the horror monster around her when she delivered the ramen, since she had seen them so many times. Though her first time she had screamed, the kind of scream that made the people who lived closest to the district, to decide to sell their homes, and move farther from the district, which was how Naruto gained some more land, and properties, which he rented to the shinobi populace, just as his apartment building was rented out. Only those that didn't see him as his former prisoner were allowed to live in his properties.

He had stumbled upon the knowledge as he was wondering what made ramen taste so good, and instead of suddenly knowing, he suddenly gained access to ways he could find out. This caused him to spend more time at home than in school than in any other year of his education, lacking as it should have been.

Since something always seemed to happen on Naruto's birthday, the Hokage made it a point to bring with him the same protection detail every year, as they were fiercely loyal to the Hokage, as well as were somewhat able to tolerate the things Naruto lived with.

The Hokage decided to visit Naruto at night, since he doubted that Naruto would want to have him go through cardiac arrest, as people could be scared more easily at night, than during the day. So he knocked on the gate, and waited for the gate guard to let them in. Instead of finding Naruto or one of his things on the other side, he found himself face to face with Ichiraku Ayame, with her delivery box.

"Ayame-chan, what are you still doing here?" he asked her.

"I kind of got lost, and only found the gate now," she admitted, "I insisted that I could find my way out..."

"Oh, is he expecting me?" he asked.

"I don't think so," she said, "Last I saw of him, he was consulting with some visible spirits about the pros and cons of studying chemistry, and some other things."

"Oh...I'll be going in now," the Hokage said, and entered throug the still open gate, followed by his guards.

He insisted that he didn't need a guide, suffice to say it was one really bad decision, for without a guide he didn't know of the security upgrades of the property, like the one that made someone without a guide get lost for a few hours.

They walked for hours, and hours, and hours, they managed to actually lose track of time. They were unaware of the fact that they had actually come close to the center of the place several times. But since they had insisted that they knew the way to the house, they got lost.

When they finally reached the house, they thought that they had been under one of Naruto's special illusions, but when they found him, it was revealed that they were sorely mistaken.

"You mean belated, right?" Naruto asked, while half of his body was in a cauldron.

"But its October ten," the Sandaime said.

"Let me guess," Naruto said, "You came here without a guide, didn't you."

"Yes...why?" Hiruzen said, while the Anbu wondered what Naruto was doing.

"Its been two days since my birthday, and the only reason you're not starving or thirsty is thanks to some of the illusions," Naruto said, "So you might want to head on over to the kitchen, Miko might still have some left over from dinner."

"Ok," the Hokage then led the Anbu to the kitchen where Miko was along with her brood of zombie children.

"Oh, you finally arrived," Miko said, "We saw you yesterday."

"You did? But we didn't see you," the Hokage said.

"Its part of the illusions, you actually passed by the clearing several times," she said, "Dinner?"

"Yes please," he said, then he and his guard took up positions around the table.

"*"

It just wasn't normal for the Hokage to disappear without informing anyone. The village council was at its wits end looking for him, some thinking the worst, some who knew that he visited Naruto on the boy's birthday thought that he had been eaten by the Kyuubi. While there were those that thought that he had to personally go on some covert operation. There were even those, a number of chunin, that believed he had run away due to the strain of the paperwork, which they had to do in his absence, save for the really sensitive stuff.

When he strolled into the Hokage Tower like nothing was wrong, some people, namely Danzo, began to worry. He asked his rival if he was alright, the Hokage replied that he was and that he had just gotten lost, which explained why he went missing for a few days.

Danzo didn't know where Naruto lived exactly, but he did know that the former Kyuubi container lived near the Haunted District. While he himself didn't believe in such things, he decided to go look for the Kyuubi brat since he was the reason why the village had entered into a chaotic state.

He was able to use the village's concern for the Kage to persuade the Hokage to part with the location of the Kyuubi container. After leaving the tower, Danzo gathered a good sized platoon of Ne Anbu, and made his way to Naruto's home. Trespassing was one of Danzo's worst ideas, while normally where he went it wasn't a problem. But this was Naruto's compound, the seat of his power, and also had the highest concentration of undead. Undead that didn't treat trespassers kindly, or with any manner of hospitality.

He personally didn't go in, he simply waited outside as his operatives made their way into and through the property in search of Naruto, once finding him they were to capture him and bring him back to Danzo.

Fifty more Ne Anbu fell that day, not from jumping over the wall, but from being hunted by the undead that were within. As soon as they made it over the wall, the undead instantly entered high alert mode. It was the first time that so many had dared enter, which meant an invasion by hostiles.

Such a scale of invasion of privacy did not sit well with Naruto, who ordered his creations to add the bodies to the factory as spare parts, but to leave at least one alive to tell the horrific tale of how his or her comrades perished in the Haunted District.

Undead man and beast alike stalked the trespassers, all of whom were caught up in the security illusions. Once the first man died, no death cry or scream, the rest tensed, and grew more weary of their surroundings, not that it helped them much. When the second one of their number lost his life, a number of them noticed something moving in the shadows, for the entire place was dark, thanks to the great tree that loomed overhead.

As soon as the group witnessed the third of their number suddenly dragged off by what looked like a wolf, they decided that it would be best if they split up, to cover more ground, and to be able to spot incoming opponents. But they would be no match for the things that lived in the compound. Even the trees were against them. Some actually shooting out vines or making their branches longer to stab into the trespassers, vines with thorns sucking out the blood of their master's enemies.

When each of the smaller groups were far away from each other, the undead struck with less stealth than when all the trespassers were all grouped together. They tore into their prey, literally tearing the people apart, eating their organs, and everything that they should have done to anyone else they came into contact with. Naruto made sure that when he made them, they did not have that unquenchable thirst and hunger for human blood and flesh, or any kind of such for that matter. But he made sure that when it came to protecting him and his, they could turn into vicious killers, even the children. Innocent looking as they were, the Ne that found them thought that Naruto had kidnapped them, and thought to bring them back to Danzo for retraining. When they were finally carrying the children, was when they realized their folly.

They were trained from very young not to display any form of emotion, or to feel any form of emotion for that matter. But in the situation that they found themselves in, they couldn't help but be afraid. Their numbers were thinning by the minute. Monster were lunging out of the shadows, claiming life after life. They had heard the stories, the tales, the rumors of this place, and they now realized that there was some truth to them. But he realization came far too late for most of them.

Only one of the Ne was able to avoid capture and subsequent death, she ran as fast as her feet could carry her, until she no longer had them, but even then she forced herself to run on her bloody stumps, anything was better than death by the things chasing her. She lost limbs as she made her escape, by the time she was able to hoist herself over the wall, she had lost almost all of her limbs, and had numerous wounds on her torso, and head. Her remaining limb was only until her elbow. Danzo managed to reel in his surprise at her state, and managed to catch her. Her state of being, was proof enough to claim that Naruto was dangerous, and instead of taking his subordinate to the hospital, he brought her with him to the Hokage's office.

"I thought, Ne no longer existed," the Hokage calmly said, "If it no longer exists, then that woman must be a nuke-nin and deserves her fate, and you will be charged for trespassing as well as sending an assassin to kill, capture, or kidnap one of our civilians."

"B-But I sent fifty Anbu to retrieve the reason you had gone missing, it must have done something to you, threatened you maybe," Danzo said, "It tore my Anbu to shreds!"

Danzo had thought that he had finally found a way to get the Kyuubi brat handed over to him, but alas, the Hokage knew about what had happened thanks to the woman sporting the tattoo that members of the undergrounds organization had on their persons. Danzo also failed to dismiss the fact that he still ran his Anbu extension.

"I do not remember granting you authority over my ninja force," the Hokage stated, "I could have you charged and killed for treason, but I won't seeing as you have already suffered enough. So remember to keep in mind that trespassing into the Haunted District is bad, and the next time you try and forcibly recruit Naruto, I will let his servants feast on your flesh."

"Y-you knew!?"

"Of course, I knew," the Hokage said, "What do you take me for, a fool?"

"So you can be ruthless...hmm...fine," Danzo said, "I will steer clear of that monster."

"You had better make certain that I hear no news that Ne has not been truly disbanded," the Hokage said, "I can think of a few _monsters_ that would love to take your little projects apart. Piece by bloody piece."

"*"

At the end of the day, Hiruzen returned to Naruto's home to inform him that there were rats living under the great tree that was Konoha, and he needed them to be exterminated. Naruto knew what the old man was talking about, but requested that even thought he still wasn't listed as a shinobi, that the task be put into his file as a mission, S-rank if possible due to what it entailed, along with payment. The Hokage could not really refuse Naruto's condition, since it really was a mission, one that the Hokage would not trust with anyone else.

The Hokage watched as Naruto ordered his servants around like a general in a real authentic and government approved army. Technically speaking the undead was an army, but were all officially servants to their master and creator or resurrector. In the undead army, Naruto was the equivalent of a Kage, while his elites were his generals or commanders, and everything else was a soldier.

"Take them to the ravine, alive," Naruto ordered, "All of them, save for the bandage covered man named Danzo. Take everyone else but him. Now, GO!"

"Hai!" the sound of their voices echoed throughout the compound, before the Hokage watched as they all dived into the ground or sank into it. He didn't know it, but even the roots of the great tree lengthened and snaked their way to perform its master's bidding.

"What do you intend to do with them?" the Hokage asked Naruto once all the undead were gone.

"Give them a choice," Naruto said.

"That being?" the Hokage asked.

"Directly serve the Hokage and only the Hokage, willingly serve me," Naruto said, "Or serve me in undeath."

"And how will you make sure that they would not betray either of us?" the Hokage asked.

"I have a way," Naruto said, "I've been studying seals, I know a thing or two...much as I hate some of the applications..."

"I see, well I guess knowing your abilities such an art would come in handy," the Hokage said, "How soon should I expect the results of this mission?"

"You'll know as soon as Danzo barges into your office," Naruto said, "I'm sure he'll try to blame me for it, which is how you will know that he has betrayed Konoha."

"*"

There were slightly more than two hundred undead traveling through the ground to their destination. For a living human being it would have been tiresome work, but for the undead it was nothing special. It was like they swam the way, instead of actually tunneling, they made it to their underground destination with minutes to spare.

They dropped down from the ceiling, made of earth, and sought out their prey. While they weren't allowed to harm them, they knew how to use fear, which was actually their greatest weapon.

The facility was lit by lamps hanging from the metal pipes and the like on the ceiling, with a quick raiton jutsu, the electricity running through the things shorted some of them, causing a kind of flicker in some of the bulbs.

The Ne Anbu didn't know what hit them until it was too late. Naruto's forces struck when their prey felt even a little bit of fear. Knocking men and women and even some children out. There was a literal mix of bloodline clans among the captured Ne operatives. Through it all Danzo was unaware that his forces were being transported to the ravine, where Naruto had gathered all of those that he did not include in the first phase of the operation.

When his elites informed him that they had scoured the entire facility, and found no more operatives, he sent some of his undead, mostly animals, to occupy the place, to ensure that it was not used unless either himself or that Hokage ordered its use.

Naruto asked his question, informing them of their three choices. The children chose to serve him, since he was the one that saved them from Ne, some of the teens chose to serve the Hokage, while half of the adults chose to try and escape, failing, and were brought to the factory for processing. Half of the remaining adults chose to serve the Hokage, while the remainder chose to serve Naruto since he seemed to be more powerful than Danzo, they believed it as fact since he had so much resources at his disposal.

Those that refused to chose a master, had been killed on the spot. Those that did not have a special ability that needed organs and the like, were turned into skeleton ninjas, while those that did need their bodies for their special techniques were turned into zombie ninjas.

The ones that chose to serve a master were given seals placed on their hearts, grafted there by the use of chakra strings, as well as some surgery, with the unseen presence of the Shinigami to make sure that it was all a success, Naruto forgot about his luck manipulation and banged his head against the wall when he remembered.

The seals placed on their tongues by Danzo had been rendered useless, which would permit them to inform the Hokage orally of all of the thing Danzo had them do.

"*"

The Hokage was not as surprised as he should have been when Danzo barged into his office, it had been a week since he had asked Naruto to perform that one mission. Danzo did not look well, he looked like he had gotten into a fight with some of Naruto's undead and somehow lived to tell or complain about the experience.

"You! You had all my men killed!" Danzo raged, and even tried to attack the Hoakge but was stopped by a man in a mask, whose chakra was very familiar to Danzo. It was Yamanaka Fuu, one of Danzo's most loyal subordinates, apparently there were some sealed up memories that Naruto had uncovered, and since Fuu decided to serve the Hokage, originally to spy for Danzo, it was revealed that Danzo had sealed up some rather bad memories, things that made Fuu despise his former master.

"I told you to disband," the Hokage said, "I ordered you to do it, you disregarded that order, and now you come in here, blame me for those traitors' deaths, and try to kill me, all in one lifetime...tsk tsk...Fuu, you have my permission to eliminate the stain on Konoha's good name."

"Hai," Fuu said, making sure that Danzo remembered him, "Hokage-sama," a chakra covered fist went through the bandaged man's gut, and exited the other side complete with spine.

"The Danzo threat has been neutralized," the Hoakge said, "But at the same time...leaves me with one less adviser..."

"I suggest a temporary replacement," Fuu said, speaking freely for the very first time to a superior officer, "Danzo was an integral part of many of the schemes and plans and operations in the village hidden from your eyes and knowledge, some of which are and have been used to keep the village safe. While his methods were detestable, he really did love the village enough to protect it through any means."

"Then what are you proposing?" the Hokage asked.

"I'm sure that Naruto-sama may provide a solution," Fuu said.


	13. CR 06

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter six**_

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"_*"_

It may not have been his birthday, but he was twelve all the same. As much as he wanted to become a genin or any rank so long as he was an official shinobi of Konoha, he consciously decided to skip the graduation exams this year, the year that his year mates, his classmates were sure to pass. He'd already missed the other two, and so didn't really see the point in going to this one as well. He knew that he'd eventually become a shinobi, so he simply stayed at home.

Until the Hokage and more than his protection detail appeared in front of his main gate.

"What's up, Hokage-jiji?" Naruto asked, rising out of the ground like one of his servants, the undead ones.

"Why did you steal the scroll?" the Hokage demanded an answer.

"I've been at home the whole day," Naruto said, "Why would I steal a scroll, what scroll anyway?"

"Mizuki claimed to have seen you enter my office a little over an hour ago, which was after I alerted all available chunin that the Fordidden Scroll was stolen," he Hokage said.

"Why the hell would I steal that scroll, when my whole home is filled with things that would normally be considered as forbidden?" Naruto asked, defending himself.

"Then if you didn't do it, who did? I have one witness, and a chunin at that," the Hokage said, "Why should I believe you over a chunin."

"Cause I took out Ne with over two hundred walking corpses," Naruto deadpanned.

"Well...when you put it that way," the Hokage said, then ordered one of the Anbu squads to inform the chunin to call of the search, "...The scroll and whoever took it better be in my office by morning."

"It will," Naruto said, "Promise."

"Fine," the Hokage said, and left with the Anbu.

When Naruto got back home, he summoned his elites to him, he didn't mind the way the Hokage was acting since the Forbidden Scroll information privy to only Konoha, a very important scroll.

"That single trespasser that came entered my lands minutes before the Hokage," Naruto said, "Hunt him down, do not kill him, but make sure he knows and understands the meaning of the word pain."

"Hai," the elites said, and summoned their subordinates and handed out orders, as well as had them inform all of the undead of the hunt.

"*"

As Mizuki was making his way out of the village, he decided to enter the Haunted District, sure there were rumors about the place, but that was it, they were just rumors. There was no evidence to prove that such things were true.

As he was running, he avoided everything in the place, not wanting to disturb the animal life in the place. He avoided any vegetation, and simply ran in the open spaces. He somehow knew that no one in the village proper would come after him in this place, or would even think of coming after him in this place.

When he was halfway across the bridge over the ravine, he thought perhaps it was a bad idea to not believe those rumors, as with growing horror, he was faced with things out of a nightmare. His body stiffened at the sight of skeletons scaling the walls of the ravine, then he ran, in the direction of freedom, only to be stopped by the sight of arms shooting out of the ground. Since he hesitated in running away, he bore witness to the dead breaking the surface of the ground, as well as they slowly moved closer to him.

Noticing that they were moving slowly, Mizuki decided that there was a chance to escape, there was no way that such slow moving things could possibly catch him if he ran. So he ran, and found that it took some time for the monster to even turn around, or comprehend that their next meal had run through them. So he continued to run, until he stopped almost dead in his tracks, as he was faced with a literal army of undead monsters, from children to large animals.

"Hand over the scroll," Hashi stepped away from the wall of the undead.

Mizuki panicked, and flew through some handseals, before launching a few fireballs at the revenant, intending to kill it by fire as shown in some movies and described in some books. He was surprised to find a wall of water had protected the one that had spoken.

Finding such a response to his liking, Hashi similarly flew through some seals of his own, then slammed his hands on the ground, the result was that Mizuki was captured by some kind of wooden vine that bound him in place.

"Naruto-sama ordered that he be taught the meaning of the word pain," Hashi spoke to the undead, "Make sure he understands it as well."

By the time the Hokage found the bloody and beaten, but alive, form of Mizuki in his office in the morning as well as the scroll, he couldn't help but admire Naruto's work and ability to keep his promises. He also resolved to meet with the twelve year old, later on in the day to hand him his own forehead protector. He also marked down in Naruto's file the completion of a B-rank mission, and would hand over his pay along with the forehead protector.

In the afternoon, the Hokage visited Naruto, bringing Umino Iruka, Naruto's academy sensei, along with him. The man had worried about Naruto since the, now, genin had not shown up for the exam. But was slightly relieved to know that he had found an alternate way of becoming a shinobi.

Since the Hokage had a guest, one unfamiliar with the going ons within the Haunted District, the guards alerted HQ also known as their master, of the arrival and then they cast genjutsu on one another. The guards were all undead, while the former Ne forces were in charge of maintenance duty, as well as border patrol, something they seemed to like more than standing by the gate all day like the undead soldiers.

Iruka wasn't aware that Naruto lived in the Haunted District, he was unpleasantly surprised that he was being led by none other than his Hokage to the capital, to the core, of the Haunted District itself. He thought that the worst and unthinkable had happened when the Hokage informed him that Naruto could be found inside the compound, beyond the ominous even in daytime gate of the compound. When the Hokage told him that they would be visiting Naruto, he thought that Naruto was okay. But as they approached the gate, he was not so sure anymore.

There was even the thought that the Hokage was really just going to kill him in front of the gate as a form of tribute to whatever it was that brought him Mizuki all bloodly and beaten, but alive, to his office that day's morning. But he decided to squish those fears, and waited for whatever was going to happen. If worse came to worst, he could try an escape from the Kage's clutches.

"Iruka-kun," the Hokage kindly said, "Be a good boy, and knock on the gate for me."

Iruka obeyed, none of the stories mentioned knocking on the door, so it was possible that it was just a normal gate, and it was a normal district, and nothing was going to reach through the gate to grab his still living body...

"Ahhh! Get it off me! Get if off me!" Iruka started screaming as soon as his knuckles touched the gate, "Hokage-sama! Save me!"

"I know, you know, we're out here," Hiruzen said, "Open the gate already, and let us through."

The hands that grabbed Iruka, let him go, and retreated beyond the gate, and below the ground. The gate split apart, and in front of Iruka stood Naruto, who was rolling down his sleeve, he was wearing Yuurei's attire.

"Didn't think you believed those rumors, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said to his still freaked out teacher, "Sorry, hehe."

"That wasn't very nice, Naruto," the Hokage said, " Though, I do have to admit it was a rather funny cruel joke."

"You should see what I do to your Anbu," Naruto said, "While it does freak them out a whole lot more...it sure is funny to watch...So what're you here for?"

"Here," the Hokage handed over the forehead protector, as well as a thick envelope.

"Cool, a forehead protector...so...what exactly am I?" Naruto asked, then peeked into the envelope, "Sweet!"

"I bestow upon you the rank of genin," the Hokage said, "Congratulations."

"How'd I make genin? I was absent for the exam," Naruto said.

"H-Hokage-sama said that it was thanks to you that Mizuki was caught," Iruka said, "So its kind of like a field promotion."

"So...since you have finally been accepted in the shinobi ranks, where would you like to celebrate?" the Hokage asked.

"Well, as much as I'd love some ramen...I think I'll invite Teuchi and Ayame over," Naruto answered, "I think it would be better to spend it at home, rather than at the stand."

"Alright then," the Hokage said, "Iruka, follow me, and don't get lost or run away."

The Hokage was entered into the security system's list of OK people, as were his personal guard or protection detail, as were the former Ne that served him, or Naruto, the undead didn't need to be added to the list since they were all part of the system to begin with.

Iruka found that he was really freaked out and expected some sort of zombie or something to pop out and eat him, since the forest was something out of a horror film. There was just so much darkness, so little light, and so many moving shadows.

When they got to the clearing that housed the house, Iruka thought that he was either in limbo or in hell, and that the Hokage he was with and the Naruto he was with were illusions sent to him by the Lord of Hell, as torment for whatever sins he had committed in life, like all those pranks he pulled as a child.

"Honey, I'm home!" Naruto shouted, a bit of a joke considering he wasn't married.

Iruka was really wallowing in self pity, and depair, since it wasn't likely that he was alive, since the whole place was suddenly filled with undead things.

"Um..Hokage-sama?" Iruka said, unsure of himself and his mortality.

"Yes, Iruka-kun?" the Hokage asked as they walked toward the house.

"Am I dead?" Iruka asked.

"No, you are not dead," the Hokage replied, "What made you ask that?"

"There are things from horror films walking around us," Iruka pointed out.

"Oh, them," the Hokage said recalling tha Iruka didn't know about Naruto's powers and hobbies, "They're not all dead," he laughed as his little joke, "But seriously, they wont harm you so long as you don't try to hurt Naruto."

"Uhm...ok...Hokage-sama," Iruka said, then asked as they were led into the house, "Are they what I think they are?"

"Depends on what you think they are," the Hokage replied, as he took a seat around the table, followed by Iruka who sat beside him.

"Iruka-sensei, relax," Naruto said trying to assure his sensei of his safety, "They won't hurt you, unless I tell them to, or you try to hurt me...unless during training or a spar."

"What are they? Iruka asked.

"Well...my three generals, the ones I refer to as elites are revenants, since their the closest to being alive as any of the things I've created can be, since they've got part of their souls in them," Naruto said, "There's Kasumi who is an asrai or a water spirit, she mostly stays near Tobi, one of the elites, or by the river, koi pond, or onsen. All the other undead are either zombies or skeletons."

"Iruka, if you say zombie apocalypse, I will order Naruto to turn you into one," the Hokage said, before Iruka could scram the words.

"Gomen," Iruka said, "For freaking out, its just that...I'm not used to seeing the living dead walk amongst the living."

"You'll get used to it," the Hokage said, "I did."

"Miko," Naruto called, who arrived moment later followed by the children both living and undead under her care.

"Hai, Naruto-sama?" she said, "You need me for something?"

"Invite the Ichirakus over, I'm a genin, and need to celebrate," Naruto instructed, "If they have customers, give 'em a reason to come."

"Hai, Naruto-sama," she said, then faced her younglings, "Come along children, we have a pair of ramen chefs to kidnap."

"Were those...children?" Iruka asked, fearing the answer.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "The ones with stiches and stuff are zombies, the others are still alive. Why? You scared of zombie kids?"

"Naruto...who doesn't fear the dead and death?" Iruka said.

"I don't," Naruto said.

"Most normal people fear those things," the Hokage said, "You're far from normal Naruto."

"I know," Naruto said, then went into the kitchen, then came back with some plates, followed by Tobi who brought out the utensils, followed by Izuna who brought out placemats, and coasters, followed by Hashi who brought out the glasses. They then took seats around the table.

"Naruto...what do they eat exactly?" Iruka asked, since the elites had set up the table to include their own places.

"If I said human flesh, would you freak out?" Naruto asked, "Hypothetically speaking."

"Of course I'd freak out...they don't...do they?" Iruka responded.

"Normally...no," Naruto said, "But when they have to...sure."

"When do they have to?" Iruka asked.

"When someone or something tries to hurt me, especially in my home," Naruto said, "Like those Ne operatives that one time."

"Ne operatives?" Iruka asked.

"Danzo had some of his underground group try and kidnap Naruto," the Hokage said, "Only one out of fifty survived the ordeal."

"Oh..." Iruka said, "They won't be eating anything human now, will they?"

"Of course not," Naruto said, "They'll eat ramen just like the rest of us, and cake, can't forget the cake."

"Cake?" Iruka said.

"Cake," Naruto said, "I still have a lot from the last time I baked, which was yeaterday."

"You can bake?" Iruka asked, thinking that he only knew kunoichi that baked.

"Among other things," Naruto said, "That reminds me, Hokage-jiji, I have a request."

"What is it?" Hiruzen said.

"I'm sure you know that I've been keeping a lot of secrets from you," Naruto said, to which Hiruzen nodded, "Well...I'd like to share one of those secrets with the two of you, and would like a profile of it included in the active shinobi list."

"What did you dabble in now," the Hokage said, expecting that Naruto had created some sort of super assassin, even more deadly than the ones sitting at the table with them.

"Well, you see, I have this other form, the transformation I do is real," Naruto explained as he visibly shifted into Hyuuga Yuurei, "As you can see I look like a Hyuuga, but its not only the look, I can use the Byakugan too, as well as have mastery over the Hyuuga fighting style, and some mannerisms as well. So what do you think?"

"I can't believe you were the one that rescued Hinata," the Hokage said after a long pause of silence, Iruka's mouth hung agape at the revelation, he had lost some money to the black haired wonder with them.

"Y-You're Y-Yuurei!" Iruka exclaimed.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," the Hokage said, "Asuma lost a lot of money to you, several times. How did this secret come about."

"Ah...yeah...its part of a bigger secret...but since Danzo's my servant now...I guess I can tell you," Naruto said.

"Servant?" Iruka asked.

"Yeah, the elder Danzo you know has been undead for some time now," Naruto said, "One of Hokage-jiji's Anbu killed him after he tried to kill jiji, so in order to keep Konoha running smoothly, Jiji and the Anbu had me turn him into one of my servants."

"Naruto, the secret...what is it?" the Hokage asked.

"When I was five years old, the Shinigami took away the Kyuubi since my reincarnated powers and memories were awakened," Naruto said, admitting his biggest secret, "Shinigami said that what my soul underwent was a complicated reincarnation since most only retain some of the former personality, while I got the memories and powers."

"Is the necromancy really from the Kyuubi as you made me believe," the Hokage asked.

"No," Naruto said, "Its from door number four. I have two gates holding the powers of the Kyuubi both from its past life and this life, as well as seven doors each from a separate yet connected life, having unique memories and powers. Hyuuga Yuurei as I call myself in this form is from the second door. I've only managed to access the first four doors, while the others are still kind of locked to me."

"That was a pretty big secret," the Hokage said, "But its a good thing you kept it, if you told it to me back when it happened, I most likely would not have believed you. But after seeing everything you have done so far, I can't help but believe you."

"I wasn't expecting that," Iruka said, "Also, you mentioned the Shinigami, why no honorific?"

"_**Cause we're friends!**_" the Shinigami's voice flooded the dining room, "_**Am I too late for the celebration?**_"

"You're early, Miko's not back with the chefs yet," Naruto said, "Why don't you materialize and have a seat?"

"_**No thanks, congratulations by the way, I'm proud of you, but I gotta go, there's this serial killer in the capital, and I've got a date with her,**_" the Shinigami said, before his ominous presence vanished.

"So...are you immortal?" Iruka asked, "Seeing as you're his friend and all."

"Nope," Naruto said, "I'm still mortal, I can still die, but the chances of me staying dead are very slim...he might bring me back as a lich."

"Which is what?" Iruka asked.

"A lich is an undead necromancer, in my case, an undead ninja necromancer," Naruto said.

"Figures," Iruka said.


	14. CR 07

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter seven**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

After the celebratory dinner, Iruka was invited to stay the night, an invitation which he gratefully accepted, and was shown to one of the guest room, while the Hokage left to go home. Iruka was not really all that excited to sleep in the equivalent of a haunted mansion, but he would do it for Naruto who invited him, but also warned him against exploring past the ring of trees at the edge of the clearing, as well as not trying to climb the great tree.

Through the duration of the night, Iruka wasn't really all that able to sleep, since he kept hearing sounds coming from outside, but whenever he looked out the window, he would see nothing amiss. But he would still hear the sounds, and a shout or scream every now and them. He didn't know what was happening, but decided not to bother Naruto about it, and so tried to sleep.

By morning it was evident that Iruka had not been able to sleep as Naruto found him in the corner of his room hugging a pillow. His eyes were darting left to right as if searching for something. The zombie children had decided to play their own prank on him, by visiting him during the night, every time he was about to drift off, which made him really paranoid.

"Iruka-sensei, what happened to you?" Naruto asked as he entered the room, "Couldn't sleep?"

"T-That's n-not f-funny," Iruka said, "W-What h-happened l-last n-night?"

"Oh...so the fighting kept you awake huh," Naruto said, "The Anbu sometimes try and come here as a form of training, since the core of the Haunted District is even more dangerous than the Forest of Death."

"W-What d-do y-you m-mean?" Iruka asked.

"While the Forest of Death has living things that can kill you," Naruto said, "My home's got things that are already dead and can still kill you. Get it?"

"G-Got i-it," he said.

"You kinda sound like Hinata," Naruto said, "Maybe you need a nice relaxing bath in the onsen, ne."

"Y-Yeah...p-probably," Iruka said, and allowed Naruto to lead him to the onsen, and left him there.

A few minutes of relaxing later, Iruka was joined in the water by Kasumi, Iruka then began to freak out since normally women would beat the crap outta any male that spied on their body. So he tried to leave, only for an arm to pull him back into the water, quite forcefully too. He thought he was screwed.

"No need to leave, Iruka-kun," Kasumi said, whispering into his ear, "You are Naruto-sama's guest, and he thought you should relax a little bit. So I'm here to help you relax."

"Y-You...don't n-need t-to," Iruka said, but the more he protested, the more she pulled him away from the exit.

"If you keep struggling," Kasumi said, one hand below the water, "I'll tell Tobi-kun that you tried to have your way with me...and Tobi-kun wouldn't like that."

Naruto's servants may be of the undead, but that didn't make then mindless and emotionless killing machines, they could think for themselves, they had emotions, they had personalities, which was why it took Hashi and Izuna, along with some help from Miko, to stop Tobi from murdering Iruka who, even though he heard what Kasumi had said, he believed was trying to have his way with Kasumi, and just made her say those things.

"Let me go, brothers," Tobi said, he thought of Hashi and Izuna as his brothers, which in Hashi's case was very real, "I'm gonna kill him for putting the moves on my girl."

"Calm down Tobi," Hashi said, his wooden constructs tightening their grip on Tobi, "You heard what she said, she wants to do whatever she's doing in there with him."

"Its not like you're married or anything, Tobi, so relax, a girl can have fun every now and then," Miko said, helping the two boys keep Tobi from massacreing the last loyal Umino. Miko, too was an elite, but her role wasn't fighting but taking care of the undead, espcially the children.

The living servants of Naruto watched the interaction of their undead commanders, as well as how it took three elites to restrain only one. These former tools of Danzo, the adults, lived in the great tree in tree houses, while the children lived in Naruto's house, since that was where Miko stayed. Hashi, Izuna, Tobi, and Kasumi, lived in houses they made for themselves. While the other undead lived in either houses, communal houses, or underground. The animals just slept wherever.

"One of you up there," Miko called out, "Grab some rope!"

Back in the onsen, Iruka was reluctantly having the time of his life. He was practically a virgin before he entered the thing, he thought that he could die then and there. He was in heaven, bliss, he thought nothing could compare, even as Kasumi did something incomparable by or to any mortal woman, that he would be enjoying the company of in the future.

Tobi was really struggling from his bonds, he really really wanted to kill Iruka, his acute hearing, picking up every sound coming from within the onsen. The rope, wire, tree branches, and whatever else could be found to keep him from moving forward toward his goal was not working.

It was a good thing that Naruto was out for the day accompanying the Hokage as his registraton forms into the ranks, for both himself and his Hyuuga that is not a real Hyuuga self. Whlie he was out, Tobi had managed to get his troops to try and get him out of his binds, which resulted in Hashi and Izuna's troops to keep Tobi's troops away. Everything escalated into an all out brawl between the three groups.

A few minutes later, the brawl turned into a battle royal, as even the living servants joined in the fray, mostly to keep the children safe as the fighting kept nearing the base of the great tree where the tree was shielding them, and the animals joined to make sure that the fighting did not reach the house, since everyone knew that Naruto would be more than simply pissed off if the house was wrecked.

"Miko-chan!" Kasumi called out from the onsen, "Iruka-kun wont wake up! I think I killed him!"

"Sweet! I can kill him over and over now!" Tobi shouted finally getting free from his brother's grips, and ran to the onsen, upon entering, he was kicked out by both Miko and Kasumi, as they both shouted 'pervert', which caused the fighting to end, and the female population went into error mode as some kind of basic instinct that most didn't think they still had, and proceeded to beat the unlife out of Tobi, who was not helped by any male out of fear. Miko and Kasumi then used that chance to carry Iruka to his room butt naked, like a sack of potatoes.

"Ugh...w-where am I?" Iruka said once he woke up.

"You're in your room, Iruka-kun," Miko informed him, "You passed out in the onsen, was Kasumi too much for you to handle?"

"I think it was the heat," Iruka said, not realizing what he accidentally implied.

"Good," Kasumi said, she wasn't exactly wearing anything, "Then let us continue, I have yet to be sated, scram Miko."

"Fine, fine," Miko said, then left the two alone in the room.

Miko met up with Hashi and Izuna who were once again keeping Tobi from rushing into the house as Iruka and Kasumi finished where they left off.

"Tobi," Miko said, her voice as dead as she was supposed to be, which was never a good sign when it came to dealing with her, she was quite irritated.

"H-Hai," he said as he instantly stopped struggling.

"Leave Iruka-kun alone," she said, "Kasumi too, what they do is their own business, just as what the two of you do is your own business, unless it disturbs the peace. Do you understand?"

"H-Hai," he said.

"Good boy," Miko said, patting his shoulder, while he was taller than her, she could still reach that, "You three can go now."

"Hai!" they said and shunshin'd away.

"*"

Naruto had been using an advanced kage bushin to register himself as a shinobi, since only he, the original, could transform into Yuurei for some reason. Their ranks were thus, Naruto was a genin, while his alternate form and identity was a tokubetsu jounin. Both of their mission files were identical, nearly all of their information was identical, save for where they lived, and their names.

Naruto had first sent his clone to trail the Hokage before he, as Yuurei, repeated the proceedures, everything was fine up until he was spotted by Hiashi who was accompanying his daughter as she registered herself. When Yuurei realized that he had been seen by a Hyuuga, he finished all the necessary paperwork, and bolted from the building, and headed for the Haunted District, specifically the house nearest to the path that led to the Haunted Gate.

It was a fully furnished house, one where Naruto sometimes spent his days, when he needed a break from his actual home, a vacation house within the same village as his own home. A way to connect to regular society. But at the moment it was a way to distract the Hyuuga that had spotted him, as he exited the back door in a cloak, and made his way to his real home.

He sensed Hiashi give chance a few minutes later, when he arrived at the gate, Hiashi could clearly see him. So he did the freakiest thing, he could think of.

He mentally willed the gates to crack open, and mentally ordered the great tree to form a branch in the form of an arm, and had it shoot out of the crack, grab him, and pull him in, closing the gate right after his body was pulled in. After that Naruto ordered his troops to keep anyone that wished entry out.

When the Hokage arrived to inform Naruto that all his paperwork, complete with pictures, were completed and filed, he found Hiashi trying to gain entrance at the gate.

"Hiashi, what are you doing here?" the Hokage asked.

"I saw Yuurei-kun, enter this place," the Hyuuga said, "I would still like to speak to him...for what he did...but he bolted as soon as he noticed I was heading for him..."

"Ahh, yes, Yuurei-kun prefers his privacy," the Hokage said, "Just as the owner of the Haunted District does. I shall speak to him the next time I see him."

"Who?" Hiashi asked, "The owner of the district or Yuurei-kun?"

"Yuurei," Hiruzen said, "Now let us see, if I can enter."

"You are the Hokage, of course you can enter," Hiashi assumed.

"While I may be the leader of this village," the Hokage said, as he knocked, "My power does not extend beyond this gate and wall."

A head stuck itself out from above the gate.

"Gomen, Hokage-sama, but Naruto-sama said not to let anyone in," the guard said, "You might want to inform your Anbu not to train in here until the blockade is lifted, security is on high alert due to Hyuuga Hiashi's attempt to speak with Yuurei-sama."

"Kindly fetch Naruto," the Hokage said, "It would be best for his career to end this problem now rather than later."

"I'll see what I can do sir," the guard said, then his head disappeared for a moment before his voice was heard again, "He's calmed down some, you two can come in, you still might want to inform the Anbu not to train for a bit."

"Alright," the Hokage said, and produced a messenger bird to deliver the message to Anbu HQ whose members trained at night.

Hiashi really didn't pay much attention to rumors of non-sensical value, but as soon as the gate opened, he started to believe that rumor about the Haunted District, the one concerning the Haunted Gate most especially, and thought that perhaps for once the rumors weren't exaggerated since as the gate opened a kind of mist escaped, and waiting for the two men on the other side was a squad of zombie ninjas.

"We have been instructed to keep you safe from the others," one of the zombies said, it was one of the Ne zombies, "Naruto-sama waits. Follow."

Once fully inside the gate closed, with nary a sound, Hiashi noticed that there was a light mist surrounding them as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest, into the compound. Shadows moved around them, his muscles were tense expecting an ambush of some sort.

On the way to the house, they passed by Iruka who lay on a stretcher and was being carried out of the place by illusioned skeletons, apparently Kasumi had done more than wear him out. The Hokage asked the skeletons what had happened, and they briefly explained what had happened to the man, he didn't know whether to pity the man or be jealous after hearing the explanation.

When they made it to the clearing, Hiashi couldn't believe his eyes, as he the sheer number of the undead around the place, standing at attention, still as statues, waiting for further orders.

"Hello," Naruto greeted, as the Hokage and Hiashi approached the base of the tree, where even the children were standing at attention, "Hyuuga Hiashi, you must swear never to reveal anything you learn here to anyone, without my express permission, or face my wrath."

"Why should I?" the Hyuuga arrogantly said, forgetting that not even the Hokage had much power in such a place, "Who are you to threaten me?"

"_I wouldn't have said that if I were you,_" the Hokage mumbled shaking his head slightly.

"If you do, I shall let you speak with and know the secret of Yuurei," Naruto calmly said, "As for who am I to threaten you, well, I am the master of the Haunted District, you are within my domain now, also I could revoke the life that was saved on that fateful day along with every other with her."

"You are threatening to massacre the Hyuuga!" Hiashi said, "You would not get away with such a thing."

"You say that now," Naruto said, "But once my servants are ordered to attack, nothing will stop them, and when they have completed their task, no one will be able to prove that I was responsible. It would be your word, against my reputation."

"Fine," Hiashi said, "I swear on my life that what I learn here I shall not divulge to anyone without the express permission of one Uzumaki Naruto, or whatever else he may call himself."

"Let's shake on it," Naruto said, getting up from his couch, and walked over to Hiashi, extending a hand.

"Fine," Hiashi said, and shook the hand, he instantly felt some kind of energy flow through the connected hands, he let go as soon as the sensation ended, "What was that?"

"The binding of your oath," Naruto replied, then transformed into Yuurei, "Speak your words Hyuuga head, and I shall listen."

"What manner of trickery is this?" Hiashi demanded.

"You wished to speak to Yuurei," Yuurei said, "I am Yuurei, formerly known as Hyuuga Haru in a past life," he had gained the knowledge of the name from the second door as he needed an impressive factor.

"If you speak the truth, then tell me, who was Hyuuga Haru," Hiashi said, not many within the clan knew who Haru was, to anyone other than the clan head it was just another name.

"The clan head of the Kaminari no Hyuuga that stayed to protect his fleeing clan from three clans that wanted the Byakugan," Rei replied, "Do you believe in my complicated reincarnation now?"

"I...I...I believe I do," Hiashi said, "I came to thank you for saving my daughter Hinata...and I guess I can understand why you ran, as well as why you have a tendency to flee from Hyuuga of any kind."

"I accept your gratitude," Rei said, "But that is not the only reason you chose to speak to me, I am Hyuuga enough to know this."

"At the age of six you managed to incapacitate a jouin level shinobi of Kumo," Hiashi said, "You are a Hyuuga, though apparently not all the time, but one nonetheless. I came to offer you the heirship of the Hyuuga clan, since both my daughter pale in comparison to your skills."

"Hmm...what do you think Jiji," Rei asked.

"Its up to you," the Hokage replied.

"Hmm..." Rei said, snapped his finger and Miko dropped down from the canopy, "What do you think?"

"It is a good deal, but I believe there is still one more secret," Miko said, then turned to Hiashi and spoke in her deader than dead voice, "Hide no secret from my master, else feel the wrath of the undead."

"Right," Hiashi said, then continued, "Of course...accepting such a post, would also require you to marry my eldest daughter."

"Miko?" Yuurei said.

"He's not hiding anything else really," she said.

"If I do accept," Yuurei said, "When would we have to tie the knot?"

"If you accept...then as soon as possible," Hiashi said, "Had you not been a shinobi I would have said sixteen, but your position in the village grants you the status of an adult."

"I have been such since I was five," Yuurei said, "Jiji, made it so."

"I did," the Hokage confirmed, "He needed it."

"I see," Hiashi said, "I have answered your inquiry, what of my offer, how much time wo..."

"I accept your offer," Yuurei said, "So, when and where will the wedding take place?"

"That was quick," the Hokage said, "Do you not think such a choice being too rash? You haven't even thought it over."

"I have," Naruto said, as he had shifted back into his original self, "Time is relevant to me."

"Why did you change back?" Hiashi asked.

"I find staying in that form rather uncomfortable in our present surroundings," Naruto said, "I need not be in such a form to utilize my mastery of the Hyuuga, I only use the form when the situation calls for it."

"We can skip the ceremony altogether," Hiashi said, "Simply signing all the documents would be enough for it to be legal and binding."

"Then we shall do that," Naruto said, then turned to face his elites, "Hashi, reset security. Tobi, update the list. Izuna help Miko in preparing a room. Kasumi, update the closet."

"Hai, Naruto-sama," the elites all said, before walking off to perform their assigned tasks.

"That woman, Miko," Hiashi said, "She mentioned the undead...are all of them such?"

"Most of them, I have a number of living servants too," Naruto said.

"Alright," Hiashi said, "Then we an in agreement, Hokage-sama how long would it take for the documents to be drafted, signed, and filed?"

"Naruto, may I borrow one of your servents," the Hokage asked.

"Living or undead?" Naruto asked.

"Living," the Hokage replied, "Preferable Torune."

"Alright," Naruto said, "Torune, front and center!"

Yamanaka Fuu's partner, Aburame Torune appeared before his master in a swirl of bugs.

"How may I serve thee, my master?" Torune asked, kneeling before his lord.

"Hokage-jiji, needs you for something," Naruto said.

"I need you to go to my office, Fuu should still be there," the Hokage said, "Ask him for the documents pertaining to marriage, and bring them here, along with my official stamp."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Torune said, then flew off, aided by his bugs.

"He can fly..." Hiashi said in awe, "I've never seen an Aburame do that before."

"Its the bugs," Naruto said offhandedly, "One of the really old Aburames taught it to him."

"When you say really old, you mean one of your undead, right?" Hiashi asked, "By any chance, aside from yourself, are there any other Hyuuga here?"

"Aside from yourself, yeah, there should be, probably down in the factory, why?" Naruto asked.

"Even though I am clan head," Hiashi said, "I was unable to learn everything, since some of the old scrolls were destroyed."

"Hmm...you'd have to find one," Naruto said, "I've got so many undead, I've mostly lost track of who or what is where. I have a general idea of where one is, and what one is doing, but I've lost the ability to pin point locations of those that I do not interact with often."

"Do I have you permission to look for them then?" Hiashi asked.

"Sure," Naruto said, "Just remember not to provoke or attack any of them...they're not mindless or emotionless."

"I understand," Hiashi said.

Torune decided to drop in on them just as Hiashi finished speaking, and handed a few papers to the Hokage, before bowing to Naruto and resuming his post up in among the branches in the great tree.

The Hokage wrote down some things on the papers, then handed them over to Hiashi and Naruto to affix their signatures after reading the documents.

"How soon til its filed?" Naruto asked after signing after Hiashi did.

"Added to records, tomorrow, as for authenticity and all that mumbo jumbo," the Hokage said pausing for dramatic effect as he affixed his official seal, "Now."

"You really gotta work on your dramatic pauses, Jiji," Naruto deadpanned.

"I'll remember that," the Hokage said, "So...can my Anbu return to training yet?"

"Tomorrow," Naruto said.

"Ok," Hiruzen said, "I will take my leave now, oh and here," he then handed Naruto his I.D.s, then headed for the exit.

"So...since I'm married to your daughter, is there something I should call you, or do I stick with Hiashi?" Naruto asked.

"Stick with Hiashi," he said, "It would be too troublesome to call me by some formal title since you seem to call the Hokage an old man."

"Well, he is old," Naruto said, "How soon will Hinata be moving in, cause, I ain't ever leaving the Haunted District."

"How soon do you want her to join you?" Hiashi asked, "And before you answer that, know this. I want living grandchildren."

"I hear ya," Naruto said, "I'll have my Hashi, Tobi, and Izuna, meet you at the gate, they go with you to fetch your daughter."

"Then, until next we meet," Hiashi said, then left.

"*"

When Hiashi returned to his clan's compound, the guards were surprised when he told them to allow the three men with his passage, as well as ordered one of them to inform the elders of the clan to meet him at the conference room for some urgent news. The guard did as he was told, and rushed off to inform the elders.

"We will first have a little chat with the elders," Hiashi said, "If you are as good as he claimed you to be, I hope that you can dispatch of the elders that disagree with my decision."

"Gladly," Hashi said cracking his knuckles, while his brothers prepared themselves for a bloodbath.

Once in the conference room, Hiashi informed the elders of the clan what he had done before they could start demanded why he had decided to waste their precious time. Their immediate reaction including Hiashi's father, whom he detested, was to demand that Hiashi renege on the agreement. He then reminded them that he was the clan head, and not them, and that he only decided to inform them out of respect. They were unanimous in their scorn for Hiashi's choice, and demanded that he renege on the deal, going so far as to threaten him with harm against his brother whom they knew he had a soft spot for.

As soon as the threat was unleashed, the three brothers entered the room, and threw Hiashi out, and then proceeded to dig in. After one hour, Hiashi managed to find the courage to peek into the room, what he found amazed him as well as disturbed him. The elders were gone, and Izuna was picking his teeth with a kunai.

"Old, yet still tasty," Tobi commented, wiping his mouth with what looked like someone's shirt before eating the cloth.

"Can we proceed to my daughter's quarters now?" Hiashi asked hesitantly.

"Lead the way," Hashi said, then he and the other two followed the man.

Once they reached their destination, Hiashi told the three to wait a moment, as he would speak with his daughter first..

"Hinata," Hiashi spoke, using the voice he used as a clan head which was strict and stern.

"H-Hai, Otou-san," she said looking up from what she was doing, flower pressing.

"I have removed you from the candidacy for clan heir, and have already made my decision," Hiashi stated, "Pack everything you wish to take with you, for I have already signed the marriage papers. You are now officially the wife of my chosen heir. Perform your duties, and do not disappoint me," he then called for the trio to enter the room, and watched as they began sealing her personal belongings.

"All done, unless we missed something," Hashi said, as Tobi and Izuna looked over the room, "Is there anything you wish to do before we leave, Hinata-sama?"

"Huh?" she was surprised that someone outside of the Hyuuga called her that, "Why'd you call me that?"

"Because you are the wife of our master," Tobi replied.

"What he said," Izuna added, just so he could say he said something.

"Oh," she said then faced her father, "Oto-san, who is my husband?"

"Hmm...who was it again," Hiashi feigned forgetfulness, "I seem to remember your description of him being a Hyuuga wearing all black."

She immediately remembered who he was talking to and promptly fainted.

"I somehow don't think that was a good idea," Izuna said, "But it sure was funny."

"I know what she wanted to do," Hiashi said, "Pick her up, I'll take us to her sister's room."

When Hinata had regained consciousness, she found herself in her sister's room with his sister, the three men, her father, cousin, uncle, and aunt. She said her goodbyes to them, since she really didn't know when she would be able to visit, and didn't know whether or not they would be able to visit her, wherever it was that she was going to be living.

"Ok, I'm ready," she said, after hugging her little and only sister.

"Do I accompany you, or can I stay, its been a rather tiring day," Hiashi asked Hashi.

"Staying is probably for the best," Hashi said, "The master might invite you to stay overnight, and Kasumi might get friskly...Tobi, Miko will kill you, and I don't think you will enjoy resurrection."

"I know," Tobi said, sulking a little.

"We already ate the elders, so cheer up man," Izuna said, as they led Hinata out, and over to the Haunted Gate.

After Izuna had let out that comment about eating the elders, Hiashi had to explain to his brother a summarized version of what took place with the elders, which ended in their ceasing to exist. Neji knew what they were talking about, to a degree, but Hanabi decided not to really pay attention to anything about those windbags.

When the group of four entered the borders of the Haunted District, Hinata grew a little fearful, since she, like any other member of Konoha, had heard of the rumors of the place. So she decided to ask her escort if there was any truth to the rumors.

"I've heard some...rumors..." she began to say, but was cut off by Izuna.

"What about? The human sacrifice ones as a form of tribute to keep Konoha safe from harm? The one about the zombie apocalypse? The one where our master's this really old guy that loves eating his wives?" Izuna would have continued had Tobi not ripped off his head and shoved it up his ass.

"Pay no mind to the rambling of an idiot," he said, as they continued their journey.

That last one really bugged her, since she had heard it once, but chalked it up as not having any basis, but now that one of her escorts mentioned it, as well as how happy her father seemed to be, and how he gathered all the people she would have wanted to say goodbye to, she wasn't so sure if that particular rumor was false though.

As they reached the Haunted Gate, no knocking was needed as the gate parted without the guards having to do anything. It was obvious that the group was expected. As they walked through the forest, Hinata couldn't help but worry, the place was really dark and creepy after all, sure there was light, but not much of it.

By the time they reached the clearing, Hinata was thinking that she was going to be eaten alive or something by her new husband. But her train of thought ended, as soon as she laid eyes on her husband as Hashi pointed him out.

As she looked at him, she realized who it really was. Her reaction.

She fainted.

Naruto knew about her crush on his two forms, and therefore wasn't all that worred about her, and had Miko take her to the room prepared for her, and to wait until she woke up to explain the basics of how things were run in the Haunted District.


	15. CR 08

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated****Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter**____**eight**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

She thought she was dreaming, then she pinched herself and woke up, she had been dreaming after all. It was such a nice and nightmarish dream, she had dreamed that her father had married her off to her long time crush Uzumaki Naruto, but had teased her with her other crush Hyuuga Yuurei. Her father had been cruel and pleasant all at the same time. Then there was the part where she was brought to the dreaded Haunted District, it was frightening especially when one of her escorts meant being eaten. Since she pinched herself and woke up, that meant that she had been dreaming, some thing that was half dream and half nightmare.

As she looked around her room, she couldn't help but noticed that it wasn't her room at all, while it may have had furniture, none of her personal touches were there. There was also the fact that there was a black haired woman sitting beside her bed, who seemed to have been waiting for her to wake up.

"Ah, you're finally awake, Hinata-sama," the woman greeted the girl, "I was getting kind of worried that you had died after seeing the master, he sometimes has that effect on people."

"Huh? M-master?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, the master," the woman said, "Your husband, Naruto-sama also known as Yuurei-sama. Didn't you know? Of course you didn't if your reaction was anything to go by."

"_I__'__m__married__to__Naruto__-__kun__and__Yuurei__-__kun__,_" she whispered to herself, she was in bliss, the dream-nightmare was real, she began to poke her index fingers and a blush formed.

"Yes you are," the woman said, "By the way, I'm Miko, I'm in charge of everyone's well being."

"Nice to meet you, Miko-san," Hinata said.

"No -san, needed, Hinata-sama," Miko said, "I am but a humble servant, and you are now my mistress. I have been waiting for you to awaken, on the master's orders, and shall now fill you in on the rules of the Haunted District..."

After Miko explained the rules she led Hinata on a tour of the house, the clearing, and with some help from the other elites, of the rest of the lands. Hinata was treated like a princess, or a queen, by all of the undead. She found out that the rumor about the dead walking amongst the living was indeed a fact and not fiction. It was hard for her to digest that information, and it would probably take some time to accept the fact that she was married to a man that had the power to bring the dead back to life, but not completely. She could ask him to bring her mother back, but thought that it wouldn't be the same.

When she was introduced to Miko's brood, as most in the district referred to them as, she was quite disturbed at the fact that most of them were zombies. But she soon learned that though they did look a bit frightening, they were still children. So she decided to help out Miko with watching over them when she could. She considered it to be practice for when in the future, she had an actual child of her own to care for, but that was still a long time from the present.

When she returned to the house, and found herself in the dining room, she found herself face to face with Naruto, who had a kind of smirk on his face instead of a smile. He motioned for her to sit in the chair in front of him as they waited for dinner.

"You aren't going to faint of me now are you?" Naruto teasingly asked, "I've known for a long time that you've had feelings for me, as well as the other me," he shifted his form then back again, "I trust that you will keep that fact a secret."

"H-Hai," she said.

"Good," Naruto said, "Do you have any questions for me?"

"Ano...a...why me?" she asked.

"Because your father requested it of me," Naruto said, "As well as the fact that you are probably the nicest of the girls in class, and one of the prettiest I might add."

"B-But why me?" she asked.

"I already told you," Naruto said, "There is also the fact that you already have feelings for me. While I may not really have any for you at the moment, I will eventually come to love you as you would like for me to, but that will only happen once we get to know each other a little bit better. Now, do you have any more questions?"

"A-Am I still a kunoichi?" she asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't you be?" Naruto asked, "While I admit there are those in the ranks that quit after marriage, but that's mostly to spend more time with children. Something which we have yet to create, and I promised your father than any grandchildren we make for his enjoyment would not be of the undead variety."

"The t-transformation y-you do to become Yuurei...its not henge is it?" she asked.

"It is not," Naruto said, "Its very special, something like a kekkai genkai, but a little bit different. You see, I am the reincarnation of one soul with seven lives, a very complicated piece of reincarnation, one which has the effect of myself having the knowledge and wisdom of those past lives as well as their powers, skills, and abilities."

"T-Then y-you've mastered, Jyuuken?" she asked him.

"Hai, and I will be glad to teach you during our free time," Naruto said, "It wouldn't do for my wife to be weak. Not that I think you are, but it would help to grow stronger, and a bit more confident, in our chosen profession even a moment of hesitation could be fatal, and while I could simply resurrect you...well I haven't met all the necessary requirements to bring you entirely back to life yet. That ability comes with age, and I'm not that old yet. You can act reckless when we're sixteen or something."

"Arigato," she said, "Ano...can my family visit me here?"

"Here? As in in the compound?" Naruto asked.

"H-Hai," she said.

"Well, your father and uncle, sure," Naruto replied, "But for anyone else...well, you'd have to meet them at this address," he then showed her the address, "It's what I like to call my home a little near home. You passed by it on the way here, its the last house before the path to the Haunted Gate."

"How much land do you, or we, own exactly?" Hinata asked, deciding to ditch the stutter as she noticed Naruto was a little irritated with it.

"If you ever find a map that shows all the districts, just look for this district," Naruto said, "I own it all, as well as an apartment building near the commercial district."

Dinner was served soon after ending their conversation, the three commanders joining them for dinner, while Kasumi and Miko ate with the children by the base of the great tree. The undead didn't need to eat, but they grew the habit of doing it, what else was there to do aside from walk around, keep their skills sharp, occasionally leave the village for a mission as the Corpse Brigade, play pranks, and whatever else they did.

Naruto told Hinata about a few of his other abilities and skills, as well as the fact that he wasn't at any time going to eat her, kill her, or turn her into one of his undead servants, unless she refused to eat his homemade cakes, although that last one was a joke, she took it rather seriously.

Since they would be placed in teams in less than a week, Naruto informed her that training would start after breakfast the next day, to prepare her for the real genin test. She didn't know how he knew of that little tidbit, but she didn't bother to ask. But she did ask about how her team would be able to contact her if she was home and was needed for a mission. He told her that they could ask for her at the gate. Hopefully they would believe only half of the rumors, and wouldn't run screaming as soon as one of the guards popped out.

Naruto also told her, that if on any mission her life was in real danger not to worry, since she was now married to him, the undead's protection was also applicable to her, meaning they would come to her aid. When they wanted to, they could travel really fast, that and he would be sending out more squads to perform money making missions.

She found out, during their after-dinner conversation, that one of the main sources of income was bounty hunting, the second was rent from all the rented properties, the third was the sale and trade of precious minerals and metals that were unearthed in the mines, there were several of them in the ravine. The last one of the lot, since they were ninja now, was likely to be missions.

#

The days sped by quickly, and before the married couple knew it, their team assignments were to be given, so they made their way to the academy where the placements would be announced, one team was sure to be surprised by an additional stipulation or team member.

Hinata had been forced out of her jacket since Miko didn't like the look of it, as she believed that it did not make her look as competent as she was. So Hinata found herself wearing a lavender kimono with a demonic theme, depicting the undead and all manner of monster, on one sleeve was a kitsune. There were spells weaved into the fabric that offered her lots of protection, as well as allowed her to run in the thing. There was also the option of switching her outfit to a dark blue traditional and stereotypical ninja uniform, complete with ninjato hanging from her lower back even though she didn't really know how to use it yet, and instead of her kunai and shuriken kept in a pouch on her thigh, they were hidden underneath the shirt, or in a special holster up her sleeves.

Naruto decided to stick with his black cheongsam, but could also switch clothes with one similar to Hinata's alternate work uniform but his being black. At least he knew how to use his ninjatos, there were two of them strapped to his back in that form.

Naruto's former going-out attire was his orange jumpsuit, and he also used to sport short blonde hair, but in truth that was an illusion, the hair part as well as his whiskers, the jumpsuit was real and he really did love the color orange. With no more need to keep wearing orange, he also revealed his true hair length. It was the at the same length as his Yuurei form, tied as well. He did keep the whisker illusion though, as he didn't really have to explain everything, he also found them to be a little cool.

Naruto also put up a kind of illusion that would make people simply dismiss his presence, they would see him but not really mind him. He didn't need or want the extra attention, he also applied everything he knew about being stealthy, including sending a kage bushin to paint the Hokage Monument to make the Kage's look as they did and do in life.

The married couple upon reaching the classroom had chosen to sit at the back of the classroom, they were not accosted by anyone, and generally left alone until Iruka came into the room, his body covered in bandages, not because he was injured but more because of Kasumi finding him a while after he was permitted to leave the hospital. He had managed to increase his stamina, which was why he only needed bandages, instead of a stay in the hospital.

"Congratulations once again to all of you who passed the genin graduation exam!" Iruka happily said, "As you may know, you are now genin of Konoha, but since you are genin you have been assigned to teams, three genin with a jounin sensei. Now I shall begin with Team one..."

While Iruka listed off the teams, Naruto decided to take a look around the room, and noticed that there were going to be a lot of disappointed genin hopefuls this year, just like any other year. Naruto really didn't care all that much, he would be an official genin, he already was in a way due to his other rank being tokubetsu jounin, his specialty being mental torture, since all he needed to do was dump a person into his forest, and order his servants to scare the fool into telling his life story, every last pathetic detail of it down to when he stopped wetting the bed.

"...Team seven, under jounin Hatake Kakashi, are Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Team eight..." Iruka announced.

Naruto simply looked to where his teammates were, and waited for the pink haired one to make her complaint.

"Naruto? But he didn't pass the exam," Sakura said, "There's gotta be a mistake Iruka-sensei. He's not even here."

"He's sitting beside Hinata under some kind of illusion," Iruka stated, "He passed through a different exam, since he decided to be absent during yours."

"Why the special treatment?" Sasuke asked, which sounded like a demand, "He's just a dobe."

"Its not really special treatment, when he has completed two high ranking missions already, that's actually how he became a genin," Iruka shared, not that Naruto really cared so long as what the missions entailed were not shared with the brats, "It was a field promotion, though he should have been made chunin at the very least."

"But he's the dobe!" Sakura shouted, "There's no way he's better than Sasuke-kun!"

"Yeah!" the fangirls shouted.

"Whatever," Iruka said, "I don't care for your opinions, moving on...Team eight..." he continued reading off the list of teams, then ended with a surprise announcement, "There is one slight change with the teams, on certain missions one or more teams might have the chance to work with a Tokubetsu Jounin by the name of Hyuuga Yuurei, if he is needed for team seven, he will replace Naruto for the duration of that mission. You can leave for now, but be back after an hour to meet your jounin senseis. Dismissed!"

Naruto dropped his illusion and decided that it would not be a good idea to hang around his two new teammates since both of them were glaring harshly at him. So he followed Hinata as she went to join her team.

"Shouldn't you be with your teammates, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as they made their way to Shino and Kiba.

"Yeah loser, shouldn't you be with your teammates," Kiba said, he was also attempting to impress Hinata which wouldn't and didn't really matter, until, "Why are you with Hinata anyway? Its not like a loser like you is worthy of her."

"_Idiot__,_" Shino muttered, which Hinata heard, but Kiba didn't as he was busy trying to get the hands that had grabbed him that came out of the nearest tree and the ground.

"It is not wise to underestimate one whose skills you know not of," Naruto said, then released Kiba with a snap of his fingers, "Next time you may not be so lucky, if Hina-chan were not here, I would have killed you," he then shifted his attention to Akamaru, "I think you had better keep your pet in line, else you lose him."

"Hey Loser, are you threatening Akamaru!" Kiba shouted.

"Shut him up, or I will do it for you," Naruto told the dog, who quickly bit down on Kiba's hand hard, "I was talking to Akamaru not you," he said to Kiba, then spoke to Hinata, "I think I will wait in the classroom for the senseis, the crows will be keeping you company, should Kiba bother you call for them and they shall come."

"See you later, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, then kissed his cheek, before letting him walk away with a smile on his face.

When Naruto was finally out of sight, Shino decided to ask Hinata a question, part of which had to do with her wearing what she was wearing.

"What happened to you?" Shino asked concerned.

"Naruto-kun, helped me become more confident in myself," she replied, "Though the method was a little embarrassing," she admitted.

"I had noticed that he finally has noticed your feelings for him," Shino said.

"You should stop seeing that loser, when you can have a real man," Kiba arrogantly said as he had never witnessed Naruto being serious, he was unable to say any more as Hinata snapped her fingers and a murder of crows descended on him, while Akamaru pitied his human.

"I will not tolerate you speaking about my husband in such a manner in my presence," Hinata said glaring at Kiba, "If you say such a degrading thing again, I will do more than have the crows turn you into a toilet."

"You are married to Uzumaki-san?" Shino asked, "Since when?"

"Since after graduation," she replied, "Tou-san made it so, not that I mind."

"If you don't mind me asking," Shino said, "Where do you live now, since we are going to be teammates we might as well know."

"Well, I know where you two live," Hinata said, "So you don't need to tell me, so here," she gave them each a piece of paper with the address, and instructions.

"You're kidding, that loser lives there, get real," Kiba said oblivious to his impending doom at the hands of Hinata who swiftly kicked his jewels before performing a mid-range attack Naruto had taught her, which was used to disable an entire limb, but to use it on Kiba's jewels...he was lucky she knew he was the heir of his clan.

"What did I say about such comments?" Hinata said, copying Miko's deader than dead voice that spelled pain beyond reason and imagining even for the undead.

"I swear...not to...do it...again," Kiba wheezed between breaths, wincing in pain.

"Go to the infirmary, and have that looked at," Shino istructed the mutt who did as he was told, wobbling all the way in pain, "You really didn't have to go that far."

"I know," Hinata said, "But people like him only listen when shown strength."

"Do you really live within the core of the Haunted District," Shino asked, "It sounds a little bit unbelievable."

"I know," Hinata said, "But it is true, and its also true that the Anbu use the forest there as their advanced training ground."

"Really," Shino inquired, "Where did you train there?"

"In the great tree," Hinata answered, "Though, for you to enter, you'll need clearance from Hokage-sama or Naruto-kun."

"*"

On the roof of the academy Team seven was having their introductory meeting with their sensei. Sakura, and Sasuke had already given their brief introductions leaving Naruto as the last.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto," he said, "I like my family, friends, and underlings, ramen too, what I dislike is none of your concern now, my dream...I'm not sure, have kids I guess."

'_Well__...__that__was__unexpected__,_' Kakashi thought to himself, '_At__least__he__'__s__a__little__bit__normal__._'

"Alright team," Kakashi said, "Meet me at training ground seven tomorrow morning at seven, so that you can take the real genin test."

"Real genin test?" Sakura asked.

"Its an exercise which is meant to gauge our ability to work as a team," Naruto supplied, "Normally there would be a 66.66% rate of failure, but in our case, he won't fail us, since the village would like their sharingan user to become a shinobi, and I'm an officially registered shinobi. Pinky is just to balance out the team, sort of."

"Who told you that?" Kakashi demanded.

"I read your mission papers," Naruto said, then after being on the receiving end of Kakashi's suspicious stare, the said something else, "Alright, fine, I had one of my underlings make sure my team passes. Its hard to say no to the advisory council isn't it."

"You what? What did you do? Blackmail?" Kakashi demanded, ready to attack Naruto.

"Nah, one of the elders works for me," Naruto admitted, "Hokage-jiji knows about it, anyway, after an S and a B to A rank mission, I'm invaluable to village. Sasuke's got the sharingan, and I've got the Haunted District, if you bothered to even read my file."

"I must admit that I didn't read your file," Kakashi admitted, "Where in that place do you live?"

"At its Core," Naruto replied, "I'm telling you now, so you know where to find me."

"Well then, we'll meet up tomorrow at the designated area," Kakashi said, but was unable to leave due to Naruto grabbing hold of his arm, "What?"

"You will arrive at the time you specified, else you will feel the wrath of the undead," Naruto said monotonously.

"Sure, whatever," Kakashi said, dismissing what his student had said since he wasn't one of the people that went to train in the Haunted District back when he was in Anbu.

"*"

Needless to say, Kakashi had decided to be late. Naruto not liking that had Hashi kidnap the man and dumped him in one of the lowest cells of the former Ne facility which Naruto also now owned since it was crawling with undead. He also had Hashi leave a note about not being late, as well as wishing him luck on trying to get out of the underground complex unscathed.

While the genin waited for the arrival of their sensei, Sakura pestered the last loyal living Uchiha, while Naruto played around with hands of earth and wood popping out of the ground every now and then, as well as receiving reports on how much progress Kakashi had made.

"Teach me how to do that, dobe," Sasuke demanded as he continued to watch Naruto do his thing on the ground.

"No," Naruto replied.

"I am an Uchiha, an elite unlike you, so teach it to me!" the Uchiha demanded.

"No," Naruto said again.

Sasuke walked up to Naruto intent on beating him up, but as soon as he was about to do something really stupid, Naruto decided that it would be a good idea to close of almost all of his tenketsu points. A stupid ninja is a dead ninja, a ninja that underestimates Naruto is a very dead ninja, and soon to be undead ninja. Sasuke didn't know in which catrgory of stupid he landed himself in, but he knew he was really screwed seeing as he immediately doubled over in pain, he would have been screaming had Naruto not shut off his ability to even whimper.

Sakura pushed Naruto aside, only to fall in pain as well, which allowed Naruto to decide that maybe it would be a good idea to take them to the hospital which was where Kakashi was headed anyway. He couldn't help but smirk at how pathetic and unprofessional his team was, not that he was all that professional himself.

Upon reaching the hospital, seeing as his two teammates were incapacitated, Naruto informed the receptionist that his two teammates suddenly doubled over in pain, and didn't seem able to speak, as well as inquired whether Hatake Kakashi, their sensei, had passed by the hospital for some reason as he had failed to arrive at the time that he himself had assigned.

The receptionist called for some medics to treat the two genin, as well as informed Naruto where Kakashi had been transferred to, going so far as to inform him about the jounin's condition.

Naruto didn't show any emotion upon being told that the jounin had suffered many minor wounds, lacerations, as well as a number of cracked ribs. His sharingan eye was also almost lost had the medics not been able to get to him in time.

From some of the doctors in charge of the jounin, it was safe to say that the jounin was not at the peak of his ability as compared to when he was in Anbu, for surely such an elite such as he would not have suffered so much during training. The medics learned a lot more secrets of the human body as well as healing techniques thanks to all the injured Anbu they kept receiving, and went so far as to praise the Haunted District as that place gave them more work, income, and practice.

With his team out of commission for who knew how long, Naruto was free to do as he pleased. So he really visited the jounin.

"I told you not to be late, didn't I?" Naruto said to the jounin who was not allowed sleep due to his injuries.

"_You__, __this__is__somehow__your__fault__!_" the man tried to shout but due to his bandages over his face he was unable to do so, and his voice came out as a mumble.

"How did you like the underworld?" Naruto asked, "Quite a pleasant ride, no?"

"..."

"Once you're healed, you will arrive at the time you tell us to, at the place you tell us to, else your comrade's sacrifice will be in vain," Naruto said, "I know a lot of secrets in this village, I speak with the dead all the time. I know of your secrets, as well as how your former teammates would love to castrate you for the way you behave. In honor of your honorable teammate my ass, you are only making excuses for yourself, fearing the truth, lying to yourself. Whatever the case may be, I have no more time for you."

"_You__'__ll__pay__for__this__!_" Kakashi attempted to threaten Naruto, but seeing as he was in pain, as well as covered in bandages, Naruto viewed it as an empty threat, but decided to have some of his undead spies keep an eye on the one eye.

After leaving the silver haired cyclops to his fate, Naruto went off in search of his other two teammates, they were already listed in the official record book of active shinobi, pass fail whatever, they were ninja, and there was nothing Kakashi could do about it.

When he found his fellows, they looked to be in the most uncomfortable positions that they had ever been in in their lives. Both of whom were also butt naked, while med-nins tried to assess the damage and try to reverse it. Alas they were failing miserably.

Naruto had made time for everyone but himself slow down to almost stopping it, and sealed off all of their tenketsu, which when time resumed its normal speed, made them feel as if they had been hit by as many Hyuuga using Jyuuken as there were tenketsu, save for the ones that would have killed them instantly. The not being able to speak thing was a reaction of the brain after Naruto hit a certain pressure point as well.

After being informed by the midic in charge that his team would be out of commission for a while, Naruto left for the Hokage Tower, specifically the mission office to begin his reign of terror, which was really another way of saying that he was going to go out on some D-rank mission around the village.

After transforming into Yuurei, he entered the missions room and picked out a number of D-rank, had them signed by the chunin on duty, and left to finish the missions in record time. He spent the next two weeks performing D-rank after D-rank, it was quite amusing when the chunin inquired why a tokubetsu jounin was doing chores rather than missions. He simply replied that it was quick cash.

The Chunin that had asked, wasn't aware of Yuurei's hobby of emptying people's wallets in the gambling dens, and therfore simply thought he was weird. While those that knew of his reputation believed that he was bored.

When he wasn't on missions, he spent his time with Hinata, going on small dates to get to know each other better, and when not doing that training.

"*"

After some extended time in the hospital, the village council decided to transfer Naruto into being dumped into the reserve roster seeing as simply his presence alone did wonders for the medical bills of his three teammates. So not more than three weeks into being a team, the Hokage assigned a former Ne operative named Sai, to be the third genin of team seven.

The truth of the matter was that Naruto, using Danzo, had convinced the other members of the advisory council that it woul be a better idea if Naruto were to work on his own, not have a team since he was a wild card in and of himself. He also seemed to be a danger to his teammates as they also had a tendency to provoke him. Kakashi had also managed to learn his lesson, but would rather continue the way he worked for years rather than change due to threats on his life, which he had no way of proving, unless he wanted to permanently disappear since his injuries were similar to Anbu operatives that went training.

Without a team to hinder him, Naruto was free to go on whatever mission he pleased, which meant he was usually teamed up with himself. Yuurei being the real him, while a Kage Bushin being his real self, since Kage Bushin's couldn't transform into Yuurei.


	16. CR 09

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated****Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter**____**nine**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

"You have got to be kidding me," Naruto said to the Hokage, he had been called to the old man's office simply to be assigned to a C turned A rank mission.

"I kid you not," the Hokage said, "Are you going to refuse?"

"Of course I'm not," Naruto said, "My wife's on that mission."

"Great," the Hokage said, "You have all the details by now, no?"

"Reinforcements, take out the bad guy, yadda yadda yadda," Naruto said, "Did I forget anything?"

"Remind the client of the upped payment of the mission," the Hokage said.

"Got it," Naruto said, "So...who do I go as?"

"Does it really matter?" the Hokage asked, "I've already linked both of your files, as each being the alias of the other."

"Oh alright, fine," Naruto said, "I'll be leaving now."

He had performed a number of D, C, B, A, and one S, rank missions already, and on his wife's first C-rank, it turns into an A-ranker. His want for adventure must have rubbed off on her, he thought to himself as he raced through the village to pick up his supplies, namely the Corpse Brigade, he needed his weapons after all. His main ones being his undead army. He ordered them to travel underground, while he took to the trees or the ground.

As he left the gates of the village after signing in the log book, the Chunin had seen his blue eyes flash white, and one of them heard his whisper 'Byakugan'. As soon as he could see all around him, he shot out of the village gates like a bullet, tracking or following him were one hundred zombies.

In order to get to Nami no Kuni, Naruto slowed down time around him and his zombies, which allowed them to move a lot faster than anyone could. This action also allowed them to cash in on a few nuke-nin that were passing through. Cutting off their heads, leaving only a bloody fountain for their pursuers to find them.

They reached the edge of Nami no Kuni, where they would have to cross the water to get to their destination. It was then that Naruto was finally able to disengage and resynchronize time.

"A battle must have taken place here," Naruto said, noticing the obvious signs of a battle like the water puddles on the ground, as well as some gouges in the trees, as well as the remaining concentration of chakra in the air.

"Our order?" Hashi said, coming out of the ground behind him.

"Scout on ahead Hashi," Naruto instructed, "Ascertain the status of Hinata and her team, as well as assess the security of the client's home."

"Hai," Hashi said, before ordering his troops out of the ground that they may cross the water and get to their destination faster.

"Tobi," Naruto said, said elite popping out of the ground, "The businessman Gato is one of the reasons for the upgrade of the mission. Locate his base of operations, leave your men there to watch it, then report back to me."

"Hai," Tobi said, calling out his men, they entered the water to find the man who had a more or less monopoly on the shipping industry in the area.

"Izuna," the elite sprung out of the ground as well followed by his troops and waiting for his orders, "Something is telling me that Momochi Zabuza was the opponent of Hinata's team. Locate his whereabouts, and do as Tobi."

"Hai," Izuna said, and ordered his troops to fan out and search for clues, "What will you do master?"

"I'm heading for Hina-chan of course," Naruto said, then simply vanished, which meant either he did his moving really fast thing, or he did his time manipulation thing.

"*"

"We only won by sheer luck," Yuuhi Kurenai told her team in the room provided for their use, "If whatever interrupted the battle hadn't interrupted, we would have failed the mission, and lost our lives. Now the question is, did any of you see what did it?"

"It was a man," Shino said, "But I was unable to see his face. He came out of the ground, I was also unable to place a tracker on him."

"I didn't see anything," Kiba said, "Heck, I couldn't even detect his scent."

"Hinata, is there something you're not telling us?" Kurenai asked noticing that Hinata had grown a little quiet, she personally didn't know if she should inform her sensei or not about her added protection.

"Ano..." Hinata said, but was interrupted by Tsunami calling for them, reinforcements had arrived.

As Team eight got down from the second floor of the house, Kurenai didn't recognize the man waiting just outside the door. She didn't get to question the man about who he was as Hinata seemed to know him.

"Hashi," Hinata said happily, "Did he send you in advance?"

"We were sent to ascertain your status, as well as to survey and secure the home of the client," Hashi replied, "The master is on his way, Hinata-sama."

"Hashi-san," Kurenai said, "What rank are you?"

"He's not a shinobi of Konoha," Hinata said, "He works for my family."

"She's not talking about he Hyuuga either," Shino said.

"Then why are you our reinforcements?" Kurenai questioned.

"Hinata-sama," Hashi said, "I would assume that Toki did his job in protecting you and your team."

"Hai," Hinata said, "If he did not intervene, we would have lost for sure."

"You had a guard all along and you didn't inform me?" Kurenai said, "Why didn't you? We're a team, and I'm in charge, I deserve to know such things."

"You never asked," Shino said, "You simply stated to bring enough tools and supplies for a long term mission. Hashi-san, this Toki, he is one of your kind?"

"Hai," Hashi said, "Sort of...he is of a lower rank, but still a capable warrior."

"But still, this Toki is a person, you should have informed me of the additional man power," Kurenai insisted.

"Rookie Jounin, I am but a tool for Hinata-sama," Toki, a man with short brown hair wearing a chunin's attire, said after appearing out of nowhere, "I am Hinata-sama's defensive mechanism against mortal danger."

"Hinata, it looks like I misjudged you," Kurenai, disappointed, said, "I had thought that you treated everyone with respect, as a kind of equal, it looks like I was wrong, since you treat your guard as a mere tool."

"Kindly apologize to my wife," Naruto stood within the frame of the door as Hashi and Toki moved to the side to allow him entrance, "You know not of me and mine, so don't be quick to judge."

"Wife?" Kurenai asked incredulously, in her mind Hinata was far too young to be someone's wife.

"Hai," Hinata said, "I am married to him, Kurenai-sensei."

"Married? What did he to Hinata? Blackmail?" Kurenai said, "Or did he get you pregnant or something?"

"Calm down sensei," Shino said, "They were married shortly after the graduation exams ended, if you had bothered to read her official profile you would have known that, instead of trying to baby us."

"There was no such mention in the profile," Kurenai said.

"Well you could have asked," Kiba said, "I mean, aside from our name, fighting style, likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future, I doubt you know anything else about us."

"You used your head, I had thought that there was nothing in there," Shino said.

"I ain't gonna say anything stupid so long as the do...err Naruto is within hearing range," Kiba said.

"Alright," Naruto said, "Do you even know what Toki is, Kurenai-san?"

"A human being," Kurenai said.

"While I may respect Naruto-sama, Hinata-sama, and Hokage-sama," Toki spoke up, "Don't lump me with your lot. I stopped being human a long time ago."

"Now, now, Toki, no need to be insulting," Hashi said, "Not that I blame you, but show a little respect for Hinata-sama's sensei, even though she clearly does not really care to get to know her students."

"What are you talking about?" Kurenai asked.

"Do you even know where Hinata-sama lives?" Tobi, who just arrived and had been briefed on the situation, asked.

"Who are you?" Kiba asked the new arrival.

"My name is Tobi," he answered.

"Not really, I usually send my messages to her through the Hyuuga clan," Kurenai said, "Why, what does where she live have to do with you?"

"What do you know about the Haunted District?" Naruto asked.

"You have a haunted district in your village?" Tsunami who was still there asked curiously.

"It is a district with many rumors, about monsters, ghost, demons, and anything else related to the horror genre and misfortune," Kurenai said, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"We live there," Naruto said, "Technically I also own the entire district."

"What does that have to do with Toki-san not being human?" Kurenai asked, "Just because you live in such place does not automatically mean that one is not human."

"Hashi," Naruto simply said.

"You might want to close your eyes, Tsunami-san," Hinata said in warning, which Tsunami did.

Hashi took out a kunai and sliced Toki's head off. Tsunami of course peeked and promptly fainted at the sight of a still standing headless body.

"No blood," Shino said.

"Cool," Kiba said.

"How could you do that? He was your comrade, and you decapitated him," Kurenai said, "Have you no hearts? We may be shinobi, but we still have hearts, we're still human. We're not just tools."

"The perfect shinobi is one without emotions, one without a heart," Naruto stated, "But in this case, it doesn't really matter."

"You still killed him," Kurenai said, "I don't know what Hokage-sama was thinking sending you as our reinforcements."

"He sent me because Hinata could possibly be in more danger than what Toki can help her deal with," Naruto said.

"Can someone reattach me to my body now?" Toki's head said from the floor, which freaked out Tsunami as soon as she regained consciousness, and totally freaked out Kurenai who hadn't thought that it was possible.

"Hashi," Naruto said.

"Maybe next time, you will try harder to avoid being seen," Hashi said to Toki as the head was reattached to the body.

"Hai, hai, hai," Toki said, "I'll try harder next time...I need to train..."

"Indeed you do," Hashi said, "Naruto-sama, our orders?"

"Secure the town," Naruto said, "I don't want Gato or Momochi to get the drop on us."

"Hai," Hashi said, "Come Tobi, Toki."

"Coming," Tobi and Toki said monotonously.

When the zombies had finally left, the door was closed, and Naruto asked for an update on the situation. As Kurenai was a little bit humiliated, Shino decided to act s team leader and update Naruto.

"We battled with Zabuza as you already know," Shino said, "We were losing up until Toki-san intervened, surprising the nuke-nin. Unfortunately a fake oi-nin took our opponent before the killing blow could be dealt."

"What of the status of the bridge needing to be built?" Naruto asked.

"Did I hear someone mention my bridge?" Tazuna said upon entering the house.

"I did," Naruto said, "I am Naruto, the reinforcements that Kurenai-san sent for."

"Alright, so what do you want to know about my bridge?" Tazuna asked taking a seat around the table as they were.

"How long til its completion, also would you be needing any more help in its construction?" Naruto asked, "While Team eight protects you, I can have some of my troops aid in the construction."

"How many did you bring along Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked from beside him.

"Around one hundred and two troops," Naruto said, "Almost a third are keeping watch over Gato's nearest base, and the rest are either around here or tracking down the nuke-nin."

"You brought an army!? How does Konoha expect me to pay for all of you?" Tazuna asked.

"Oh, that reminds me," Naruto said, "Hokage-jiji said to inform you that we will be expecting payment for an A-rank mission, we'll send collectors a month after the mission is completed."

"Don't worry, Tazuna-san," Hinata said, "You're only paying us living people."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"She means that Naruto has brought an army of monsters," Kiba said.

"Monsters? I really don't believe in such things," Tazuna said.

"Well, you better start believing Tou-san," Tsunami said, "I saw a talking head."

"Are you sure you haven't been drinking some of my sake?" Tazuna said.

"Its true Tazuna-san," Shino said, "Uzumaki-san does have an army of monsters, the ones he brought along are only the tip of the iceberg."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said, "Is Toki still around?"

"He is," Naruto said, "Why?"

"I believe that Tazuna-san would like a demonstration," she said.

"Not again! Please chose something else!" Toki said his voice coming from below ground.

"C'mon Toki," Hinata said, "Just one more time."

"Fine," Toki said, reappearing in the room, "Can I just cut off an arm or something? Stick a sword through my heart? I really don't want to have to completely reattach my head again."

"Urk," Toki let out after Izuna arrived and shoved a ninjato through the zombie's heart, then pulled it out, "Not that that hurt or anything, but a little more warning next time, would really be appreciated."

Izuna left to follow his fellow elites, dragging Toki away since Naruto was with Hinata.

"Do you believe in monsters now?" Naruto asked.

"I think I drank too much," Tazuna said eyes wide, and looking at his sake bottle with a little bit of fear.

"Maybe I should have brought the children?" Naruto said.

"I knew it! You got Hinata pregnant!" Kurenai said, joining the conversation.

"He did not!" Hinata said.

"_I__think__someone__needs__to__get__laid__,_" Naruto muttered to himself, but Kurenai was able to catch what he said.

"Why are you offering?" she said, "Wanna get me pregnant too? You wanna have a harem don't you?"

"Sheesh," Naruto said, "I guess it must be that time of the month huh."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata admonished him, "That's not very nice, even if it is true."

"I can't believe your sensei is hormonal, and you'll be facing the Kiri no Kijin in a week's time," Naruto said, "Kurenai-san, I suggest you pick one of my soldiers, their packages are still functioning even in death, but you won't have to worry about getting pregnant, they still shoot blanks."

"You got any girls?" Kiba asked, his animal side taking over.

"I didn't bring any," Naruto said.

"You're not pimping the dead are you?" Kurenai said, cause while she found the idea of screwing with someone, she wasn't into screwing a corpse, it was simply inhumane and she wasn't a deviant like her best friend Mitarashi Anko.

"What? Hell no," Naruto said, "The Corpse Brigade goes out bounty hunting every now and then."

"They're real!?" Kiba and Shino shouted, "I thought they were just a made up story! Cool!"

"What's the Corpse Brigade?" Hinata asked.

"Its a group of supposedly undead bounty hunters, hunting the living," Tsunami said, "A mercenary told me about them."

"The first survivor of their hunt claimed that they look human up to the point that they fight on even when they're blown to pieces," Shino said, "They use no jutsu or chakra, just killing tools, setting traps and ambushes."

"The unlucky ones are pulled into the ground leaving the other members to separate the heads from the underground bodies," Kiba said.

"Are those stories true?" Hinata asked Naruto.

"You'd have to ask either Hashi, Tobi, or Izuna," Naruto said, "They're the commanders of those money making ventures. I never went with them."

"Seriously?" Kiba and Shino asked, the were very obvious fans, "You mean those three guys are bosses of them?"

"So...let me get this straight," Kurenai said, "The living dead are here to help with the mission."

"Yep," Naruto said, "I don't usually bring so many when I leave the village for a mission. But since Hina-chan's here, I brought a good sized force."

"So if she weren't on my team, you wouldn't have brought them along?" Kurenai asked.

"If she wasn't on your team, I wouldn't even be here," Naruto said, "You'd most likely be dead."

"I see," Kurenai said, "Even with the reinforcements, we're still going to prepare for the upcoming battle. We start training tomorrow."

"While you do that," Naruto said, "I'll guard Tazuna, my undead army will help with the construction and protection of the client's family. But next time you might want to consider returning to Konoha instead of continuing with a mission such as this. You're not as strong as some of the more experienced jounin in the village you know."

"What of you, genin," Kurenai said, "You may be our reinforcements, but you're still a genin."

"Actually I'm a tokubetsu jounin," Naruto said, "I had to be promoted due to some paperwork, as well as my mission count."

"I'm still a jounin," she said.

"Jounin, Tokubetsu Jounin, its the same," Naruto said, "Except I've got a specialty."

"That being," Kurenai said.

"Mental torture," Naruto said, "Your friend Anko has been unknowingly sending me the ones she could not break. The Forest of Death, just doesn't cut it for such cases."

"*"

While Kurenai trained her team, Naruto and company spent their day at the bridge, Naruto following Tazuna around while he gave instructions to the zombies and skeletons on what to do and who to help speed up the construction. Of course none of the other builders knew that their new helpers were of the undead. They thought that they were just some ninja or mercenaries for hire.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Tazuna asked Naruto.

"Sure," Naruto said, "They'd get bored doing nothing."

Izuna approached Naruto a few minutes later, following after him were three skeletons, without their illusions.

"This better be important Izuna," Naruto said.

"It is," Izuna said, "We located the nuke-nin's hideout...but found out that Gato plans to double cross them, and has hired some Kumo-nins, legit ones, to aid him..."

"ETA of the Kumo-nins," Naruto said.

"End of the week, sometime after Momochi does his thing," Izuna said.

"Tazuna," Naruto said, getting the man's attention.

"Yeah? What's up?" Tazuna asked.

"Bad news," Naruto said, "Gato's gotten something worse than the Demon of the Mist. But don't worry, I've got a plan for the end of the week."

"What do you have in mind?" Tazuna asked.

"I'll tell you later," Naruto said, "Izuna, have Tobi ready his men for a sabotage mission."

"Hai," Izuna said, "The target?"

"Gato's businesses," Naruto said, "Actually, forget sabotage, I think a hostile take over will do us great."

"Inform my brother," Izuna ordered his men, who dashed off.

"Is there something else?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Izuna said, "See...we spotted some Iwa-nin...and they're after the Aburame kid."

"Have your men hang out with Hashi's for the time being," Naruto said.

"Hai," Izuna said.

"Do you happen to attract trouble?" Tazuna asked suddenly.

"Not usually," Naruto said, "But don't worry, I'm calling for reinforcements of my own..."

When everyone was back at Tazuna's house once the day was done, Naruto told the living not to go out or even look out for the night.

"Why ever not?" Kiba asked.

"Trust me," Naruto said, "If you do look out, you wont be able to sleep for days."

"You did not do what I think you did, did you?" Hinata asked.

"Zabuza is the least of our worries," Naruto said.

"What do you mean by that?" Kurenai said, this was supposed to be her big mission with her team, she was a bit jealous of Naruto and his resources.

"Gato has hired a team of Kumo-nin, and some Iwa-nin were spotted near here," Naruto said.

"Just do as he says," Hinata said, "You really wont be able to sleep if you do look outside tonight."

"That goes for you too, Hina-chan," Naruto said, "You're not used to it yet, I can tell."

"Hai, Naruto-kun," she said.

When everyone was about to sleep, Naruto walked out into the night. Just as he did, the things that go bump in the night began to appear. He had summoned his entire army, almost the whole of his undead forces. Leaving only enough to keep watch over his district, as well as help protect the village.

They came out from the shadows, the trees, the water, a murky and thick fog rolled in, and out from it, they came. All arrived, all because of the call of their master.

Inside the house, the members of Team eight, namely the genin couldn't sleep, not because they had peeked, but because of the sounds they could hear from outside. There were growls, squaks, scratching sounds, and a host of other things.

"W-what's out there?" Kiba asked, Akamaru wasn't happy about what he was hearing.

"My kikai, dare not find out," Shino said.

"Uhm...Naruto-kun, called in reinforcements...lots of them," Hinata said, "Not all of them look human though..."

"Oh...t-that..." Kiba said, then heard footsteps or more like felt them, "W-what the h-hell?!"

"Yo," Naruto suddenly entered the room to check up on them, "Sorry 'bout the noise...hehe, you guys really should get some sleep, long day ahead of ya tomorrow."

"Y-yeah...w-we'll t-try," Hinata said.

"I can handle it," Kiba said, until Shino put a hand on his shoulder, "Yaaaaaah! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

"It was only my hand," Shino said, "You didn't have to over react."

"Don't do that!" Kiba said, "I could have died!"

"Is it over, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, and for some reason Kurenai slept through it all.

"Ehm...mostly," Naruto said, "We're still...kinda setting up..."

"Could you...quiet down?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said, "We'll be as silent as a grave...or a cemetery."

He then left the room, to continue whatever he and his troops were doing. Leaving the members of Team eight in the room to try and sleep. The silence was even worse than the noise. In the end none of the genin were able to fall asleep, which made them sluggish during training.

"Its all your fault, that my genin were unable to train today!" Kurenai shouted at Naruto after her team's training at the end of the day, "You go train! We'll guard Tazuna! You probably only made up that bit about the Kumo and Iwa shinobi to make me look bad!"

"Tch, whatever lady," Naruto said, "Sorry, Tazuna, looks like I won't be accompanying you tomorrow."

"That's alright," Tazuna said, "You've helped enough as it is."

"*"

"What do we do now, Naruto-sama?" Hashi asked, since they were more or less out of a job.

"We proceed as planned," Naruto said, "Tobi, as soon as Gato leaves, have our troops take care of his businesses, but for the mean time soften them up for the big finish."

"Hai," Tobi said, "His investors will wish they had not allowed him to get to where he is now."

"Good," Naruto said, "Izuna, speak to Zabuza, if he doesn't want to join Konoha, get him to work for me."

"Hai, Naruto-sama," Izuna said, "Do I get to geass him?"

"I shouldn't have let you watch that," Naruto said, "Just offer him what he wants most, negotiate with him, I don't want to lose to much."

"Hai," Izuna said.

"Hashi, find those Iwa-nin," Naruto said, "Send their bodies back to Iwa, we'll cash in on their heads at the nearest bounty office."

"Hai," Hashi said, "We'll be back in time for the operation."


	17. CR 10

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated****Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter**____**ten**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

"You drive a hard bargain," Zabuza said, "Fine, I'll work for this master of yours, so long I don't have to call him master like you do."

"Good," Izuna said, then snapped his fingers and ten ghouls, half zombie half skeleton, appeared, "Take these two to HQ, hand them over to Kasumi, but tell her not to cause trouble."

"Hai," the ten growled, then moved so fast that Zabuza and apprentice didn't see them move, and were knocked unconscious.

Izuna then snapped his fingers again, and a crow dropped down on his shoulder.

"Have something take their things back home," Izuna said, the bird nodded its head then flew off.

With the bird away, Izuna made his way over to his troops, negotiating with Zabuza was tiring work, even for the undead. It lasted all the way until the day of Gato's attack on the bridge. Izuna ordered his troops, and the rest that were assigned to him to get into position by the bridge.

Hashi had left some of his senior zombies and skeletons to guard the bridge builder's family, while he and the rest got into positions. The Iwa threat had been dealt with.

Tobi and his troops found it fairly easy to gain majority shares of Gato Corp for their master. They made their way to the confrontation site with time to spare.

"*"

"The Zabuza threat has been terminated," Naruto informed Kurenai.

"What are you doing here? Go guard Tazuna's family," Kurenai ordered, "You're just the reinforcement, its my team's mission, and not yours. So do as your told."

"Fine, fine," Naruto said, "Have it your way," he then walked up to Hinata then whispered in her ear, "_Your__sensei__doesn__'__t__want__my__help__, __but__don__'__t__worry__, __you__won__'__t__be__in__any__danger__. __I__promise__._"

"_Arigato__, __Naruto__-__kun_" she whispered back, then gave him a quick kiss for luck, even though he really didn't need it, as they say its the thought that counts.

Naruto walked over to the nearest undead..

"_Change__of__plans__, __take__out__Gato__and__the__Kumo__-__nins__, __massacre__the__lot__,_" Naruto whispered his orders which were passed along to all the undead, "_Seal__the__heads__, __devour__the__bodies__. __Let__the__waters__run__red__with__blood__. __And__one__more__thing__, __if__there__'__s__a__kunoichi__among__the__Kumo__-__nin__, __just__traumatize__her__, __then__send__her__running__home_."

"_Hai__,_" the undead said, then sunk into the ground, as it and its brethren tracked down Gato and the Kumo-nins.

After giving out his orders, Naruto returned to the bridge, and sat on the edge of the unfinished part.

"I told you to guard the family," Kurenai said, "Why are you disobeying orders?"

"They are safe," Naruto said, "I'm just waiting for my orders to be carried out. I will not let any harm come to Hina-chan, while I'm around. If you will not allow me to defend, then I will not allow you to attack."

"Naruto-sama," Hashi jumped up beside him from the water below, "There were more than we anticipated."

"And?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.

"Just thought, I'd come to give you an update," Hashi said, "There was one kunoichi, apparently the Nibi Jinchuuriki managed to escape Konoha, and rejoined Kumo."

"_So__much__for__charity__,_" Naruto muttered, then said, "Has she been dealt with?"

"We've got her contained," Hashi said, "What are your orders?"

"You will tell me where she is," Kurenai demanded, "I am your mistress' sensei, therefore above her in rank."

"Naruto-sama?" Hashi said.

"Keep this arrogant mortal here," Naruto ordered, "I shall personally deal with the traitor."

He jumped off the bridge and vanished right before touching the water, but before dashing off he unlocked one whole gate, it may have been a lot, but it wasn't harmful unless he willed it to be, as for control, he had all the control he needed, the memories told him so. While no one had seen him as he moved, everyone felt the awesome power of the Kyuubi, minus the rage.

His undead scattered as soon as they felt his approach, the Nibi Jinchuuriki apparently was able to control the power of her bijuu, but even with such awesome power, it was to be no match for the new Kyuubi.

Yugito looked like a mini-Nibi, and even in such a flame covered state she was still blasted back by a punch delivered by Naruto in his Kyuubi-state. But it didn't end there, even in such a state he transformed into Yuurei, and performed the Jyuuken on the traitor, making sure to seal every single one of her tenketsu by using the bijuu chakra. Nibi's chakra could not punch its way out of the sealed holes.

She recovered quickly and launched some flames at Naruto who was protected by his Kyuubi cloak. The chakra cloak he wore when in such a state, even though it was his first time, was stable and managed to protect him from the searing flames that could equal the flames of Amaterasu which the Uchiha could utilize.

The attack was followed up by a deafening roar, one which really didn't affect anyone in the audial sense, but it did blow back Naruto, enough for Yugito to pounce and claw at his downed form.

In a battle between bijuu there was one thing that ensured victory. The number of tails, as well as the size of the bijuu. As Naruto really didn't want to prolong the battle, he opened the second gate, with that much power flowing through and around him, he was able to not only push Yugito back, but also grow. A forced transformation, which would in future allow himself to turn into a kitsune, but since it was his first time, it hurt like nothing he had ever felt before in his entire life.

By the time his transformation ended, he was as large as the original Kyuubi, but instead of nine tails, there were so many tails, but he condensed them all into ten tails. This transformation did more than scare Yugito and her bijuu, it also ensured that the whole of the shinobi world could feel the power that Naruto possessed.

"**I****have****little****use****for****a****traitor****and****her****kitty****cat****,**" Naruto spoke, soft enough that only those near him could hear, "**I****'****ll****be****taking****the****Nibi****'****s****power****now****, ****and****giving****it****to****someone****that****would****and****could****benefit****more****from****it****.**"

Naruto's wouldn't exactly be able to describe what he did, but he knew that the Shinigami thanked him for another meal.

"_**Two**____**out**____**of**____**nine**__**, **__**mmm**__**,**_" the Shinigami said, before leaving with what was left of the the Nibi, but he left Yugito alive.

"**I****have****taken****the****cat****'****s****power****, ****along****with****it****your****chakra****, ****leaving****you****just****like****everyone****else****,**" Naruto said, then moved his maw closer to her, as if to devour her.

"Stop! Get away from me!" Yugito pleaded and shouted, "Don't kill me!"

"**I****will****not****kill****you****,**" Naruto said, backing away slightly, "**But****since****you****value****your****life****over****your****ability****to****communicate****...****Izuna****, ****take****her****tongue****and****all****but****four****fingers****...****A****kunoichi****you****no****longer****can****be****.**"

"What?!" she said, got up, even as her body burned, and tried, and failed to run away.

Izuna wasn't all that gentle with his ministrations, he simply punched her in the gut, pulled out her tongue when she screamed, then cut if off with a kunai. As for the fingers, he ate those.

"Mission accomplished, master," Izuna said, and watched as Naruto retured to normal, then became Yuurei again.

"I beat a Kumo-nin in the past once," Naruto said, "Without the use of my very own Byakugan."

"Sir?" Izuna said.

"Nii Yugito," Naruto said getting into his Jyuuken stance, "You are within range of my divination."

He then did his thing, striking at speeds that could not really be tracked by a normal eye, each strike sealed off a tenketsu, when he was done with the Hakke Rokujuuyonshou, he did something similar but hit a lot of pressure points, followed by breaking bones.

"Bandage her wounds," Naruto instructed, "Then have her sent to Kumo, with a message."

"What message?" Izuna asked.

"I do not tolerate traitors," Naruto said.

"Your will be done, my master," Izuna said.

"*"

Kurenai didn't think that she'd ever have to feel the foul chakra of the Kyuubi ever again, she never thought that she would have to experience the horrible memories she tried to bury deep within her of the day that the Kyuubi took her family from her. She was of a branch of the Uchiha, which was why her eyes were red. But the blood of the Uchiha had been diluted so much over the years that her family had been made of what could be termed as bloodlineless shinobis. Her family didn't have that extra special set of abilities, skills, or powers, to help them survive a battle. They all perished that terrible day that the Yondaime and so many sacrificed their lives that their loved ones would be able to see a new day, a new sunrise.

She had lost so many loved ones that day, none of her family remained. She hated the creature with a passion, though she had kept her hate for the creature in check as she had not wanted to feel the ire of the Hokage. But feeling and seeing the creature all over again was something she could not tolerate. She believed that Naruto still housed the foul creature, and so she planned that when she got the chance, she would kill him to end its existence, damn the consequences, she would avenge her family and all the others that had lost their lives to the beast.

She was proven that Naruto did not hold the foul beast when she noticed the number of tails the beast sported waving behind it before they condensed into the ones that remained. Instead of it making her believe that he didn't house a monster, she believed that he housed something even more monstrous, to the point that Naruto was no longer human, but a demon, which was how he was able to command the undead. She had to plan, play nice, then stab him in the back. Her thoughts spiraled, entering into an abyss, going so far as to believe that the Hinata that she knew, as her father had made her look out for through the years no longer existed, but was replaced by one of Naruto's undead minions.

She chanced a glance at Hinata just to make sure part of the plot was not to have her killed or frame her for the deaths of her other two genin. She couldn't trust anyone, probably not even the Hokage, since the man was always on good terms with Naruto. She would have to find allies to help her finally rid the world of the menace that was the creature that took the form of Naruto. She remembered that there was that one village elder named Danzo that either wanted Naruto as a weapon or destroyed, she'd try and get his help. It was only a matter of time until her revenge was complete.

While Kurenai was having those traitorous thoughts, Kiba and Shino were busily laying on the bridge, passed out from fear. The aura of power was too much for their inexperienced selves to take, and forced them to lose consciousness. Even Akamaru was unable to stay conscious, there was simply too much power in the area.

Before passing out, both boys had seen the monster's form, and had hoped that whoever that was was on their side, it was a better though in comparison to the possibility of simply thinking that it was out to get them. It was a good thing that they knew that Naruto had monsters as servants, else they would have totally freaked out.

'_He__'__s__got__some__more__explaining__to__do__,_' was what Hinata thought when she felt the power, then saw the beast, '_I__hope__he__'__s__ok__._'

#

"You have some explaining to do mister," Hinata said as she poked him in the chest, after he returned to the bridge, followed by his three elites, the other undead had mostly gone on ahead to Konoha, leaving behind the ones that had come with Naruto to wave.

"I...ah...thought I told you about that," Naruto said, sheepishly, "Can we...ah...talk about this at home?"

"Explain," Hinata demanded, she shifted her outfit, and pulled out the ninjato and placed the blade against Naruto's neck, "Now."

"Fine," Naruto said, then slowed down time around them to slower than a crawl, "We can talk now."

It took a few seconds for Hinata to notice that everything around them was moving in slow motion, from the water, to one of Shino's kikai's wings.

"What in the world?" she said, in awe and a little fear, "What did you do?"

"If you sheathe the sword, I shall explain," Naruto negotiated, "Its not like I'm not going to tell you after I slowed down the world around us."

"What do you mean slowed down the world around us?" Hinata asked, still holding the sword.

"I already explained Yuurei, its like that," Naruto said, "I also explained about the undead, same as that too."

"Explain this one," Hinata said, "And don't leave anything out, I'm your wife you should be able to at least trust me with your secrets...unless its a village secret or something, it isn't, is it?"

"It is...sort of," Naruto said, "But I'd be lying if I said I couldn't tell you."

"Then spill, or you better hope that you'll survive without your guts," she threatened, pressing the blade against his gut.

"Ah...actually, I could probably heal that," Naruto admitted.

"R-really? H-how?" she asked, a little shocked, "You didn't make yourself immortal or something did you?"

"Well...no," Naruto said, "Do you want me to explain, or not?"

"Explain," she said replacing the blade at his neck.

"No need to threaten me, you know," Naruto said.

"Fine, start explaining," she said, originally she had planned to simply push a little harder against his apple, but not really used yet to using such a blade, she pushed a little bit too hard, luckily Naruto knew that, "Aaahh!"

"Relax," Naruto tried to calm her down, even though the ninjato she had released was still kind of stuck in Naruto's neck, "Maybe I should have mentioned this," he pointed at his neck as he slid the blade out without leaving a scratch, "With a little warning I can make it so that I can't get hurt, can't really do it all that much during a battle though."

"I'm dead, aren't I," Hinata said, thinking that such things could only be possible if she were, either that or she was in an extended dream or a coma, "Are you some sort of spirit meant to guide me to the afterlife or something? Can you tell me how I died?"

"No, no, and no," Naruto said, "You ain't dead, I'm no spirit, and well I answered that question already."

"But I saw a big fox-thing, and it just went through," she said, trying to back away a bit, but couldn't as Naruto had wrapped his arms around her, preventing her from escaping his clutches.

"Yeah...well...that fox was me, and well, you see..." Naruto then told his tale starting with the incident with the Shinigami and the but orange bunny rabbit that was really the Kyuubi. By the end of the tale, they were both sitting on the floor.

"I...I'm s-sorry," Hinata said, "About threatening you and all, and demanding you tell me everything."

"S'alright," Naruto said, "I should've told you even a little about everything else. At least now you know, just remember that most of it you can't tell anybody."

"Hai," she said, "So...uh...not that they miss us or anything...but could we get back to everyone's present now?"

"Sure," Naruto said, "But first we gotta get back to how we were, else they'll think something's up."

"Ah...yea," Hinata said, "You're not normal you know that."

"Yeah," Naruto said, as they got back into position, "I kinda figured that out the second time the Shinigami came for a visit."

Naruto then resynchronized time...

"So she wasn't an undead replacement," Kurenai said, the two boys were still unconscious, then shouted, "He's a monster! Take this chance to avenge the Yondaime! You saw the Kyuubi!"

"Huh?" Hinata said taken aback, it caused her to actually do what Kurenai wanted her to do, sending Naruto stumbling backwards and falling into the waters below, the undead then kind of stopped moving and fell to the ground, dead. Or that's what Kurenai, Hinata, and Tazuna thought.

They rushed to the side of the uncompleted bridge to look at the waters below. It was kind of hard to tell if Naruto was dead due to the blood that was still flowing in the waters from the massacre of Gato and his forces. It came as a real shocker when Kurenai followed Naruto over the side after Toki knocked her out.

"Toki!" Hinata exclaimed, "Is Naruto-kun ok? He's not dead right?"

"Nothing to worry about," Toki ressured her, "Your reactions had to be real for the plan to work."

"Sorry about that," Naruto said climbing back onto the bridge, "As soon as I heard her words, I knew something was up, and had to act...uh...but maybe I should have Izuna or Tobi teach you how to use that thing...I really almost died...uh..._maybe__I__shouldn__'__t__have__said__that__._.." he said as he noticed Hinata panicking a little, as well as getting depressed.

"I...I...I..." her clothes shifted back to being a kimono, "I could have..." she dropped to the ground, shaking as the thought that she really could have killed him sunk in.

"_Boss__...__you__really__did__it__now__..._" Toki said as he passed by Naruto to join Hashi and the rest in the water, to secure the unconscious Kurenai, and make sure she stayed unconscious.

"Hey," Naruto said, kneeling down beside her, "I'm unhurt, so don't start getting depressed on me...come on, I'm alright..."

"B-but...I c-could have really h-hurt you," she said, she was really sobbing now.

'_Way__to__go__boss__,_' most of the undead were thinking, Toki already managed to slap his head off.

"_I__know__you__didn__'__t__mean__to__do__it_," Naruto, in an attempt to comfort her, whispered, "_I__also__know__that__you__won__'__t__do__it__again__, __I__'__ll__help__you__with__that__. __So__don__'__t__cry__anymore__, __I__'__ll__make__sure__of__it__, __you__know__I__can__do__that__. __C__'__mon__, __stop__thinking__about__it__, __everyone__makes__mistakes__, __even__I__do__...__How__ '__bout__it__, __stop__crying__, __for__me__?_"

"B-but..." she began to say.

"_Listen__...__I__'__ll__help__you__train__...__or__something__,_" he said, but noticed that her emotional state just got a little worse.

'_Must__be__that__time__of__the__month__,_' Tobi thought, '_Glad__Kasumi__-__chan__doesn__'__t__undergo__that__kind__of__thing__...__I__think__...__I__hope__...__oh__crap__..._'

"I really am out of my league here," Naruto said while holding Hinata, "I mean...Command the undead? Easy...Stop time? Sure...Walk through walls? Been there...Beat up a bijuu? Done that...Stop my wife from crying and feeling bad about nearly killing me? Hmm...I have no experience with this...Hina-chan help me out here."

Her sobs turned to giggles after hearing his kind-of rant.

"Hey! I'm having a problem here! Stop giggling, how am I supposed to figure out how to make the girl I've fallen in love with stop crying if she giggles...You've got me really stumped," Naruto said, trying to look oh so serious, also known as pouting...or trying to.

"Oh stop that," Hinata said, "I'm fine now, so stop pouting. You made me feel better, so now what?"

"Now...hmm..." Naruto said, then thought for a little bit, then turned to Tazuna, "My undead made sure that your workers didn't show up today...in any case...If you tell us what to do, we'll finish your bridge in no time."

"Uh...sure," Tazuna said, "Any chance of you explaining to me why I saw a Bijuu?"

"That was me," Naruto said, "But forget about that," he let some of his magic flow out from within him and float like a mist or dust on the wind, with a spell to ensure that those that saw his form forgot what they saw, except for the Konoha-nins, then said, "About the bridge?"

"Oh, of course," Tazuna said, "Hey...I vaguely remember feeling as if there was a Bijuu here...must've been my imagination...the last one I saw was huge, let me tell you...So here's what I need done..."

#

It took less than a week for the bridge to be completed with the help of the undead army at Naruto's disposal. Kurenai had been delivered to Konoha post haste along with a report on her behavior, as well as a partial mission report, the things missing were the information about after the jounin was transported back home.

As they left, Tazuna had decided to name the bridge after Naruto, in honor of all the things he had done for Nami, as not only had he handed over everything that Gato had taken from them, as the man had kept a record of everything he had done, both bad and neutral, he had also helped the most out of all the Konoha-nins when it came to the protection of the place but also the construction of the bridge, bringing the place closer to prosperity.

Shino as well as Kiba also had to be sedated as they would ask too many questions that neither Hinata or Naruto could answer without the Hokage being present, as well as the fact that Naruto really didn't like or wasn't comfortable with the idea of possibly revealing his secrets to people he didn't know.

Naruto had chosen to ride on the backs of undead horses on the way back to Konoha, it gave them some time to rest as they were in no real hurry, and it also made bringing back the two unconscious genin easier and more comfortable for the Uzumakis, as that was what Naruto and Hinata were, as well as those undead of Naruto's.

When they finally reached Konoha, it was an hour or two before midnight, and the Chunin guards were unlucky to be stationed at the only remaining open gate as the arrived. Naruto had decided to add a little mist to give more of a spooky effect. He really loved his district, as well as the fact that he had the chance to make Izumo and Kotetsu a little bit more alert.

Normally horses didn't have glowing red eyes, but with a little magic to help, Naruto made the horses eyes glow. He also made himself look like a rotting corpse on a horse, same for the still unconscious duo. While leaving Hinata as she was, since someone had to sign in for them.

"K-Kotetsu," Izumo said shaking in his seat, "I-is that w-what I think it i-is?"

"I h-hope not," Kotetsu replied, "C-cause i-if it is...we're dead."

Once they entered the gate, Hinata dismounted and signed in, she also forgot to actually speak to the two Chunin, which coupled with a few transparency illusions made her seem to be the freakiest of them all. Having finished her task, Naruto led them to the Haunted District, depositing team eight at his house, the last one one would see if one were heading for the Haunted Gate, while he went to the Hokage to submit his meticulously made written report.


	18. CR 11

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated****Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter**____**eleven**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

"So...could you please repeat that onc more time?" Naruto requested of the Hokage.

The morning after team eight and his arrival in Konoha, and after he handed over the fully completed and extremely detailed mission report, the Hokage had requested that he stay for a different matter while the members of team eight were told to wait outside for a moment.

"I want you to put on a kind of memory altering seal of some sort on Yuuhi Kurenai," the Hokage said, "While I know she did in fact commit treason, I also know that it would be easier for all those involved that she remain alive and well. Erasing part of her memory, and maybe altering some parts of her personality would have been great, but I doubt even you are capable of such a feat."

"I could do that actually," Naruto admitted, "Not that I've ever done it...but I know how to."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" the Hokage said, "Do that, make her more acceptable of you and you supposed condition."

"Is that an order?" Naruto asked.

"It is," the Hokage said, "I'll even make it a double S rank mission if you want, complete with pay."

"I'll take the mission, forget the pay for this one," Naruto said, "It wouldn't feel right, and it doesn't feel right as it is. But I understand that some sacrifices are necessary for the greater good."

"I'm glad you see it my way," the Hokage said, then asked, "How soon can you perform this task?"

"Soon as I get home," Naruto said, "I could get it done within an hour or so, without interference, would it be possible for Team eight to perform some D ranks in the meant time without their jounin sensei?"

"Within the village missions? Sure," the Hokage said, "But it would be preferable if they had at least a chunin to supervise them. I'll see what I can do."

"Alrighty then," Naruto said, "I'll return within the house with the puppet."

"Puppet?" the Hokage inquired.

"She'll more or less be something like that when I'm through with her," Naruto said, "While not totally devoid of her own personal will, I will be altering segments of her very being."

"Add in a control seal or some sort in case she reverts back for some reason," the Hokage ordered, "Something like a 'reset button', where she'll have some form of permanent amnesia or something."

"Will do," Naruto said as he walked out of the office.

"*"

While Team eight were performing mission with Shino as team captian and without any higher form of supervision. Naruto was busy slowing time around him and Kurenai. He had his work cut out for him since he had never actually performed the procedure before. He decided at the last minute that since it was something he had never attempted before then he might need the aid of his undead, and so he expanded the time bubble to cover the entire compound, which had two names, Haunted Core and Training Ground Sixty-Nine.

"Miko, Kasumi, stand guard by the gate, no matter what don't let anyone, even the Hokage, get in," Naruto instructed his two female elites, "Bring the children with you if you must."

"Hai," both women said, then led the children out of the core of the compound.

Naruto then laid out a scroll detailing what was needed to be done to begin the process. It was littered with detailed instructions on how to proceed as he didn't want to have to keep returning to his memories to check if he was doing it right. It was better to keep an actual record of such complex operations. With it he instructed Izuna to strip the subject and for Hashi to begin painting half of the, the lower half to be exact, while he took care of the head until her midriff.

Her body was not laid on the ground, but kept up in the air thanks to Tobi and a few other zombie ninjas with the use of chakra strings. He needed her perfectly still as well as up in the air to be able to reach every inch of her body. He treated the procedure as if he was rewiring some machine or the house for that matter.

By the time they were done painting all of the seals using chakra ink, Kurenai's body looked like it was one big ink blot, there were just that many intricate lines crisscrossing her body.

Naruto then called for medics, sure they were undead but that didn't mean that they couldn't keep the living as members of the living. The next step in the procedure was to open up the body, remove the organs, and paint seals on those as well. The operation needed seals placed both in and out of the body. It was a rather gruesome task, it was actually the part which Naruto did not want Hinata to see since he didn't think she had what it took to witness such a sight.

When all the necessary seals were in place, Naruto had all the organs returned to their proper places, while he had Hashi and Tobi pour their chakra into the seals, as they were all interconnected, while he performed the actual alteration of memories, personality, attitude, and some will control. It didn't really take all that long considering that time was slowed down around them, but had time been normal it woul have taken Naruto an entire day to finish the procedure.

When he was finally done with things. He made sure to test her out before unleashing her back to the rest of society. He performed henge'd himself into the form of Kyuubi, and she did not react at all, which was a good thing, as it meant that the seals and the operation were a success. With the sealing over and done with, Naruto had Hashi bring Kurenai back to the Hokage, while he followed on foot.

"So...it worked?" the Hokage asked.

"Pretty much," Naruto said, "Once you've splashed some water on her or something she'll seem like I did nothing, but should she see a fox, or feel my power, the Kyuubi one, she won't react, bat an eyelash, or really care. I altered her memories of the Wave mission, and there was one unseen side effect."

"Good or bad?" the Hokage asked.

"Depends on how your definition of good and bad," Naruto said, "Whereas Mitarashi Anko is thought of as a nymphomaniac, when she's really not, Kurenai has now become one. You had better hope that your son has the stamina to keep up with her in the bedroom."

"So she'll be like a bitch in heat then," the Hokage said.

"Something along those lines," Naruto said, "She wont jump a guy in public, but when alone...well...your son better have the stamina to satisfy her or else I fear Maito Gai will be having the time of his life."

"I think I'd rather face your compound than have to live through one night of that," the Hokage said, shuddering a little at the thought.

"She'll be craving some action every day, sort of, there will be a kind of build up," Naruto explained, "She could probably go through two weeks without it, but any longer than that...well...she'll probably get cranky as hell...anyway two weeks is the maximum safest period that she can go on without getting any...longer than that..."

"I get it, I get it," the Hokage said.

"One more thing," Naruto said.

"Yes?"

"Her genjutsu will be affected as well," Naruto said.

"What do you mean? Will she be unable to perform?" the Hokage inquired.

"No...nothing like that...she'll just act out with them more...producing more...perverted illusions that what would be deemed normal..." Naruto said, "Think Jiraiya in Paradise."

"Ah...I see," the Hokage said, "You might want to warn your wife of the change."

"I will," Naruto said, then asked, "You got any jobs for me?"

#

Two weeks after the procedure, Team eight found themselves dealing with something two members had never thought they would ever encounter, while the third genin member didn't think he'd ever have to run away from a hot girl in his life.

"Ahhhhhhh! Get her away from me!" Kiba shouted as he ran away from his Jounin Sensei while only in his boxers, "Shino! Help me!"

"_Should__I__help__him__?_" Shino asked Hinata in a whisper as he hid under an illusion beside her as they watched Kiba and their sensei run.

"_Do__you__want__to__be__killed__by__Asuma__-__sensei__?_" Hinata whispered back.

"_No__, __I__do__not__,_" Shino said, and so they continued to watch as Kiba was chased around by Kurenai.

A few minutes later they were joined by Naruto, with his undead underground.

"So...I take it Team ten is still on a mission," Naruto said.

"Hai, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, "I see you're back from yours."

"Yeah," Naruto said as he too watched the proceedings, "You'd think he'd stop, especially with all the boasting he likes to do."

"He would, if he wasn't so scared of Asuma-sensei," Hinata said, then asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing, especially considering the circumstances," Naruto said.

"Thank you for caring," she said, "Did you already report in?"

"I did...met up with Iruka-sensei too," Naruto said, "He still doesn't want to visit again..."

"Oh, why is that?" she asked.

"Last time he visited, well more like his first time, he almost died," Naruto said.

"Really? Why?" she asked concerned.

"Same thing that's gonna happen to Kiba if Kurenai-san catches him," Naruto replied, "Without the same consequences."

"Oh," Hinata said.

"_Lucky__bastard__,_" Naruto heard Shino whisper in frustration and irritation.

"Not really...considering...actually, yeah, he was pretty lucky," Naruto said.

"What was that supposed to mean, buster," Hinata's garb changed to her black one.

"Eh...oh, Kasumi isn't undead," Naruto said, "She's a water spirit, and therefore pretty much alive...he could've done it with Miko who is undead."

"Oh," she shifted her clothes back into her kimono.

"Get back here and take it like a man!" Kurenai shouted as she continued to chase Kiba who only had a big leaf to hide his privates.

"Shino! You traitor!" Kiba shouted, the noticed Naruto, "Sensei! Naruto's over there!"

Before she could turn to look in his direction, Naruto activated a seal he had placed on the jounin, causing her to freeze up and fall into blissful green minded unconsciousness.

"What did you do?" Hinata asked, Shino decided to help Kiba get back into his clothes.

"I knocked her out," Naruto said, "Its a failsafe seal to make sure she can't molest me."

"Oh," she said, "Saving yourself for someone?"

"You," he said smiling, "Unless you don't want me to."

"Believe me when I say, that I do," she said, smiling too.


	19. CR 12

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated****Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter**____**twelve**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

"You want to what!?" Naruto exclaimed after being told by the Hokage that during the up coming Chunin Selection Exams, part of his land was to be used for the second part of the Exam, "You're kidding right? I mean TG 69 as it is is worse than 44."

"But I'm not asking for your compound to be used," the Hokage said, "Just some of your other lands, like the one with the ravine...or the other forested areas."

"You do know that all my lands are populated, right?" Naruto said.

"I am fully aware of that," the Hokage said, "But this way is more challening than in previous years."

"Fine," Naruto gave in, "I'll set up a forested area, the size of the Forest of Death, fence it off, and put a building in the middle for use. You better pay me rent for this."

"I will, I assure you," the Hokage said, "We'll call it Training Ground Sixty-Eight."

"Good enough for me," Naruto said, before jumping out the window, and being caught by the claws of one of his winged undead.

Once he arrived back at his home, Naruto summoned his undead officers to him to begin preparations for the upcoming exams which would be held in Konoha in a week's time.

"Hashi, fill up sector twelve with a dense jungle type, not just forest, but jungle," Naruto ordered, "Tobi, that place needs more water, streams, rivers, ponds, you name it."

"Hai," Hashi and Tobi said.

"Izuna, fence the area, double layer wall, second wall gets gates, twenty-seven should suffice, one gate for the outer layer," Naruto ordered, "Since I'm sure Kurenai will be having her team enter, Toki you're in charge of Hinata-chan's safety from the other competitors."

"Hai," Izuna and Toki said, before leaving.

"Kasumi," Naruto said, "I'm leaving the aquatic undead in your care."

"Hai," Kasumi said, before leaving to gather the undead animal legions of the water.

"As for the rest of you," Naruto said, "Form groups, a day shift and a night shift. Night shift being the most dangerous time for all within the jungle. Scare tactics, I want this exam to be a horror movie worth watching."

"Hai," the others said, before leaving to prepare for their miniature zombie apocalypse.

"Miko," Naruto said, stopping the former Uchiha, "I'll be at TG 68, during the exam, you're in charge of home while I'm away, unauthorized entry will not be permitted for the duration of the exam, unless I or the Hokage say otherwise."

"Hai," she said, "Will the children be participating in the exam?"

"They may help during the night time excursions," Naruto said.

"Alright," she said, then walked away to continue her duties.

"*"

In the Hokage's office the Jounin were having a meeting with the Hokage regarding the upcoming exams.

"I have finalized the location for the second part of the exam," the Hokage said, "But before that, nominations please."

Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, and a number of the more senior Jounin-senseis nominated their teams.

"With that over and done with," the Hokage said, "I will now announce the venue for the second part of the exam."

"Well, where is it? I'm dying to know," Anko said.

"Training Ground Sixty-Eight," the Hokage simply stated.

"Where's that?" some jounins asked.

"Why not Forty-four?" others also askd.

There were a number of other questions being asked by the jounins in regards to the venue, none of the jounin noticed Iruka's, being the Hokage's assistant, face pale considerably.

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious! No genin is prepared for that training ground!" Iruka said, "Not even Chunin are prepared to even step into that training ground!"

"It has already been decided Iruka," the Hokage said, "And its not _that_training ground, I requested that another portion of _that_district be used for the duration of the exam. But I guess you are right, but I still stand by my decision."

"Hokage-sama, if I may ask," Anko said, "But where or what is this TG 68?"

"TG 69, is the Anbu level training ground, one whose danger level far outstrips the Forest of Death by a wide margin," the Hokage explained, "TG 68 was recently created specifically for the exam, with most of the danger of TG 69. This will test the true capabilities of the genin who wish to become Chunin."

"Is it too late to reconsider our nominations?" Gai asked with his inside and mission voice.

"No, that decision is final," the Hokage said, "While I would allow you to try out TG 69, I have been informed that it has been closed off for the duration of the exam, even the Anbu are not permitted to enter. But you may try getting to the heart of 68 if you wish, while its still being finished."

"We'll do that Hokage-sama," some of the jounin said, once they were dismissed they high tailed it out of there, then remembered that they didn't know where it was.

"I'll lead you there," Iruka said once the mass of jounin returned, "I think I know where it is anyway."

A short while later they were standing in front of the imposing gate that barred the entrances to TG 68. Standing guard outside of the site was none other than Naruto himself, his part of layering illusions all over the place had been finished, and decided that he would keep people out for the time being.

"Hey, Naruto!" Iruka greeted upon arrival, "Hokage-sama informed these jounin of the venue, and they have his permission to test the place out. What do you say?"

"Fine," Naruto said, "But I've got to get the Anbu out first," he then hollered out, "Hashi! Get the Anbu out! The Jounin want to try!"

"HAI!" Hashi shoutd out from within the walled and fenced in training ground.

A few minutes later, the gate to the grounds opened, to reveal many individuals wearing animals masks being carried on stretchers by Naruto's undead servants, thought most of them looked alive thanks to the illusions each one bore.

"All clear, Naruto-sama," Kasumi said approaching Naruto, "All Anbu taken out and accounted for."

"Iruka-sensei, you can use the training ground now," Naruto said, "If you need anything, don't hesitated to ask one of the gate guards, there are twenty-seven gates along the second wall, each has four guards stationed."

"Thanks, Naruto, and no need to call me sensei, you're my superior after all," Iruka said, and led the Jounin through the gates.

"Send 'em to the hospital," Naruto ordered, somehow all of the undead within the training ground heard him, and answered..

"Hai."

"*"

A few hours after the jounin were let into the jungle, they were carried out in stretcher, most of them missing parts of their attire, and all of them sporting some sort of wound very near their vital points. They had lived through a nightmare, and the sun was still up, high in the sky. While the inhabitants of the jungle simply continued their job of preparing the jungle for the upcoming exam.

When the skeleton workers arrived at the hospital with their loads, the medics were at first scared out of their wits thinking that they had come under attack but after realizing just who had brought the jounin in, they were relieved that it was just training accidents.

"Until the exams are over, I'm leaving the security of Konoha in your hands," the Hokage told Naruto at the end of the day, "Your undead are enough in number to secure out borders."

"So are you telling me that I can open the gates of hell?" Naruto asked.

"I have cleared it with the advisory council, Danzo has manged to convince the other two to permit me to leave our security in your care," the Hokage said, "Let not one spy in, and let not one traitor out."

"I understand Hokage-jiji," Naruto said, "Not even Orochimaru will be permitted to leave if he ever enters. I'll turn his corpse into a servant should he try to lay a hand on Konoha."

"Good to hear," the Hokage said, "My student Jiraiya will be present in the village during the exams, should you come across him, I would like you to dump him into the Complex. If he doesn't want to report to me once he enters the village, then I want him to have a semi-valid reason not to visit me."

"I understand," Naruto said, "You might want to station guards over the single exit for the duration of the exam though. Leak out some info that we've got a secret down there. That'll flush out some of our spies."

"I think I'll do that," the Hokage agreed, "Maybe we should name the underground Jigokugakure no Sato, hehe."

"Even though you meant it as a joke," Naruto said, "It is kind of real in a sense."


	20. CR 13

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Complicated****Reincarnation**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter**____**thirteen**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

Mitarashi Anko had been chosen as the Proctor for the second part of the Chunin exam, there were twenty-seven genin teams stnding before her, and behind her was the Nightmare Gate, as the Jounin and Anbu had decided to call the gate itself, for what lay beyond it was a nightmare in itself compard to the hells that were the Haunted Core and Jigokugakure no Sato.

"Welcome to Konoha's Haunted District," Anko said, "Behind me is the Nightmare Gate, and beyond it is Training Ground Sixty-Eight or the Nightmare Jungle, or as you should think of it as the designated venue for the second part of the exams!"

She then continued to explain the rules, their objectives, time limit, and everything else she had to tell them. She also had them sign those forms that would not hold Konoha responsible for any deaths that occurred within the training ground. She did eye team eight for a little while as she had a feeling that they would probably make it to the heart of the training ground before any others.

After being handed their scrolls, the genin were led to their assigned gates, and were told to wait for the signal to enter even though the gates were being opened. There were Anbu in place to watch out for any cheaters that tried to gain entrance before the bell rang.

When the bell rang the teams dashed into the jungle, most thinking that the name of the training ground was just an intimidation tactic. The team from Suna didn't really care, but once the gates closed behind them, even the Ichibi sealed within Sabaku no Gaara felt a chill run down its demonic spine.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Kiba asked Hinata, she had changed into her black outfit, "Cause...you know...I've got this feeling like many people will not be going home intact..."

"We'll be fine," Shino said, "Hinata lives near here, we'll be fine. Won't we?"

"You're not helping Shino," Kiba said, looking left and right every now and then, paranoia taking over him.

"Toki," Hinata said, not paying attention to her teammates as they walked in the direction of the heart of the jungle, "I need your help."

Toki's arm broke through the soft earth scaring the life out of Kiba, causing him to scream which would have normally alerted any of the other teams of their location, but due to the layers of illusions and other things in the jungle that was not the case. But most of the closer teams did hear it.

When the rest of Toki's body was out of the ground, he knelt down before Hinata, and awaited his orders.

"Isn't that cheating?" Shino asked, as Akamaru tried to calm down Kiba.

"I'm a kunoichi, I'm supposed to use anything and everything at my disposal to complete a mission," she said, "So what's wrong if I use my servants?"

"When you put it that way, nothing I guess," Shino said.

"How may I serve, Hinata-sama?" Toki asked.

"My team has the Earth Scroll," Hinata said, "Could you get us the Heaven Scroll?"

"As you wish, my lady," Toki said, then sunk into the ground.

"Shino," Hinata said.

"Yes?" Shino said, "What is it?"

"If we were to use an animal to quicken our pace, what would be the best given the terrain?" she asked.

"A panther probably," Shino said, "Why?"

"Jibun," Hinata called, and another undead warrior rose up from the ground causing Kiba to frantically question his sanity, and his choice to view Hinata as one of those sweet nice and normal girls. Jibun was a black haired zombie ninja that looked like a chunin, his distinguishing feature was that he wore sunglasses even though he didn't need it.

"How may I serve, Hinata-sama?" with a raspy voice he asked as he kneeled before her.

"We need a faster mode of transportation," she said, "Shino has suggested panthers, are there any we could use?"

"How many will you be needing?" Jibun asked, "There are plenty within the jungle."

"Just three," she replied, "How many of you are watching over me?"

"Should you find yourself in a life or death situation, the whole jungle will come to your aid," Jibun said, "Is there anything else? Or do I proceed with fetching the panthers for your use?"

"That will be all for now," Hinata said.

"How many undead would that be?" Shino asked, as he kicked Kiba in the nads to make sure he didn't freak out anymore than necessary or socially acceptable.

"As you know," she replied, "I didn't bother to ask. Suffice to say, a whole lot of them."

A few minutes both Toki and Jibun arrived, their tasks complete. While Jubin looked like he did before he left, Toki's face was painted red, which caused Kiba to actually faint, which made Jibun tie him to the back of one panther. Toki handed the scroll to Hinata, as she and Shino jumped onto the backs of their mounts.

Once on, team eight dashed to the building at the center of the jungle, the tower at the heart of the nightmare jungle where the proctor and a few personnel were waiting for those that qualified for the rest of the exams.

Anko wanted to meet the team that arrived first to congratulate them on surviving a land that had sent her to the hospiral when it wasn't completed yet. While she had a feeling that Team eight would be arriving earlier than any one else, she wasn't expecting to meet the team only two hours after the start of the second part of the exam. She wouldn't have believed it herself had she not been the one to explain the meaning of the riddle that was their only clue for what to do once they got to the tower.

"How the hell did you manage to get here in two hours!?" Anko exclaimed once she had been summoned by the two scrolls infront of the three genin.

"We are supposed to use everything at our disposal to finish a mission, correct?" Shino rhetorically asked.

"Well, yeah," Anko said answering even though she knew she didn't need to, "Why?"

"I'm so glad I live in the Haunted District," Hinata sheerfully said ending with a smile on her face, "Else it could've taken us days to get here."

"I'll admit that I thought we were going to die several time, but admittedly without the aid of those dangerous things in the jungle, we would not be here to see another living being," Kiba said as calmly as he possibly could.

"Ah...I see," Anko said, "I had a feeling you'd be the first ones here...I know some people who live in the district, but none of them would be able to get the other denizens to obey them, how can you?"

"She's married to the owner and master of the district," Shino said.

"But you're only...thirteen," Anko said.

"So?" Hinata said, "Old enough to kill, old enough to get married."

"She got you there Anko," Gekkou Hayate said walking over to the small group.

"Why are you here?" Anko asked him.

"Lots of those undead things are converging on the tower for some reason," Hayate calmly said.

"What!? Why? And why are you so calm about it?" she asked.

"Toki," Hinata said, "Why are they doing that?"

Toki and Jibun broke through the floor and pulled themselves out of the floor before Toki answered Hinata.

"They are securing the tower, just in case the intruder will try and get to you," Toki said.

"Yes," Jibun said in reply to Anko's unasked question, "There is an intruder that goes by the name of Orochimaru we believe. What his purpose in the exam is, we do not know, but we do know that he is within the training ground."

"_I__gotta__get__outta__here__,_" Anko mumbled to herself, which Hayate heard.

"That's not a good idea Anko," Hayate said, "We have orders from the Hokage not to leave the tower until the end of the exam."

"Then what do we do while that monster is out there," she asked.

"Toki," Hinata said.

"Hai, Hinata-sama," Toki said.

"Does Naruto-kun know about the intruder?" she asked.

"He should know," Toki said, "Why?"

"Could you inform him of my whereabouts as well as of the intruder," she said.

"I could," he said, then faced Jibun, "Take care of her in my absence."

"Hai, taichou," Jibun said, as Toki ran out of the tower.

"Now what?" Hinata asked, shifting her clothes back into her kimono, "Is there anything else we need to do?"

"Well, you'll have to spend the remainder of the test in this tower," Hayate said, as Anko walked off, "There are rooms available for your use...unless you have some sort of private area here that I don't know about. In any case, your team has to wait for this part of the exam to end before receiving any further instructions."

"Alright," Shino said, "Where are the rooms located?"

"Hinata-sama," Jibun suddenly spoke up, "Naruto-sama, has just informed me through the connection we all share with him, that during the construction there was an area prepared for your use, something like a clan or family quarters located underground."

"Oh," Hinata said.

"I guess, you'll be staying there then," Hayate said, then asked, "How do they get there?"

"The elevator will go down to that level," Jibun said, "On the map of the tower it is labeled as a house in Jigokugakure no Sato."

"The Village Hidden in Hell?" Hayate asked, "Why is it called that?"

"Have you ever been into the old Ne HQ?" Jibun asked.

"No," Hayate said, "Why?"

"Ask Hatake Kakashi, he should be able to tell you," Jibun said, as he led team eight to the elevator, "Miko's underlings will attend to your every need in your private quarters. Once you get there. There are guest rooms that your temmates may use."

"*"

"Orochimaru has infiltrated Konoha," Naruto informed the Hokage, "Should I take him out now, or later?"

"Find out his purpose first," the Hokage instructed, "It wouldn't do for us to be caught by surprise if he has some sort of plan in place."

"I shall then proceed with observing his movements," Naruto said, then left the room through the window, only to be caught in the talons of yet another flying zombie bird.

A few minutes later, Naruto watched as Orochimaru took on the members of team seven, and marking one with his cursed seal, a seal which he had removed from Anko a year or so before this one. Finally knowing what the serpent was after Naruto was about to act but found that Anko decided to interfere with the serpent's escape plan. It was through the meeting that not only was it revealed that the snake wanted the sharingan, but also planned an invasion, one that would take place during the finals of the exam.

Naruto returned to the Hokage with his findings.

"It would seem that we will need to display Konoha's will of fire during the exam," the Hokage said, "It wouldn't do to act before the right time. We will wait for this serpent to strike, and when it does we shall incinerate it."

"If you say so Jiji," Naruto said, "I will have my servants keep an eye on the snake's movements, I have a feeling he is after more than the sharingan."

"Keep me posted," the Hokage said, as Naruto left the room again.


	21. Exiled 1

Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works, like the anime Hellsing/Naruto. I also DO NOT own Disney or Star Wars. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

Note 2: I'm not all that good when it comes to writing accents.

Promotional Sentence 1: Read Lord of the Phoenix's "Player" if you want a dose of what Harry could also do in his life, set after 5th year.

Promotional Sentence 2: I would suggest reading Tigerman's "Portus" (One-shot) and "RuneMaster" (novel length), they're both great fics, especially "Portus". (mail me if you want me to advertise your fanfic)

"*"

"*"

**Exiled**

"*"

_**chapter one **_

"*"

"*"

"Problems child?" an old man that had not been in the vicinity only a moment ago asked the troubled young mage. His dusty and old gray robes covering his form, a long gray beard adorning his face, as he sat on a stump that had not been there previously, or so the young mage thought as he had been partially paying attention to his surroundings. It was an engraved survival instinct which had been instilled in him since he was young as each day of his life had been a fight for survival.

Harry Potter had only just found out the other night that he had once again found himself caught in the web of machinations of an unknown foe, set before him were tasks that could potentially end his life before he had gotten to actually live. He was once again thrust before the the jaws of death, and it was assumed that he had once again put himself there directly or indirectly.

His life, his year, like every other year, was once again a fun filled one, or fun filled if one wanted action and adventure of every turn of a corner in one's life. Harry was not pleased when told that he would not be able to simply quit from the tournament, the Ministry of Magic officials informing him that there was no way out, that he was magically bound to participate in the ancient tournament, even though her rules had slightly been violated.

It was a Saturday, an he had decided to go out for a stroll around the lake to clear his head, and escape from the stares, glares, and comments of his peers and schoolmates, the other schools not really caring much for him other than the fact that Hogwarts had two Champions whereas their schools only had one each.

Harry escaped from the castle, as its cramp atmosphere had become too much for the young mage, even though he had lived with ridicule and distrust, jealousy and malice, before, that didn't mean that he would allow himself to simply bask in it. He didn't want to be amidst all the negativity directed at him. He didn't even have a friend to back him up, to believe in his innocence, in his not wanting to be in the tournament. What need after all did he have for more fame, was he not an already famous figure the world over, not only for his defeat of one of Magical Britain's greatest self-styled Dark Lords, but more especially for the fact that he had managed to survive the unsurvivable of all dark curses, the Death Curse itself.

The Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, famed far and wide the world over as the one curse that could not be blocked with magic, and once a living thing had been hit by it there was no way that a true casting of the curse could be thwarted from its purpose. And while there were those incapable of casting such a thing, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Voldemort was incapable of casting a true killing curse, he had after all done the deed many times before, to adults no less. So why did one babe survive his curse when no other had managed to, not even the child's parents had managed to survive.

He thought about his life for the duration of his stroll around the lake, it was quite big, and so with some hours, he managed to wander aimlessly to the other end of the lake, the part opposite from the castle itself, and with the wall of trees that made up the formidable tree line of the Forbidden Forest, he gazed at the majestic castle that he considered as his home, his true home as compared to that hell hole that he had been dumped in, forced to barely survive each day intact, and remain human. It really was a miracle that he had not gone crazy and slaughtered the masses for each time that things didn't go the way of happiness, instead following the path of problems. Problems like the one that led him to the spot parallel to the castle across the Black Lake.

His life, while a short one, had already allowed things that some adults would only dream of in nightmares. Harry had gone through so many things that would have driven any one else mad or to the point of not only contemplating, but actually comitting suicide. Had it not been for those that he had considered his friends and family, he would have gone insane already and probably ended his very own existence. It looked like this time, that outcome was a distinct possibility.

"Come again?" the young mage asked the old man who he could have sworn wasn't there a moment ago, sitting on a stump in the middle of the shore of the lake and the boundary of the forest.

"I asked if you have any problems," the old man repeated, "You looked troubled, so I couldn't help but ask. Maybe if you shared what ails you, you might feel less burdened by whatever it may be."

"I..." Harry couldn't help himself, after his minor moment of hesitation, he more or less gave the old man the tale of his life, from the first memories that he could recall of his life, a green flash, which was the Killing curse taking the life of his mother as well as rebounding off of him and hitting his would be killer, all the way to recent events as well as wondering why the old man was not aware of the happenings within the castle, or even how the old man had managed to get to where he was.

"That was a rather interesting tale you have told me," the old man stated, stroking his beard he stood from the stump, which prompty turned to ash, not that the young mage noticed it, "I applaud your bravery and resilience, it has gotten you quite far, and based on the trials which you had to face, were forced to face, you have quite the character, quite the will, and dare I say it...belief...or might it simply be stubborness," the old man paused a bit to chance a glance at his young companion, then asked, "Don't you feel better now? ?Having released such a heavy burden from your chest."

"I..." the young man hestated a little bit as he realized that he did indeed feel a little bit better, like a heavy weight had been lifted off of his chest, for a moment he felt as if the weight of the whole world no longer lay on his shoulders, like Atlas had finally found a way to escape from his eternal punishment and did not need someone else to take his place, "I...yes...thank you for listening...I haven't met much listeners in my life."

"It seems so," the old man agreed as he stood gazing at the castle on the other end of the lake, just as the young mage returned to doing, it was a rather breathtaking sight or so the old man thought that it was.

"I wish I knew what to do..." the young mage said aloud, "I don't think that I can count on my so-called friends this time around to lend me their support, not after their doubts of my credibility, of the words that escape my lips. I don't really understand how my best friends, one I view as a brother, the other as a sister, how they could simply believe that I did not some underhanded deed and entered my name in the Goblet of Fire, just to endanger my life yet again..."

"Do you truly feel that you can trust no one?" the old man asked, not taking his eyes away from the castle in the distance.

"At the moment, I do," the young man replied, "Save for you, for some reason. I don't know why, but I seem to be compelled to trust you...why is that I wonder..."

The old man instead of answering immediately, tore his gaze away from the castle and fully faced the young man whose life had not been pleasant up to that point, and unleased something unto the world, only for the youth to experience, to feel. It was like a tidal wave stronger than any tsunami had suddenly crashed into the two of them. It was so sudden and surprising that the youth did not have time to recover from the sudden crashing of power.

"I can and will help you," the old man spoke authoritatively, "I have heard your life's story, I have peered into your soul, I have gazed at your entire Being, and found you worthy of a power sometimes older and at the same time just as old or even younger than time and existence itself."

"Wha...?" the youth said, slightly confused, shocked, and a plethora of conflicting emotions, none of which were anger and fury.

"My name is of no consequence, for I am quite certain that you shall learn it sometime in the future," the old man spoke, "I would shake your hand young man, in congratulations for surviving as long as you have, without interferance from realms higher than this one," so he held out his hand, and waited until the youth grasped it, then continued, "I pass on to you, Harry James Potter, the name, position, status, rank, and responsibility, of the Evil God. The term evil does not necessarily denote that you are evil, it is merely a title, as good and evil is relative. Do you accept?"

"I..." Harry really didn't know what to do, he had never in his wildest dreams ever thought that it would be possible for him to experience something like this, and thus in his confused state, he agreed, "...accept."

Their grips were firm, confirming the transference of power from one to the other.

When the deal was made, the pact solidified, the wind around the two figures suddenly picked up, turning into a howling tower of dust, mist, and wind. The mist was of a ghostly golden color, just as the old man's eyes were as Harry noticed locking gazes with the man. The ground shook beneath their feet, nature wailed, the water near them churned, and the fire underneath the earth grew to temperatures hotter than the sun.

Then Harry felt as if all of existence was gazing down on him and up at him at exactly the same time, he felt as if he was one with everything, then as soon as the feeling appeared, it was gone, and he was nothing, simply nothing. It all happened within the blink of an eye, but to him it seemed as if an eternity had passed before him, it was chilling and exciting all at the same time.

"I have seen in you an unbalance," the old man spoke, his presence remaining, even after his body had joined the mist in the form of golden dust, "The you that exists now is of good, one could call you the embodiment of the Good God, but soon your balance shall merge, and you shall be both the Good and the Evil...I shall also leave another parting gift, this one free of charge or test...Belief is a powerful thing, just as strength of Will is...imagination is an indispensible tool, and the only limitation you have are those that you place on yourself...but to challenge you, I shall restrict your entire Being, fight against the bindings, and master your entirety. You shall be among the gods very soon, but what use would all that power be if you cannot adequately use it?" the old man's voice faded with the parting words, "Good luck, young _nephew_..."

#


	22. He was Fear(1) 1

Disclaimer: This work was based off on the works of J. K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, and Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter one**_

It was October tenth, the anniversary of the defeat of the Kyuubi at the hands of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, it was also the birthday of the one that had suffered and every year almost died for the village as he kept the monster that sought to destroy the village at bay, though that was a secret unknown to him. He also found himself either running or hiding from the villagers that would seek him out to either beat him up or try to kill him, all attempts to permanently end his life failed thanks to the late arrival of his watchers who seemed to also find some sick satisfaction of whenever he was beaten half to death.

On a few common occasions the Hokage himself was the one to step in and halt the beatings, most of the villagers that performed the acts of brutal torture were hunted down on those occasions, but someone always seemed to eventually get them off scott free. It was a rather pathetic life the poor blonde lad lived.

When he was not intentionally hunted down by mourning or vengeful villagers, he spent his days either at the academy or scrounging around for something to eat and drink as most stores overcharged him or outright wouldn't sell him anything at all.

The only place in all of Konoha that actually accepted him was the Ichiraku Ramen Bar that would sometimes lower their prices just to let the poor boy eat, sometimes even giving him a free meal or two saying that it was because he looked glum or made the owner happy or something like that. The Ichiraku family really cared for the little blonde, but certain village factions kept them from adopting the young boy.

In a village of hundreds, the little blonde boy could only count three people in all the village that actually liked him, and cared for him. He had seen the rage on the Hokage's face whenever he was found by the old man injured in some back alley in the village. He had seen the looks that Teuchi and Ayame sometimes sent his way when he wasn't feeling all that good. Only three people in the whole of the village actually cared for him, and he could always see it in their eyes. Everyone else hated him.

He was running still from the mob who weilded all sorts of makeshift weapons, they were really in a rage right now, he didn't know what he had done to make them all this mad at him, so he just ran for his life through the back alleys that he knew so well. He knew the entire village like the back of his hand after all, what with all the daily chases that he had endured as a result of pranks or just villagers simply wanting a piece of him.

It normally took him a while before he was cornered, but this time was different, he took a wrong turn in his rush to get away from the mob and ended up with his back against a wall. The mob seemed to triple in size as fear gripped his heart, and it stopped beating for but a moment. During that moment he actually died.

All those in the know, knew that should the boy die, the Kyuubi that was sealed within him would go down with him as well. That was true in this case as the boy was dead for but a moment, the soul of the Kyuubi, that fractured piece of a much more powerful monster was finally devoured by the Shinigami, but it left its worldly power within the body of the boy, which it merged with and became the boy's own.

'_**Death by fear..has a nice ring to it,**_' the boy heard echoing around him in a demonic whisper, he didn't know what it was or where it came from or who was speaking, but he decided to see if the voice would speak to him again, since he seemed to be floating within a void of nothingness.

"Uhm..is anyone there?" the boy asked of the voice in the void.

'_**Not really,**_' the voice replied, '_**But how would you like to live again..be reborn into something that need not fear any longer?**_'

"What are you talking about? Did I die?" the boy asked.

'_**In a manner of speaking you are dead, but only for a moment unless you chose to stay dead,**_' the voice whispered as if on the winds.

"So they finally did it...Hokage-jiji was too late.." the boy said sadly, "Wait...you said choose?"

'_**Oh yes, indeed I did indeed say 'choose'. For you see I am merely a sentient representation of something far greater than anything you have ever imagined,**_' the voice whispered silkily into the boy's ear, '_**I offer you the chance to return to the land of the living without the need to fear again, what say you?**_'

"What do you get out of it?" the boy asked, knowing about bargaining, especially with demons and the voice definitely sounded like what one must sound like.

'_**I get to finally rest...and be alive truly like some of my brethren...**_' the voice admitted, its voice sounded as if it was longing for something unreachable.

"So..if I say 'yes', I can be alive again and won't have to be scared ever again?" the boy asked, sounding a little eager for the prospect.

'_**Yes, no more need to fear anything ever again..but if you do agree something will be taken from you,**_' the voice said and added to its previous proposal.

"What will be taken from me? It can't be my life," the boy asked as he continued to float endlessly in the void.

'_**You will no longer be able to call yourself human..nor would you be able to call yourself a monster..or a god..**_' the voice answered the boy, but it sounded a little bit too happy while it said such things.

"Then what will I be?" the boy asked the voice.

'_**You will know when you accept..you already have within you, all you need now is to say it out loud,**_' the voice coaxed the boy into setting it free from its eternal torment and prison.

"Uhm..ok.." the boy said, "I accept.."

As soon as the words were spoken, the boy felt as if the a hole below him opened up and he was suddenly sucked into it. He was forced to experience and grow intimately knowledgable with all the fears in existence, from a simple fear of a single ant to the fear of the wrath of god to even a fear of cotton or potatoes. He knew them all, and felt as if he had become them all.

He suddenly found himself everywhere and in everything. He was many things while at the same time he was still just himself. But there was something missing in him, he knew that much, two things were missing from him that was sure. He could feel it, the voice had lied to him was his first thought, but when he thought about it a little more the voice hadn't lied at all.

If he was to return alive without the need to fear anything ever again, then that meant that his fear was taken from him or something to that effect, the other thing that had been taken from him, he wasn't really sure but he had a feeling that it was something that the voice had up until he had accepted it's offer.

He then finally found himself with his back against the dead end, his eyes went from wide with fear to instantly devoid of all emotion, not that the mob had noticed that change, they just thought that his standing there was a sign that he had resigned himself to his fate, that he had given up all hope of surviving the night, surviving their beating.

They were deathly wrong. The boy could clearly see everything they were afraid of, as well as that which they were most afraid of, be it an experience or a thing.

"_Pathetic insects, unworthy of my time, you think to scare me, well, I ceased feeling such an emotion oh so long ago,_" the blonde boy seemingly whispered to no one in particular not that anyone bothered to listen.

"Mumbling a prayer to your devil god, monster?" one man noticed the boy's whispering but couldn't hear what was being said, "Well go right ahead, its not like it'll matter where you're going."

"It's scare of us! Ha! The monster is scared of us! Well let's give it something to really fear!" another man shouted.

"Let's send it to the Shinigami and finish the Yondaime started!" yet another man shouted.

"YEAH!" the rest of the mob cheered, and begun to really advance on the boy, the boy who was unconcerned with their approach.

"Fear?" the boy asked all of a sudden, "Why should I fear death? Why should I fear you? What the Yondaime started, I have already finished."

"What the hell are you talking about demon?" one man dared to ask.

"Hell? You fear that place don't you," Naruto stated locking eyes with the man, and a second later the man was writhing on the floor screaming and shouting and attempting to claw at things that didn't exist to anyone but him.

Other men seemed to fail to grasp just what was happening around them as more and more of their number dropped to the ground screaming and trying to get away from things that the others couldn't see or fathom. One man actually gripped tighter on his steel pipe and swung it around which ended with the death of two of his companions, he was screaming about ghosts and his loved ones come back from death haunting him.

When people started realizing what was more or less happening, they began to make a run for it, but it was already too late for all of them. The boy was onto each and every one of them in a flash. He was as silent and unexpected as death.

The members of the mob furthest from him had a feeling in their gut telling them just what they had unleashed upon the world. It was something even more terrifying than ten Kyuubis, it was something even more terrifying than a hundred of each Bijuu. They knew as each of their number fell screaming about their worst fears.

They knew without a doubt, what he was, or what he had become thanks to them.

The last one knew it, as he saw it in the boy's seemingly souless eyes.

He was Fear.


	23. He was Fear(1) 2

Disclaimer: This work was based off on the works of J. K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, and Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter two**_

The morning after Naruto had exchanged his humanity for something far greater than a human, a monster, or a god, the Anbu and Police forces stumbled upon the the members of the mob that had formed the night before. All the people seemed to be under what they suspected at first as being a very powerful genjutsu as even the Kurama, Yuuhi, and Uchiha clans were unable to dispel whatever it was.

When try after try couldn't help the people, they were brought one by one to the Konoha Shinobi Hospital. The people at the hospital believed that whatever had been done to the people had locked them into their minds, cursed to forver witness whatever it was that was mentally torturing them. The doctors couldn't find anything to snap the people out of their terror filled states, and with the permission of the Hokage put them out of their misery. Little did they know that the effects were only as permanent as Naruto wished them to be.

Locking people in a world of their fears was not Naruto's only ability, he had a lot more. He was Fear itself, and therefore could do more than lock people in such limited worlds, he could do so much more.

The morning after that, another group of people were found, this time only one of them was locked in a world of nightmares, the others looked like they had been attacked by a pack of wild dogs or some kind of animal at the very least. The Inuzuka clan nor the Aburame clan could figure out what had done it. Mitarashi Anko was summoned, but she claimed that there were no breaches in the Forest of Death where creatures that could have done the damage could be found.

Naruto had been chased by the second mob, and it was then that he decided to see what else he was capable of. He put one man into the endless nightmare, while the rest were fed to some living nightmares, monsters born out of the ghost stories of old. The investigators were correct in their assumption that the corpses seemed to have been mauled by wild dogs, for that is almost what Naruto had used. He had used Inugami to do his handy work, though he had only the heads do the attacking.

The day after that police forces once again found another group of people, this time there was not a single nightmare locked person, nor was there a mauled person. All they found were bodies, all of them laying face down on the ground. Their mouths open as if they had died screaming, or rather they had been scared to death. The Uchihas decided to triple the patrols as did the Anbu, they didn't need something like this continuing to be a problem in the village.

The day after that the Anbu were not surprised to find some of the criminals in the minimum security prison had been turned into vegetables. It was as if they had been locked into nightmares but released after some time of being exposed to the sheer torture of experiencing their greatest fears. What they couldn't piece together was how whoever had done it had managed to sneak into the prison, even though it was a minimum security prison its location was still only know to both Anbu and Uchiha, all that knew of the location were sworn to secrecy on pain of death.

The Hokage grew worried, but didn't let his worry show, there were just so many unknowns, that was until he saw a group of merchants chasing after a grinning Naruto. Naruto's grin was what caught his attention, it wasn't the usual I-got-you or I-pranked-you grins, it was something else, something that sent chills down the Hoakge's spine. He summoned some Anbu and ordered them to tail the youth.

The Anbu chased after Naruto but made sure that they could not be sensed by anyone. Or so they thought that they could not be sensed by anyone, their skills were limited to things that were closer to the human realm. They were light years away from being able to hide from their very fears themselves.

Naruto knew that they were following him the moment the Hokage feared that something was amiss. It made him think that perhaps it was time to tone things down, he had practiced most of what he could do after all, and taken some much needed revenge on those that had caused himself to feel scared all those days ago.

Now that he had Anbu watching him he couldn't just do as he wished, he couldn't employ that instant gratification that he had planned on committing. He needed to delay the efftect of his powers. It was something that hadn't really entered his mind in previous encounters, which came as a small shock to him since he was aprankster and his imagination normally ran wild with ideas.

He lead the merchants to a side alley with a dead end, and when he was sure the Anu weren't looking, he cast his hands out, stretched his hands, palms facing the merchants, there were five of them. From his hands tendrils of darkness shot out and wrapped around the necks of the merchants. They then wormed their way into the men's skins, like bombs that would explode at the press of a button. All that happened in a matter of seconds, when he was done Naruto threw a smoke bomb to the ground and melted into the shadows like a true ninja and rose from a shadow of a tree near the academy where he was supposed to be at the time.

Later that day, while the merchants were telling tall tales about the beating they had dealt to Naruto, their bodies were consumed from the inside out by the tendrils of darkness, the tendrils did not burst forth from the bodies as they were, they exited changed. The shadows morphed within the men, turning into what the men would be had they been born demons. They were kyuuso, anthropomorphic rats. They were rats, and once they were turned into the demons that they were they proceeded to devour their fellow merchants. It was a blood bath, one that was unexpected.

The Anbu and Uchiha policemen that stumbled upon the scene made quick work of the demon rats. They still held only the training of civilians as well as the instincts of the rats that they were based upon. Naruto smiled in the middle of class, something which his teacher caught and sent him out of the classroom for. He might have missed the lesson, but he had a feeling that that specific teacher wouldn't be teaching for a while, a lengthy stay in the hospital's mental ward would suit Naruto fine.

He made sure that the man would see his worst fears play out before him randomly throughout the day for a whole month. He'd never be allowed to teach at the academy or hold any sort of teaching position again, much less continue being a shinobi. Academy instructor standards would be raised due to the man's supposed breakdown.

At another time he grew irritated by a merchant that jacked up his prices just cause Naruto wanted to buy something from him. The blonde made sure that the merchant feared money after that incident, the man's family lost all their money because of a single man's actions. The family became what they set out to turn Naruto into.

The Hokage decided to blame Orochimaru's still roaming escaped experiments on the attacks, as the rat people could only be that Sannin's work. The Hokage didn't dare suspect Naruto any longer, not after all the pranks that Naruto started to pull once he made sure the Hokage knew that he knew that he was being followed by a guard to watch his actions.

Naruto had been hurt that the Hokage didn't trust him and so took him off of his precious people list. There were only two remaining on that list now, the Ichiraku family. No one else made it on the list.

After the Sandaime's seeming loss of faith in him, or growing suspicion of him, Naruto decided on a new dream, to be the strongest and most famous of all shinobi in the world.

He planned on being famous, known for his strength, screw protecting the whole village, he'd focus on protecting those he considered worthy of his protection. The day he denounced his bid for Hokage sent shockwaves throughout the village. No one really knew what to think about it, especially the Hokage, but all knew that something with the blonde had definitely changed.


	24. He was Fear(1) 3

Disclaimer: This work was based of Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. It may contain elements of other copyrighted works. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter three**_

He had failed the Academy Graduation Exam on purpose as Mizuki presented quite a unique fear, one of getting caught for being a traitor to the village for the longest of times. The man had been working as a spy for Orochimaru, one of the village's most infamous nuke-nins. The man either needed to be exposed for what he was or dealt with in a more permanent way, Naruto chose both.

He listened to Mizuki's plan to get the village's Forbidden Scoll, and even went along with the plan making many more think that he was quite gullible. Iruka proved himself marginally worthy of being included in Naruto's list of precious people after the man admitted to seeing Naruto not as the monster that had formerly resided in his belly but as himself.

After the Forbidden Scroll had been returned to the Hokage, people momentarily forgot about the beat up Mizuki in the forest who lay in a clearing needing medical attention, but as soon as he was remembered and Anbu sent out to retrieve them, what was found was not a man. But a monster, a tiger bakeneko, one that upon sensing the arrival of the Anbu attacked them with chunin level skills in taijutsu but against the number of Anbu set against it, it lost.

The Hokage was immediately informed of the incident and that part of the forest and nearby training grounds were put on the Anbu watch list, no one would be permitted to venture into them on pain of torture and suspicion of being the one to change what clearly was a man into a monster.

Naruto had also been promoted to genin during that little incident as he did expose a traitor and did participate in an alternate graduation exam as proposed by a then superior. He was also given the week long rest period for graduates before team placements, and it was within that time that he had to retake his ID picture multiple times as each time, even though nothing was amiss with his face, the guys that made the ID papers just couldn't hold onto the picture for too long as they all ended up hiding under their desks or somewhere else. Looking at his picture for too long had almost the same effects as looking into his eyes for too long, they went nearly mad and kept losing the picture.

It was also during this period that Naruto met with the Sandaime's grandson Konohamaru, a spoiled brat that didn't know when to quit. Naruto showed him his place after the child had stalked him into a clearing. The boy learned that everything worth having came at a price, and the road to Hokage was filled with quite a few high ones. That and nearly giving the kid a heartattack when he sent a jounin level tutor to the hospital due to fright, Konohamaru couldn't figure out how a fresh from the academy genin had beaten a jounin but didn't want to pester Naruto in-case the technique was used on him.

The week ended with Naruto having to be the one to prepare his own identification papers and other such documents while being guided by Iruka since the administration staff that would normally help him had ran away upon seeing just who it was they were supposed to be helping. The majority of those men spent the remainder of their week shut up in their homes, not letting anyone or anything into their rooms not even their family members, they survived on water they had kept in storage scrolls and ration bars they had saved up for missions outside of the village, if they were ever sent on one.

When Naruto entered the classroom which he had shared with the most recent graduates of the semester, no one really bothered to really pay him any attention, that was until Inuzuka Kiba decided to act like an unobservant idiot himself and confront Naruto's being in the room with them.

"What do you think you're doing here deadlast?" Kiba demanded of Naruto, "Genin only, no losers like you are allowed here."

"It seems that your pet needs a bit more training," Naruto said.

"What are you talking about loser?" Kiba demanded once again.

"I wasn't talking to you mongrel, I was talking to Akamaru," Naruto said, insulting the Kiba, he then produced a rolled up newspaper and smacked Kiba right on the nose to make sure Kiba understood that he was being insulted.

People stopped and stared at that, but none dared to interfere, it was more due to the fact that Naruto was making them catch glimpses of some of the their more minor fears out of the corners of their eyes more than the because Kiba might kick their asses. Uchiha Sasuke didn't really care all that much though as he deemed all others as beneath him.

"Naruto, don't mind Kiba, he was dropped on his head as a child," Shikamaru decided to but in and stop things from escalating, "With all his barking I can't sleep."

"Tch, whatever," Kiba said, "I'll kick your ass next time loser."

"I highly doubt that an Inuzuka that fears rabbits is anything I have to worry about," Naruto said as he brushed past said Inuzuka and found himself a seat beside the only remaining loyal Uchiha in the village.

Unlike in previous encounters, the Uchiha deemed the blonde worth of his attention due to his actions against the Inuzuka as well as the fact that he had managed to join the graduates even though he had clearly failed the official exam.

"If you keep my fan girls away from me, I'll treat you to ramen," Sasuke offered as he didn't feel the need to deal with any of the useless kunoichi that dared sully the profession with their membership.

Unlike many things to do with the blonde, some things remained the same, that being his love for ramen, though he knew to eat other foods not that he really needed the nutrition, it was the taste he was after more than anything else.

"Deal," Naruto said, he flicked balls of darkness at the fan girls as they tried to sit near Sasuke, the balls were barely visible to the naked eye, each one contained a trigger for superficial fears to become temporarily real, like pimples, acne, and the like. Things that the girls were sure not to like at all, and would cause them to keep away from their crush in order for him not to see them in their sorry states.

To keep the girls from screaming, shouting, or wailing, Naruto made some of them scared of speaking while others were made afraid of loud noises. The second batch of girls kept their distance from Naruto as they still remembered his younger days as a loudmouth.

In order to keep the classroom even more quiet, Naruto made everyone, save for himself and Sasuke, almost deathly afraid of making noise. The silent classroom was what greeted Iruka as he entered the classroom, he had already gathered the chakra needed for his Big Head no Jutsu, but had to let all of it go when he noticed the sound of silence in the room. He attributed it their deciding that they were no longer merely children but adults in the eyes of the village as they were now genin, sort of genin anyway.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this," Iruka said once he was in front of the class, standing by the teacher's table, Naruto released his hold on all of the students so that nothing would seem suspicious to Iruka, "I'm proud that you've all decided to take your graduation seriously. I shall now announce the teams..."

He listed off the teams one by one, not bothering to name their jounin senseis on purpose as it was the job of the senseis themselves to introduce themselves.

"...Team 7's members are Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka was very proud of his students especially the fan girls as not one of them complained when they were not assigned to Sasuke's team, Sakura didn't even squeal in delight, or shout something about true love conquering all.

"...and that's that," Iruka said after naming the last team's members, "You are to wait in this room until your jounin sensei comes to pick you up. Team 7, I wish you the most of luck as your sensei, while one of the strongest in the village, is one of the tardiest. Once again, I wish you all the best."

Just as Iruka said it would be, Team 7 watched as each other team left, one by one leaving them to their waiting fate. If it wasn't for all the practice with pranks, Naruto would have gotten quite tired of waiting. What he did to occupy his time was making the shadows dance, having them take various shapes of various animals and monsters, one shadow even transformed into the Kyuubi and chased Sakura around the room, Sasuke didn't really mind her antics as he was quite busy sleeping, Naruto had made him sleepy.

The blonde could do a number of things other than manipulate fear, shadows, and darkness. He could, in all actuality, do almost anything with anything, so long as it could be used to have someone express fear in some way.

But since Sasuke still owed him some ramen, he held off on the nightmares and just induced the sleep. He did of course add some minor fears into the black haired boy's dreams, things that would only cause him some mild shock or surprise, but not abject terror which would cause him to wake. Sakura on the other hand was eventually chased around the room by an encroaching darkness which was made up of multiple shadows that had taken on the forms of each of the Bijuu, including the original of them all.

By the time that Hatake Kakashi arrived at the classroom, he was met with the sight of a sleeping Uchiha, a Haruno growing mushrooms in a corner while also trying to make herself look smaller, and Naruto drinking a black substance from an energy drink bottle.

"Well..my first impression of you...is.." Kakashi began to say, but something caught his eye, he was once a member of Anbu and had seen a number of things in his time with the caste, he had been one of the unlucky few to put down the rat monsters that the merchants had turned into.

"Is something amiss, Hatake Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto calmly, yet uncaringly, asked before returning to his drink, which was really just all the gathered fear he had gotten that day from his former schoolmates, not that he really needed to drink the stuff since he was Fear itself to begin with, he just liked the taste.

Kakashi caught movement just at the corner of his eye, the end of his peripheral vision had caught something that was not supposed to be in a classroom, something that was not supposed to be found anywhere in the village for that matter, not even the Forest of Death should have something like what the mere glimpse of he had seen. That was his first clue that something in the room or someone in the room was not to be messed with.

"Sensei? Is something the matter?" Naruto asked, sounding concerned but not for the reasons that his jounin-sensei thought.

"Yes..everything's..alright," the silver haired jounin said, "Meet me up on the roof in..say...about five minutes..I need to check something out."

"If you say so sensei," Naruto said before he shook Sasuke to wakefulness and dragged Sakura away from her corner in the room, "Sensei said to meet him up on the roof in five minutes, but considering that he was late for three hours, well, we might as well get something to eat or drink or something within that time frame."

"I'll treat you to your ramen," Sasuke said, as he had a feeling that the state of his fan girls was really something that Naruto had done, and also since Sakura wasn't bothering him and was also trying to get away from Naruto.

"Thanks," Naruto said politely as he led the way to his favorite eating place in all of the village leaving Kakashi alone in the classroom with whatever it was that he had caught a glimpse of.

With the genin out of the way Kakashi could get real serious, he didn't want to scare his team before they really got the chance to be his team, no matter how much he wanted to train his teammate's nephew and sensei's son. He was sure that there was something in the room worth protecting the wet behind the ears genin. He just couldn't figure out what it was, or what they were.

Then he saw them, they came out from under the desk, and even from just outside the window, the ceiling eventually gave way in one spot revealing more and more of them. Soon the room was almost filled with them. Rats. Rats of all shapes and sizes, but the worst of them all was the singular entity of around ten rats with their tails fused at the end, connecting all ten together. It was a rat king, and as Kakashi's fear grew so did the rat king grow in size. When around 75% of the classroom was filled with rats, the rat king had finally morphed into a human sized rat with ten heads and ten tails, its eyes glowed an eerie red.

Kakashi steeled his nerves, he couldn't hesitate lest the monsters be unleashed upon the village. He was one of the few that had dealt with the monstrous sort before, but back then he had back up, now he had only himself.

The rats charged at the orders of their leader, and when the charge began, Kakashi was forced to defend himself blowing out fire balls, and laying lightning nets across the ground around him which roasted the rats that came too close. But rats are one of the smartest animals in the world, with something out of a horror story leading the army of rats, their intelligence must have skyrocketed as well, since Kakashi eventually found himself slashing rats that began to fall from the ceiling itself.

If he didn't know any better, he would say that the rats were feeding off of his chakra more than of his flesh and blood. With each passing minute the rats grew more and more aggressive in their attacks, the biggest one of them all too was growing more aggressive in its orders, the squeaking attributed to rats was soon drowned out by a roar that was generated from the mutated monster rat that lead the army. It had grown frustrated at the fact that its army had not been able to bring down what could be considered as a feast.

As he was being swarmed by rats, the rats having finally bypassed his defenses, he spiked his chakra in a last ditch effort to get the rats away from him as well as call for help. He didn't think it was a good idea after all to confront an unknown foe alone as it was probably going to cost him dearly if no help arrived on time.

He was lucky that Iruka and two jounin had been coming to check up on Team 7 as they thought they had seen the genin enjoying a meal at Naruto's favorite eating place. Kakashi had been battling the rats for over three hours, which made him really late for a meeting that he had set the time off.

The jounins rushed to where they sensed the chakra spike had originated from and found to their horror a literal army of rats and Kakashi fighting for his life as he was mercilessly swarmed with teeth, claws, and a rat that moved faster and was stronger than all the rest.

The arrival of the chunin and two jounin caught the attention of the rat king, which made it direct half of its forces to the new arrivals, it also changed targets and headed for the female jounin, Yuuhi Kurenai as it instinctively knew that women were more prone to fear rats tham men. It successfully cut her flesh as she tried to trap it in a genjutsu, normally a tactic like that would have worked. But this time Kurenai was dealing with no normal rat. She was dealing with something that actually put the fear into Kakashi himself, a renowed jounin that had faced down human monsters during the previous war.

She acted fast, trying to ignore the humanoid rat, she slashed at it with a kunai her only other weapon available to her as the Sarutobi accompanying her lashed out with his trench knives cleaving multiple rats into multiple pieces, Asuma Konoha's resident wind master was not a happy camper.

The rats were overwhelming, and as more of its solders fell, the more enraged the humanoid rat became. It called on more rats from all over the village as well as from the shadowy corners of the room and the ceiling, along with within the walls and beneath the floors. Rats, rats, and even more rats came, and their fury was felt by the four shinobi.

'_**Leave,**_' that single word suddenly entered the minds of all that were battling within the classroom, it had sounded so hollow yet so possessed with some form of passion, while also holding a dark echoing quality to it. It was a whispered command from the master of the rat army lead by the rat king, the shadows beckoned the rats to return to the darkness from whence they came.

The rats left slowly at first, then quickened their pace, the rat king being the last to leave as it gave the four a parting message, it would one day finish what it started, but for now it had to leave, lest it be returned wholly to the darkness that had birthed it.

Naruto had created the rat king and its army as a way to test the competency and ability of his jounin sensei, he didn't want an incompetent one after all, monikers didn't really matter all that much if there was no real skill and ability to back it up. Kakashi had passed, though Asuma would one day have to pay for wounding his creation.

Kakashi was informed that he was over five hours late for his meeting with his team. Sakura had been volunteered by the two boys to go back to their classroom and investigate what had taken the jounin so long to get to their meeting, they had expected him to arrive two hours prior and not later than he was famous for being. What she found was three jounin, a chunin, and a room that was littered with dead rats, and lot of blood, some of which was still gushing out of wounds sported by the four veteran shinobi.

"W-what..?" she began to ask, but fainted dead away as she could no longer take the sight of such a scene, it was like an extermination gone wrong. The two boys eventually went down after her, one wondering what was taking her so long, while the other simply wanting to see how much damage he had caused. He wasn't omniscient after all.

When the two boys got there, Sasuke felt like he had missed something that could have shown him how strong he had become, a missed chance to test himself. Naruto on the other hand was a little disappointed that the damage caused wasn't so great, he had been hoping for a totally trashed room that would give the genin team assigned to clean up duty some nightmares.

"I believe you lot need some medical attention," Naruto stated then created nine kage bushin, eight to carry the jounins unceremoniously to the hospital and the one to carry Sakura to the hospital as well. Sasuke decided to follow the group as they still had yet to have their first official team meeting with their jounin-sensei.

The four shinobi shared a single room in order for the doctors to have easier access to each of them. What they had reported, twice as the second time was after the Hokage arrived to hear about what had happened while the first time was when the doctors needed to know what had happened, was something that none of the hospital staff nor the Hokage had ever encountered nor thought possible. But considering the amazing feats that shinobi were capable of, as well as previous attacks on civilians, they shouldn't have been all that surprised.

Iruka, Asuma, and Kurenai forced Kakashi into holding his first official team meeting with his team, he had nothing better to do after all, especially since his beloved book that he had with him had been torn to shreds by the rat king itself. It was decided that there would be no time for the real genin exam, and so Kakashi announced that his team was his team, there were no additional tests, and it was with that announcement that Iruka slept soundly while Asuma and Kurenai were plagued with dreams of the second coming of the Kyuubi.

It was a week later that Kakashi's team, along with Asuma's, and Kurenai's were able to begin having missions, the two latter teams had held their real exams right after their introductory meeting and passed with flying colors thanks to Shikamaru and Shino, real geniusses unlike Sasuke whose genuis only concerned fighting.

D-rank missions were the norm for the next three months, though Team Asuma and Team Kurenai continued having such missions unlike Team Kakashi that had been forcefully banned from such missions due to the odd and strange occurences that they left in their wake after successully accomplishing a mission. Monster sightings became common, and a curfew for civilians had been set as well due to all the things that had been going on in the village.

Team Kakashi was given its first C-rank mission, not by choice, but by necessity and Kakashi was happy to take the mission especially since he had had another run in with the rat king, but that time he was not the target, Utatane Koharu was. The Sandaime's advisor was nearly eaten alive by the rats had Kakashi not arrived just in time to save her from the horde of rats that had descended upon her that night. Just the previous day she had insulted Naruto from what she had thought was out of earshot, she almost paid for that insult with her life.

Mitokado Homura was almost as lucky, he had actually landed in the Intensive Care Unit of the Konoha Genaral Hospital due to an insult within Naruto's normal human hearing range. It wasn't rats that had attacked him, in was all manner of creepy crawly that Naruto could think of, which was every single one in existence that was small enough to still be considered either an arachnid or an insect or a simple bug. If the councilor and advisor wasn't afraid of such things before, he definitely didn't want to even hear a description of one now. Shimura Danzo had been the one to save him, and even Danzo knew not to mess with bugs anymore, not that he feared them.


	25. He was Fear(1) 4

Disclaimer: This work was based of Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. It may contain elements of other copyrighted works. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter four**_

Tazuna, a bridge builder, feared the most for the safety of his remaining family, he didn't even fear death as much seeing as how he had clearly blatantly lied to one of the shinobi world's greatest military powers just to get a chance to save his family and his country from the oppressive rule of Gato. Gato, a ruthless business man that did everything and anything in his power to get what he wanted, including having Wave Country, Nami no Kuni, or the Land of Waves's Daimyo and his entire family assassinated within the span of one night.

Tazuna was the only remaining resistance left, Gato feared what the brigde would do for the people of Wave, he feared the hope that they would gain should be construction be completed. This was why he had hired the Demon Brothers and their master to finish off the bridge builder while there were no witnesses. Some things were meant to be accomplished without witnesses.

Tazuna was a different matter from Kaiza, Kaiza was hope, while Tazuna was resistance. To Gato resistance was futile. It never ended very well for the resisting party, and this time things would go the way that thay had always, or so the short man thought. Had the team Tazuna got been any other team he would have succeeded, but Tazune brought a team with the same or even greater potential than the Sannin ever had.

When the group that had decided to move forward and continue with the mission reached the closest body of water to Wave Country, they were met with a dense fog that suddenly sprung up around them. Tazuna attributed it to the fact that they were near water. But Kakashi knew otherwise, he could sense the chakra in the very mist. Sasuke activated his doujutsu, an ability which he had gained after asking Naruto for help, since the blonde seemed to be capable of the impossile. He was ever so glad that he didn't have to re-experience what he had ever again. But his eyes wer worth it in the end, as they now allowed him to see past the chakra blanket that had descended upon them.

Sakura was ordered to stay close to Tazuna, and Naruto was ordered to keep a lookout for anything suspicious as being the most suspicious of the group Naruto would sure be able to spot something out of the ordinary. Which he did in fact do. He noticed that there were two presences hiding from them, one was Momochi Zabuza, a man who relied partially on the fear his very presence produced within people to defeat them, and another figure a Koori Haku, though the girl probably didn't even remember her clan's name.

Naruto knew them both, as he focused on their fears, he knew a person based on their fears after all. Everyone in existence shared the fact that they feared, there was no such mortal that feared nothing, save for Fear himself of course.

Hate is a child of fear, as one is born due to the other. Naruto gathered the fear of those with bloodline limits as well as Haku's fear of being caught, and crafted a new monster from the darkness. He brought to life a Yuki Onna, whose powers over ice were without equal save those that were Yuki Onna as well or some other snow related monster or spirit.

It was in reality part of Zabuza's own fears, the fear that his enemy would use his allies to hunt him down. He had tried and failed to kill his own Kage which landed him with the title of nuke-nin, and he feared that that same Kage would use those captured with bloodline limits to hunt down the remaining rebels in the world or land of water. It would be just as bad for Haku to be faced with an ice user like herself, one that was intent on harming her.

As Kakashi prepared to engage the enemy as soon as they showed themselves, Sasuke doing the same, Naruto unleashed his creation as soon as Zabuza spoke through the mists, his voice echoing all around them.

It was as if a blizzard had appeared from out of nowhere, which it had, and changed the temperature of the mists bringing them down to just freezing temperatures. The shinobi that didn't know how to warm themselves up using chakra were the first to fall into unconsciousness, Sakura being the only one of the fighters to fall while Tazuna tried his best to warm up but failed due to being a civilian. Through Sasuke's blood coursed the blood of fire users, and thus his veins gave him all the heat he actually needed.

Naruto was nowhere to be found as soon as the blizzard struck. He perched himself on a branch over looking the path, sitting alongside him was his rat king, the prankster in him wanting to have another go at Kakashi. It was a cruel prank, but a prank nontheless, he still needed the jounin in order to join the up coming chunin exam.

Zabuza decied to think that his apprentice had decided to help him in his attack for some reason instead of the reason that his mind seemed intent on making him believe. He crept close to where he knew the bridge builder to be and nearly had him when he suddenly had to replace himself with a warm water clone as Kakashi appeared from out of nowhere and took a swipe at him. The clone burst into water that immediately froze and shattered.

The two jounins eventually ended up playing a deadly game of cat and mouse in the blizzard, while the Yuki Onna sought out the other ice user intent on converting her into a Yuki Onna as well. Naruto gave the ice maiden some sentience, but at the same time controlled her, it was the closest to creating life that Naruto could get, he couldn't grant his creations souls after all, he was merely Fear and not the primordial element of Life or Time, or Death.

He was Fear. Plain and simple as that.

Sasuke tried to help his sensei but there was just too much snow and wind flying around the place for him to be of any real help, so he decided to do what he did best and spammed katon jutsu around him trying to make it hot enough to balance all the cold. His efforts helped keep Sakura and Tazuna alive, but eventually his efforts just got him exhausted and finally he too succumbed to blissful unconsciousness.

With his minor teammates out of the way, Naruto zeroed in on Haku and had his latest creation, whch he named Setsuna, make her way to the location where her target was hiding.

Haku was scared and confused, the sudden appearance of such a powerful blizzard in a country that was not prone to or even known to have ever had snow, much more a blizzard, had spooked her. It made her think of the bloodline purge, as well as the death of her mother. Her master had told her about the possibility of a bloodline user being used to hunt down other bloodline users of Water Country, but she had never really considered the possibility until this day.

Before she could do anything to actually help her master, she found herself face to face with a beautiful woman with snow white skin, pale blue lips, and eyes that looked like they had snowflakes in them. She wore a white kimono with a floral pattern on it, her hair was just as white as her skin too. But what really stopped Haku from doing anything was the fact that her lips found themselves occupied with another pair.

Soon after the lips left hers alone she felt an intense burning sensation race through her entire body. It was as if all the warmth in her body was being purged and replaced by winter itself. She felt cold for short bit but then the feeling left her, she felt surprisingly as if nothing had happened to her. But she knew something within her had changed as the owner of the pair of lips that had claimed hers only a moment ago was still there standing atop a spire of ice as she, Haku, remained perched on her own tree branch.

"W-what...who are you?" Haku asked the woman, "What have y-you done to me?"

"My master does not wish to fight you, so I made you into my sister," Setsuna said, "You are now, as I am, but a first as well."

"What are you? We? I?" Haku asked, not being able to really make up her mind and momentarily forgetting her master who was fighting for his life below in the raging blizzard that continued to swirl, moan, and groan around them.

"We are Yuki Onna," Setsuna replied, "You are now more intuned with the cold touch of winter, my sister and child. Now come," she held out a hand, Haku held out her own not knowing why she was being so obedient, "Come, let us rejoin our master."

Setsuna brought Haku before Naruto, the newly minted Yuki Onna didn't bother to ponder how she had floated without he use of chakra to cross over the path into the otherside of the road and up into the higher branches of the trees.

"Hello, Haku," Naruto said, then introduced himself, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, and from the moment you became an ice maiden, I became your master."

She felt conflicted, while one part of her the former human part screamed that she was and would forever be Zabuza's tool, the other newer part of her won out and was the one to speak.

"I live to serve, Naruto-sama," she said, sweetly as if trying to seduce him of all beings, and with those words Zabuza became nothing but a memory of a bygone age for her.

"Good to hear," Naruto said, then motioned for the rat king, now named Yakubyou, to prepare himself, "End the game of cat and mouse, I would like to reach the bridge builder's home by sun down."

"Hai," Yakubyou responded and dropped down to the ground, and from just beneath the surface of the earth rats began to come out as if made from the dirt themselves. They raced across the snow covered land and attacked the two jounin forcing one to flee from the unknown threat, while the other to fight for his life once again, forcing him to face down the rat king once again.


	26. He was Fear(1) 5

Disclaimer: This work was based of Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. It may contain elements of other copyrighted works. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter five**_

The next thing Team 7 knew was that they were safely tucked in some futons at the house of their client. They were told by the man's daughter that they had been brought to the house by their blonde teammate who had not succumbed to whatever it was that had gotten them into their unconscious states. Kakashi was the first of the group to get up, he immediately went about creating two Kage Bushin to keep watch over the house, more against rats than any additional encounters with Zabuza.

Sasuke was the next one find the strength to stand, he had never felt so cold in his life, chakra exhaustion was not something he wanted to experience a second time around as it had left his body vulnerable to the cold of the blizzard that raged around him at the time.

Sakura followed suit, looking the worst of the lot, she had barely survived the coming of the cold after all. Tazuna had more in terms of endurance than she did as he had been up and about far longer than any of the formerly downed ninja, though Naruto had never really fallen asleep to begin with.

Kakashi followed up his rat protections with a mission update sent to the Hokage, it would never reach the old man thanks to Naruto's efforts, this was their mission after all and the old man could hear about it or read about in the final mission report when everything was over and done with. He sent off a karasu tengu after the chakra construct that was used to sent the message back to the village. With it's job completed the tengu simply vanished back into the darkness and imagination from whence it came.

"Alright team," Kakashi said once he had sent the message, he had gathered them up around the dining table while Tazuna prepared his things for his day, "The mission has just been bumped up in rank, as you are all well aware we were attacked yesterday by a Kiri-nuke-nin as well as someone that is capable of summoning a blizzard in a land not known for its snow storms. Zabuza will return, that much I am sure of. I don't know when or where he will appear, but it is sure that we will face him and his accomplice again."

"I'd give him a week before he attacks you again," Naruto said, "He should be suffering from some frostbite right about now."

"You might have a point Naruto, might," Kakashi said, "I don't recall much of the battle, but due to your state of being I would assume that instead of joining the defensive formation around Tazuna you ran and hid, unlike your two teammates."

"I do not hide, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto stated coldly, "I wait for the perfect time to strike, also I was the one to drive off those rats that you are so deathly afraid of."

"Rats?" Sasuke asked, Sakura felt a cold hand play with her spine at the mention of rats as she remembered the scene she had come across at the academy.

"I guess you deserve to know," Kakashi said resigned to his fate of explaining what Naruto meant by rats, "As I'm sure you aren't really aware, the civilian side of the village has been put under a form of martial law, there is a nightly curfew that all civilians must abide by. This was put in place after several unnatural occurrences that had been plaguing the village in recent years. One of these unnatural occurrences was the appearance of a kind of rat king and its army of rats, a formidable foe that seems intent on having me for breakfast, lunch, or dinner."

"What's so scary about a bunch of rats?" Sasuke asked, "I've killed a few with the Katon jutsu I know."

"These rats are no ordinary rats, and this rat king...facing them is like facing an army of men just a whole lot more dangerous and on a whole different level of strange," Kakashi said, "Three jounin and one chunin were unable to defeat this army. Remember the day I was over five hours late?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, while Sakura shivered even more as if feeling Setsuna close by.

"The reason was that those rats attacked me," Kakashi said, "I had you leave the room and meet me on the roof so that I could determine if I had been seeing things or there really was some sort of rat monster in that classroom of yours. I was right and so wrong at the same time. I'd have never thought that I would have a fight for my life against a horde of rats."

"You looked like you managed to defeat the rats by the time we arrived on scene," Sasuke noted as he remembered that there were only dead rats in sight along with the ninja that had fought them.

"We were saved by something that had ordered the rats to leave," Kakashi explained, "It was this voice that we all heard in our minds, its voice was of unearthly in quality. It simply spoke 'leave' and they left, the leader of the rats leaving me a personal message along with possibly Asuma."

"So these rats have been hunting you since?" Sasuke asked, just to be sure that there was a chance that he'd be able to test himself against something that his sensei had trouble dealing with but so many pest exterminators wouldn't really break a sweat at, "Is there a chance that we'll face them?"

"There is a big chance that we'll meet them in battle," Kakashi said, "And as loathe as I am to say this, I will leave Zabuza to the three of you should these rats appear."

"Hai, sensei," Sasuke said, he was fine with that a strong opponent was strong opponent, he just hoped his teammates didn't hold him back.

"It would be a pleasure to face such a physically powerful foe," Naruto stated, even licking his lips at the prospect.

"H-hai, sensei," Sakura said, hesitantly at the order.

After their little meeting, which none of the other inhabitants of the house heard even a part of, Tazuna dropped by the table and sat down just as Tsunami brought out breakfast, her son Inari coming down the stairs and was the last to arrive at the table.

"So, Tazuna-san, what'll we be doing today?" Kakashi asked the client over a meal of fish.

"You and your brats will be protecting me and my workers over at the constructions site," Tazuna stated, "The sooner the bridge is finished, the sooner Wave can start retaking back what was taken from us by Gato."

"Alright then," Kakashi said, then addressed his subordinates, "I would have all three of you take this mission seriously. This is not a game, nor is it a D-rank mission, this is life and death as I'm sure you are already well aware of. The enemy may come for the client at any time, so be alert."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura piped up.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi said.

"I was useless in the last battle..how..how will I be of use in any of the next ones?" she asked, he felt truly useless, and Naruto didn't need to do anything to make her admit it.

"At the same time that we are guarding Tazuna, I'll train you three," Kakashi said, "I've been neglecting that part of being a jounin-sensei."

After breakfast they all made their way to the bridge, Naruto leaving his rat king creation behind along with its army to guard the house and cause Kakashi's clones some problems. This would indirectly affect Kakashi in himself once he received the clones memories at the end of the mission.

Kakashi had the genin help out with the construction while he did the real protection, he also had them train one at a time, whether in taijutsu or in chakra control. Sakura had perfect chakra control which was why Kakashi had her train in taijutsu, Sasuke train in it as well, leaving Naruto to train his chakra control, not that he really needed it but he had to keep up the act of being human and having human faults like having a lower quality of chakra control as compared to his teammates. Since everything that a shinobi could do was a fear of someone or something in existence, he didn't really need to use his chakra all that much, but he did simply because it was expected of him.

While Team 7 trained and guarded Tazuna, his employees, and the bridge, Zabuza was busy recovering from hypothermia and not frostbite. Haku had been ordered to stay with him and pretend to be his tool, to act as she once did. She tended to him like a nurse, and hid her new physical features behind genjutsu and masks, Zabuza didn't bother having her remove them as he thought they made her all them ore deadly.

Gato had already paid him a visit, insulting him by calling him a baby demon. He was the Demon of the Mist, a deadly swordsman that wielded one of seven legendary blades, not some amateur at the art of kenjutsu. Had it not been for the arrival of all those rats he would have succeeded in his assassination as the blizzard helped him greatly against a foe that relied far too much on his sense of sight.

Setsuna was to keep watch over Haku during this time of infiltration and was tasked with eliminating Zabuza should he try and kill his former subordinate. Haku was given the task of distracting Zabuza for the time being, she was tasked with making sure that Zabuza didn't attack of a week. She was also ordered to sever ties with the man that dared to claim to be a demon, once the mission drew to a close.

Eventually the upper jounin level ninja grew tired to training after getting better as well as grew tired of his own personal curiosity about why his tool had been hiding her looks from him, it wasn't as if he'd not seen every inch of her already, what was there to hide.

"Haku," Zabuza called her over.

"Hai, Zabuza-sama?" Haku said as she approached him.

"What has gotten into you?" Zabuza demanded, "Why have you placed layer upon layer of genjutsu over yourself? What do you have to hide that I haven't seen before?" he was expecting an answer, "Well?"

"I..well.." Haku didn't know what to say, "After the last battle..I changed a little.."

"Show me," Zabuza ordered.

"If I must," Haku said, having no choice and not knowing that Setsuna was there to protect her she dispelled her illusions and removed her mask. The face that was revealed was even more alluring and attractive than it had ever been before, she was a living spirit of seduction. She was the first of her kind, a human transformed into a demon. Zabuza actually liked what he saw, and Haku didn't know that she was actually using some of her power on him which was making him more attracted to her new form.

"It looks like I've found another way for us to gather some funds for the rebellion," Zabuza said, whistling a bit at the many opportunities that had just sprung up.

"What are you talking about Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked him, not really liking the gleam in his eyes as he leered at her.

"You should already know," Zabuza said, "This might have been caused by an upgrade or something to your bloodline limit. With your new look, lots of merchants and nobles are sure to want to spend some time with you. I'll have you take some lessons from some geisha I know once we're done with this job."

"I.." Haku was about to protest, but remembered her orders, "Hai, Zabuza-sama."

Setsuna from her hiding place was not happy, not happy at all. She had been created with bits of inspiration from some of the best geishas and whores in the lands, and she didn't enjoy the fact that a man was paying more attention to her sister than her, not that Zabuza could see her. But what really riled her up was the fact that Zabuza wanted to use her sister to make money, not really caring to know what rebellion he was talking about.

Naruto grew bored as the week came to a close, he mentally ordered Setsuna to push Haku into convincing Zabuza to attack the bridge. He wanted some excitement, he was born a human and not Fear, so there were a lot of things that remained, one of those things was the dislike for boredom. He had yet to grow accustomed to long times of nothing to do.

Setsuna moved quickly, and taught Haku some tricks to use on men to get them to do her bidding. Zabuza was unprepared for Haku's feminine attack on him, which was why he was eager for a blood bath on the bridge. He still needed the millions he had been promised by Gato after all, and the promise of being the first to taste Haku's flesh was just icing on the cake.

His attack came as a surprise to Kakashi, Sakura who he had been training fell off of the bridge and into the water, but luckily for her she had been taught the water walking exercise allowing her to instinctively land on her feet and race back onto the bridge and prepare to protect Tazuna.

Sasuke entered into his family's taijutsu opening stance, and activated his doujutsu to enable him not to miss anything within his vision. Kakashi recovered from his surprise and uncovered his eye to make himself better prepared to defeat this foe, he hadn't had the chance to reveal the eye in his last battle with the man.

Naruto wasn't all that surprised since Setsuna had sent word to him that Zabuza was on his way. He prepared himself for a fight, one where he would rely on his ninja skills rather than his special abilities.

The master of silent killing had no chance to set up the playing field the way he needed it to perform his specialties since the rats poured onto the bridge from all sides as soon as the man stepped foot on the bridge. Kakashi's orders to the genin were in effect, he would face the horde of rats while the genin challenged Zabuza.

Gato was an under-handed individual and resorted to cheap tricks to get his way some of the time, one of these tricks was getting himself a hostage to use against those insects that were causing him some minor problems. He had sent two of his best men to Tazuna's house with orders to get him one hostage, they could do as they pleased with anyone else found in the house.

The two ronin got more than they bargained for when instead of finding the engineer's family they found themselves face to face with more rats than they had ever seen in their lives, along with something new. They were centipedes, but what set them apart from the rest, or at least set one of them apart from all the rest was its sheer size, it was as three times as big as the house that Tazuna's family stayed in, or rather it could wrap its entire body around the house, covering it in it's coils completely three times.

These meat eaters descended upon the two ronin like locusts on a field of grain. It was madness. No matter what they tried they could do nothing to save themselves or each other. The rats and centipedes eventually ended up fighting each other for the few scraps that remained of the two ronin, then they remembered that there should be two kage bushin still around for them to toy with. Kakashi would be a voluntary insomniac for a few weeks after the mission to Wave.

Sasuke attacked with Katon jutsu as well as his increased speed, he was like a being of fire as fire trailed behind and surrounded him as he moved and attacked, even his punches and kicks had a bit of flame to them. Sakura decided to stay behind and continue to protect Tazuna as she knew that Zabuza could not hope to win the battle alone, someone must have called up the blizzard that had attacked them during the first encounter.

Naruto swamped their part of the bridge with clones, all of them herded Zabuza within range of each and every one of Sasuke's attacks. They were working as a tandem, one would set the nuke-nin up while the other would try and take the man down.

Naruto only had his clone and the academy jutsu, two of them anyway, he made use of all three of those jutsu to attack the nuke-nin proving that it wasn't how much one knew but how one used what one knew. Not a movement was wasted, he wanted to see how much he had improved in his ninja arts just as much as Sasuke wanted to see how he himself had improved over all.

They need not speak to one another to know what the other was planning, that was how synchronized they were in their thinking and actions, Sasuke's eyes helped of course. Zabuza doubted that he had rusted during his life as a nuke-nin, but as he was being countered and nearly bested by two genin, he couldn't take it any more and simply went into a berserker rage. He flared his chakra and attacked like the demon he had been named.

Naruto and Sasuke were forced into the defensive, both of them not daring to mess up in the game of life and death. Sasuke because he didn't want to die and Naruto because he didn't want anyone to know of what he was truly capable off.

Chakra enhacnced metal met with legendary weapon, loud clangs, and the crashing of steel rang out across the bridge every now and then. Some parts of the legendary blade were melted off thanks to Sasuke's flames, it couldn't regenerate due to the lack of blood to draw iron from. There wasn't any time to use jutsu that required seals, and Naruto's kage bushins no longer needed its shortcut handsign as the jutsu was made for the blonde.

Zabuza had transcended from a mere man into a more mortal monster. His sword sang and actually finally managed to land a solid blow to Sasuke, nearly disemboweling him but instead flung him in the direction of Sakura with a gaping wound where his stomach was. The kunoichi wasted no time in pulling out her first aid kit and began trying to stem the flow of blood from the wound, she didn't want the boy she had a crush on to die on her watch, she feared failure at this point more than her own death.

"You've witnessed what I am capable off, why do you not cower in fear or beg for mercy like the others before you?" Zabuza asked as he tried to decapitate Naruto who barely dodged the swipe of the blade with the aid of a kawarimi with a clone.

He appeared behind Zabuza with a smile that would have put some fear into the Devil himself. He held in his hand a piece of kubikiri honchou, and with him he skewered Zabuza on part of his own blade, the thing regenerating on his own blood rather than of his opponent's.

"_The answer is simple_" Naruto whispered into the man's ear, "_**I am Fear**_."

Those three simple words sent chills racing up and down the Demon of the Mist's spine. He knew fear, he had faced him, and with his last breath he claimed what he would become in his next life, denying the shinigami of a soul.

"_I __**AM**__ the Demon of the Mists,_" that was the extent of what he could say as Naruto ripped out the half of the blade he held with bleeding hands out of the back of the nuke-nin.

Such conviction Naruto had never thought that he would encounter anyone with such attachment to such a title. It was unique in and of itself as Zabuza was the only one with the honor of holding it. With such a claim with his dying breath, a somewhat defiant act against a clearly more powerful adversary, Naruto decided to show the soul some kindness. Instead of the nuke-nin being cursed as being a mere vengeful and restless spirit, he was transformed into a formless demon of mist. He was the unknown being that people feared when walking through mist or fog. He was a formless and silent killer.

'_**Will you serve?**_' Naruto's eerie echoing mental whisper filled Zabuza's soul with clarity.

'_I would like to propose a deal.._' was the reply, there was still some defiance left in the swordsman's soul, '_I will serve if I will be allowed to aid my comrades with the rebellion against the Mizukage._'

'_**Deal**_' Naruto agreed, and pushed his power forth and forever changed Zabuza into a real demon.

His mortal body was lowered to the ground by a pair of kage bushin as his soul was transformed and merged with the mists that he used for his silent killing techniques. He was invisible to the mortal eye so long as he was not intent to frighten or attack them as well as as long as Naruto willed him not to be seen. Haku could still see him though, but now he was forever changed like she was and unlike his mortal self, he was now more and also no longer her master as they now served one and the same.

Once again Kakashi found himself unable to kill his flea'd foe the rats. He was unable to kill them all nor reach the leader of the horde, but he was satisfied that he had managed to hold them back from harming anyone else save for himself. He was satisfied with his accomplishment up until he saw Sakura desperately trying to stop Sasuke from bleeding to death. The rats had run off again, but one of his genin was in danger of dying from blood loss.

He noticed Naruto standing beside the body of Zabuza, his hands bleeding from holding onto the blade of kubikiri honchou barehanded. The genin still had strength in him just in case someone else decided to attack, there were also those shadows hidden in mist that Kakashi could barely see, he supposed that they were clones.

"Naruto keep a lookout for anything suspicious!" Kakashi ordered, "I need to heal Sasuke."

Naruto jumped at the chance to have a bit of fun with the approaching enemy. Gato was on his way to finish the job that he knew Zabuza would be unable to accomplish. Gato was a man of results, and Zabuza had failed to show any, which was why he believed that the swordsman had lost.

He arrived on a yacht accompanied by an assortment of mercenaries. He was smug in the fact that his assessment of the situation was correct, save for there being one shinobi with the strength left to fight and stand up to him.

"It seems to me that the baby demon lost to a bunch of brats and a blind man," Gato said loud enough for all those on the boat and bridge to hear, he then addressed his men, "Bring me the heads of the bridge builder and those ninja. The ones that bring me their heads will get a bonus.." he then spied that there was a kuoichi in the group, "leave the girl alive, she looks worth selling in the slave market."

"Hai!" the mercenaries said then jumped from boat to bridge ad charged the weakened ninja, not noticing that there was one missing, Naruto was situated far from his team, he was actually closer to Gato than the short man thought.

The mercenaries raced toward the still recovering Konoha-nin, but well before they could reach their targets they were stopped in their tracks, literally, by a wall of ice that surrounded them. Had anyone seen him, they would have seen Naruto smiling brightly at what was about to occur. It was sight that should not be exposed to even a child as the child would become traumatized and never wish to smile again.

The men began to shout in alarm as soon as the walls of ice boxed them in. Kakashi looked behind him to see the wall of ice that had sprouted from out of nowhere, he didn't know what to think save for thank whatever kami was watching over them as the mercenaries were far too many, from the sounds of the shouting, for one lone jounin with an injured student to deal with.

The shouts turned to horrified and blood curdling screams of terror as soon as a dense mist blanketed the bridge. There were shouts of people begging for mercy along with shouts of 'demon' and 'devil'. Sakura realized after a while that all the blood flowing on the bridge couldn't belong only to her black haired teammate, there was just too much of it to belong to even their whole team. The waters below the yet to be completed bridge turned crimson at the amount of blood that was being spilled.

Following the realization she also noticed that her blonde haired teammate was nowhere to be found, the mist was far too thick for her regular eyes to see through it. Then the rats began to descend upon the bridge once more, Kakashi rose from his squatting position and stopped trying to patch up his gravely wounded student as he prepared himself to defend his team and client.

But he didn't need to as the rats swarmed around the blood and the box made of ice. They lapped at all the blood, as much as their numerous little bodies could consume they consumed. It was like a scene right out of a banned horror flick, too gory for any rating to be properly applied. Then of course at the tail end of all the rats was the humanoid form of the rat king, the ten headed and ten tailed rat that walked on two legs. In it's eyes Kakashi could see hunger for human flesh and a thirst for human blood.

It stalked past Kakashi, it was only a meter or so away from Kakashi yet it did not turn to face and attack him, it was clearly intent on the box of ice and the treasure trove within. Like the monster that it was it charged the box, whose screams and shouts had lessened, the when the walls would not give in to its attacks it began to scale the walls.

Gato watched from his yacht, he didn't know what to think of the situation, he didn't know what to feel about the situation. By the time he noticed all the blood that had stained the waters below it was too late for him. Naruto had crept up behind him, and held a kunai to his neck.

"_Sign over all you own to me, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto,_" Naruto told the pig of a man, "_If you do, I'll let you live, if you don't..well..your blood with join the crimson tide._"

He pressed the kunai against the man's neck, hard enough to draw some blood, it was a good enough tactic to get the man to cooperate, and when certain documents were placed in front of him by Setsuna he willingly signed his life away. He was a pig of a man, a lazy one at that, and a tendril of darkness later, and he was turned into an anthropomorphic wild boar. One that was completely and perfectly under Naruto's control.

"Inform Yakubyou that he may feast on what remains of the mercenaries, they are no longer needed in this world," Naruto told Setsuna who went about her task happily, he then addressed Haku, "You have done well. Since this mission is almost over, I have a question for you."

"What is it, Naruto-sama?" she asked him.

"Do you want to come back to Konoha with me, or wait here with Zabuza until I come back to fulfil my end of my bargain with him?" he asked her.

"I'll come, go, or stay, wherever and whenever you want me to," she told him, an obedient servant though no longer a mere tool.

"Then remain here after I have left, and make sure that Zabuza and yourself grow stronger," Naruto said, "Gather fear from the humans around you. Make this country fear the dark, the shadows, and the night, as they once did before there were shinobi protecting them. Make a name for yourself, and have Zabuza do the same as well, I would like to hear whispered rumors or stories of the two of you in the near future."

"Hai, Naruto-sama," Haku happily said, eager to serve her master.

Zabuza, Setsuna, and Yakubyou, had gathered quite a large quantity of fear from all the mercenaries, they divided the spoils amongst themselves, while Setsuna left the flesh, blood, and bones of the deceased for Zabuza, Yakubyou, and Ekibyou the Centipede king, to feast upon.

Team 7 was thanked by the people of Wave, the ones that lived in the village that Tazuna lived in, even though they didn't know what had really happened on the bridge though Tazuna was sure to spread some stories of the battle around as he had borne witness to it all, remaining sober gave him the strength to stay conscious through it all.

Tsunami would tell her own tale, about how trespassers and would be kidnappers had been eaten alive by centipedes and rats, a story that Inari would help circulate amongst the children, the stories eventually growing out of proportion but still giving power to Ekibyou and her brood along with Yakubyou and his horde.

Team 7 stayed until the bridge was completed, and when it was, Tazuna decided to give it the name the Great Naruto Bridge as he was only one left standing at the end of the battle between shinobi as well as at the end of the horror show that had ended the lives of many a mercenary as well as was presumed to be the cause of Gato's disappearance.

Stories would begin to circulate from Wave, stories about an ice maiden that haunted the paths leading to Wave, about a demon in the mists that would harm any foolish enough to seek it out or wish to harm the people of Wave or even those that wished to vandalize the bridge. Rats and centipedes were used to scare children into doing what their parents wished, and even a tale about a half-man-half-pig that devoured greedy people that crossed its path.

As team 7 left Wave, the moved at a sedate pace as not to aggravate the wounds that Sasuke had suffered in his battle against the nuke-nin, Kakashi had managed to heal his student enough that his life was no longer in danger, but the genin would still need real medical attention if he was to continue his career as a shinobi of Konoha. Sakura volunteered to be his personal nurse, while Naruto decided to just trek back home in silence.


	27. He was Fear(1) 6

Disclaimer: This work was based of Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. It may contain elements of other copyrighted works. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter six**_

The journey back to Konoha was an uneventful one, Naruto wanted Kakashi to feel even more uneasy as they traversed the forested terrain, the man was on high alert, paranoid, thinking that they would be attacked by rats at a moment's notice if he wasn't paying attention. Had he actually been relaxed the chances of the rats popping up was greater since Naruto didn't want the man to become lax.

Sasuke was carried by Kakashi's still existing two kage bushin, he had actually forgotten that he had created them and so found them useful enough to serve as the Uchiha medic team. The jounin had sent another messenger bird to the Hokage, and once again it was intercepted, this time by something that was known in other worlds as a thestral, a rather skeletal bat winged horse that reeked of death and ate birds, some of the time. Naruto had one make sure that the jounin's messages were intercepted whenver he thought of sending one.

By the time they reached the village gates, the gates were about to be closed due to a village wide curfew that was to take effect that night. It was implemented thanks to suspicions of Orochimaru being in the village, supposedly abducting random civilians, all of whom had yet to be located by the Anbu.

Naruto had actually left three balls of darkness behind before leaving for the mission, they were configured in such a way that they were like seeds or eggs that once hatched would seek out traitors, three traitors, and burrow into their bodies slowly eating away at what remained of their humanity before having the human shell shed its human skin. The resulting monster was a half-man-half-snake, three of them, and their purpose was the collection of children, those unwanted ones or those that had decided not to listen to their parents. The fear of a child was far more potent than the fear of an adult, since a missing child was a cause for great concern and worry for their caretakers, and worry lead to fear. Lots and lots of fear.

The village not only had a curfew, it also was about to go into lockdown, and Team 7 was just lucky enough to be locked out, Kakashi no longer wanted to stay with only genin, sure one had defeated Momochi Zabuza and saved a country, more or less, but one was injured and the other was not really all that helpful yet. He blamed himself as he had believed that he was more than enough for any dangers a C-rank mission presented.

The regular gate guards had been replaced with Anbu, and they thoroughly checked the arriving team, they made sure that the jounin and two genin were who their papers claimed they were, as for Sasuke they sent him to the hospital with orders to summon some guards for him, it was protection for and from him. Since his teammates checked out, the guards were left to protect him instead of protect the village from him.

The one that should have received a guard was Naruto, but of course they didn't know how that he was behind all the strange happenings in the village. He sent a mental order to the three snakemen, he had them bring out all the children they had abducted while he was gone and take them to the summit of the Hokage Mountain. Once there they were to hang the children by their feet from atop the heads of the Hokages. There they would hang until their parents came for them.

Not all of the children had managed to survive the ordeal, some of Danzo's zombie like trainees had died and were turned into zombies. These zombies Naruto decided to suck into himself for safekeeping, he didn't see a need to unleash such nightmarish creation on the village at the moment. He just wanted to gather up some more fear from the villagers, as well as the more potent form of fear from the children that were to be hung.

Once the snakemen were finished with their orders two of them slithered they way into a shadow and stayed there until further notice, while the remaining one sought out an Anbu operative and attacked the unlucky person, it was sure to cause quite the racket due to the snakeman having abilities that other snakes had, as well as regenerative powers, the ability to shed its skin to heal major damage, poisons, and it was also able to lengthen different parts of its body.

The Anbu alone stood no chance against the monster as its original form was an Anbu as well, which gave this monster form the skills of an Anbu. Naruto watched from the eyes of his creation, he watched as fear clouded the judgement of the Anbu that continued to defend himself, and even watched as the Anbu lashed out at his allies as they arrived to aid him. The Anbu that joined the fray believed that they were fighting Orochimaru, and while afraid of such a powerful man were determined to stop the monster in its tracks from harming another innocent child with his experiments.

The fight lasted for hours as the snakeman kept attacking aggressively, healing itself constantly, growing limbs back like a lizard and shedding its skin whenever it was near death. The Anbu had no choice but to keep on attacking until more help arrived. When the fight was over the Anbu, out of the nine that had come to the rescue of the first one to be attacked only two remained alive, while the one that had originally been attacked had died shortly after the battle had ended. He had suffered from the multiple toxins in his system finally activating with devastating effect, they attacked multiple parts and systems of his body killing him almost instantly as soon as they all took effect, but even minutes after his death his body continued to spasm and in some cases melt away due to the corrosive nature of some of the toxins.

Once they surveyed the scene they finally realized that they had not in fact been facing Orochimaru, but a snakeman, a real one and not a man that just loved looking like a snake. These were men and women, or at least the remaining pair anyway, who had never encountered one of the actual monsters that lurked in the shadows of the village. They could now count themselves as lucky, though not as lucky as Kakashi, they were a part of that group of lucky few that had managed to survive an encounter with one of the monsters.

One of the pair, a Uzuki Yuugao spiked her chakra to call on some reinforcements as she doubted that just the two of them would be able to carry all the dead back to headquarters, as well as be able to properly handle the latest monster corpse. But just as their reinforcements arrived the snakeman's remains turned into dust, ashes that were soon blown away but an unfelt wind. That was when they knew that there was some other power at work in the village. No. In the very world they lived in, something that they sure as hell didn't know what it was or could possibly hope to actually understand or deal with.

Fifty children hung from the Hokage's faces on the monument, and it took all of them crying their eyes alsmot literally out to catch the attention of one of the patrols that were still, after two weeks, searching for them. When the team actually realized where the children were and what could happen to them, they acted as shinobi fast as they possibly could, but of course remembering to send two of their number to call on all the parents and caretakers with missing children. Danzo was the only one not called as he hadn't really cared all that much if some of his trainees disappeared, he could after all, always abduct and train more.

More ninja came to assist in the retrieval of the children. Some actually tried to climb the mountain face with chakra but forgot that there were seals in place that would make it impossible to do that. So some went up to the summit, while others spread out nets just in case some of the children fell from such great heights. It was a dangerous operation, but all the shinobi that were called and volunteered worked as one, showing the teamwork that Konoha was famous for.

Naruto didn't like what he was seeing, there was far too much hope in the village for his liking, he needed a fear to be all over the place like it had been before the children were found. It wasn't that his power waned with the lack of fear, but he just loved himself too much for his presence to be felt even less.

He thought and thought about what could possibly be done to add a bit more fear to the villagers, both innocent and not. There was surely something that he could orchestrate to occur as the children were being rescued. There must be a balance to the overwhelming joy at the reunions, though not all were happy since not all of the children had survived their ordeal, Naruto needed something that would solidify a deathly fear into at least one of the children.

He continued to watch the scene unfold before his eyes, and toured the different already present phobias and worries of the people present at the site. He searched for something to work with, and of course he eventually found something that he could use.

He found one child that had grown so scared of heights that simply being rescued by the shinobi was very taxing on his mind and heart, he could have a heart attack or stroke at such a young age. The child had also grown weary of strangers as that was how he had been taken by the snakemen, the former Anbu one had henge'd into a kindly looking retired shinobi that promised to teach the boy a few things to prepare him for the academy. The child had had also gained a a great fear of enclosed spaces and all things that felt like that, such as the embrace of his own parents.

The child ran, and Naruto increased his fear of those things, which kept the child wary of alleys, or even a step up. The child also avoided running near or into people. His parents gave chase as did a ninja or two to help the parents retrieve their just reunited with child.

The child was eventually cornered by his parents and the ninja after he took a wrong turn somewhere in the market district landing him at a dead end. As the parents drew closer, the ninja did as well but from above, they didn't want to spook the child after all, Naruto made the child witness the earth open up beneath him. It was enough to make the child's heart stop beating, he died of fright standing up with his back against the wall. His body was cold to the touch, so much so that his parents actually drew back in shock at the feeling of winter on their fingertips. The child had turned deathly pale as if drained of all blood, his body was stiff as if frozen, and had died of fright.

Even though the body was brought to the morgue, the child's spirit remained in the place where he had died. Naruto made sure that the boy haunted the dead ends and streets that he had passed through to get to where he had died. People would soon hear a child cry out 'Get away!' but see no child, some would try and locate the source, but would later grow to have a minor equivalent of the child's own fears, ones which would cause a panic attack when one least expected it. For ninja that was a terrible thing.

Too much of anything was not a good thing, which was why after the creation of the child that haunted the market district, Naruto decided to rest with regards to his fear generation within the village for a while. The people needed to remain as they were before gradually growing out of their fear. When the village was relatively back to the way it was, he would strike again with something that would make them once again cower in fear, and most would gain some more respect for the dark.


	28. He was Fear(1) 7

Disclaimer: This work was based of Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto. This work is purely for the enjoyment of this fan fiction author and the fans that decide to read it. It may contain elements of other copyrighted works. No money is being or will be made from this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

**He was Fear**

_**chapter seven**_

Team 7 was not returned to active duty until two weeks before the Chunin exams were to be held in Konoha. Kakashi nominated his team which the Hokage allowed after reading and listening to the jounin's report about their first mission outside of the walls of the village. To have survived something like that truly made the genin worthy of participating in the exam, even though the Uchiha had been nearly killed, he had still shown strength enough to fight alongside a comrade against a clearly superior foe.

The three genin of team 7 had been informed by their still paranoid sensei about their nomination for the chunin exams, all three informed the man that they would be participating and handed him their forms after filling them out, Naruto having some pens on hand, there were people that were afraid of pens so he could just create some just like that.

The genin then went their separate ways to train up for the upcoming exams. Sakura, due to the traumatic experience of her first out of the village mission pushed herself to no longer be as useless as she thought that she was and studied more genjutsu as well as delved into medical knowledge, she wanted to at least be the medic in the group so that she wouldn't have to suffer the sight of watching a teammate almost die.

Sasuke ventured forth, deeper into his family library to study up on his ninjutsu and further improve on his taijutsu. He also needed some more reflex training as he didn't want a repeat of his near disembowelment experience.

Naruto on the other hand didn't care to train at all. He just stayed in his apartment, occasionally visited by his named creations, and thought of what he could do to the visitors and guests from other villages, cities, towns, lands, and nations. It was the perfect time for him to spread some of himself to the rest of the world. Add a bit of the new Fear that was he to the masses that had yet to experience his brand of fear, and soon he would spread his influence throughout his world.

It was exactly a week before the official start of the exams that Naruto sensed felt a presence in the village that was an anomaly to himself, there was a person that didn't have a tangible, a single tangible fear. The person's fear was one of those that couldn't be easily manifested. It was a challege as far as Naruto was concerned. So he sought it out.

After traveling from one shadowy corner to the next he eventually arrived at a junction where he felt the one with the odd fear. The fear was of not existing, it was difficult to manifest as Naruto would have to make that person actually cease to exist to manifest the fear.

He stepped out of the shadows just as Konohamaru bumped into a ninja in a cat suit carrying what looked to be a heavy burden. Behind the one in the cat suit was a blonde with her hair done up in four pig tails, it kind of made her head look like a spider for some reason. But the one with the fear for non-existence was just beside where Naruto's head was after he rose out of the shadow like some shadow demon.

"Stop messing around with the Hokage's grandson," Naruto said out loud addressing the one in the cat suit as he held Konohamaru by his shirt and was threatening to teach the kid a painful lesson.

He promptly dropped the kid, who actually rushed over to Naruto and hid behind him.

"Thanks for the save Naruto," Konohamaru said.

"I ought to hang you from your grandfather's nose for not looking where you are going," Naruto said, not really annoyed but wanting to scare the kid a bit.

"I'll do better next time!" the kid shouted, trembling a little after remembering why such a thing was a really bad thing and Naruto was probably the only one in the entire village aside from the Hokage who could get away with saying such a thing.

"Good," Naruto said then returned his attention to the genin from Suna, as that was clearly where they were from based on their forehead protectors, "Show yourself Ichihi no Jinchuuriki."

It came as a shock to those that were present in that junction, there was only Naruto, Konohamaru and friends, the Suna team, and Naruto's creations. The ones in shock were the Suna genin, Konohamaru was shocked to learn that there was still another one of the sand rats lurking about in his grandfather's village.

In a swirl of sand Sabaku no Gaara appeared standing a mere meter away from Naruto, his face devoid of any and all emotion save for apathy perhaps.

"..." Gaara said nothing but stared emptily in Naruto's direction, after some psychotic whispering from his resident mass of sentient chakra he spoke, "Mother wants your blood. Stand still and allow me to crush it out of you."

"You don't scare me in the slightest," Naruto stated, "Come. Do your worst," he beckoned the jinchuuriki, but made sure to get Konohamaru away from what was about to become a battle zone.


	29. He was Fear N1

Tendrils of darkness billowed all around his form, he had not been in a mortal shell for quite some time. There were so many things that he could have done, could have accomplished, yet he did not do any of those things as interesting as they were. He had been busy watching over several other existences at the behest of _Those Five_, it had taken him twenty-one long years, of this existence' timeline, for his tenure as overseer of those existences to expire. Twenty-one long years since his wife had left him after he had confessed to her that he was not human, had at one time perhaps but not for a terribly long time.

There came a time in his life, as a human, that he had finally lost his fears, nothing scared him anymore not even death or the prospect of never seeing his relatives and friends ever again. Nothing phased him, and that was when one of _Them_ came for him and offered him a deal, an option seeing as his life had grown quite boring since the slight fear of anything made life more interesting.

He was given a choice, just like so many others before him. Start over and never be the same again, or continue living the same existence til death. He chose wisely and chose to start over in a manner of speaking. He did not die per se, he simply ceased living. His mortality was halted and he was elevated to a position of great power and responsibility, one simlar to what three three others could consider themselves as among. There was Contristo Acerbus, the anthropomorphic personification and representation of Death. There was Magus Iunctio, Magic himself. There was also Har or Aetas, Supreme Being of his own existence, his own world, and at the same time Time himself.

The choice was made, and he was elevated to the position of one like the above mentioned three Beings. They were Unique Beings, Higher Powers of a different sort. They were the Primordial Elements themselves, they were the existential make up of Imagination itself. He added to the list of those that had once been mere mortals and were changed at some point in their lives to something even greater than the gods.

He had chosen.

He was Fear.

And he had grown bored, it was only through sheer boredom that he remembered that he had helped in the creation of new life in this world he now once again found himself in. He had a child, it was difficult for him to fathom after being away for so many years, while it may have been only twenty-one years for his daughter, it was close to an eternity for him. Time varied depending on where one was, when one was, and in how many places one was at any given moment. At the moment he was everywhere, he was always everywhere. He was Fear himself.

He had come back to this world to see his daughter whom he thought probably didn't remember him as he was separated from her when she was only five years old.

He had mostly been attracted to this world, and had decided to call it home due to the sheer amount of himself that was being used daily, the sheer amount of phobias, fears, worries, and whatnot, in the world. While there were other alternate ones, he had chosen this one, why? He didn't even know the answer to that himself. He just chose this one world, this one existence, where night and day lived side by side with only a few of the day aspect, of the white aspect knowing about, and believing in the existence, the true existence of the night aspect of the world.

He appeared in the only land mass that was really interesting to him, well Asia was the only continent that he really liked, especially after getting fed up with Europe and slightly by relation the Americas and Australia, Africa was ok but not interesting enough for him. He was in Japan, and he had a daughter to find.

Finding her eventually became a problem even for one such as him, since he had learned a long time ago to be like Joe Black and had other parts of himself perform his responsibilities, his core form wasn't omniscent all of the time. Most of the time, he tried to continue being like everyone else, just that he was also nigh omnipotent all of the time and couldn't really just shut that part off or tune it out of his system for a few minutes or something to that effect.

As he couldn't even remember what his daughter was afraid of, he had a lot of normal way of searching for a person to do, and there was a whole lot of ground to cover. He was lucky to even still have a picture of his daughter, sure it was of her when she was still five years old, but at least he had something that could help him find her aside from her name that could have changed as she could have actually gotten married at some point in her life.

He sought out the aid of the authorities, but after two months of searching he decided that perhaps the human aspect of the world wasn't really the way to go. His daughter had an untapped potential which he had locked away within her, a hereditary trait or power that she could have gotten from him. It was the ability to create monsters from out of shadow and darkness, she was also a kind of battery for fear, her very presence could strengthen the power of monsters in the world.

Very few of the demons, spirits, ghosts, deities, and the few kami that he came by, were of any help, none of them recognized his daughter nor knew of the name she went by. It was rather troubling for him to find out that two of the realm in the world were not very helpful to him. But there was something good that came from his quest, he gained a kind of following.

A member of the Inugami species decided to follow him after it felt stronger just by being pat on the head by him, he could even turn into a corporeal dog that humans could see with no problem at all with him. It was surreal for him to be able to be a real dog again while at the same time having a human form, and a wolf form with a detachable head too.


	30. Fear N2

The old man had just told him that not everyone was born the same. He had been told that everyone was special, and just because he didn't know how he was special or just because he didn't look special or powerful didn't mean that he wasn't special. He just had to find that one thing that made him stand out from the crowd.

He found himself occasionally envying all the attention that the bloodline clans got from everyone, they got more attention and respect than regular clans after all. Attention and respect being the two things he craved for himself, himself as a person and not just the village's small blonde punching bag and spapegoat.

The old man was just one of the few people, that he could count on one hand, that didn't see him as someone that could be abused and scared. He liked the old man, and wanted to make the old man proud, just like the other four people.

It was on a night when he was being chansed by a small mob of drunk shinobi that he accidentally slipped into the depths of himself and discovered that one thing that made him stand out from amongst he crowd. It was something that made him more unique than anyone in the history of his own world. It was also something that no mortal was meant to comprehend, and to comprehend it was to become something more than mortal.

~_Frightened are you...well this one can fix that...all you need do is accept this one as oneself..._~ came the unbidden serpentine voice that echoed all around the four year old's soul, not that the boy knew it yet at the time.

The blonde didn't know what the voice was or where it had come from. But he sure as hell didn't want to feel scared anymore, a small part of him even wanted to be the reason why others were scared. He had endured more in his short life than most did in their entire lifetimes. He'd suffered more than enough negativity to last most people several lifetimes. He wanted his own suffering to end, he wanted the assassinations to end too, he knew what that word meant after one of the assassins spent enough time to give the kid some life lessons that he was supposedly never going to be able to implement as his life was supposed to have been cut short then and there.

He knew that the voice wasn't the Kyuubi, he knew about that not-so-well kept secret of the village. Practically anyone worth their kunai knew about it, and even the assassins, not all of them from the village, knew about it. Although it was revealed that not everyone knew who it was that served as the prison for the thing.

He knew about his burden, and also knew that the kitsune, that mass of malevolence, sleeptalked. It had yet to awaken from its sealing and thus sleeptalked about devouring some guy named Madara, or so the kid could make out among the other grumblings about bunnies and the like.

That was another thing that he wanted to deal with or not have to deal with. The kitsune, even asleep, still let loose some powerfully frightening vibes. He might be a kid but he knew what could make even the bogeyman run screaming in fright.

'_Ok...sure...what've I got to lose anyway,_' the kid mentally replied to the voice.

~_Thy mortality...former singularity...not that it matters any longer...as ye hath accepted this one as oneself...thus the decision has been made..._~

There was no fancy lightshow or anything of that sort. There was just this feeling of utter completeness in the blonde. It was as if he had been reunited with a twin he hadn't known existed and had been lost for all this time, for all these years. He was complete, and he knew that no force in the world, or the entire existence for that matter could change it.

Knowledge that he never thought he knew became his, as if it had always been with him. Same went for powers that felt as if they were his all along. But one thing stood out amongst it all. That one thing that separated him from all those that were in a way like him.

It was what he was that separated him from all the rest.

It was what had caused him to become whole, to become more than he was, to become renewed, to be reincarnated instantaneously. He was what fright was, he was what terror was, he was the cause for nervousness. He was many things all at the same time. He was in many things, he could do many things. HE was omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He was...

He was _**FEAR**_.

He also instinctively knew about unwritten and unspeakable rules that governed his new position in Everything. He also knew of something that was very important to all those like him, but were not like him entirely. He acted like Joe Black, he the core would concern himself with his present while the rest of him would work on autopilot completing all the things he was now responsible for as well as now was.

It was something all of his kind did, all these primordial elements, all these sentient to conscious rational and irrational thinking Beings did. They continued to live the lives that their stories started out with, but adding to it in a way that had originally not meant to have been.

When he finally fully accepted who and what he had become, after a rather rash decision, he shot back out into reality.

He didn't even have to think about it, it was like a passing subconscious thought.

The small mob dropped like flies before the Anbu arrived to _aid_ the kid. They had all subconsciously knocked themselves out so as to survive the sheer terror that gripped each and every one of them. No one would know what had really happened that night, the mob would collective know about it, but they wouldn't dare remember it consciously as their minds automatically shoved such nightmarish things deep into their memory banks to hopefully be forgotten.

It was after that one night that the boy's private face changed. He showed the public the his jester side, while in private he was something else, a mad scientist of sorts was an appropriate description or some sort of mad king. Not even the people he saw as precious knew of the change for even before them he showed a different face, a calm yet energetic one.

He played pranks and acted like the fool that he was supposedly meant to become. He showed his utter love and devotion for the village and his dream. He played with his powers and those unfortunate enough to piss him off.

At first he thought that it would difficult balancing three masks at the same time. But it soon sunk into him that he wasn't human anymore, and that the normal rules no longer applied to him. He could literally do almost anything he wanted now. All that really was stopping him were the _Others_, the _Rules_, and the limitations he set on himself.

Since everything was feared by something, he could literally transform into anything, and if he did come across something that nothing feared, he would **MAKE** something fear that thing. It was within his power after all. He was Fear itself, and even he himself feared something, that being Ramen ceasing to exist. He couldn't stand such a thought, but knew that he couldn't control that one little thing, ramen shortage was in no way something solely under his jurisdiction. It was things like that that actually annoyed him but at the same time he knew that he couldn't really do anything about it. Thus he didn't really think too much about such things.

After his unification and ascension, so many secrets were laid out before him. He knew many things that at time he wished he hadn't been made aware of. Like the existence of certain organizations that sought to undermine the peace that so many had fought, bled, and died for. It ruined some of the fun potential of his neverending lifespan.

There was also the revelation that he would outlive all that he knew and would eventually knew. Immortality was both a blessing and curse, which led him to decide to cherish each and every moment with his precious people, as it could potentially be his last moment with them. He hadn't really managed to think that it was possible for him to visit them in some form or way in death or in their reincarnated forms.

"*"

It was during his fifth year in the world and his second year as what he had become, or sometimes thought of as always being just not really knowing it, that he had discovered a plot by the emissary of a former enemy village to kidnap one of his yearmates at the academy. He'd shoved away a large part of his omniscience, he didn't want to know everything after all since he was sure that things would get really boring really fast if he practically knew everything. Fun was the most important thing to him after all.

He only discovered the plot when the man, while alone in his hotel room, couldn't help but stop worrying about being found out and the tortures that were sure to be waiting for him should be be found out.

It was during that discovery did Naruto decide that he had found his latest...guinea pig.

He planned things out well enough, he tailed the man until he got the package, which was the Hyuuga heiress, then waited until the Hyuuga finally caught up with the kidnapper before having the guy virtually turning traitor on his village and spilling all sorts of information. Though talking about kitsune was proabably a bad idea since some people grew to think that he, Naruto, had something to do with the guy suddenly turning into a mouse.

When all the confessions were over and done with, and Kumo was sufficiently threatened with all out war, along with threats from one daimyo to another for such treachery, did Naruto act. He kidnapped the kidnapper.

If one thought that the kidnapping of a Hyuuga within their own home was difficult, no one could argue that kidnapping the kidnapper from Konoha's T&I holding cells was downright insane.

At first the blame went to the Hyuuga for some retribution on their part since Kumo no longer really wanted anything to do with their traitor and cause of much of their discomfort with Konoha. Then it shifted to all sorts of other people and groups since all of the Hyuuga managed to find solid alibi.

No one dared blame Naruto as that would be affirming that he blonde was good enough to actually do something like that. Even though he was good enough to assassinate a Kage in broad daylight wearing kill me orange.

While he could have done such on several occasions, he wouldn't dare since the old man was one of his few precious people.

With his latest toy following him like a lost puppy, the man no longer knew who he was or what he was after Naruto had come for him. The T&I didn't have anything to do with the man's more or less blank slate, that was all Naruto since the mind was one of the blonde's territories.

He needed his test subject to be in such a state in order for him to create something new.

The world had witnessed many horrors, but there were just some things that were lacking, in his opinion. Such as the lack of monsters, sure there were those ghost stories, but that's all that most of them were, stories with exaggerations. He plannedo remedying that by bringing the stars of those tall tales to life. The ones that didn't already exist, and if some of them did, he'd just be adding to their number a somewhat more powerful addition to their ranks, as well as ones that were loyal only to him.

He'd already managed to completely program and create two loyal subordinates, two mediums of his will, two tools to faithfully serve him or die trying. They also knew that they were easily replaceable, for the time being at least.

Both were tsukumogami, Naruto had imbued two objects with tweaked souls. One was a kunai that had rusted due to the amount of blood that it had tasted on the batlefield, while ther other had been an entire caligraphy set that had been used and abused for as long as it had been in existence the way it had been.

The souls were like blank slates already, already geared towards serving their master. All he had to do was make it so that he was the master and not Shimura Danzo. It was easy as pie, and Naruto knew how to bake such wonders among a lot of other things he now could be deemed as a master of doing.

The kunai was a warrior, his guard, his blade. The caligraphy set was his seal master and artist. The latest addition courtesy of the traitor was slated to become aobouzu, a monk that kidnaps children. It was a fitting transformation and would serve Naruto as a means of gathering the fear of others in the forms of gossip, rumor, stories, and more.


	31. Living God A1

"That's it! I've had enough of you!" Vernon Dursley roared, it didn't make him look to be the epitome of civility though it didn't really matter since it was just him in the house, just him and his nephew by his wife.

He grabbed his nephew by his arm, forcefully pulling him out of the cupboard under the stairs where the boy had been forced to live ever since the day he had been unceremoniously dropped on the family's doorstep.

After being pulled out of his only safe haven in the entirety of the house, the boy was dragged all the way, Vernon huffing, to the attic of the house. It was the one place that no one was sure to stumble upon the shorter and smaller than was normal little boy. He was five and he had an uncle that could give a walrus a run for its money when it came to being rotund.

Once there the boy could do nothing to really defend himself as even the curling of his body into a ball did more harm than good when his uncle slammed his meaty limbs into the bony little body.

Not only were bruises formed but so were bones broken, some lacerations due to the speed upon which the meaty man rained down the blows, there was also the fact that the man wore shoes at the time instead of his pink bunny slippers that his wife had gotten him one Christmas.

When the boy was finally left alone in the attic with strict instruction the only time the boy could go back down or face another beating would be when the attic was sparkling clean, the same as when a cartoon house or kitchen was cleaned up to perfection. The boy, even with all his hurts that would have already killed a normal person, struggled to rise to perform the task lest he meet his uncle's meaty limbs again.

The only reason he could still move even after such a beating and others of similar yet lesser intensity, was because he was far from normal. He was the farthest from normal within the entire neighborhood.

He was a child with something within him, tethered to his soul, that no other in all of Surrey had.

He had **Magic**.

He just wasn't aware of it.

There was supposed to be another of his _kind_ in Surrey, one that was supposed to look out for him, but she had decided to shirk on her _assigned_ responsibility after she got bored from having to play the role of babysitter for a bunch of brats, especially after she had advertised her services, that and her pets didn't like how normal the neighborhood was. There wasn't any active magic around to keep them wanting to stay.

She also didn't like to be saddled with watching someone that didn't need protection, protection that she would not be able to give anyway considering that while she was magical, she was of the _kind_ that didn't have enough to actually perform spells that could protect. She looked out for herself first, considering that she only had herself and her too many pets, she was a crazy old cat lady after all. Albus Dumbledore said that there were many protections around Number 4 Privet Drive, she was just supposed to look in on the lad every now and then and only contact him should anything be too out of place.

That meant that she had enough leeway to not have to do anything for the great Albus Dumbledore that she didn't need to. Her former neighbors had nothing but good things to say about the Dursleys, therefore she didn't have any reason to remain and watch over an overprotected lad.

Harry James Potter, son of the late Lily and James Potter, godson of the imprisoned Sirius Black, and savior of the Wizarding World, was stuck in a household that held no love for him, and forced to perform slave labor with the same conditions as slaves of old lived in as well as with the same punishments awaiting him in he failed a task.

He didn't know it, but spending days and night awake, unfed and unwatered was something that, even with his all mighty magical reserves, caused him to slip every slowly down the dark descent, not into madness, but on that one way ticket to death's tender loving embrace.

The last straw for his body came when he announced that the attic was spic and span clean. His uncle came up to inspect the place, found it to be more than sparkling clean, then told the boy that the attic was still rather dirty considering the filth that he was laying on the floor looking every bit as close to a homeless bum as was possible. There was also something about freaks not being allowed food or anything that normal people were allowed.

So Vernon Dursley dragged little Harry Potter out of the supremely clean Number 4 Privet Drive and discreetly loaded the boy into the trunk of his car and drove off to cliffs of Dover where he removed the unmoving, yet still alive, body from the trunk of the car and tossed the boy unceremoniously off of the cliffs before driving back home to inform his wife that a kindly old couple had decided to take their waste of space of a nephew off of their hands.

It was a lie, but a necessary lie, if his wife was ever questioned should a body turn up. The man had been prepared enough with official documents pertaining to the transfer of guardianship. He'd met a pretty shady fellow on his trip home from work one day that provided such services. The man had even _joked_ that things would be magically binding.

Vernon did make sure to read over the documents to make sure that nothing was amiss, that should be lad be found dead or worse, nothing could be done to him and his family. Protect one's interests first or something like that.

Harry's little broken, bloody, body fell to the waters below. Waters that as soon as Vernon was out of sight began to churn in ways that water was not supposed to churn especially considering that the waves were supposedly smashing against the cliffs.

His body was swallowed by the central point of the whirling vortex of water that had formed, a whirling vortex that blinked golden before the waters returned to normal. The body of the boy would not be washing up on any shore any time soon, as far as he was concerned.

A room in one of the many Departments of the Ministry of Magic that had the responsibility of monitoring those with the potential of joining the rest of the magical world experienced an accident at about the same time that Harry Potter slipped through the vortex of what should have been water. A majority of their records and contraptions dealing with Harry Potter exploded covering all personnel with lots of magically unstable things, which kept them from leaving until they were cleared by the Ministry of Magic's medical staff.

A single shred of the Potter profile was excavated from the dust and debris of his section of the office. \

It was a shred of paper that noted that one Harry James Potter, son of the late Lily and James Potter, and godson of illegally imprisoned Sirius Black, godson to Alice Longbottom a comatose patient of St Mungo's Cruciatus Curse Ward, and Boy-Who-Lived, Wizarding World savior, had had his guardianship signed over to an old couple that went by the names of Jane and John Doe.

The old kindly couple that were the Does had died without an heir to their name and vast fortune that they had gained over the years from copyrighting, patenting, and trademarking their names. They also just so happened to be a part of the more magical portion of the world they lived in, and even had access until recently to a Philosopher's Stone, one which had granted them eternal youth and immortality. The only reason they had decided to stop using their stone was when they received word that they had been granted the guardianship of one Harry James Potter.

Never mind that they had never met the boy, they'd heard about him and what had befallen him and that was enough for them to make up their minds to finally leave the world and leave everything that was theirs to him.

They had gone by the names of Jane and John Doe for a majority of their long lives, they had lived for far longer than even the famed Nicholas and Pernelle Flammel. Which was saying something, but chose not to advertise that fact, especially after the last time they had become quite famous the world over, which had led to the official change of name.

Their original names were not known to anyone other than the other financial backer for the Goblin run Gringotts Bank. They were Morgan and Myyrdin Ambrosius, or more commonly known as Morgan Le Fey and Merlin. Names that they tried to forget when they left to live their lives in obscurity.

No one at the Ministry knew of the significance of the change in guardianship, or anything relating to it. They just figured that it had nothing to do with the explosion and was probably Albus Dumbledore's business, even if it normally wasn't or shouldn't have been so.

In an old headmaster's office a great number of instruments found themselves no longer working, as if the thing they were tied or tethered to no longer existed on this side of the globe or in the world itself for that matter. This didn't startle anybody as the man that owned them all was not present when they all blinked gold once before going completely still. They did not blow up.

The archives department of Magical Britain's premier and only bank saw sudden and increasingly drastic activity as numerous dead or dormant accounts began activating while others were increasingly transferring ownership. There was so much work to be done and the higher ups could not make heads or tails of any of it, or wouldn't be able to until the chaos ended and order once more resumed.

All those that had an interest in one Harry James Potter had more or less just been notified that something was amiss with Harry Potter, and none of them, save for the goblins after their mess was organized, really paid much attention to it as they had other priorities.

#

Harry Potter found himself waking to a world of white, a world that would be familiar to any that spend too much time around the disinfected white washed walls of an infirmary, clinic, hospital, or general place of healing of any kind.

His gaze even landed on a pretty cute girl in a nurse outfit, he only knew it was a nurse uniform from that one time he caught a glimpse of some show or whatever it was his uncle had been watching while his aunt and cousin were out of the house. Though the _nurse_ had a slightly more revealing outfit on than the one that was with him in the white place at this present time.

She must have noticed his staring as she stood up from where she was looking over some papers and walked over to him.

"How are you feeling sweety?" the cute, by his and his uncle's standards, nurse asked him once she stood just beside his bed, it was a bed apparently.

"Uhm.." he didn't know how to respond, no one had ever asked him how he felt, not even the school nurse who believed him to be the spawn of Satan due to his aunt and uncle and their tales, as well as bribing the school's guidance counselor into labeling him as an incurably criminal boy that had been born bad instead of raised bad.

But back to the matter of how he felt. Physically, he didn't think he'd felt so good in years, mentally...that was something that he wasn't quite sure of, he didn't really think of it too...

"Uhm...fine?" he said, it was his best response.

The nurse gave him a small smile before performing a bunch of unorthodox scans of him using a slender stick that resembled something he should be intimately familiar with. Though for some reason he couldn't remember why it looked so familiar and why he could have sworn that he heard some old Eastern geezers sneeze or fly back with nosebleeds.

"Well it seems that since you are finally awake, you are good and ready to get on out of here," the nurse said, "Though I'd think about waiting before you actually do leave as I'm quite sure you don't even know where here is. Can you tell me what you last remember?"

He wondered why she was being so nice to him, other than being a nurse. He also wondered why he wasn't panicking or something like that, or why he wasn't feeling any fear of being hurt.

"Did you do something to me?" he blurted out, before covering his mouth with his hands in surprise and a hint of shame.

"Nothing that wasn't good for you," she replied, "There's a calming ward around your bed to make sure you don't suffer a panic attack, lord knows _HE'd _probably murder me or one of the hospital staff if anything else were to happen to you."

He noticed the term _HE_ and how the tone of the word was different from all others. There was something quite significant with that term and he wondered why and what it was. But before he could question it, some doors were heard opening and closing and footsteps were also heard in an approaching manner.


	32. Living God B1

For thousands upon thousands of years he remained where he was, unmoving atop his throne of dried blood and bones. The bones were of all those that had lived in this world, this world that had once been filled to the brim with life that has for those thousands upon thousands of years been replaced with devastation and desolation as well as death and decay.

He had been the ultimate cause of all the death and destruction that wrought havoc all over the world of life. It was he that caused numerous life giving suns, and stars, to dim and vanish. So many planets, so many worlds, races, species, all gone within the blink of an eye, all because he had willed such into being. He, a former child of prophecy, a prophecy fulfilled.

Savior he had been, but as the saying goes the mighty shall fall, and all it had taken was one action with good intentions to cause the toppling of the world of life and his nigh eternal solitude.

He'd warned them, he'd told them all, not to involve him in their war. Sure there was some prophecy that claimed that he was the one that had the so-called power to end the war one way or another, but he saw no reason to involve himself. Vengeance for the deaths of his parents was an empty thing, he could not devote his entire life to ending the life of one man, a mad man sure but still a man.

He was a bearable threat to one side, he could be ignored until he had no allies left. He was the hope of the other side, they could not force him to aid them lest he turn against them and doom their world to darkness.

He told them that as long as they did not harm himself or any of his, those that chose to stay out of the fighting, he would refrain from interfering and fulfilling the prophecy, a prophecy that he believed to be false anyway.

False in the sense that everyone else thought it to be true.

Both sides chose to ignore him completely, though each side made plans and precautions as well as schemed on how to use him to end the war as both sides knew that the war could not go on forever. One side had to win. Eventually.

It was the side of _Light_ that had come up with something that could be used, something that they could use to coerce the Chosen One to fight and use whatever power it was that the Dark Lord knew not against said Dark Lord and end the war.

They did something that they would normally not have done or resorted to, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

They kidnapped the girl that he had found love with. He had fallen for her gradually and had been about to propose to her, to make her irrevocably his, but they struck before he had a chance to ask her that one oh so important question.

It was a big miscalculation on their part, they should have just left him and his well alone and fought their war with everything that they had instead of piling on all of their hopes and dreams on one individual.

They took her, right before his very eyes, a surprising display on its own. Then informed him that if he did not fight then, he would never see or hear from her again.

They even agreed to meet with him, somewhat, and show him that they indeed had her and that they indeed were serious.

There was just one problem with their plan, that being that they had not learned their lesson from the last war. There was a spy within their ranks, one that ratted them out to the other side and shared all the information regarding the meeting with him.

So when the love of his life was shown to him, the other side, the _Dark_, struck.

He watched almost helplessly as a fiery emerald green bolt of energy flew from one outstretched stick and struck her dead. Shoving her soul out of her body and into the great beyond, the great unknown, into the realm of the dead, and in doing so condemning the world of life.

"No! You fool!" the leader of the _Dark_ shouted in anger before killing the one that had fired the curse.

For he knew that that was not the appropriate course of action, that it was a foolish one, and the reason why he had not tried to do as this _Light_ side had tried. Or at least had not tried it yet, for he believed that the time had yet to ripen.

He had not come for murder, but to persuade his most hated of foes to leave the war be for a little bit longer, offer apologies if need be, for he was not yet certain what was the power which the prophecy spoke of.

He watched as his love's body dropped to the ground, lifeless, motionless. He stood right in the middle of the two sides of the war. He stood on the boundary that separated the _Light_ from the _Dark_. He stood on the gray, on the silver, on the twilight.

Some time ago he had discovered what power he possessed that could be used to end the war. It was a devastating power, deadly power. It was a power, in their existence, their universe, their reality, their dimension, that rivaled all other powers.

He had stumbled upon it on accident, he had accidentally broken past the boundaries and limitations that others chose not to believe could be passed, or surpassed. He had gone beyond what everyone save for himself had dared to go beyond.

From that moment on, he had become what countless other mortals had dreamed of, yet never attained. Godhood. He was a living god, one that surpassed all gods that had come before him. In this existence of theirs, his godhood was supreme, he had the power to strip the living of their freedom, of the free will, causing all to be his mindless puppets.

It was a power he wished not to have, yet knew, upon the day that he had gained it, that there was no way that any other could ever take his place in their existence. He had become, by accident or machination of fate, the Supreme Being, the highest Higher Power in his their Existence, irregardless if one believed in there being such a Being or not. He was it, and that was that.

So angering him, pissing him off, having him blow his top off, was a very bad thing, irregardless if one knew what he had accidentally become or not.

Seeing his love, the one that he had found love and what it was like to be loved in return fall, just like that. Caused something within him to snap.

Ever since his ascension, he had sealed away his connection to Everything in Existence, he had tried his very best to separate himself from what he had become. All that had been for naught as soon as he watched _Her_ fall lifeless before his very eyes, for even he held no power over the realm of death, for even beings such as he could die, eventually. _Death himself_ would see to that.

There was also the fact that he too knew that there was something wrong about bringing someone that had passed on back to the world of life. He was sure that she had gone beyond his normal reach, even with all of his power, and thus he did not even try. Something told him that she might not be happy with his decision.

She would have wanted him to live, find love again, and a happy ending. It could have happened that things would play out like she would have wished, had he not lost his mind to his anger.

_Fear is the path to the _Dark side_._ Or so a little green alien might have said sometime, somewhere, in a galaxy far far away. Fear leading to anger, and anger to hate, and hate to nothingness.

Thus it became so.

His anger led to hate, and his hate led to the instantaneous destruction of the world of life.

None of those present at the time had even managed to comprehend what had just happened. The only one among all of the living in their existence that had some last words to say was the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, himself. His last words being _"No! You fool! Avada Kedavra!"_. That was it, that was all, and everything alive met their end on the whim of the Chosen One of Prophecy, the one that had the power to end the war, to end all wars. Had he been left alone, peace would have eventually found itself, but he had not been left alone.

How could there be war, when there was no one to wage war with and against.

Peace had fallen upon a lifeless existence where only one entity remained amidst it all.

He who sat upon his throne of long dried blood and bones, as he surveyed all around him, his lifeless world that he dubbed Dreadwurld.

#

Eons upon eons had passed since that fateful day that his world, and the rest of Everything in HIS Existence, had died.

Eons upon eons had passed since he had last spoken to another being, of any kind. His only conversation partners for the past eons worth of eons had been inanimate things as he knew not how to recreate life, for how could he create something which he knew very little about. All he had known for a very long time was how to protect life, but then that was replaced by the overwhelming knowledge of how to irrevocably destroy or eradicate it.

None of the Higher Powers that had been older, far older, than he had remained after his instantaneous onslaught. The majority of them had fled from this birth existence to other existences scattered throughout Everything, throughout what had been long ago been dubbed as _Imagination_. The others, the ones that had remained or been unable to escape, had perished with all life.

Even the Heavens and the Hells of the existence had not been spared, so it was a bit of a mystery what had happened to those near countless living that had died that one day eons upon eons ago.

He had thought about leaving Dreadwurld several thousand times in the past, but found that even with all of his power there must be at least one far greater than even he, for he found himself bound, trapped in Dreadwurld and all the realms directly connected and associated with it. He was trapped in his own Existence, in his own slice of Everything, in his own little corner of _Imagination_.

So it came as quite a surprise to him when a pink and blue shimmering vortex of something that looked like water came into existence right before the steps leading up to his throne.

It was the oddest and most out of place thing in all of Dreadwurld, for his birth existence was nothing but dreary. It was a nigh eternal hellish place. It was the love child of Mustafar and Crematoria, though which parts of the planet were from which parent was decided at random, something like the weather had once been in the world.

So having a pink and blue portal, two colors that had not been seen in eternities worth of eons was something unexpected and worth investigating.

But with a hint of caution of course.

So there he stood, Harry James Potter, Supreme Being of Dreadwurld, calling forth all of his power to the fore in preparation to defend either his existence of himself from whatever threat might come from this unexpected occurrence.

The body that stepped through the portal, for what else could such a doorway be called, was not at all what the Supreme Being of Dreadwurld had been expecting.

It was, what appeared to be, a man. A man dressed in impeccably expensive looking formal wear, business formal. He was clean shaven, and looked to have just had a hair cut for some reason. He wore roundish eye glasses that fit perfectly with his face, brown eyes that didn't look out of place, and an air of confidence about him that seemed just right.

"Greetings young Dreadwurld," this unexpected man greeted, cheerfully one might add, "I apologize for coming in unannounced, but there was safe way to approach you other than this direct confrontation..."

Before he could continue with what must have been a rehearsed speech, he was interrupted by only _living_ thing in the existence.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Harry near demanded, a hint of some long forgotten or discarded insanity rising up within him before it flowed away.

"As I was saying, or was about to say," the man said, unaffected by the sudden question, rude as it had been to be interrupted so, "I am Crius Crossworld, I am the Master of the Crossworlds as well as the leader of _**The Five**_, one of the many ways in which _**WE **_are collectively called. And before you ask, the Crossworlds are the crossover worlds, existences, realities, dimensions, realms, universes, etcetera. You may think of them as the nexus or point of intersection between two or more different ideas or concepts or dreams even."

"I see," Harry said, "Then why have you come here, come to me? How have I called your interest?"

"I noticed that several thousand times in your past you have tried to leave your self titled Dreadwurld," Crius said, "And failed each and every time, as if your efforts were rebuffed by a much higher power as compared to yourself. I admit, unashamedly, to being the one responsible for your inability to escape what has become something of a prison for you."

"I see," the eternally youthful Harry stated, it would not do, after all, to provoke one that could wipe the floor with you and had numerous answers that you sought.

"I see that you understand the situation," Crius said, "Good, very very good. The reason why I did such a thing to you was to give you all the time you needed to calm down, accept your fate for what it is or was, before _**WE**_ could come to a real decision regarding what to do with you. Dreadwurld had much potential as it is now, _**WE**_ have no wish for that potential to be wasted, thus I volunteered to come here now that you have calmed down some and no longer have any destructive tendencies. That and I was rather close to boredom and stagnation."

"I see," Harry said, "I am assuming that you have come to make some sort of deal with me."

"Insightful," Crius somewhat praised, "I have come to offer you the chance to come and go as you please, the only condition being that you will have to live the life of another, the life of a parallel you of my choice. His life being a nearly exact duplicate of your own, or a duplicate of your own circumstances."

"Oh?" Harry said, a tad bit intrigued by the proposition.

"Indeed," Crius said, "The similarities between you and he are that you both have, or in your case had a prophecy looming over your heads, lost your parents to a Dark Lord, was dropped off on Number 4 Privet Drive to suffer for ten years under the loving care of your Dursley relatives. You both have wizarding magic or a wider than normal connection to _Magic himself_, and lived in the cupboard under the stairs for some time."

"And the differences?" Harry asked.

"You differ in that this counterpart of yours whose life you will be taking over is slated to die in a few minutes," Crius said, "No prophecy will save him from this death. He will be hit by a school bus after being pushed in front of it by his cousin who will look for praise at the most inopportune moment. Your choice is to either remain in solitary confinement or learn what life is all about, all over again...so to speak."

"Are you asking me to discard what I have become and become something that I had once been?" Harry asked, just to be sure.

"No," Crius said, "I am asking you to take on the life that will be lost in a matter of minutes, but retaining all of your power and memories. You will still be you, but you will be living out the life of the soul that you will be replacing. Think of it as a god living the life of a mortal man."

"Will I be able to do as I please?" Harry asked.

"Within reason," Crius said, "I'm sure you remember the difference between right and wrong, and if you should do something rather unforgivable the Higher Powers of this brand spanking new world, to you, will deal with you..._somehow._"

That last bit was said in a mutter, since the world that Crius was speaking about had yet to acquire a true or real and singular Supreme Being, the only thing that the Higher Powers had that they could use to over power and win in a fight against Harry was their experience, as well as their ability to work together. They had allies amongst themselves, while Harry would be relatively alone, what with his inability to create life...or inability to the moment.

"So what say you?" Crius said, "Remember, time waits for no one, not even a god such as yourself."

"I'll do it," Harry said.

"Very good," Crius said, "I was hoping that you'd say that. Now before we depart, I have a few last minute things to tell you."

"I'm listening," Harry said.

"In this new, for you, world you shall be known once more as Harry James Potter when in mortal form, but should you chose to don a more...godlike form you shall be known as Nexus Dreadwurld the personification of Dreadwurld," Crius informed him, "You will be able to come and go from that world into this one any time you wish and will be able to send others there to here and back again as well. I would advise you against revealing just what you are.."

"What do you take me for? An idiot?" Harry interrupted, he knew of the problems that revealing what he was could potentially cause, just as he knew that the Statute of Secrecy had valid reasons for remaining in place even in modern times.

"No, it was just a reminder after all," Crius said, "One final reminder, or request more like. I would like for you to have as much fun as you possibly can, if you even remember what fun feels like that is. I'd also like for you to sabotage the prophecy as much as you can, turn it obsolete in the opinions and eyes of those that firmly believe in its authenticity if you can."

"Alright, I think I can do that," Harry said, "So..when do we depart?"

"Right about.." Crius said as he looked at a wrist watch that suddenly appeared on his wrist. He then vanished and reappeared right behind Harry.

"Wha..?" was all Harry managed to say before he was kicked right on his ass through the pink and blue portal to the brave new world that Crius had decided he should learn about life.


	33. Living God B2

"How are you feeling?"

"Ugh...did anyone get the number of that lorry that just hit me?" Harry asked groggily as he returned to the land of the waking and conscious.

"You were hit by a bus actually," whoever was talking to him informed him, "A school bus to be exact. Can you tell me if you remember anything other than being hit."

"I was walking with my cousin and aunt Pentunia," he said, actually recalling the event, '_Must be me gaining the memories of my counterpart in this life to make things move on more smoothly..._' he thought before continuing in his short story telling, "I think my cousin pushed me onto the street...I can't really remember much after that."

"Well it seems that your version of events matches up with everyone else's," the man, for it was a man, said, "I'm sorry to have to say this, but you won't be returning to your relatives anytime soon, or ever for that matter since after the incident your relatives seemed to have...for lack of a better term...run away."

"I see," Harry said and noted that he'd said that quite a lot recently, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

It wasn't a question that the man was expecting.

It wasn't a question that a child that had just found out that his family didn't want him would ask.

"Aside from the fact that you will be sent to an orphanage after you are released or a foster home," the man said, "Nothing else that I can think of at the moment, though I would, as well as the hospital, like to know your name, it would help records. It appears that your relatives were rather tight lipped about you and their neighbors have demanded warrants or some such before they reveal anything about you to any of us."

"My name, as you apparently need to know, is Harry James Potter," Harry introduced himself and decided to go a bit further, "I am the only son of Lily Marie Potter nee Evans and James Charlus Potter, both of whom you will have a hard time finding anything about. I am also, or should be in a matter of a few hours, an emancipated minor."

The man, who failed to introduce himself, didn't know what to say to that and simply left it at that. Until a few hours later he and the hospital staff in charge of Harry's care were informed by some random government official that what Harry had said had come true or was the truth, both the part about his parents and the part about him being an emancipated minor.

The day that he was discharged from the hospital, anyone that wanted to keep an eye on him couldn't as he simply disappeared as if he had never existed, had it not been for the documents that proved his existence no one would have known whether they had dreamt it all or not.

Where he had gone was off into the Magical World, first stop Gringotts Bank, and he hadn't received his letter yet. He was patiently awaiting that piece of parchment as with it, his new and latest adventure would begin.

The goblins of the bank were rather surprised when he entered their hallowed halls as they could scarcely believe that such a small package housed so much raw power, they could taste it in the air and feel the destruction it could bring to their very bones. Here was a wizard not to be messed with and he wasn't even old enough, or so they thought, to claim his lordship as was his right as last of his line.

What was even more surprising for them, collectively, was that instead of requesting a visit to his trust vault, as they believed such an heir to a vast fortune would, he inquired as to requirements of opening up a separate account from his family account and trust account. So young and already interested in business, something that the goblins could like about a young wizard.

But there was something about him that the bank's wards caught. He was wearing a disguise of sorts, it was so well hidden and well made that it had barely registered with those monitoring the security wards of the bank. He was who he claimed he was, but at the same time there was something that he was hiding, something more.

As it didn't seem to be something to worry about, and since the goblins were curious about it, they had Harry meet with his Potter accounts manager in a conference room where other goblins could easily hide in plain sight as well as come rushing in if the situation was actually dangerous.

Harry didn't mind the treatment that he was receiving, he had been expecting some of it, including the fact that he was not as he first appeared. He had a feeling that his being from out of this world would have some small giveaways and there would be those that were meant to discover his true nature or at least a part of it.

He let himself be led to his accounts manager and seated in a comfortable conference room for his first meeting with his accounts manager for this world.

"My fellow goblins tell me that you are interested in opening up another account with us," Griphook started off the meeting, "And have even inquired about the requirements for opening one. I have a list of requirements right here as well as your options regarding the vault and vault security."

Harry looked over everything to see which one would suit his needs. The goblins all watched him carefully, scrutinizing his every move no matter how insignificant it would appear to anyone else.

After a few minutes of perusing the information presented to him he decided on the the most expensive and most protected of all the vaults available, the maintenance costs would probably garner Griphook several promotions.

"I'd like to avail of your most expensive option," Harry stated, "And no, I shall not be getting the funds necessary to pay for such an option from my family or trust accounts. I have my own sources of the gold needed, though I do have to ask if you have to know of the source of such gold."

"While the Ministry of Magic would not pry into where such gold might come from, we at Gringotts would feel a lot more comfortable knowing where such funds might come from," Griphook replied, easily masking his greed and the greed of the goblins around them and observing the meeting.

"I have an item in my possession which grants me all that I need," Harry stated, not giving away whatever it was that he had up his sleeves, "For the time being, and as it is not a requirement of opening an account, I shall not be revealing what exactly it is as well as where it comes from."

"Gringotts can accept that," Griphook said, "What kinds of protections would you like on and around the vault?"

"Everything that Gringotts is willing to use," Harry said, "Worry not, I assure you that should what I have not be up to task when it comes to paying for all this, I authorize Gringotts to take whatever is necessary out of my other accounts, which brings me to my other reason for coming here."

"That other business being?" Griphook asked.

"I am here to claim what is mine by right of blood, magic, and conquest," Harry declared, power swirled around him for a brief moment after his declaration, an ethereal image of his older self appearing around, above, and behind him all at once.

The ethereal specter that hovered like a superimposed image on him gave him an aura of one that was a veteran of the world, a veteran of war, of death, destruction. It filled the goblins with a hint of dread, and rightfully so.

"V-Very well Mister Potter," Griphook said, getting a grip on himself as to not show anymore weakness than he had already shown the wizard before him as well as his fellow goblins around him whom he was sure were rather intimidated by this seemingly physically young fellow.

"I'd like to avail of your Blood Inheritance Test, Magic Inheritance Test, and of course what is mine by right of conquest will show up in one of those two tests," Harry said, sure of himself and the information he had, which was correct on all accounts, "But before that, I'd like to store what I intend to store in my personal vault first, better get that business over and done with."

"Of course Mister Potter," Griphook said, and beckoned him to follow him to a separate office, where papers were filled up and or signed, then the two of them, followed by unseen goblins took a cart down to the deepest of depths of the cavernous bank.

Once at the newly opened vault, Griphook informed his client that he would be the one to set up the lock, it was to be a combination lock of sorts, requiring blood and magic for the key, thus the blood and magic of the vault's owner would be required for the creation of said lock.

Harry had no problems with that and even drew a dagger from out of thin air and cut the palm of one hand before splattering his blood onto the vault door, followed by sinking a good sized portion of his godly magical reserves into the thing.

With the lock and keys set, the vault door opened for the very first time, its insides waiting for its contents to be placed within.

"Feel free to fill it up anytime Mister Potter," Griphook said, '_Though it is doubtful that you'd have enough to even fill up a single percentage of it._'

Griphook's along with all the other goblin's shared opinion of the young wizard were dashed when the _youth_ stretched out his hands, palms up and each one having a blood red stone resting on each palm. The stones pulsed magic, magic that the goblins could feel.

"_**Come forth my riches, stripped from rediscovered El Dorado!**_" Nexus Dreadwurld called, two voices spoke that of young eleven year old Harry Potter and the voice of his eons upon eons old self.

From the stone on his right hand palm poured gold, from fine gold dust to pebbles to coins to whole statues of gods that the world had long forgotten the names of.

The stones served as a portal through which one of Harry's many stores of wealth could pass through.

He hurled the portal of El Dorado, the formerly _Lost_ City of Gold, into the continually growing pile of gold.

The goblin's jaws hit he floor at what they heard and saw. It couldn't be real.

For they were aware of this City of Gold, it was a cursed place that no one living or dead could enter, a curse had been placed upon it that only an immortal could venture into the realm and leave. It was a treasure trove that the _lost _High Elves of old had created in order to tempt the greedy and kill them spectacularly.

"_**Come forth my riches, spill forth from the Sunken City of First Magics!**_" Harry spoke once again, this time it was the other stone that spewed out gold, but unlike its partner there was some silver and precious stones as well.

He hurled this stone too into the pile to be lost within it.

He whirled around when he was done making his deposit, the vault door slamming shut behind him. The many expansion charms and rune arrays that riddled the inside of the vault expanding until two ancient cities worth of treasure could comfortably fit inside the vault.

He erected all sorts of barriers and wards, all sorts of protections over his newly acquired vault, but remembering that the goblins would need access to the vault and installed some form or way for them to access it, but not steal from him. He placed layer upon deadly layer over and around his vault, making it even more secure than the goblins would willingly make it. It was permitted as per one of the contracts he had signed.

Gringotts was thankfully sworn to secrecy about anything that had to do with a client and his or her vault or vaults, as well as accounts.

"I'd like to amend the part of our contract about draconic protection," Harry said, "I would like to have a mated pair of Hungarian Horntails to guard my vault, I would like to meet them before they are given free reign to move about this level as well. I would also like to engage in another contract with the bank one regarding the use of this entire level of the bank for my personal use, an extension to this vault."

"That can definitely be arranged Mister Potter," Griphook said, his voice dripping with awe, surprise, shock, respect, but with a hint of greed, "Although, Mister Potter, if you don't mind my asking, but how or when or...we goblins are well aware of the protections surrounding El Dorado."

"Inquisitive and knowledgeable of secrets the rest of the world has long since forgotten," Harry said, "I guess I could share it with your Griphook, but only you as you are the first guardian within these hallowed halls of my vaults."

"Your trust shall not be misplaced," Griphook stated, declared even, and followed Harry back into his newly acquired vault, the other goblins in attendance were unable to make it passed the outer most barrier that had been erected as they wished to eavesdrop on a secret.

The transformation was swift and brief, lasting only but a moment, but that was all the time Griphook needed to comprehend just what his client was, or at least come to the conclusion that his client was definitely more than meets the eye.

When they exited the vault and it sealed itself once more, Griphook could hardly walk at all due to all the surprises that he had borne witness to that day, and it was still morning, not yet lunch time even. And there were still some more surprises to come, the goblin account manager was sure of it.

Griphook asked his client to board their mine cart and wait for him, as there was just something he had to take care of, that being telling his fellow goblins that the secret was something that was covered by the oath of confidentiality between client and account manager. Or something like that.

Their next stop was one of the unoccupied Inheritance Test Chambers, a small enclosed room with a single device located at the very center connected to all four walls of said room by glyphs, lines, runes, and seals. The device was the object that the test was centered around as it served to analyze whatever it was that was being tested.

The device was a two in one thing, analysis device and printer. The many etchings that it was connected to were what actually made it work and what connected it to whatever it was that it pulled information from.

He was asked to place three drops of blood into the machine, it had an opening at its top that was like a bowl that the blood could fall into for the device to use. He did as he was instructed and waited for the results, which Griphook impatiently wanted to already know and get everything over and done with already so that he could have a bit of goblin alcoholic beverages and get sloshed.

A short strip of paper was ejected by the device, the ink used for the printing was actually all of the three drops of blood mixed in with the ambient magic that powered the device and all the written things that it was connected to. The printout, for lack of a more magical term, detailed what he was entitled to by right of blood.

A second printout was spat out by the device after it analyzed the magic that saturated the blood, as well as the hint of power that was stored in each blood cell. This second printout listed the entitled inheritances and claims due to right of magic, or something like that.

Lastly was a third printout that was the result of the analysis on his heritage as well as his magic, along with the experiences or deeds that were stored as memory like things within his own blood. Blood told a story of its own after all.

The printout about blood listed him as the rightful Head of the _**Moste**__ Ancient_ and _**Moste**__ Noble_ House of Potter. Harry knew that already, he also knew that in the blood of the House of Potter flowed the blood of Godric Gryffindor, Myrddin Wyllt, and Ignotus Peverell. He knew all about that bloodline, for it was his and after he had ended all life in Dreadwurld, he had researched his Potter bloodline out of boredom.

A small part of himself had expected that there was a small possibility that this world's version of him, the one that he had replaced, might have something different flowing through his veins, some other inheritance worth looking into and that small part of himself had been right as the House of Potter was not the only one listed as his by right of blood.

The second House that he was the rightful Head of was that of the Lesser House of Grindelwald. Such a House appeared on the part of the printout that was labeled as Mother, or his mother's side of his bloodline. He's gained the headship for the sole reason that he was the last surviving possessor of the blood of that bloodline. How that had been possible was something that would need researching, though he supposed he could just extend his senses out into the world's time stream and river of dreams to find the answer. He'd probably resort to that method as it was the least time consuming of all the methods that he could think of.

And that was what he did, and found that his mother was not the woman that he thought she was, or at least in this world. She was Lily Marie Evans, before marrying into the House of Potter, but what she was not, which did kind of piss him off was that she was not the paternal sister of Petunia Dursley.

That explained why Petunia didn't have even the slimmest or slightest potential to even be a squib. For the sisters only shared one strand of DNA, that of their mother, their fathers were two different people. One was an Evans, while the other was the bastard son of Gellert Grindelwald, the only name worth noting in his own maternal familial history.

His great-grandfather was none other than the second most prominent, powerful, and feared, dark lord of all time or in recent history book memory. That was the only name worth noting from that line, but it was more than enough for him to know.

There was no Lord's Ring to that name, but there were vaults and treasures and tomes that he would be gaining access to shortly. The account had never died or been deactivated after all, since the bloodline had not died out, just been left unclaimed for quite a period of time. It was what these kinds of tests were for, to determine the owners of the many accounts that the goblins of the many branches of Gringotts held or oversaw.

The second printout contained more information/results. He skipped the parts about his Potter and Grindelwald heritages as those were now a given. He already had those magics at his beck and call, as well as their corresponding accounts and estates.

He had, to his surprise, the Weasley clan was among those listed. He delved back into the river or stream of time and memory to find out how he had come into the claimable possession of the Weasley clan's magics and through that Headship. The Weasleys did not follow the House system but followed the Clan system, for whatever reason as Harry didn't really care to know.

He found out that he had gained such a thing due to his compatibility with that clan's magics than any of its present members, numerous as they in all actuality were. Their magic was that of creation and evolution to a degree. He had also gained the magic of that clan due to having an ancestor that had been owed a life debt by the clan and the chosen price for the fulfillment of the debt was the clan's magic as the clan hadn't been using it anyway. Better to be used than to be wasted.

He accepted that clan's magic, more due to the fact that his former best friend from a long long time ago had been one of the ones that had kidnapped the love of that life of his and was one of the indirect causes for her death, than to the fact that the magic was owed to his bloodline and magic due to that life debt.

Another magic that was his to claim, which also did come with the headship of it's original House, was that of the Malfoy line. An ancestor of his had apparently won a duel where the prize was the loser's family magics. It wasn't handed over then and there as the Potter that had won the duel had decided to be a little bit merciful, he proposed that the only time that the condition of the duel would be enacted was when a prominent member of the House of Malfoy went against the House of Potter in a conflict, such as a war.

He could see how the condition had been met. The father of Lucius Malfoy had sided with Tom Riddle who had waged war with the wizarding world, or at least those that would not side with him. The Malfoys or present times had lost their family magics and Lucius Malfoy had lost his right to the headship, which he was unaware of apparently, due to his father and himself siding against the House of Potter.

The House of Malfoy could have kept to themselves and kept their power had they simply either chosen to be neutral in the last modern wizarding war or chosen to side with the side that the House of Potter had chosen.

But they hadn't done any of those two things, and thus ended up as about to be swallowed up by the House of Potter, with very little possibility of continuing as a House, a Lesser House.

The Malfoy brand of House or family magic, which they had lost due to their decisions during the last war, was that of manipulation. The strength of a Malfoy was not their wealth, but their innate ability to maneuver others or manipulate them or events to their liking or at least to produce a favorable outcome for the Malfoy wielding such family magics. Which they would now no longer have access to unless Harry gave them access.

The only other name on the list was that of the Moste Ancient and Moste Noble House of Afallach, whose magics were those of illusions, healing, and entrapment. He was magical heir to that House not due to being the last of the bloodline but last of the magical line, for the last of that bloodline had imbued the House of Potter with his or her magic as a protection, with a condition that should a member of House Potter ever gain enough power to wield the fey realm originated power of the Afallach then the magic could be claim or activated.

This entry he accepted wholeheartedly, while at the same time mulling over the thought that he had just inherited more than a simple family magic, but a realm, subjects of sorts, as well. A religion unto himself. It was quite a boon.

The goblins were unaware of the true origins of such a House.

He was shown the next and last printout. This one detailing what he could claim by right of conquest, which was basically defeating in battle of many fields and sorts.

At the top of the list was his own triumph, that being his defeat of Tom Riddle, last of the blood and magic heirs of Salazar Slytherin as he was called in this land, thus gained him all everything that had to do with the House of Sahl Zahar. From the Beast Speak ability, or the ability to speak to just about any animal...though it is a miss-named ability as one with the ability can also speak any language after hearing, reading, or experiencing it at least once.

Next on the list was James Potter's defeat of the Head of the Noble House of Carrow in a duel to the death, of sorts. Followed by Lily Potter's defeat o the joint Heads of the Houses of Crabbe and Goyle, which wasn't really much of a fight at all.

There were a few others, all older quarrels that the House of Potter had won, as well as a few from the Grindelwald line. Though the House of Grindelwald's list were marked that they had already been claimed.

That was really it.

Next up on the agenda was the claiming of the Lord's Rings for those Houses that he now had under him and as part of his name, though he could chose not to use them as there were quite a lot of them now. After he put on the rings, which merged with the Potter ring from his world, he had to sort through all of the documents and contracts that came with all of the things he had claimed. There were quite a lot, and he did manage to find a lot of loopholes to keep him from getting married, not that their being magically binding could actually bind him to fulfilling the contracts.

The only reason why he did look over them all and find ways to avoid such varied fates was because if anyone found out that he was immune to such contracts that would attract far too much attention to himself, attention that he still did not want. Especially considering that this was his new chance at life after all.

With all that he gained that day, for by the end of all of his reading and escaping fates that would cause him some problems with his own personal plans it was already night, his goblin accounts manager truly did gain a lot from him. Both good and bad, positive and negative, helpful and potentially harmful.

As Harry made his way out of the bank, keeping to his mortal guise of what he was so many eons ago, Griphook had been summoned by the leader of the British goblins, Director Ragnok. The purpose of the summons was to discuss the recent gains of said goblin, as well as his promotion and what such gains could do to help the goblin nation.

The meeting centered around how to make even more profit from Harry Potter and his accounts. Basically it was all talk about manipulating him and eventually stealing from him through the use of loopholes or outright theft, if they could figure out how to do it. Ragnok was a firm believer that wizards, and anyone that was not a goblin, did not deserve wealth and treasure and knowledge. It was the goblins that should be standing at the top of the hierarchy of power.

Having refused to help in the cause that the director wanted to begin working on, Griphook was nearly struck down for going against the wishes of the leader of his race, as far as the goblin clans of Britain were concerned anyway.

He was saved from death by, none other than, Harry. More precisely by Nexus Dreadwurld.

The god-form that Nexus had chosen was one that filled the goblin, Griphook, with dread indeed. It was a form befitting a destroyer of the world of life.

His physical features screamed nobility, with a subtle hint of royalty. His hair was a salt and pepper mix when it came to color, but was long, much longer than any would think he would dare grow it out. It was long enough to braid, reaching to about his lower back, and tied in a loose ponytail.

His eyes were still killing curse green, but had a glow in them that screamed power while at the exact same time bore a coldness that screamed death, a glare from such eyes could really kill a person. Literal death glare had been achieved. The rest of his facial features had an elfish feel to them.

He had a slim wiry frame, though from a certain angle it could be described as skeletal for some reason, a trick of the light perhaps.

He wore black clothes that looked either like a cassock or a men's qipao. He wore a pair of dark silver gloves and boots.

To complete his look, he had held a sleek black cane topped off with a skull that had a gem within the darkness of the skull that gave of a faint pulsating molten glow.

He appeared seemingly out of thin air to block the battle ax that Director Ragnok held in his hand and had swung down upon Griphook intending to cleave his fellow goblin in two. He blocked the ax with his cane, which had lengthened into, at first a staff then, a scythe, the kind of instrument of reaping that the grim reaper would use in depictions of him.

"What in the world?" Ragnok cursed as he took a few steps back to observe this sudden arrival, he wasn't the leader of the British goblin clans for nothing as he managed to not display any emotion on his face at the sudden arrival, "What are you? Who are you? What is your purpose here?"

"I am Nexus Dreadwurld," Nexus replied, his voice as cold as ice as well as haunting as the desolate world that was his own, "I have decided that you are unfit a leader and thus I have come to challenge you for your position as well as all that is yours."

"I accept!" the goblin leader roared out, as he felt more than simply insulted by the sudden turn of events since he had already been enraged to begin with.

Griphook was but one of the many goblins that bore witness to what could more or less be best described as a hostile takeover. Seeing as the goblins were a warrior race at heart, challenges such as these were rather common, especially back in the olden days when the running of the bank wasn't one of their priorities. What made this occasion special was that the challenger was clearly not a goblin, not an unheard of thing but something about the battle made it different.

This _human_ won.

Nexus cleaved former Director and former War Chief Ragnok in two. All it had taken was one swing of his massive blade, and the former goblin leader's guts were spilled all over goblin territory.

By winning the challenge, Nexus became the new British goblin leader.

Plain and simple as that.

The battle, short as it was, had been held within the office of the director of the bank itself, such a small space, but large enough for a battle to be waged and won it seemed.

Without further ado, Nexus shoved aside the desk of the former director and wandlessly changed the chair behind it to match his throne of dried blood and bones, before promptly sitting on it.

The goblins could scarcely believe their luck, the toughest out of all of them had fallen to a single swing of some _human_'s blade. A _human_ that had not used a shred of magic that they could feel or sense, it had been a purely physical thing. No _human_ had ever won, and now they were paralyzed as they knew not how to proceed.

"To the victor go the spoils," Nexus spoke, with the same deadened and dread inducing voice as he had used when he issued his challenge, "By right of conquest, I claim what is now rightfully mine. If there is one among any of you that have a problem with that, then come at me, with the intent to kill that I might show you why from here on, you are all _**mine**_."

That shook the goblins, especially the warriors among them, into action. Battle axes, swords, and spears, were lifted and there was a mass charge. All that had raised a blade against him fell to his own blade. He did not need to use even an ounce of his true power, or his magic.

This was mostly because his god-form was already beyond the normal capabilities of mortal men and creatures.

"Are there any more challengers?" Nexus rhetorically asked, "None?" he noticed that none of the remaining goblins dared to move from their places lest they too be added to their fallen brethren, "Good, on to business then."

Business was simply him laying down the law, his law. The British goblin nation was under his control, until he decided to step down or someone actually managed to kill him, which wasn't very likely to happen anytime, period.

He _proposed_ a division between the financial institution that was Gringotts Bank and the rest of the British goblin nation. The financial institution should not be that which represented the goblins, for he reasoned that the goblins were not primarily a banking race but a warrior race.

The bank would be run by goblins, have the majority of their employees as goblins, it would be business as usual, but any slight on the bank would just affect the bank and not the nation as a whole. The building itself would simply be a stronghold, while the institution would be an institution.

Sure the bank had served as goblin territory as well as home to the British goblin clans for generations, but that could no longer be allowed to continue.

Nexus wouldn't allow it, and thus informed Griphook to inform every British goblin about a change of residence for the goblins. Since the wizarding workers had places to go once office and operating hours were over, so would the goblins.

When asked where the goblins were to be relocated to, since Ministry laws dictated that goblins were only allowed to set up residence within Gringotts bank. Nexus' reply was that he had a place in mind, one where no government on the planet, this planet that they were on, Earth, had any jurisdiction.

He informed Griphook that the place he had in mind was a harsh place. The goblins would continue to live underground, not because the surface was reserved for others, but because the surface was simply uninhabitable unless one was Nexus himself or found a way to protect oneself from spontaneous bouts of lack of protection from the fires of the sun penetrating the atmosphere to turn the surface into one big microwave.

The weather on the surface, of the place that the British goblins would be relocating to, was only one of two things. Either it was literally scorching hot, or it was very dark, cloudy, and either still extremely hot or extremely cold depending on the availability or presence of lava or magma.

He also informed Griphook, who he chose as his assistant of sorts, while remaining as his accounts manager, that the goblins would have to purchase the most flame resistant of dragonhide or other material that they could find, his funds would be used of course as he was now the head of said nation.

He also instructed this assistant of his to have some of their agents procure as many slaves of different races that they could within the span of a week, this included but was not limited to human slaves, those disowned or sold witches and wizards, or even disgraced ones that didn't have what it took to take their own lives and thus sold themselves into slavery. It was a frowned upon practice but very much legal all over the magical world. There were also other races and creatures that were forced into slavery for one reason or another, and of course one musn't forget House Elves, those elves whose ancestors were bound to the magic of wizards after a war in which their side clearly lost.

He further instructed his assistant that the hides and whatever materials that they could scrounge up needed to be fashioned into clothes, armor like suits that would be worn directly over skin, by goblin and those others that were to be acquired through purchase. This would protect them from the heat and flame of the place that they would all be going to.

When asked about the flammability of their clothes and other supplies, Nexus explained that this protective layer of clothes was just for their health, as the atmosphere and everything related to such a thing was only really harmful to the living and not the dead. The flame resistant materials, would then further be treated during the journey to Dreadwurld by himself, though no one need know about that, to further protect the wearers from dying or getting too sick.

Before the actual trip, or relocation, each person would be given something that they would have to keep on their persons at all times as it would be the source of breathable air. Nexus was quite sure that the air of his world was not all that breathable what with the lack of plant-life after all. It would take time for him to make the air breathable once again.

He had big plans for his world now that he really got to thinking about it, plans for his world and how he would be shaking up this Earth that he had been dumped, or kicked, into.

His first spur of the moment plan was getting a hold of the goblins, forcing them onto his side of the playing field. His next move would be just as spur of the moment, though he did have some ideas for certain events in his life.

Griphook rushed to do as he was ordered, but not before he tried to inform Nexus of his new tasks since he was now the leader of a nation of goblins. Nexus didn't need to be told as he was already aware and decided to use his omnipresence and omnipotence when it came to dealing with the goblin war chief or king's workload, as well as the workload of the director of a bank.

He informed his goblin guards, those that Griphook had assigned to protect him, not that he needed it, that he would be returning at the end of the week and for the nation to not worry about whether or not he would return or not. He was sure that they would know whether or not he was still alive, and he assured them that he was not one that would shirk from his duty.

They were too scared of him to say anything or argue with him. Including when he instructed them to make sure that no one else knew of his disappearance, as well as the fact the the goblins had a new leader over them.

He left the bank, but not as he appeared but as his mortal/human form. Harry Potter once more walked amongst the mortals.


	34. Living God B3

As soon as he left the bank, a post owl landed on his shoulder and offered him its precious cargo. Its cargo being a letter, no ordinary letter of course, but a Hogwarts Acceptance Letter. It was something that he had been waiting for.

He took it from the owl and tied on a reply, he didn't need to read the thing to know its contents, for he had read one just like it before, even though that event had been eons upon eons ago in his life and world.

His reply was a short thing, where he stated that he would be attending in the Fall and that he did not require a guide, that was sure to screw up some of the _Old_ Man's initial plans regarding him and his life.

While he could simply will the things he needed into existence, what use would his immense personal funds be to him if he didn't use them. So he went to his first stop, being Flourish and Blott's just for the sole purpose or reason of buying at least one copy of every single book, tome, scroll, written thing and writing implement that they had in stock and could be pre-ordered, ordered, or re-ordered. He was a boy on a mission, and that was to just waste money, that he had in spades.

Mr Walter Flourish was rather surprised to find a young man that clearly wanted to bankrupt his parents and had their permission to do so, not that he knew who the young man that came into his shop with such a unique demand. He did comply of course, as the youth had an authentic bank draft as well as a permission slip of sorts that had a Lord's Ring imprinted upon it for verification of wealth purposes.

What he just couldn't figure out or remember was why the insignia seemed so familiar or should be familiar to him.

This was the same thing that happened in all the shops that Harry visited, he went in, informed the proprietor of his wishes, showed proof that he could purchase everything he wanted with no worries about how high the cost might be, and left to do so again in another shop. The only one he didn't do such a thing in was the robe shop and the wand shop.

In the robe shop he made sure that the materials used, though, were the most expensive that the shop had to offer. Madame Malkin was rather accommodating when it came to him, especially after she saw the proof that he could pay, he didn't even have to pull use the celebrity card on her. He purchased seven sets of school robes, and seven more sets of formal robes.

He didn't have any of his House or Clan crests stitched onto the robes. Instead he left Madame Malkin with instruction on a runic stitched seal array and matrix that she would stitch onto the left breast part of each robe and accompanying cloak. She was to use a special thread that he handed over to her, she had also been convinced to swear a witch's oath not to reveal or use what he had her perform on any other customer without his express permission as he claimed the design, and spellwork that would come with it, as a Family Secret.

He also purchased a further set of seven casual robes for whatever other occasion the seamstress could think of. He wasn't picky when it came to color, though he did request that all colors show that he was neutral and didn't favor one faction, politically speaking, over another.

At the wand shop, Garrick Olivander provided himi with his 11 inch holly wand with a phoenix core. It matched his magic still, even in this world, as his first one had in his own birthworld, which he now called Dreadwurld, and the rest of the associated universe as Dreadverse.

Instead of taking his purchases with him, he handed over to all the proprietors of their respective shops a portkey, that he had made when he was Nexus, that would be used to transport his purchases to wherever he would be keeping them for the time being. Which was his personal vault...in the old Gringotts Bank in London, UK, Dreadwurld.

Not that any of those business people needed to know that, or would remember that he had used his Potter Crest/Insignia or had handed over portkeys to them. He had spoken with those people while exuding a confudus aura with a mild memory numbing aura added into the mix.

Once he was done with his initial bout of shopping, he retreated into Dreadwurld, where he would remain for the remainder of the week before he would return to Gringotts to pick up his _people_.

#

He return to the bank as he said that he would.

He had Griphook gather all the goblins and the slaves that they had managed to acquire and had them all put on the protective gear that had been created.

He then had the bank close, for a short while, to the outside world it was as if an hour had passed and the goblins would be claiming ward maintenance as their reason for the temporary and momentary halting of business, but for those within the banks it would seem to be far longer, but only taking all the time in the world that was needed.

There would be quite a number of disoriented bankers after the short ordeal.

As Nexus, he led them to his personal vault, and wandlessly, to the awe of all those present, erected a vault door like archway that would serve as a two way portal between Earth and Dreadwurld.

He had them all follow him through his erected portal and into his world, the world where they would be calling home from then on.

They were informed about the many differences between Dreadwurld and Earth, and also informed on what the many things that they saw as he created or expanded the cavern they had appeared or arrived in. There were blue crystals that glowed providing light and oxygen at the same time, and a number of other things that were both new and old to them. Some things were even thought of as lost.

It was in that first cavernous place that the Goblin Kingdom would first rise, where the slaves would work to not only earn their keep but also earn their freedom to go forth, in the future, and multiply and populate the other, yet unexplored, regions of Dreadwurld.

It would take a while, but due to the sudden influx of life into the Dreadwurld, life would eventually find its way into the world and would grow, but for the meantime all organic sustenance would have to come from Earth.

Note that Dreadwurld had water, and where water could be found, life would soon follow. Though life's toehold would grow stronger due to Nexus' absences from his world as well as his exposure to a world of life.

He led Griphook and the platoon of goblin warriors that had been assigned to guard his office in Gringotts to the steps that led up to his throne of dried blood and bones, it was the only spiral and winding staircase that led up to the surface. They were informed of the significance of the stairwell and that none should ever try to climb it lest they wish to suffer the same fate as those that eons upon eons ago had suffered.

It was a death threat if they ever heard one.

That was all there was to it.

The goblins had the slaves aid them in constructing homes, offices, workplaces, and all the like. Carving out the cavernous underground into a suitable home for them all, as well as the site of the capital of what would in later years be the Dreadwurld Goblin Nation/Kingdom.

A castle keep was also going to be constructed, one that would surround the Forbidden Stairwell as Griphook decided to dub it.

This capital city was dubbed Gringotts by the goblins since it had been the name of the place that they had collectively called home for centuries. Nexus didn't really care or mind.

By taking over the British Goblin clans, Nexus had gained some control over the British economy, he had also provided the goblins with a tad bit more freedom. The real bonus was that he was screwing with his new world, and there wasn't really anything that the Higher Powers of that world could complain about.

When he was done with the relocation project, he ascended to his throne and waited for the more important pieces of paperwork to make their way to him, like the brooms that Mickey manipulated into doing his chores for him.

It was from there that he watched over his world and completed his paperwork, not really minding or caring about much else until the dawn of the first of Fall.

While he couldn't, or still couldn't outright create life from scratch, he could improve on already existing life. Have them evolve or de-evolve if he so wished. That was the present extent of his powers.

It was with this ability that he had the goblins gather dragons for him, the ones that they had within the bank that were either too old or injured to guard vaults properly. There were quite a number of them, around thirty, enough to serve as one of the first dragon colonies to be found in Dreadwurld.

He fooled around with their anatomies for a while until he figured out what exactly it was that he wanted them to be or be capable of.

First he de-aged them, making them all at the very least juvenile, it wouldn't do for any of them to be in their hatchling phase.

They still retained most of their instincts, like there being a need for an Alpha of the flight. Although he could tell that they would, for whatever reason or purpose, see him as their ultimate leader and parent.

He made them more like chameleons, or at least their skin was more like a chameleon allowing them to perfectly blend in with their surroundings if they so wished. Their base form's skin color was a pale white, a color that would stand out in the dark.

Their fire now matched the scorching intensity of the surface of Dreadwurld when the sun was up and out, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, though this did not mean that they would be able to survive on the surface or fly in the skies. They would have to be content with flying through the many caverns and abysses that littered the underground of the world they were now going to call home.

Unlike their Earth cousins, these dragons would not need to eat organic material but rocks, the rocks that littered the underground world. He specified a certain kind of rock that he created on the spot and hid all over the underground for the dragons to discover on their own, though they would have a kind of sixth sense when it came to this source of nutrition.

Also, unlike their cousins, they did not breath oxygen, rather it was magic that filled their lungs. The magic that saturated the world, whose source was Nexus himself.

The days between his acquisition of the British Goblin clans and September the first were filled with him manipulating and changing many different plants and animals that he scattered throughout his underground world. He borrowed life from Earth and made them his own. He was like a child with a lot of play things to mess with and manipulate.

Goblin ecologist, and their brethren, loved it.

They got to be the first to begin cataloging all of the new species of flora and fauna that they found on this strange and mysterious, while at the same time quite deadly, world they now called home.

At first, the majority of the goblins were reluctant to bend the knee to Nexus, but eventually they realized that what had happened to them was a blessing, since their leader was something greater than any goblin or human that they had ever encountered. Here was a Being, as they were not so presumptuous as to call him a god, that controlled an entire world, one whose only inhabitant until they arrived was himself. He also had the power to do so much more than any magical before them.

They also realized that the Ministry of Magical Britain no longer really had much control over them. Treaties and Decrees and Laws stopped at the border, the portal between the two worlds.

"*"

It was on the day before their Leader, for they knew not what to call Nexus, he had given them no title to call him, and it felt rather wrong to simply refer to his as Lord. It was the day before he was to leave his world to restart school, not that the goblins were aware of this, that a wizard managed to stumble his way into Dreadwurld, through the portal.

It was a single man, but with two souls in his body, the owner of the body and a parasitic soul that damned the body's owner from the moment he let himself be possessed.

He may not have been an agent of the Ministry of Magic, but he was a wizard and thus, for the time being, an outsider.

The man and his parasite had been intrigued by this darker world, where it was only thanks to a number of spells cast over themselves that they didn't start to experience the deadly effects of the underworld of Dreadwurld, they were not protected at all from the world as it still was.

Here was a hidden world that the rest of the wizarding world was sure to be unaware of, and he/they was/were the first to discover it.

Then this wizard found his first goblin, and soon found himself surrounded by more than a simple platoon.

He was not asked for his name and purpose, rather he was stunned. He actually believe that these goblins were rebels of a sort as they could perform magic that wizards normally wielded, and thus tried to form some way or plan to get them on his side, and possibly aid him in getting himself a body, the parasite part of this man at least. That was only when he re-awoke from being stunned.

He found himself in an unfinished throne room, or at least what looked like it would later serve as a throne room.

There were finished double doors behind what appeared to be a simple high backed chair on one end of the hall.

Surrounding him were still the goblins that had caught him snooping around.

None questioned him, but forced him to remain on his knees, which he complied, for the time being. He still had his wand though, and thus thought that they saw him as no threat to any of them.

To the parasite within the man, these goblins were fools and future tools.

That was until both parasite and body owner heard a name that none of those present should have known.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle, how nice of you to stop by," a grave voice said, all of the goblins stood straighter as if their leader had just arrived, which was indeed what did happen, "Possessing Quirinius Quirell too, Muggle Studies Professor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How interesting."

The dual named body possessors then saw the speaker and knower of their secrets. They saw him, that they would in a little while know as Nexus Dreadwurld. They watched as this regal and dread causing person sit upon the throne and watched as it took on another form itself.

"It seems you took a wrong turn when you realized that short attempt of theft was a failure from the very beginning," Nexus spoke, "And where are my manners, my apologies. I am Nexus Dreadwurld, and you have found yourself in Dreadwurld, my world. Specifically in the city of Gringotts, first city of the Dreadwurld Goblin Kingdom."

Tom Riddle or the Muggle Studies professor could say nothing, they found that their voices were not within the realm of possibility for them at the moment. Something had removed their ability to speak, and wandlessly too.

"I believe you would be quite interesting, Tom Riddle, in a prophecy that I am aware of the full wording of," Nexus semi-taunted, "One with the power to defeat the dark lord shall be born as the seventh month dies...I believe you are familiar with these words."

The professor whirled around in place, his turban unraveled on its own to reveal another face, one that semi-glared at Nexus.

"I'm sure you'd love to know the rest of it," Nexus said, "That is, if you were capable of experiencing such an emotion. Which I have a feeling you are not. Instead of sharing the rest of the contents of that specific prophecy, I shall be sharing another one with the likes of you."

Tom Riddle gave him a look.

"It is my own prophecy," Nexus said, but before he continued he motioned for all goblins present in the hall/room to leave, which they did as they did not have to worry about anything happening to their title-less leader.

When all of the goblins had left, even Griphook, Nexus had his god-form fade and he appeared before Tom Riddle as Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Get in my way, and I'll do more than kill you," Harry spoke, sinisterly which caught the parasitic dark lord off guard, "I know all about your horcruxes. Your soul anchors, I know all about them. I know where they are, what they are, how to destroy them, and even how you created them. From the murders of your fellow orphan to your discovery of the identity of your own mother Merope Gaunt. I even know how your Head of House at Hogwarts helped you discover your brand of immortality."

Tom Riddle couldn't really do anything other that listen and look on.

"Get in the way of my plans, and I shall do more than destroy you," Harry swore, "But for the time being I shall remove all trace of your discovery of Dreadwurld from your mind, until such a time that I deem such a memory worthy of being returned."

All that Tom Riddle and the stuttering professor would remember would be not managing to steal anything from the bank and making it out alive and not getting caught.

The day after that happened saw Harry Potter, with all of his school things, walking onto Platform 9 ¾ followed by his accounts manager, Griphook. It was a very odd sight, odd enough for a certain red headed family to stop trying to break the law by shouting out to the world the location of the magical platform in a place crowded by muggles.

"Have the notifications been sent out yet?" Harry asked Griphook once they finally made it onto the platform.

"I am still awaiting your orders on that note," Griphook replied, they were talking about the notices to those that had lost their titles and such to Harry and the House of Potter, only Tom Riddle wouldn't be getting a notice since he was technically not among the living.

"Deliver the notices to Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley after the train has departed," Harry instructed, "Along with the letters that I wrote to them regarding the matter that they are to be notified about."

"As you command, my liege," Griphook replied, though made sure that no other wizard heard his words.

"Send out the Carrow, Crabbe, and Goyle, notifications when you think it would be best," Harry added as an afterthought as those three weren't all that important.

"As you say," Griphook said.

"Good," Harry said, "Deliver the two more important ones personally, though don't get killed in the process, there will be no need to wait for a reply."

"I understand," Griphook said, then noticed that they were very close to the train, "Have fun at school my liege."

"Very well then," Harry said, "I leave the less important things regarding the bank and Gringotts to you."

"I understand sir," Griphook said, "And I repeat, do have fun. I shall also remember to send you weekly updates on everything, as well as notify you as soon as I receive more interesting information."

"Good," Harry said, "And thank you, Griphook. I look forward to spending Christmas with all of you in Gringotts, hopefully my home will have been finished by then."

"It will be, sir," Griphook said, and watched as Harry boarded the train.


	35. Living God B4

He found himself an empty compartment, the train wasn't likely to run out of compartments as it was ever expanding to fill the needs of the growing number of students.

It was a compartment located as far from the front of the train as possible. Once inside, he stowed his trunk in one of the overhead compartments, it's weight didn't pose a problem to him.

He settled down on one of the two benches and wondered if he would be meeting anyone new this time around. He was rather curious at that, since he didn't want to have anything more to do with that red headed clan than he absolutely had to.

He didn't really have to wait long before someone decided to see if there was any room available within his chosen compartment. He was a tiny bit surprised when it was a blonde girl instead of a blonde boy that opened the door and let herself in. He briefly entertained the thought that Draco Malfoy was a girl in this world, though didn't need to quash that thought when said blonde walked passed the closing door.

Before the girl could say anything or he could introduce himself to her, the compartment door opened for the second time, this time a black haired girl entered.

The two girls appeared familiar to him, and he had to wrack his ancient memory just to figure out why they were familiar to him.

"I'm Daphne Greengrass," the blonde introduced herself, and motioned to their black haired female companion, "This is Tracey Davis. We'll be staying here for the duration of the trip to Hogsmeade, if you have any problems with that then feel free to leave the compartment, for we aren't budging."

"I wasn't going to complain," Harry stated calmly, "I am Harry Potter, and if you go all ga-ga on me about being the Boy-Who-Lived and all that nonsense, I will throw you both out of this compartment and damn the consequences of such an uncouth action."

He then stood up from his bench and offered the two young witches a seat, or at least to chose where they wished to seat, then he would sit where they didn't wish to sit.

A bit odd for someone his age, but he was anything but normal anyway.

The two witches chose to sit opposite of where he had been sitting, and instead of physically stowing their trunks, they used the levitation charm to do so. It was easier for them, and less of a hassle.

The two witches then proceeded to ignore him as soon as they were seated, something which he didn't mind all that much. He decided that he might as well do something productive than sleep or eat since he didn't really need those two things to survive.

He took out the portfolios of all the families he now had direct control over, what with his being the Head of those families as well as an emancipated minor. He decided to merge the portfolios into one as it would make things easier for him and Griphook.

He was looking into the business part of things, as he believed that such resources should not be wasted. He needed to know the exact extent of his financial power, without resorting to his powers, and figure out the best way to use them, abuse them, and improve them.

He floated all of the pertinent documents before him, it appeared as wandless magic of course, which in a sense and a way it was, and it had the effect of causing his two companions to momentarily watch him work before noticing that he was actually working, in the adult sense of the word.

This display intrigued them enough not to disturb him, knowing that it must be important stuff. They also fully realized that he didn't have parents to do these kinds of things for him, like they did. This was real work after all and not something that they believed they could do themselves.

They had seldom encountered someone, that had living parents, that could and would willingly what this fellow first year was doing right before them.

Though in the end their curiosity broke through and Tracey just had to ask him what exactly what it was that he was doing.


	36. Living God C1

"_You can't be serious.._" the Master of the Eastern Worlds of Everything and Nothing said with slight disbelief as he heard of the request from the leader of the group that he belonged to.

He was a man that dressed in the fashion of a Chinese martial arts master, a mostly black with some white garb. He had long black hair that was tied in a long braid that hung behind him.

"_I __**am**__ quite serious about my request,_" the Master of the Crossworlds of Everything and Nothing stated, no amount of humor leaking into his voice.

This was a man that wore a doctor's lab coat over a blue polo shirt while wearing brown pants and leather shoes. He even had a stethoscope handing from his neck, and a first aid kit hanging from his belt.

"_But it has technically never been done before,_" the Master of the Western Worlds of Everything and Nothing said, "_We know not what could happen, or would happen for that matter. We know not how it could affect all that we are, were, and will be._"

This member of the group of _**FIVE**_ had short gelled light brown hair and wore a business suit of the most exquisite and expensive of makes. Custom tailored to fit him, and only him. Black leather shoes adorned his feet to match with the whole professional look and feel about him.

"_He has made his decision,_" the Master and Guardian of the Gate of Entrance, which was the gate through which all new Ideas or all things new flowed into to join with Everything and Nothing, stated monotonously, "_Who are we truly to hinder him. I shall personally aid him in this project of his, by monitoring the influx of Ideas as well as any bursts of fracturing in Everything and Nothing._"

This was a man shrouded in nothing but black garments, his long black bangs hid his face from view, the only features visible to those that gazed upon his face were his pulsating gold outlined crimson eyes.

"_I second the motion to let him do as he pleases,_" the fifth member of the group and the one who had the youngest of voices, the Master and Guardian of the Gate of Exit, through which all things eventually left through to become nothing or be recycled back to into new ideas once more, "_I shall monitor that which removes itself from Everything and Nothing. I shall further monitor the stability of All Things._"

Think of a child that is garbed in a robe of shadows and stars, a child in features and manner of motion, yet that the same time bellies in all other movement an agelessness that should not be sensed or felt coming from one with such a youngish form. Sitting patiently at his side is his ever present companion the wolf-formed "the End and the Void". This wolfish creature can be likened to the hound of Ragnarok.

"_Fine..I'll help as well,"_ the Easterner said, "_I shall restrict a fifth of your hold of Everything and Nothing, you shall be as a lesser power in this world of your creation for I refuse to play host to any project you deem worthy of suddenly springing on us _**FIVE**_._"

"_I shall grant you the same courtesy, while at the same time refuse the use of one of my already pre-existing worlds,_" the Westerner stated, conceding in the granting of his support of the undertaking, _"I shall also restrict your power further, to the point that you shall be little more than a lesser god. That should keep the sum of Everything and Nothing from collapsing in and on itself._"

"_Very well then,_" the man that was the master of the nexus of worlds said, "_Let us begin with our conjuring, our imagining, our creating. Let us begin the creation of this world I shall reside in for a smattering of time before returning to this plane of existence amongst you, my brethren.._"

#

They envisioned a world similar to most any other world that can be compared to this world that we live in. This Earth. But at the same time it was different, it held within it things that were more than meets the eye.

It was a world that matched its main creator in name. It was a crossover of many worlds, but mostly those of fantastical realms.

It was a world befitting of Crius Crossworld.

He was Crius Crossworld, or Crius of the Crossworlds, the Nexus of All Worlds, or the Nexus of All Realities, there were a bunch of other names for what he was master and supreme ruler of as well as his position among _**THOSE FIVE**_.

At the beginning, the early stages, of this world, he was the most powerful of all the gods. But as time passed or moved forward his power eventually started to wane. It was as his comrades had said, they would restrict his power, power that was kept limited in the _immortal_ shell that he resided in while in this world of his partial creation.

Greek, Norse, Roman, Catholic, Hindu, Taoist, and whole host of other pantheons of varying polytheistic and monotheistic religions, came and went. Their existences and lives spanning as long and short as the existence of their believers, sometimes returning from the great beyond a few times when enough belief returned to the world, enough for them to return to some semblance of power over things.

But he was different in this world. He was one of the Primary Creators and thus immune to the need for belief to power him. He simply existed and lived in the world once the initial creation stages of life and the world had passed.

He lived and aged, slower than the world around him though, as ages passed him by. He moved from one place to another as the decades turned to centuries and the centuries into millenniums.

For it was not a vacation that he created the world, there was an ulterior purpose, a motive of his own for the world's creation.

He sought out to create a latest addition to his own archive of stories, his own addition to a great number of Ideas that had, in recent memory, joined a greater number.

This latest addition was a soul, a soul who was mortal yet had enough power to be hailed as a god. He would age as any mortal would, but would live a lot longer than most mortals and those that fashioned themselves as immortal, but he would eventually die.

This soul would be like a reincarnation of the power that Crius had been allowed to take with him when he joined the lifestream of this world of his partial creation. Like a reincarnation in the sense that he would eventually live alongside this soul of his choosing or creation and die within that soul's eleventh year of life, or so.

Crius never did bother to tell his comrades what he had planned with this soul, this mortal that would house the power of a god. Though he hadn't needed to tell them with words as his facial expression before journeying off into this adventure of his gave them all the information they needed, as well as all the warning they needed for the potential chaos that was to come.

As he was a creator, it stood to reason that his creation would be a destroyer to balance him out.

A potential end of the world, a potential harbinger of Armageddon.

He didn't know when exactly or where he would meet this soul that held within himself, for he was sure that it would be a he that wielded his power, all he was sure of, aside from the gender, was that they would eventually meet and he would have just enough time to tutor this soul in the use of his gift of godliness.


	37. Living God C2

His time with his parents were some of his most cherished deeply buried within him times. Those days of happiness and near simplicity ended on his first Halloween night as a one year old. His parents were killed, his father stalling for time for himself and his mother to escape and his mother protecting him.

He watched the traumatizing event with both his eyes held wide open. It was his first experiencing with death as well, green energy had covered him in a shroud, and had been forcibly ejected back at their source, their origin. It also served as his first _kill_ too.

From there he was treated like a little prince from the day that he had been dropped unceremoniously and unconspicuously on the doorstep of his maternal aunt's house in Surrey. He enjoyed his time as some almost spoiled boy, up until his whole world came crashing down around him once again. This time in the form of betrayal when he had his first bout of accidental magic.

Yes magic. For magic was very real, and it flowed thickly within the blood within his veins.

It had been nothing but a small show of levitation, nothing harmful. Just a red ball almost hitting his cousin on the nose, stopping it in mid-air and having it fall harmlessly at his cousin's side.

It his relatives first encounter with that side of him, and it was their last, as his uncle would have nothing more to do with him and swiftly raised him by the back of his shirt and carted him off to the big city where he was dumped in some derelict part of said city and told that he was never welcome in his aunt's home ever again.

They'd thought him as being normal like them, but apparently they were wrong and he had only been biding his time for whatever reason he might have had.

That was when he was but five years old, to the second of his birth too.

While it had been his first betrayal, it just so happened to also be his first experience of hope.

It was there, in that derelict part of town that he met the man that he would later see as more of a grandfather if not a father. One that he could truly remember and would forever remember as the one person that had been with him from when he had hit rock bottom until he reached the heights of power, or close enough to it.

It was there and at that time that he met his first ever friend, his aunt, uncle, and cousin, even though he was young, could not be considered as such as not only had they been family, they had also betrayed him when his uncle ad he ad of the family kicked him out of house and home. For a little while at least.

A bit cliché, but it was raining when the two of them met for the very first time.

The rain was really pouring and there wasn't another soul around that dared to show him any care or give him any shred of hope. That was until he felt the rain stop pouring on him, the water slowed its descent against his head.

He looked up to see the wrinkled face of an old man had and who was also holding the umbrella that was keeping the rain at bay.

"Found you at least," the old man said, "I've been looking all over for you," he reached out a helping hand, "Come along then, stand up and let's get out of this rain."

He took the old man's outstretched hand and allowed the man to pull him to his feet, his soaked form making him shiver when a random gust of wind brushed past them.

He walked with the man, who had lent him his overcoat, a tad bit too big for his small frame, but at least it kept him warm and protected from the cold winds blowing all around them. Unknown to him it was simply the elements greeting him and celebrating, this also being the cause for the rain, the element of water was dancing with the element of wind.

They arrived at a modest house, in the mid-level income residential part of the city. He was led into a room with its own private bathroom and handed a towel.

"Go shower, it wouldn't do for the rain water to dry on you," the old man said, "You might just catch a cold, or worse, do that while I fetch you some clothes."

He was left in the room by the old man then, and did as he was advised. He noted that there was nothing in the room that could keep him from leaving, even the door had been left unlocked. So he just did as the old man said, not worrying about the old man being a stranger.

After leaving the bathroom, he found a set of clothes just his size laid out on the bed in the room, they were obviously for him. So he put them on and found that they fit him perfectly. Though he did wonder why such dreary colors were chosen for him, shirt, pants, socks, and shoes, were all black.

He walked, freely, out of the room and explored a little bit before finding the old man preparing some food for, as he guessed, the two of them.

It was over dinner, as he found it was around that time already, that the old man told him his name.

"I am Crius Crossworld, a rather unique name now don't you think?" the old man said.

"Yes, sir," he shyly replied, not sure whether what he said was wrong or right, but it felt right so he might as well go with it.

"Good, good," Crius, the old man, said, "How's the food?"

"Good, sir," he replied once again, "Thank you for it, and for helping me out of the rain."

"You are very much welcome," Crius said, "Now, let's get down to business. As I said earlier, I have been looking for you."

"Why is that, sir?" he asked the old man, butting in was normally rude but the old man supposed that this one whipper snapper could be exempted for the time being from that rule.

"Well, I was about to get to that, so listen," Crius said, "No questions until I say you can ask, understand," a nod was the reply, so he continued, "Now, as I was saying...You are special, more special than any other soul in this world save for my own. For your soul and your self are in a sense reincarnations of myself, and don't go thinking that I'm a ghost or something, its more that my essence had slowly been leaving me through the years and reforming into one such as yourself."

He gulped down some water before continuing.

"I," he pointed at himself, "Am not a normal person either. I too am special, just like you are yet at the same time different."

"How?" the boy asked, interrupting even though he knew he shouldn't.

"Well, whereas you can get sick or injured," Crius replied, not bothering to scold his young companion, "I cannot. I can only grow old, and one day I shall leave this mortal coil as I agreed to, with very little chance or returning or visiting again."

"So you can't get sick or hurt?" the boy asked.

"I cannot," Crius said, "I can only grow old and eventually, like most others in this world or reality, die. You, on the other hand, can get sick and can get hurt. But what sets you apart from everyone else in this world, save for myself in a sense, is that you are a mortal god. Think of the Christian savior, Jesus the Christ but with the powers of his Heavenly father."

"R-Really?" the boy asked incredulously, "But I don't feel all that special...my family don't want me anymore after all."

"Well they don't matter," Crius said, "I've been waiting thousands of years to meet you, and I'm not about to give you up right now. I am not your aunt, uncle, and cousin. I'm not your aunt Marge who is sure to not like you either at the moment. I told you who I am and more or less what I am, you can even say that I am your ancestor of a sort. So before I continue, I'd like for you to agree to call me grandpa. Ok?"

"Huh...ok..?" the boy said, rather surprised at such turn of events, he hadn't been expecting this at all when he woke up earlier that day, in the morning. He hadn't been expecting to be thrown to the curb by his formerly loving uncle either.

"Good," Crius said, "It might take me some time to convince you of what I'm telling you, but within you is the power of a god, although not on the scale of total reality manipulation. You are not some all powerful entity, just more powerful than any mortal on this world. You do not have the power to force your will onto others, but you can sway or manipulate their actions, Free Will is something that you are unable to truly eradicate, but I'm not saying that the Jedi Mind Trick won't work."

"Jedi Mind Trick?" the boy asked.

"I'll have you watch Star Wars some time," Crius said, a bit exasperatedly, "Anyway, since you'll be living with me now, I'll be teaching you as much as I am able to about your abilities, those from myself and those from your parents, while I didn't personally know them I know enough about them. I've also made sure that you will be legally seen as my grandson in all of the world governments."

"R-Really?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was like some sort of fantastic tale from out of some bored person's imagination.

"Yes, really," Crius said, "Everything was sent into motion the moment that I stumbled upon you. Mind you, I wasn't aware that you were there, but we met, and that's all that really matters."

"Err...thank...I guess," the boy said, "So if I'm your grandson now...do I get a new name or something?"

"I have decided to call you Nexus Deadworld, for I cannot in good conscience give you my last name as that would designate you as my heir in greater things, if anyone asks, say that Deadworld was from your father's side of the family."

"Ok," the newly dubbed Nexus said, "But what is Deadworld? And why does it have the word 'dead' in it?"

"Deadworld is your own little world," Crius said, and handed over pendant of sorts, it was a marble that pulsated with a soft inner light, "This is Deadworld, or at least a representation of it in this world of ours. It is your own private little world of life, your own reality, your own dimension where what you say is law or truth. It is presently dead, and it will be up to you to fill it up with life."

"But what does that have to do with my name?" Nexus asked.

"A lot," Crius said, "My name is Crius Crossworld, or Crius of Crossworld, or Crius of the Crossworlds. In another life, the one that I have temporarily left behind or in a sense taken a vacation from, I am Master of the Crossworlds, which are realities made up of intersecting realities, you'll understand as you grow older I'm sure."

"But what does my name have to do with anything?" Nexus asked, bit impatiently.

"Patience, my child, patience," Crius advised, "You are Nexus Deadworld or Nexus of Deadworld, or Nexus of the Deadworld. Singular. Your world is the Deadworld. What does such a name have to do with anything? Well, in a sense you are my anti-thesis. You are my opposite in this reality, you are my balance. Where as I am a creator, you are a destroyer. I brought brought order into this world, you shall shatter that order."

"..." Nexus couldn't form a reply to that statement. His jaw kind of hit the floor with that little revelation.

"Of course as our life together progresses, I shall expound more on everything as I teach you my ways," Crius said, "And even though I said that you are my anti-thesis, my opposite, that doesn't mean that you have to act as it if you don't want to. While my strength lies in creation and yours in destruction, mine in order and yours in chaos, that does not mean that you have to be that way. You still have Free Will, something that everything that has at least some semblance of sentience has, and cannot readily be revoked."

"Ok.." Nexus said and his life as Crius' grandson truly began.

"Wait...one more question," Nexus said.

"Yes?" Crius said, after gulping down the rest of his glass of water.

There was a long **pregnant** pause.

"...I forgot what it was," Nexus said, it was as if the divine writer of his script had taken a break from making stuff up and returned only to forget the last thought that was to be included, and as if it had been an afterthought as well.


	38. Living God C3

Nexus Deadworld wasn't sent to either public or private schools, he was home schooled by Crius, a feat that would normally not be allowed had it not been for Crius' own extensive list of credentials.

While not publicly known, there was a secret list of his credentials, he held the true world record of most number of degrees, master's degrees, PhDs, and post-PhDs. His academic credentials were through the roof.

What was also not publicly known was that he had diplomatic immunity in all countries no matter how big or how small, and no one really knew how that was possible and no one really had the authority to say otherwise. This immunity also gave him unrestricted access to anywhere and everywhere in the world.

Crius planned on having Nexus also eventually match his record, as well as have the same immunity and zero-restrictions that he did. He even planned on making sure that Nexus was above as many laws as he possibly could.

That last part was kept secret from Nexus until he had enough on his growing list.

Crius tried to make sure that Nexus met and made friends with others his age. There were a number of places that children could meet that didn't have to be a school or daycare. Such as theme parks, zoos, libraries, museums, malls even. There were so many places, but it was a wonder that the boy didn't really make any friends his age.

Most of the boy's friends were older than him by a number of years, he practically didn't have anyone that he could call a friend that was his own age.

He had many friends, a few close ones, but no best friends yet. He had friends scattered all across the globe, both that lived out in the open or in some hidden community.

The closest to a best friend that he had went by the name Tito Magio, who was an Italian businessman that had one hand in legal business and the other in questionable business.

The two of them met when Crius was out shopping for chemicals, for who knows what reason, and left Nexus on his own with some pocket money. Nexus had been six at the time.

Nexus had been walking around the American city that the grandson and grandfather pair were for that week when he stumbled upon a shootout between law enforcement and what must have clearly been members of the underground.

He might have been a child, but Crius had a way of rubbing off his maturity and intellect on the boy, that alongside the multiple number of lessons that had been continuously crammed into the boy's skull, made him just look like a six year old.

He had also, at the time, managed to master the powers of the element of wind, the air, or the sky. This mastered power helped the boy greatly when he gave into the side that was opposite of what Crius was in this world. That being the chaotic majority of himself.

He turned into wind, or became one with the wind as it could be described as, and jumped into the fray. Forcing the wind currents to gather around him, which he then directed into keeping the underground agents from getting too banged up.

His saving of Tito happened when the SWAT arrived and had their snipers start doing the firing. The shootout was between a blockage of cop cars and a barricaded building from where the underground operatives were holed up and waiting for some sort of miracle.

Tito had dived into the way of one of his men intent on taking the bullet for said man, when suddenly the bullet that should have blasted through him was found spinning just an inch away from his back as if a mini-tornado had caught the bullet in its grasp.

Even the sniper that had fired the piece of metal had been surprised at what had happened for the bullet that was revolving could be seen through the scope. The man found himself unconscious after a blast of condensed wind was forced at his form, that was about the same time that Nexus began to take the form of swirling winds that picked up some dust particles making his form visible.

Stuttering, Tito had asked him who or what he was, and of course, still being a six year old in some ways, he answered honestly. Nexus had even given the man his address, he had a feeling that Crius wouldn't mind at all.

Which was the case when he met up with Crius once again, after the old man called him telepathically. The old man was quite excited about the whole thing.

Tito had gone over the pond to London, not to visit the Queen, but to visit Nexus just to see if he was going insane or if what had happened to him was real.

Of course Tito found Nexus and Crius living at the address that he had been told by the _wind sprite_.

The two actually, really, became friends once Nexus convinced the mobster, for that was what he was, even though he was from one of the lesser or minor families, to not go off and face the his London rival without the some protection.

The boy had stated that he did not wish the life that he had saved to be wasted due to not being prepared. He, Nexus, didn't have anything against going to the mattresses so to speak, he just had a problem with Tito going out with little protection against the rival that he was to be facing.

Nexus was more than aware of all the hidden worlds and realms within the world, this world, so he knew that the Zabini Famiglia was not one to mess with with just modern or conventional means, weapons, and protections.


	39. Living God D1

For as long as he could remember, he had been having such strange, yet wondrous, dreams. Every single one had felt so real that waking up was more comparable to a nightmare than anything else.

He didn't enjoy waking up, not in the slightest. Waking up and leaving his dream world seemed, to him, to be one of the, if not, the most hated of experiences for him. If he had his way, he'd probably keep on dreaming until his body drew its last breath.

The difference, if he shared his dream experiences with anyone, between his dreams and anyone else's dreams was that he could remember each and every detail of each dream. He could vividly remember each and every sensation, action, feeling. Everything was as clear as day or crystal to him and his memory.

There was also the fact that it was in full blown technicolor. The only times that his dream world turned gray was whenever he felt extremely depressed or sad, then it would rain around him and all would turn into shades of black and white.

His dream world also seemed to be more alive than the waking world, or at least that's how it seemed or felt to him. He felt more connected to the world around him in his dream world as compared to the waking world.

For in the waking world, he hadn't really experienced much happiness or joy, just hardship and sorrow mostly. He was the skinny black sheep of the Dursley household, the unwanted nephew of the perfectly normal family. He was the blight upon the lives of model citizens. He was the burden that the Dursley family wished they could be rid of.

He was the one that was made to perform all the chores, that normally would have or should have been shared by the two children living in the same house. He was also made to perform the chores that the housewife was supposed to do, such as cooking, to name one of those other more important chores or household duties.

He was treated a little bit better than a slave, but even then such a description was pushing it.

There were times when he was denied food, times when he was denied shelter although it was a miracle that none of the neighbors found out about such treatment.

There were even times when he was denied medical attention, even for broken bones.

He could really be considered as some sort of freak of nature, but not because of the reason that his relations believed as being worth calling a child an unwanted and ungrateful freak.

No matter how long he was starved, deprived of food and drink, left out in the cold or heat without reprieve, or beaten until almost all of his bones were broken. No matter how much abuse his smaller than average body was forced to endure, he survived.

He was a survivor it seemed. His freakishness was his ability to survive no matter how much the odds were against him. Anyone else would have already fallen into the great abyss due to all the forms of mental, emotional, and physical torture that he had been forced to go through. But not him, he lived. He was the boy who lived, more than twice over even.

Whatever condition his body was in while in the waking world, it was not so in his dream world. He was as fit as a fiddle and more over there. Though there was one thing that was the same with both worlds, he never really strayed too far from where he lived in each world.

In the waking world he was restricted by his aunt and uncle, only going out in public when his relatives absolutely had to take him, or school which wasn't really much fun considering that his cousin and company were there to beat on him. In the dream world he was restricted for some reason to a mountain, but usually he found himself sitting crossed legged atop a large rock.

His experiences in both worlds were rather different, as were the kinds of people he met and interacted with.

His uncle and aunt always gave him a rather highly negative vibe, his cousin was a growing, nigh, clone of his father. But the peoples that he met in his dream world were either friendly, respectful, or both. Some even showed him some form of love, he liked that feeling.

He really did wish sometimes that the worlds would switch places. That the waking world was the dream or nightmare while the dream world was the waking world. He wouldn't mind sitting upon a rock for days on end, atop a mountain, while people visited him or asked him for favors.

It was in the dream world that he first encountered prayers, and religion in general. It was there that he had his first experience of being in a temple, and he didn't mind remaining within it either.

He really did wish that the waking world really was a dream, or for the two worlds to be truly real to him and more than just him.

He wasn't aware that as he grew older, some of what he experienced in the dream world crossed over into the waking world. Such as the darkening of the sky when he was a little sad, or how bright and sunny a day could get if he was ever happy for whatever reason.

His green thumb was very green indeed, his aunt's garden became one of the, if not the, best in all of the neighborhood and had even at one time been featured in some gardening magazine. A botanist had come to visit the garden once, after the garden had been featured in that one magazine, to have a gander at the plants and their state of health.

He'd asked for a pot of one of the smaller flowers, that could have been mistaken for a weed but wasn't. The man had ringed back that the plant was in excellent condition, better than most samples that the man had ever seen or taken care of.

But that one plant, even as it was given everything that should have kept it healthy could not remain in tip top shape for very long as it was quite far from its true caretaker. The botanist was puzzled and wondered or wanted to know how that could have been, what had caused such a thing to happen.

He ringed the green thumbed boy's aunt to find out what her secret was, and no matter the amount of money offered for the secret, she just wouldn't budge. The man didn't bother them anytime after that conversation.

The weather responded to his emotions, the animals and plants responded to his touch. All around him, the world itself seemed to be drawn to him as if he had some power within him over them or something in him that connected him to them.

He didn't know about it, nor did he notice it.

Then came the morning of his eleventh birthday. A man rang the doorbell just as the morning mail arrived. He brought with him a simple looking letter, addressed to a most peculiar, to anyone else, address and quite a normal name.

_Harry Potter, The Cupboard Under The Stairs_.

The dreamer's name was Harry Potter and he did live in the cupboard under the stairs, he also just happened to be the one ordered to fetch the mail. He had also been the one to ask the man that had rung the bell who he was and what was his business with the Dursley family.

The man's answer was short and simple. It was rather to the point, unlike these sentences that just add length to the telling of a tale.

"I am here, young Mister Potter," the man had said, "To acquire legal guardianship of yourself from your relatives."

"What's taking you so long boy!" his uncle bellowed from within the deeper recesses of the pristine house.

It was after that bellow that the boy knew that something was definitely up, and it wasn't the second floor of the house. He and the man just appeared in the kitchen where the Dursleys were enjoying their breakfast.

"Vernon Dursley," the man greeted the purpling man at such an intrusion into his own home, "I am Crius Crossworld, and I have quite some good news for you. I am here to take your nephew off of your hands, permanently," he then pulled out a couple of important looking documents and handed them over to the large man, "All I need to make it official is for you to sign these documents, and have your wife sign them as well."

"..." the Dursleys were a bit lost for words at this point in time.

"I am giving you a way to be rid of the waste of space you call a nephew," the man, Crius, stated or repeated in simpler terms that the intellectually inept family could understand, "Just sign the papers and I'll make sure that the boy never has to darken your door unless you invite him over for tea or some sort of social function, ever again."

That got the large man moving, he grabbed the moments later offered fancy looking pen and signed his name in all the indicated places and quickly managed to convince his wife into doing the same. The large man even had his son write a letter that in some weird sense released himself of any need to consort with his black haired cousin ever again. Pity that.

By the time that all the papers vanished to wherever they were meant to go, to be filed perhaps, the Dursleys were back to being all alone in _their_ house. They would later find out that all the things that had been owned by Lily Potter nee Evans and Harry Potter were no longer in the house.

Later on the week, the Dursley family would suffer for their past actions regarding one Harry Potter as each of their sins were somehow revealed to the public. One of the biggest blows that the family had to suffer was the loss of their house, along with Vernon's job. The house was actually a property that was owned by the relative that had basically been kicked out, and the majority stockholder of the company where Vernon worked at was also owned by said relative.

The house was lent by Lily Potter to her sister Petunia Dursley, so that Petunia and her family would not need to have to go house hunting. Grunnings Drilling Corporation was co-founded by Charlus Potter, Harry's paternal grandfather, and Vernon had been offered a job there as he had quite the sparkling track record.

Little Whinging, Surrey neither hide nor hair of the raven haired boy that used to live at number 4 Privet Drive. All the people that had believed the Durlseys were rather appalled at themselves for judging a book by its cover, instead of taking a peek at its contents.

Not that any of that was of any concern to one Harry James Potter.

"*"

Harry Potter had been brought by the man that he had met on the morn of his eleventh birthday to a world that was rather familiar to him. It was like a dream come true, and in a sense it really was.

"You used to call this world, in your mind at least, your dream world," Crius told the no longer a boy and yet not yet a teen, "I shall explain why and how we are here."

"So...this is really real?" Harry asked, his awe was overwhelming.

"Very really real," Crius replied, then began his explanation of the how and the why, "This world is your world, it is your imagination or at least was partially born from it," he noticed that the boy was about to interrupt him thus he held up a hand, "No interrupting, wait until I'm done to ask your questions," the man said, and only continued when the two of them were standing, after being instantaneously transported to the cliff edge of a very familiar mountain to the boy..

"I was tinkering with the In-Between, which is the term used for spaces between existence or stores as I like to call them," Crius continued with his explanation, "When you made a wish about a place where you could be yourself, it was a subconscious thing so don't worry about not remembering it."

He had to hold up his hand once again and leveled the boy with a half-glare stop any question from spilling forth.

"I heard that wish and granted it," Crius said, "I tied this world, or what it used to be, with yourself. This world is a reflection of yourself, mind, body, spirit, and soul. In short, I turned you into a god of sorts. You remember that rock you always find yourself on?"

"Yes, sir," Harry replied, knowing of which rock the man spoke of.

"That was the first thing you ever created in what had once been a void of endless space," Crius said, "I hope I don't need to tell you what that particular rock is referred to as, do I?"

"No, sir," Harry replied, "It is called the Egg of Life, for it was from there that all life began, or at least that's what I often heard monks and priests explain to tourists or pilgrims."

"As I was saying," Crius said, "This is your world, that rock is your primary seat of power."

"I understand," the boy said, "I never really thought that I was anyone special in this world, I always just assumed that I was dreaming and thus I was someone of importance."

"That's alright, at least now you are more aware of what you are," Crius said, then continued, "That is how this world came to be, all life in it was imagined by you into existence. You have a healthy interest in both sides of what you refer to as the waking world. In this world, your world, there is a balance between technology and the supernatural or magic which is less of a mouthful. Although such things are not as they appear in the waking world."

"Oh," Harry said, he actually hadn't known that.

"This is a world where science and magic are two sides of the same coin," Crius further explained, "While it might not have been as you had initially intended it to be, it is what you subconsciously wished, that and your heritage shone through a bit."

Crius then handed over the letter he still had with him to the boy.

"That is your Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry acceptance letter," Crius said, "In it you shall find the actual letter as well as a list of material requirements that you'll be needing for the school year should you accept."

"I guess seeing as I'm a god of a sort, magic shouldn't be that hard to fathom," Harry said, "Though I'm not quite sure how I'm to use my powers...?"

"We have enough time for me to explain the basics to you," Crius said, "After all, I'm of a higher Tier of Higher Power myself. Most of the things, like the running of this world of yours is all subconscious, even when you are sleeping or unconscious this place continues to exist. So don't worry about that aspect of things."

"Ok," Harry said, patiently waiting for the rest of what he was sure was quite an explanation.

"I've explained all you really need to know about the creation of this world and your role in it," Crius said, "I've given you your letter of acceptance, all that is left is to inform you of what this world has to do with your waking world as well as the fact that both of your parents went to that very school that you have been accepted into. That and in the waking world I shall be your legal guardian, which is why I have taken it upon myself to oversee everything that has to do with you, be it, political, financial, and everything else we can both think of."

"Then I'm definitely going to this school," Harry said, then asked how was he to deliver a confirmatory reply, Crius said he'd already taken care of it.

"Good," Crius said, "As to the relationship between this world and the waking world. At present, this world is in the distant past of the waking world. It is several million years older than the waking world. This world is also the source of the magic of the waking world. As to the reason for our being here, in this time, in the past, it is because this will be the last time that you will be living half in the past and half in the present. There is an unalterable event that will happen, due to the Free Will that the mortals of this world have, you will be a little more than powerless to stop it from happening, even I would not want to stop it from happening."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Well...I'll just let you experience it all yourself," Crius said, "Wouldn't want to spoil something like this for you."

With that, Crius seemingly vanished, but he did leave a telepathic message about seeing him later.

'_This is simply the dream world...I've really gotta figure out what its really called, I doubt I named it anything after all,_' Harry thought to himself as he made his way to where he knew his rock would be found, '_When I'm dreaming, or at least I thought I had been dreaming, when in reality I had really been here, living my life here, to make something happen I just thought it or simply did it. I guess belief in the impossible or possible is all that it should take, though I do have a feeling that there's something missing...oh well..._'

He didn't need to look where he was going, as he swiftly made his way to the hall in which his rock sat, and leaped onto it as soon as it came within his sights. It was a jump that he wouldn't have normally been able to do, but with his eyes opened to what he was, it was no problem at all. It did make him wonder though if he could replicate such a feat in the waking world, he had never tried before though.

He'd never really bothered with finding out what he usually wore, and since no one seemed to mind whatever it was that he was wearing, which he soon found out was white dark gray pants, a white long sleeved shirt, and something like a gray poncho over it all.

Since he didn't feel like walking around, he simply sat upon his rock and listened to what were actually worshippers of himself, he wasn't aware that he was the god of the world here after all. He granted some minor wishes, but not things that his gut told him were not worth it or good at all, either for the person or anyone that would be affected by the wish.

He also waited for the event to happen.

It took the whole day before it actually happened. It was at the very end of the day, just as midnight was about to strike and when no one was around but him and the moonlight that fell upon his form from a gap in the ceiling of the hall, that one of the warrior monks came rushing into the hall, some of his monk uniform had splatters of what could only be blood.

"My Lord Nexus," the monk, panting, said, "I implore you, just this once...aid us...in the defense of our mountain...there is an alliance of a number of nations...they seek to take control of us...and use us in controlling everywhere else...please..." those were the final words of that monk, as his wounds from the battle that was waging beyond the temple walls.

'_Gods are supposed to be omniscient...then...why didn't I know about the battle?_' Harry, or Nexus as he was referred to in this world, wondered, and found out that it was because he had been in deep thought which clouded his awareness, '_I see..._'

He realized that unlike the waking world where there were many religions, this world, his world, had only one at the moment. His. He had a feeling that whatever he decided that night would change that number.

He waited upon his rock, with a plan in mind, for the invaders, those attackers that dared to try and claim his world's equivalent of the Vatican when it came to Christianity of the waking world, to arrive.

When the first of them did, they demanded that they and their nations be blessed by him submitting to their will.

"You see yourselves as above a god?" he asked them, it was a rhetorical question, and some of them regretted their wording, "It seems that being so accessible has made you lot doubt my divinity."

"What? No!" one of the attacker hurriedly said, noting that something was definitely wrong.

The attackers weren't all believers, some believed that the boy before them was nothing more than some powerful magical practitioner, or at the most the avatar of their god.

"Its not like that at all!"

"I see clear through your lies," Nexus stated monotonously as the leader of the invaders entered the hall.

"Enough fooling around boy!" one of the leaders, a dwarf by the look of him, "Step down, your time is over! We've conquered your land! Your time of pulling the strings over the nations and races has come to an end!"

"Ah, I see, so that's how it is," Nexus said, adopting a contemplative look, he chose not to be omniscient (he could be subconsciously after all), "You are usurpers and non-believers."

"We all know the story of the Egg of Life, how all life sprung from it, and how you were the first of said life to be born," the dwarf all but roared out, "Your time is over, and ours has just begun!"

"Think what you will, Mordrok," Nexus said to the drawf, even using his name, "While there are those that chose not to believe in my divinity, there are none that do not believe in my rock."

"Your rock? Your rock?" Mordrok said, distastefully, "That isn't YOUR rock, it is the Egg of Life and thus the property of no one."

"Think what you will," Nexus said, "I am Nexus and this is my rock, without it, or without it whole, you will not have any power here and my mountain will be of no use to you."

"What are you saying? You gonna crack the Egg of Life in two?" the dwarf mocked.

"Something like that," Nexus said, nonchalantly, "Since this is an egg...I think its about time it hatched, don't you?"

"What..?" one man asked.

"_**Come forth my children! Go forth and multiply! From one to two, from two to four, from four to sixteen!**_" the words just came to him, from some distant age in the future or the past, he knew not, "_**Look after my world in my stead! Come forth...and GO!**_"

As he rushed while speaking those words, tiny cracks began to appear around the rock, which just as it was named was shaped like an egg. Then at the words 'come forth and', the egg's outer shell shattered, showering all that were within the hall with the rocky shattered shell. At the command of 'go!' Nexus along with whatever was within the rock shattered like glass and balls of light exited the hall and the temple, shooting in all directions.

When the dust settled, all that was left of the Egg of Life was half of it, the half that was not facing the entrance to the hall, and nothing of Nexus could be seen within the hall save for a pendant with a design that matched the an etched design visible inside of what remained of the Egg of Life.

The symbol looked like the numbers 3, 7, and 5, The lower curve of the 3 was interested by the upper horizontal line of the 7, and the diagonal of the 7 went slightly through the upper horizontal line of the 5.

The warriors dragged one of the remaining priests into the hall to have him explain the symbol on the pendant as well as the one in the Egg. The man couldn't come up with one, nor could he.

The same symbol began etching itself on the walls of the hall, as well as the floor. Covering every inch of the hall in it.

When that was over and done with, the etchings bled black, and like paint they covered every available permanent surface. This was followed by silver words to appear on every surface in the hall.

_3 for time, past, present, and future._

_7 for the base elements of earth, fire, wind, water, shadow, and light._

_5 for the four corners of North, South, East, and West, the fifth being the central _nexus_ of the four._

_375 for the number of days in a single year._

_3 for life, death, and rebirth._

There were so much more, much much more. It was like a code was being written out, or rules, or laws, no one in that hall that was mortal could understand what was being written all around them. But all knew they were significant.

Then a vision of unmatched beauty, at the time, appeared before them, wearing a gown of white light. She appeared amidst the illuminated darkness.

"_Ye who hath scorned mine father, leave!_" her voice did not match the vision of beauty that was her, it was icy cold and sent chills up and down the men's spines, some of the lesser ones rushed out of the hall in fear for their lives, "_These words are not for thine eyes._"

Even more men ran out of the hall after those last words were spat out.

The only ones that actually dared to remain were Mordrok, the priest, and a mage.

"_Three of your great number remain,_" she said, "_While your other companions scattered to the far four corners of the world to spread word of what has transpired here, and all of your roles in it._"

"Y-yes..well," Mordrok tried to say something, anything at all that wouldn't get him in trouble.

"_Halt, speak not,_" she said, "_I am Galatea, a name chosen by my father, my father whom you have driven away from his own creation and home. You were a fool to challenge divinity Mordrok son of Murdrok._"

"Lady Galatea..these words..what are their purpose?" the lone priest of the group asked, braving whatever anger she might have for him.

"_I hold no anger toward my father's faithful companions," _she told the priest, "_These words are His words, they are his codes, his rules, his laws. Do you wish for an updating copy of them?_"

"If it were possible...the people have a right to know about this new development," the priest said.

"_Very well then,_" she said, and conjured a book into one hand and had it float its way into the hands of the priest, "_Only my father's Temple shall have an automatically updating copy of his words, you may have the contents copied for other places._"

"Thank you, my lady," the priest said, "I am Shiorio."

"_I know_," she said, "_You, mage, know that my father shall not return here for some time, but will rejoin us __slowly from another world._"

"I shall remember those words, my lady," the mage said.

"_Now leave my father's hall be, I wish not to speak to another male until my father returns,_" she commanded of them, and they could feel it in their bones that if they would not obey, there would be dire consequences.

Mordrok could do nothing but fall into a deep abyss of regret, for it had been his words that had led to such a turn of events. He had caused their god, Nexus, to leave them, and leave them in the hands of his children who were less tolerant of everything and didn't seem to have a problem with involving themselves in mortal affairs.

#

Harry returned to Crius' side after he had done what he had done in his former present of his own world.

They stood just outside the entrance to Diagon Alley from the pub named the Leaky Cauldron.

Both wearing robes to fit in more, and avoid standing out more than they should or wanted to. Crius decided to adopt the face and form of James Potter but with red hair so as to better pass of as the guardian of Harry Potter.

"Hide your pendant, lest you draw too much attention to yourself before you decide that its time," Crius instructed when he notice the pendant that hung around his charge's neck.

The boy-god doing as instructed and tucked it under his shirt.

"Where to?" Harry asked.

"To the bank of course," Crius said, "You need money to purchase what you need, and I need to take the reigns of your assets, along with unsealing wills, look over proposals, contracts, see about paying your debts, and all that rot."

"I see," Harry said, "Let's go then, I can't wait to look around."

"So we'll head on to the bank," Crius said, "and I'm sure you've got an updated list on your family in that head of yours."

"I do...which is weird...I can't switch that info off for some reason," Harry said.

"Don't worry about it," Crius said, "That's not part of omniscience, its just a family thing."

"OK, I think I understand," Harry said.

As they walked, Crius decided to start Harry on his lessons regarding his powers, his god powers that is as well as his magical talent that he inherited both from himself, in a rather indirect way, and from his parents.

"Your god power is weaker in this world than in your own world," Crius explained, "For you are not the Supreme Being or All Mighty or Highest Power of this world, just a visitor, so your power her is slightly diminished. This means that you cannot simply will something into being or happening, there's a bit more to it than that."

"I see," Harry said, listening attentively as they made their way to the bank which was named after one of Harry's, or Nexus', 375 children.

As they entered the bank, only the goblin guards took notice of them, but in a purely security related manner. Not on suspicions of being some lost god of creation or something like that.

The pair then chose to line up for the teller with the shortest line, patiently waited for their turn, and stepped up to the podium-like counter.

"My charge, Harry Potter would like to make a withdrawal," Crius stated.

"And does Mister Potter have his key?" the goblin teller inquired, it was SOP after all.

"It's right here," Crius said and did a kind of magic trick, or at least that's how it looked to Harry for he had a feeling that the man didn't originally have such an item on his person, he then handed it to the goblin teller to look it over and check its authenticity.

"Everything looks to be in order," the goblin teller stated after handing the key back to Crius who handed it over to Harry with strict instructions not to let anyone else use it or keep it.

"May the Miner cause your vault to overflow," Harry said to the goblin, "And may the Warrior bleed your enemies dry."

That really threw the goblin teller for a loop, as he hadn't been expecting such a greeting or farewell of thanks from such a young wizards, or a wizard period. He'd expected the bastardized version that some of the other patrons tried to use to gain favor with the bank, but not that. Definitely not something that had been coined, started, and used, in a world that was not the one that they were presently in.

"M-May the healer guard your home," was the goblin's reply, with a hint of surprise tinting his voice.

A goblin, who introduced himself as Griphook, led them to the carts.

"I am Griphook," the goblin said, "I also just so happen to be your Accounts Manager, Mister Potter. Normally I'd claim that the cart travels only at one speed, but with the recent revelation I shall make an exception, after all it isn't everyday that a wizard successfully uses a traditional goblin greeting."

"Well met Griphook," Harry said, "This is Crius Crossworld, who has just recently managed to acquire guardianship of me until of course I reach the age of majority or someone decides to have me emancipated, now as for speed, I'm not quite sure what these carts usually travel at, but I'd love to rocket on down to my trust vault, I believe that's the one I have access to."

"You would be correct in your assumption," Griphook said and led the two of them to the carts, and once they were within the thing, it shot forth at a speed that would cause rollercoaster enthusiasts to want to go again, and again, and again.

They reached the Potter Trust Vault in record breaking time, or at least Griphook would later find out.

Harry wasn't all that surprised at the contents of his trust vault, he was from a rather old family after all. Crius had clued him in on the fact that not only was he famous, but he was rich too. Unbelievably so.

He stocked up on gold, silver, and bronze, coins, before climbing back into the cart just to be shot off back to the surface.

The same greetings were hurriedly exchanged as Crius had business with the goblin and trusted that Harry could complete his shopping without him.

So he left the bank, the goblins had, all, by that time heard of how peculiar and unique he was, looked at him in a different light.

He was the first wizard in centuries to show that he knew something that most of his kind didn't really care much about. He also showed a kind of familiar or familial respect toward the goblins gods, there being three of them.

The Miner for work.

The Warrior for battle.

The Healer for that side of all goblins that they didn't readily show to others or outsiders.

"*"

His first stop for the day, after the bank, was the mouth of Knockturn Alley.

How did it become his first stop, one might ask. Well, he was stopped at the mouth of the alley by a black robed, greasy haired, man that thought that children roaming around the dark alley was not a good idea and thus had tried to stop Harry.

"I have a list of items to complete, sir, as for where I go to procure them is none of your concern," Harry said, "My guardian has deemed me responsible enough to get everything I need and trusts that I know where to go and stay out of trouble. While you might not agree, you are not my parent, my guardian, or anyone that I presently know. Now if you will excuse me, I have a tailor to visit."

Harry then went on his merry way after surprising the man with the courage or gall he had at talking back to an adult.

The adult in question went by the name Severus Snape, Hogwarts' resident Potions Master and Professor. He'd never heard a student or would be student ever talk back to him in such a no-nonsense manner. It was quite a different experience for him.

He also knew of no tailor in the dark alley that would or could cater to such a young looking person. He knew of many things that went on in that alley, but a tailor was not one of them. He wondered why Madam Malkin's wasn't worthy of the child, a child that did not appear to have anyone shadowing him.

So this potions master decided to do so himself, it wasn't like he had anything better to do with his time after all.

He followed the child, who led him to a shop that he would not have noticed had he not been following the child and making sure that no one bothered him or tried anything. He noticed something most peculiar about the child, he attracted no attention to himself at all, either that or the other denizens of the dark alley saw something in the boy to leave him be.

Even the ever hungering for children hags stayed well away from the child. He'd ask one why, but he didn't have the stomach to do such a deed, not while there was still a child wandering alone in the dark alley.

He watched as the child entered the shop and also watched as the shop slowly vanished from his eyes, as if some sort of illusion fell over it or something to that effect.

It was only once the shop vanished from view, did the alley return to its normal self. This left him more than a little curious and more than a little puzzled, for what significance did such a shop hold that it could keep the darker and more dangerous denizens of the alley at bay.

He decided to wait for the child to leave the shop, instead of leaving the child be, who knew what would happen once the child left and the shop vanished from view yet again.

He was about to cast spells on himself to keep those that might approach him away, when the shop rematerialized and the door opened to reveal a jaw dropping sight.

It was a woman whose beauty was comparable to a veela, but he felt no allure or attraction to the woman. She was simply beautiful, quite the sight to behold. She beckoned him closer.

"You followed the lordling, did you not?" she asked of him, and waited for him to answer.

"I did," Severus replied, hesitating a little, "I was concerned over his choice in entering the alley."

"There was no cause for worry," she said, "I am Esmera Alada, Malkin apprenticed under me, before she left with her studies incomplete as she deemed herself worthy of being dubbed as a master seamstress or tailor. This alley is quite safe, if you know how to look, act, and of course believe in certain things. Now come join us, the lordling is curious."

He followed her into her shop, where the boy he had been following was waiting, for him and for the tape measure to finish flying around him and taking measurements.

"Now, O Half Blood Prince, shall I have to introduce you to my present client or shall you introduce yourself," Esmera asked, "Or do you want to permanently be labeled as a stalker? I'm sure the hags would love to learn that Hogwarts hires such persons of ill repute."

"I can assure you, Madam, I only had the child's best intentions," the Potions Master said, then faced the boy he had been following, or stalking as could be observed in a fashion, "I am Severus Snape, Hogwarts Potions Professor and Potions Master, I only followed you to make sure that none of the more unsavory denizens of this alley bothered you."

"I am Harry Potter, Professor Snape," Harry introduced himself as the tape measure zoomed over to a ledger of sorts and had his measurements written down by a kind of dicta-quill, "Apologies for earlier, but what I spoke was true. As for this alley being dangerous, it is not the only one. All of the alleys are dangerous, all places are dangerous, it is whether or not you know of the dangers as well as how to prevent encountering them that makes a place truly worrisome or not."

"And do you know how to avoid the dangers? I noticed that the alley was not as it usually is while this shop was visible," Severus stated, "Do you know the cause of this occurrence?"

"Oh I do know," Esmera said, "Its not everyday that I expose my shop for all the alley to see, more so that I let a child of all people, a wizarding child make use of my services. But he is special and not because of that Boy-Who-Lived crap. There is that reason, and one other."

"Oh?" he was intrigued.

"Lordling," she addressed Harry, "Why don't you go on in, my helpers will see to your needs."

"Alright," Harry said, before he went further, deeper into the shop.

Then when he was out of earshot, or so the _adults_ believed, she gave her explanation.

"This dark alley as you see it had a different name a long time ago, as did many places," she said, "It was known as History Row once, a long time ago. Many historians lived along this alley, collecting information of past and, then, present times. Gringotts Bank already stood back then, and wizards viewed us other races as equals more than they do today."

"Go on," he said, rather interested in such a history lesson, one which he hadn't encountered ever before.

"There is a certain select set of beliefs that was rather wide spread back in those days, sometimes they were even up for debate," she said, "It was quite an age. Those beliefs...were more to do with religion, yes the magical world has such a thing, not only the muggles have such a thing."

"I've never heard of a magical religion before...one that was all encompassing as you are making me believe or see," the professor commented.

"Of course you haven't," she said, "Not many outside of the Ministry's Department of Mysteries knows about its existence. There are a few families that are in the know, wizarding families that is. It is the knowledge of these religions that keeps one safe from danger in this alley. None of the labeled dark creatures would dare harm one with such knowledge."

"Is it dangerous knowledge?" the professor asked.

"Not really," she said, "It depends on the person really. But what keeps others and most ill intentions at bay is the belief that having knowledge of said beliefs means that one knows how to invoke the aid of the gods."

"These gods that you speak of, are they truly gods, or are they like the wizards of old that lorded over the muggles as pretenders?" the professor asked, as if he was pretending to be some sort of historian himself.

"Oh, these gods are real," she claimed, "As real as you and I, the late Dark Lord Voldemort's dream of immortality was and is their reality, for even to this day they still exist. Belief gives them strength and power, but even without it they shall continue to exist, for they are technically not of this world, as are the roots of this magically hidden world of ours."

"You seem to know quite a lot on the subject," he noted.

"I grew up on the stories of my religion," she informed him, "I grew up on tales of the 375 children of Nexus, and the Deadworld."

"Deadworld? What kind of name is that?" Severus said, it didn't fit with anything he could think of regarding gods of old and other such fanciful things.

"Deadworld is the birthplace of our hidden world," she said, "The first magic-users of this world called Earth were dimension travellers, they crossed over from Deadworld and into this world, and settled here. Some still keep in touch with family over there."

"I see," he said, "This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with, as you call him, the lordling?"

Some of his repressed impatience shown through.

"He is in the know," she said, "There is this aura about him that lets all those others that have an inkling of such things know that he is one of us, so to speak."

"And you can see this aura or feel it?" he asked her.

"Oh yes," she replied, "It is quite strong, it envelopes him lovingly...or at least it seems to."

"I see, that's rather interesting," he said, then asked, "This invocation, how does it work, and where can I get more information on this topic of ours? I'd like to familiarize myself with it."


	40. Living God E1

A confused Petunia Dursley looked around the front yard of her home, Number 4 Privet Drive. She had heard a knocking sound come from the door, this was after her husband had woken her up with his incessant snoring coupled with the fact that she was already a light sleeper thanks to her one year old son, Dudley.

She had been expecting, for some reason, to find a small bundle on her doorstep, something cheesy like an orphan left in her care. But it was not so, it must have just been the wind or something as normal as that.

She returned to her bed, beside her loving husband, and did not know that she had just missed her nephew being dropped into her care but a scant few moments.

She was not aware that the fate and destiny of the world had just been irrevocably altered by her not finding her late sister's one and only son on her doorstep. It would also be years before she finally learned of her sister's passing.

What did happen to her nephew was no longer her concern, nor was it ever her concern to begin with. Her very own sister had seen to that, unless of course the Last Will and Testament of one Lily Potter nee Evans had not been followed to the letter, unless the wishes of the dead were not fulfilled. What a horrible thought, after all, one of the witnesses of the thing was one of the most prominent wizards in magical society, respected by quite a lot in all magical walks of life.

No. There was no way that one Albus Dumbledore would dare go against the last wishes of the dead. Why in the world would such a man, devoted to the Greater Good, dare to do such a thing. It wasn't like he had anything at all to gain from such an action anyway.

So what must have happened to little Harry Potter, how is it that instead of being found by his loving aunt he was just not there. Where had he gone, who or what had taken him away from a place that had protections over it placed there by the great and powerful Albus Dumbledore.

That was a question that one would have to ask if one knew of such strange circumstances. A baby dropped off on a doorstep on a cold November night, with nothing but a blanket to protect him from the cold and a basket to prevent him from wandering, suddenly vanishing without anyone being the wiser.

Where did he go, what happened to him. How strange it was, that in the months and years to come, those that had left him there had not come to check up on him and his well being. Simply assuming that all was right in the world.

Where in the world did Harry Potter go? Well, no where in the world of his birth. Other forces were at work that night, other forces that didn't like the monotony of it all, forces that were a bit more mischievous than they let on.

There were five of them in total, each one in charge of a great scope or fifth of Imagination, which was what they called Everything and Nothing. One was in-charge of the realities or existences that dealt with anything that was normally linked to the Western World, another was in-charge of anything to do with the Eastern World (mostly existences or realities that had to do with anime most of the time apparently), and yet another was in-charge of everything in between. There were of course two others, one that presided over all the new Ideas that entered or became a part of Imagination in general, while the last one was in-charge of those that dealt with everything that exited imagination such as forgotten dreams or scrapped ideas.

It was these five that snatched little Harry Potter from the world of his birth and dumped him in a world similar to it, yet at the same time different from it.

What were the similarities. Well, for one thing, there was a dark lord that had been out for his hide and had done in his parents in the same manner that he had done in his own birth world. Tragic, but necessary.

Another similarity was that he was dropped off at his relatives home on a cold November night.

That's where the similarities, that mattered, ended.

One main difference was that one of those that had dropped off the child had checked up on him to see how he was adapting to such a new environment, and what she saw caused her to perform an intervention where she got him out of there.

In reality, she didn't get to that Harry Potter in time, what she got out of the ordeal was the same body, but a different soul.

He grew up in a loving and caring environment, where his growth was encouraged and everything was done for him to be able to reach his full potential and possibly even go beyond even that. He was tutored by a regretful old man who had been the one that decided to go against his parent's wishes and place him where he had been rescued from.

He also had an uncle of sorts, the best friend of his late mother, who treated him fairly and made sure that he was more than prepared for the real world.

And what a world it was.

In it he found and experienced all that could be experienced, from long lasting friendships to deep seeded hatreds. He grew, went to the best of school, got the best of educations, went on the most spectacular adventures, while having a good amount of backup and many that not only believed in him, but also saw him for himself and not some title that the press had given him for history's documentation's sake.

He eventually finished schooling and went on to study a little bit more, that's what one ends up doing when one's performance receives praise instead of either loathing, disappointment, or scorn.

He even eventually found and fell in love, a beautiful and wonderful thing.

He experienced all that life could let him experience, including three wars that he personally participated in, and played major roles in. At the end of his days, in that life that he had been given through the decision of meddlesome higher powers, he was told the truth of his existence by a representative of the _**Five**_. Due to all that he had already experienced, and all that he was, he accepted it and was even ready to face whatever challenges awaited his already old soul.

He was prepared for his next great adventure, or at least what should have been his true first one.

With family and friends gathered around his death bed, not that it was much of a bed as he had requested that in his last moments he was to be placed on a hammock of all things to watch the sunset, he was told instead of him telling them to enjoy whatever happened afterward.

Just as the sun fell beyond the horizon and darkness covered the land, so did his eyelids in this life of his close over his still pulsating emerald orbs. The breath of life was not the only thing that escaped his lips one last time, but his soul as well.

The body he left behind glowed briefly, before lighting up the land and sky in a dazzling display of lights, the sheer amount of magic that had been held within it exploding forth and saturating the world in its power before it followed the soul that it had called master for these oh so many years.

Family and friend alike had borne witness to such a display, and wondered what else was in-store for this great person that had just passed on from their world to wherever the heck he was meant to go. He had after all told him that his next great adventure was not some afterlife, but a life before this one. He was an odd sort of soul apparently, one that did the reincarnation bit before actually dying it seemed.

Nothing truly was simple or common when it came to the life of Harry Potter.

#

He remembered closing his eyes for the last time, or at least it should have been the last time had it not been for that mysterious visitor that had stopped time around them and informed him of his history and what was still expected of him. He didn't mind the added responsibility, he believed that the afterlife might be boring after all. So he agreed with what was supposed to happen to him, but extracted a favor of sorts as payment. He would be able to to visit his family and friends in their own afterlives should he wish to do so, but only after he died a second time...or something like that.

He found himself in his hammock overlooking the sunrise this time instead of the setting sun. He was on his own property, one of the few that had survived the two wars that his parents had been unfortunate enough to have experienced.

Potter Manor, or Estate, was where he was at. It was where he chose to live his adult life, the life with his then and late wife, as well as, of course, with his children, their children, and their children's children.

It was a very familiar place to him, though he wondered when it was that he had returned to and why to that place of all places. Last he could recall of the place, if his guess of the time was right, was that it held only three elves within it, all of them in the process of dying due to lack of a connection with a living Potter. He had learned of this rather late in his teens and had regretted not asking his guardians about any properties, responsibilities, or duties that he might have held.

So without further ado, and also choosing not to think about why he still had his rather old, but still noble, looking body, he made his way into the manor. Once in the study, the one that the head of the family woud use, he summoned the elves to him.

"By right of blood and magic, as the last scion of the line of Potter and Le Fey," he intoned, "I claim my I claim what is rightfully mine. Position, rank, and title, of Lord of the Moste Ancient and Moste Noble Houses of Potter and Le Fey. So mote it be, by the power of three times three, I invoke the ancient magics of my family."

There was no deafening crash of thunder or blinding flash of lightning, to signify that he had gained what he had hoped to gain. There was only the appearance of the Potter Lord's Ring on one of his fingers, resizing to fit it comfortably.

His three house elves appeared before him, each in a tea cozy, and each on their hands and knees. They were weak little things, that were almost out of juice and sanity.

"As Head of the Moste Ancient and Moste Noble House of Potter and Le Fey I accept thee into my service," he recited the words that needed to be said to reconnect the elves to his line, "As the first bond was made to continue your existence in this world of life, so do I reaffirm your bond of service for magic and magic for service. Do you too accept this bond and reaffirm the oaths your ancestors spoke to mine own?"

"I do," each of the three house elves spoke as one, and so their bond was re-established.

Each of the elves glowed for a moment, signifying that their connection was reformed and reforged.

But the magic didn't end there.

A House Elf's appearance and power was reliant on the power that the Head of the family as well as the family in general held. Thus it should not have been surprising that the three elves before him transformed right before his very eyes.

They lost the peculiarities that most of their race now held and regained what had once been lost to their race, back when their race had lost a war to the wizards and been bound in servitude.

There was a muggle novelist that described the elves of old in their correct detail, he wrote a quest concerning a ring that starred some of them. Those were the kinds of elves that knelt before Harry James Potter now.

"I would have your names," he said to them, "And not those silly things you've been using due to that accursed thing that kept you from using them."

"Master?" one of the elves said, a question in his intelligent eyes.

"I am an OLD soul, I'm sure our bond tells you so," he told the elves, "I have seen much and know more than I should. So your names, I shall not permit the usage of such silly names as Dobby or Buttercup in my home."

"I...we..." the same elf said, not really knowing what to say or how to answer, "We know not our names, master...we...our memories of them..."

"I understand," Harry said, realizing that the strain of having to survive without a steady source of magic and sanity could have rid them of such a seemingly unimportant thing, "Then I shall name you as I see fit, but for the meantime I would have you return Potter Estate back to its former glory, purchase whatever materials or furniture are needed. I would have a home befitting my bloodline."

"As you wish, my master," each elf said, before vanishing as if they had never been kneeling before him.

He needed names for them, but that could wait, he had more pressing things to take care of, such as his finances, but even before that he needed to know the date.

"_Tempus_," he spoke the spell, not that he needed to as magic was magic and words were just an easier way of focusing a spell or the magic into doing what one wanted to be done.

A hazy apparition of the date and time according to the more modern calendar and clock appeared in front of him. The time itself did not matter, it was the date that did.

The date told him that he should have been 5 years old, to the day.

This brought about a little problem, as he just realized. He had claimed his birthright, but it would be rather suspicious if he came out into the public as he was and with his name, far too many questions would be asked, with answers that were equally as problematic.

Luckily he had a solution, one that boggled even his mind a little bit.

It was combination of alchemy, necromancy, and that vile creation of a Greek wizard known as Horcruxes, soul jars. He hated the vile things with a passion, especially after he had to off two dark lord that used them, one sparingly the other had spliced his soul so much that it wasn't that surprising that he had kept the title of darkest dark lord ever.

He created a clone of himself, a clone that served as a mere extension of himself. They were one and the same person, but with two bodies. This was in a sense, borrowing a concept from an entirely different reality from his own. In his past life on of his descendants had grown addicted to something called manga, and there was one that starred a blonde savant of sorts, one of the villains had more than one body, but just one soul and mind.

It was that technique that he borrowed his idea from, and managed to successfully perform it seemed as the little 5 year old version of himself looked up at him.

It would complicate things he was rather sure, but it didn't matter, at least he could claim that he was a Potter now and that he had gained custody of Harry Potter fairly recently too.

He had enough magic in him not to need a wand, staff, words, or hand gestures, magic was simply magic when it came to him. This was how he manged to get all the documents in order and buried them all under piles upon piles of paperwork that it would take a rather large amount of time to sift through and find them all. But everything would make whatever he said true in the eyes of the law and magic, the magic part was the more important of the two really.

But just to be sure, he registered himself as having the name Harold James Potter, with the alias of Harry James Potter, and Harry James Potter as having the alias of Harold James Potter.

Old Harry would be Harold and young Harry would be Harry. It was that simple and he made sure that there was enough paperwork to prove the authenticity of his claims, and if that didn't work, he had a feeling that he could swear a bunch of oaths that no one would be able o refute.

He conjured some clothes for himself and his younger self, robes befitting their stations, which was basically Lord and Heir, both of which were the same thing since it was him. While there would be some people that would wonder how he came to be the Lord Potter, there would be others that would be far more understanding as neither Charlus and James Potter had ever been seen wearing the Lord's Ring in their entire lives, Dumbledore had never seen anyone wear the ring either for that matter. No Potter had dared to try the ring on for size, fearing that they were unworthy of the ring and the true Headship. But not Harry, he wasn't normal to begin with and so the ring and whatever it entailed would not really be a problem for him.

After all, based on his past experiences, there was nothing to fear, it was all one big prank from a distant ancestor on his descendants.

Thus his wearing the ring would mean that it was entirely possible for there to be some secret branch of the Potter family that had been hidden until recently.

Family secrets were secrets for a reason of some thing like that. There would never really be a way to prove otherwise.

Since he had all the knowledge needed regarding the Horcuxes of the self-stlyed Dark Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle had never actually claimed the lordship of Slytherin, not that he would be able to claim it due to the strict requirements of the heritage.

That and Harry had a plan for that too...

"I, Harry James Potter, by right of conquest, hereby claim the heritage of my defeated foe Tom Marvolo Riddle, last of the true line of Gaunt, and Ambrosius, and all that such entails," Harry intoned as he was about to leave the Manor with his 5 year old self in tow.

Just as when he claimed his birthright, only the appearance of a ring signified that something had happened. This one appearing on the same finger as his Potter ring, but instead of resizing to fit or something like that, it merged with the Potter ring, becoming a new ring, until such a time that they would be needed to split up.

There had been a curse on the ring, or the stone embedded in the ring, but it had been forcibly removed by the family magics and the unique properties of the stone when Harry claimed the heritage that came with it as his own.

It was moments later that he and himself arrived within one of the Le Fey properties in Knockturn Alley.

The Le Fey heritage actually came with the Potter heritage, it was through his Le Fey blood that there was magic in his family.

The wife of Ignotus Peverell was Morgan Le Fey herself, and somewhere down the line one of their true descendants and heirs chose the public name of Godric Gryffindor, whose children went on to use the name Potter.

What he found rather interesting was that Salazar Slytherin the most famous of the known Gaunts was actually the grandson of Myrrdin Emrys, or more commonly known as Merlin Ambrosius. He wondered what the Light side would think about that bit of fact.

Since he and his clone were one and the same, just with two bodies, he could leave himself to prepare the Knockturn Alley place into more suitable and comfortable a residence or potential place of business. He had, after all, quite a lot of experience in many fields up his sleeves that he could put to some use in making the vast Potter fortune even vaster, the Le Fey fortune was kept separate due to some prenuptial agreements. The Ambrosius side of things had some different stipulations as to why Salazar's line didn't have instant access to such a treasure trove of more than coin or knowledge.

Harry chose to remain, it was better to pretend to be two separate people than proceed as one after all, to secure and clean up the property. Harold was to charge into Gringotts to gain all that was his and maybe add to it while possibly either gaining the allegiance of the goblins in the process or at least antagonizing them to the point where they might actually respect him.

He might not have a wand on him, but his body alone was medium enough to channel his magic if need be. He also had those three elves at his beck and call if he needed something...sharper to dispense his displeasure at the services offered at the bank.

He approached the nearest unoccupied teller and demanded that he be brought to his account manager, a goblin by the name of Griphook. The teller was rather used to such disrespect from a wizard that it didn't bat an eyelash at the display and summoned a fellow goblin to lead him to the office of said account manager.

"Griphook, how nice to see you," he greeted the goblin, quite pleasantly too as if excited at the prospect of spilling goblin blood.

"Who are you and what business do you have with me?" the goblin demanded, "I'm busy."

"I'm here to take over my accounts," Harold informed the goblin, "You have been helping a non-family member steal from my accounts, and I don't like thieves, in fact, I'm here to deal some justice upon thee."

"So I've been found out have I?" the goblin said, "I can only think of one account under me, as I only oversee one, that you could be talking about and I don't see how it is any of your concern."

Harold bared his Lord's Ring, which the goblin recognized.

"I am an Old Soul," Harold informed the goblin, "A special Old Soul. This body is not some trick, but reality. I have another one, a much younger one, for the masses to gawk at. I have set up a history for this body, one that is fool proof and no one will be the wiser regarding my origins. As for our business with one another, I'll give you the chance to die honorably."

"On goblin soil? Me? Die? HA!" the goblin said, deciding to humor the wizard, "Let's hear how you plan on killing me within my race's sovereign soil."

"I challenge you to a duel to the death," Harold stated, "Winner takes all, and when I say all, I mean all. Everything each owns, including each other's lives. What say you, Griphook? Willing to take me up on that offer? The Potter, Le Fey, Ambrosius, and what's left of the Gaunt fortunes will be yours if you can kill me in single combat. Internal magics and blades only, just to make you feel more confident."

"I accept!" Griphook greedily said, he was aware that the average wizard wasn't all that good at the use of blades and their bodies, not even those fearsome death eaters were any better.

Death Eaters were just deadly because of their prowess in battle and with the use of deadly or painful curses.

"Then let us speak with your Director regarding the use of your arena," Harold said, "It is only fitting that you die in such an honorable place. Let's make a spectacle about it, one where when you die your fellow goblins can try and avenge you for it."

"That's a really good idea," Griphook said, in agreement, "You are definitely a suicidal wizard, I hate you, but I like you ideas."

"I still don't like you, thief," Harold said, "Now, let's get going, before I draw my non-existent wand on you and cause a war between wizards and goblins."

Griphook lead the way to the Director's office, the Director being the equivalent of King of the British and Irish Goblin Nation. They were allowed entrance told that the arena was their to use and that he along with any available goblin would be in attendance. The Director was one of those that loved a good spectacle, and if there was a suicidal wizard involved with a vast fortune, all the better.

"If this is to be a blade to blade battle, then where is yours?" Griphook mocked, "You don't think any goblin would dare lend you one of his."

"Oh, I have a blade, I just need it fetched from my manor for me," Harold replied nonchalantly, he summoned on of his elves and described in great detail the blade he would like fetched from the Manor's Armory.

The elf returned with the blade and it pulsated with its own magic, the magic that it was forged with and by. The goblins could not claim the blade as one of theirs as they found out. The feel of the magic was not theirs at all, but one of the few races that they actually had respected before their fall from grace.

It was a blade of mythril, silver, and steel. It had a diamond cross-guard, grip, and pommel.

He gripped the blade and took its sheath from his elf, which he decided to name Aldreth for some reason, and dismissed him back to his assigned duties. For the goblins, the sight of the elf was one of great surprise. It was something to look into later, when the wizard was down and goblins owned the elf.

"Shall we begin then?" Harold asked his opponent who stood a little ways away from him, he then saluted his opponent, then the Director, and finally the audience, and ended up waiting for his opponent to do something.

Griphook did the same, minus his opponent, and got cheers whereas Harold got a more negative response from the crowd.

He didn't really care, a large chunk of them would be missing once he was through or even before that. He intended to take down Director Ragnok if he could.

"Shall we dance?" Harold said, moving into an attack stance, making himself look as thin as possible.

"BEGIN!" Director Ragnok's voice rang throughout the arena.

Griphook with impressive battle ax in hand rushed his opponent, the ax already in a swing prepared to use some of that good old goblin strength against what he believed to be a much weaker foe.

Harold managed to duck under the swing and stab his opponent through the shoulder before pulling his blade's tip out and flipping a few feet backwards and away from his opponent.

"First blood's to me it seems," Harold mocked, a single drop of goblin blood fell from his blade.

"You'll be regretting those words very soon!" Griphook growled before roaring and pressing his attack, Harold having not qualms about defending, which was basically using his seeker reflexes and enhancing his body with magic in order to move a optimum efficiency.

The two fighters danced around one another and one another's blade, neither one really showing much respect for the other. Since one simply didn't like the little thief while the other was too busy being blinded by greed.

"I think I've played with you long enough," Harold said, "Let me tell you a little something about my sword."

This was between spinning parallel to the ground in order to avoid the ax and a dagger that the goblin had on his person.

"I don't wield just one blade," Harold said as he danced away from the goblin, "I wield two."

That single statement was punctuated by his blade splitting right smack down the middle to show all that he held two blades instead of that single one.

"My turn to up the ante!" Harold said, before he gave out his own battle roar and charged, swinging his blades with near reckless abandon, he did not fear them breaking due to the combination of materials that they were made out of.

Sword met ax, and dagger met sword. What the goblin had not been expecting was to be kicked in the groin, causing him to weaken his hold on his own blades allowing the fight to finally end and a warrior to rise victorious over the headless corpse of his opponent. It was an underhanded move, but it should have been an expected one in such a duel to the death.

"Looks like I win," Harold said, "And thus I claim all that was of Grip of the Hook clan, unless of course there are challengers to such a claim. I'll take you all on at once if I must, but it'll be winner take all!"

There were many cries and shouts of "I accept!" from the crowd, the Director not being one of them.

"Wizard! You may not draw your wand, but I will allow an anything goes fight, just to be a bit fair," the Director announced, "Griphook was gaining in years and lacked practice, but against so many goblins, I believe it would only be fair to allow you to use whatever mens you have at your disposal, save for the use of your wand."

"I'll agree to that!" Harold stated.

"One more thing! No instant killing curses!" the goblin leader shouted, that would just ruin the fun of things.

"I agree! Let's get to the fighting already!" Harold impatiently said, "I'm ready when all of you are!"

He thought something over in his head, while he might have the magic to spare, he might as well get some reinforcements on his side. It was doable, and so he did it.

"Aldreth! Elves, to me!" he summoned his, or what others would call really weird house-, elves, he also summoned his younger self.

He wandlessly conjured bows and quivers with never ending ammunition for the the three elves and a handed over one of the two blades he wielded over to his younger self.

They all had their backs to one another and prepared for the goblin charge. It was like a mini goblin rebellion, and that term was used very loosely.

The goblins were each and all armed to the teeth as they had access to their armories just as handily as Harold did.

The little buggers even planned on using their sharper than human teeth in the fighting if they could.

As soon as they started their rather surprisingly coordinated charge, arrows began to fly as hereditary knowledge of the use of bows kicked in and the elves began to fire away like there was no tomorrow. All of their volleys slamming into a target, either halting the goblin from pressing onward or outright killing it.

That didn't really do much to the number of goblins that were intent on not only getting back what had originally be goblin, but getting the bonus which was everything that was still Harold's.

It became a hack and slash competition once the goblins were close enough to the small group.

That was of course until Harold and Harry remembered that they could use external magic now. Wandless magic to be precise and not those parlor tricks that Dumbledore or Riddle were capable of, but real magic.

"Elves! Pop on over to the Director so we know where not to hit!" Harold and Harry both ordered as one, the elves were quick to obey.

The twin H's dropped their swords and had magic explode from their bodies in a circle around them pushing back the many goblins advancing on their positions. They followed this up with going all Sith on them with chain lightning, as well as balls of lightning flying from their fingertips and into the throngs of goblins that were around them.

And they loved every minute of it.

The Director on the other hand was not enjoying himself and the spectacle anymore, same went with the goblins that had yet to join the battle. Some of the losses that their nation had suffered were acceptable, but the sheer numbers that were falling right before their eyes, and the number was still growing, was something that more than horrified them.

"STOP!" the Director shouted, his voice reaching all in the underground arena, "STOP THIS AT ONCE!"

The goblins hurried to obey, they ran to the walls of the arena, each one intent on saving their hides from whatever or whichever was worse, their leader's wrath for disobeying his orders or the mad pair at the center of the arena with tens of goblin corpses strewn around them.

"I had thought that it was a fight to the death, Director Ragnok," Harold inquired, a little hint of mockery in his tone.

"I cannot, as a leader, continue to witness the slaughter of my kinsmen, my comrades, my subjects, followers, and clan," Ragnok's voice reached every goblin ear, "Thus I propose one final battle, one on one as it were, one last fight to determine the fate of the goblins of the British isles as it seems that you are so intent on wiping us out through the use of our greed as one of your weapons."

"A fight to decide the fate of the goblins you say?" Harold said, things couldn't have gone any better for him than this, "Are you proposing to stake your goblin nation on this next battle?"

"I am," Ragnok stated, "The challenge is thus, your blade and your blade alone shall be your weapon, and your opponent will be the strongest vault guardian we have here in this bank. What say you?"

"I'll accept that challenge," Harold said, then had Harry go to where the elves were standing by.

"Good," Ragnok said, he believed that this wizard knew that it would be dragon he would be facing, and not one of the trained ones down in the lower levels, but one of the untrained ones, one that would respond in anger at being harmed rather than cower in fear. It was perform, or so the goblin leader thought.

It was starting to look like a very profitable day.

The strongest dragon available was an experiment of sorts, a Hungarian Horntail. The bank wanted to see if they could tame one enough to be a guard for the higher security vaults, and had yet to meet any success or progress. This was a good way to at least find some use for the terribly violent and powerful dragon.

Once the dragon was left out, the goblins erected a powerful enough ward, in moment, that would keep the fight within the arena proper.

It was clear to Harold that they goblins had tried to starve the dragon to make it more pliable, but it simply made the thing more aggressive. This one was a full grown adult, but not yet at the age where more sentience would set in.

He would feel no remorse from killing this reptilian creature. None at all.

It was a hulking mass of muscle and flame, versus a tiny human male with a sword that could cut through most anything.

"Bring it on!" Harold shouted at the monstrosity, it attacked him in response, intent on eating him.

It tried to pounce on him in a sense, teeth, tail, claws, and paws were used to try and take his head off or simply tear him limb from limb.

"*"

"Prepare to come under goblin rule wizardling," Ragnok said to the elves and to Harry, "We'll use you as an example why antagonizing goblins is a bad idea, a grave idea."

"Don't be so full of yourself," Harry said, his 5 year old voice carrying the weight of his hundreds of years of life, which startled the goblin leader enough to pay more attention to the child than to the battle below and before them.

"What are you insinuating brat?" the goblin leader demanded.

"I'm not insinuating anything Director," Harry said, "I'm just saying that with how experienced Harold is, I highly doubt that one measly dragon will be able to take him down. He'll probably have some bruises or a wound or two, but you just lost yourself your freedom so to speak, and to a human...I'd say wizard...but Harold and I, we've exceeded that power range already."

"You're rather boastful and prideful for a child," the Director noted.

"I survived the Killing Curse more times than I care to count," Harry said, and raised his bangs a little bit of only a moment, long enough for his fading scar to show, there was no soul fragment in there, but it was still there, Harold had one too, but they were thinking of removing the blasted things.

"By Goldgrinder! You're the Boy-Who-Lived!" the Director exclaimed, it was rather uncharacteristic, but he was that surprised by such a revelation.

"Yes I am, though I don't really care for such an inane moniker," Harry said, "Harold down there," he motioned to where all Harold was doing was dodging and causing minor injuries that simply enraged the dragon further, "Killed a basilisk at age twelve, what's a dragon compared to a thousand year old basilisk?"

"You could be lying to try and impress me," the Director said.

"I could," Harry said, "But why lie when the truth is all the more impressive."

"*"

The truth really was all the more impressive especially when such an old, yet still regal, looking man managed to race up one of the arms of the dragon and simply dash onto its head where he dealt the killing blow that sealed the deal and won him the British and Irish goblins.

That was one dead dragon down, and scores of goblins could follow if they didn't get down on their knees to him, which they did after Ragnok bent the knee first, more out of fear than the budding respect that grew within him for the fearsome warrior that stood atop the dragon's head with sword still embedded into the beast's skull.

"Wizards were a lot more creative back in the good old days when the sword was the law of the land, and wars and battles were plentiful," Harold said as he sat upon Ragnok's former seat of power within the bank.

They had adjourned to the Director's office once all the goblins knew who was their master now, and it wasn't a society of wizards that they could rise up against, but a man that had challenged them and won.

"What do you mean by that, Honored Director?" Ragnok was of course demoted to vice-director, he knelt before his new leader.

"The wars that led to the wizards taking center stage of course," Harold stated, "Merlin being one of the last well known among those creative ones."

"I don't understand," Ragnok said wondering where his new leader was going with this topic of discussion.

"I am an Old Soul as I stated some time ago," Harold said, "Thus in the life that I have previously lived, of which my memories and powers remain intact, I had more than enough time to study the history of our magical world."

"Interesting," Ragnok said, as he didn't or hadn't had the time for such things in many number of years, ever since he had killed off all of his siblings and taken up his father's place as Director, since the Ministries of Magic didn't acknowledge a goblin calling himself king.

"Goblin magic is quite strong in its own right," Harold stated, "And thus goblin kind could not be subjugated in much the same manner as the elves, it just occurred to me that house elves truly are the descendants of all those elves that lost their freedom and free connected to the ambient magic present in nature. Where goblins could not be turned into slaves, you were turned into what you are now."

Ragnok truly wondered where such a conversation was leading to.

"I intend to see the balance of power righted, I was unable to in my past life due to all the conflicts in the world, as well as my advanced age and number of responsibilities as well as lack of time and support," Harold said, "But now, in this life, I find that all that doesn't really matter much anymore. I have more than enough time on my hands, and thanks to my most recent acquisition, the funds and man power to make things come to fruition. We'll be bringing back a little bit of the old world to this more modern world we live in."

"What would you have me do to aid you, Honored Director?" Ragnok asked, he was finding this new direction of things rather interesting. He saw that the goblins would benefit greatly under the rule of this Sorcerer or Arch-Magus.

"I would have you, aside from continue running the bank, look into ways to improve said establishment by looking into the non-magical way of doing things, we might earn a profit from such an endeavor," Harold said, "Other than that, I would like for you to gather all goblin historians and have them look into goblin history, specifically the times before Merlin. I'd like to see if what I researched matches up with what you have in your records regarding the Wars of Ascension."

"I will have the research on both done right away," Ragnok said, "By your leave."

"Go ahead," Harold said, "I have other places to be and other...kingdoms to take over after all, or resurrect a dead or rejuvenate a dying one."

"Of course, Honored Director," Ragnok said as he held the door open for Harold, Harry, and the three elves.

Harold and company left for the property in Knockturn where Harold decided to remain and continue with what Harry had left when he went to the bank, the elves left with Harry. Their destination was the black market dealers that populated the dark alley.

What they sought was not something material, but something more along the lines of magic reliant goods, the living kind of magic reliant goods. Slaves would be a more appropriate term, and it was something that was legal in all parts of the world, including the Americas.

One would think that the Land of the Free would be true for all, but it was not. Unless a race had a standing treaty with the humans, or was human in enough ways, then they were treated as either second-class citizens or less.

They were a bit more tolerant of second-class citizens than most other countries, but that was the extent of the courtesy or kindness they showed.

Harry decided that his task would be to get the Potter household staff some more members, or rather get it back to having proper numbers. The Potter Estate was rather large and needed more than just the three elves to maintain it all.

It was a good thing that Harold had taken with him a thick sheaf of bank drafts with him, else Harry would be lugging around a rather large sack of gold or would be needed to return to the bank a lot on this shopping venture.

House elves and their ilk did not need to be registered at the Ministry of Magic, as they were viewed of as property, like a quill or a cloak.

So it wasn't really that much of a problem if he went and got as much as he desired, wanted, or needed, from the sources of these living objects that he would be visiting.

He made sure that he was covered from head to toe in a cloak, one that only allowed his pulsating eyes to be seen should any dare to look under his hood/cowl. His accompanying elves were dressed similarly, but had the conjured bows, that would not be vanishing anytime soon, still on their persons along with short swords at their hips.

They felt a little bit more comfortable with using these weapons than with using their magic as their main offensive weapons.

The first man he went to was a pureblood that dealt with the trade of house elves.

He sold many house elves of a smattering of ages and skills.

"I'm here for some elves," Harry stated, his voice muffled not only by his cloak but by a charm to disguise his voice, his voices eerily sounded like it had a serpentine accent to it which Harry simply ignored, he was a parselmouth so it didn't really bother him.

"Of course you are," came the silky voice of the man that owned and ran the rather discreet and well hidden looking shop that Harry decided to visit first.

"But I'm curious to know if you have anything else in stock, other than elves at least," Harry said, he bore the Heir's Ring of Gaunt which only old houses actually managed to have due to all the necessary materials and magics involved in one's creation, that was more than enough proof that he had what it took to do some business with the man.

"We have some other things in stock mi'lord," it was the closest to a form of respect as the man was willing to give after all, "But before that, you say you're here for some elves, is there anything specific that you be wanting?"


	41. Living God F1

He wasn't normal. Most things in his life were not normal. This included how his first wizarding war came to an end.

He hadn't been able to be a part of it. The aftermath of his win that is. He died a hero, or so he had been told. Told by a Being that was not of this world, reality, dimension, existence, universe, whatever. It was a Being from another realm entirely, but one that could pass through the veils that separated everything else from this existence that he could claim to be a part of.

He was told that the world that he had saved with his _sacrifice_ had seen his disappearance after the death of the Dark Lord Voldemort as him dying and that he was a hero because of it. He didn't dare ask for anymore details other than that. He knew that there would be those that would grieve for him and the loss of him, he didn't care to know who and how it would be. All that he cared to know was that the war was over, lives were saved, the future was saved, and all those things that the hero of a story is supposed to care about.

How did such an end affect him and how was it that he was still able to ask such a question of some higher power that no one he knew knew existed? Well, that's simple really. He was pulled out of time, mind, body, spirit, soul, magic, etcetera, wise. He was pulled out by this even more supernatural entity than he was, and told to sit down and have some tea and crumpets.

Who was he to refuse something like that.

It was odd.

It was weird.

It was far from normal.

Thus it was right up his alley.


	42. Living God G1

When one dies, one's soul is guided to the afterlife by a Death Reaper. Or at least half way to what one's after life is supposed to be. There's a whole process that usually is followed. One isn't judged on the spot, there's no reading from the Book of Life...although it sometimes does depend on the religious beliefs of a person. There are still those that go through the more standardized or modernized process.

There is a Ministry or Department of sorts that deals with souls, life, death, and reincarnation. These things, procedures, and the like are all things that are handled by the Halls of Judgment, one of the realms under the control of Death Himself. It is where souls are processed, where their lives are reviewed and where their next destination, if applicable, are determined.

The Halls of Judgment were also where a soul was given the choice of gaining all of his or her past memories, this was of course only applicable to those souls that could be considered as old souls or souls that have previously chosen to undergo reincarnation. Though in a select number of cases it wasn't a choice and souls were forced to undergo Forced or Instantaneous Reincarnation, depending on the circumstances it could be either a blessing or a punishment, or an accident.

The staff that ran the HOJ tried to keep accidents to a minimum. While their boss wasn't much of a perfectionist, they were still dealing with the matters of life and death, more on the death part though.

Souls were usually given three choices on what they could do or what could be the result of their being in the after life. The ones that had more good than bad, the basis for such categorizations were a number of things such as the laws governing everything moral in Everything and Nothing, rules of conduct for souls, the standards of good and bad in that soul's last life, unless they were already an old soul, and a bunch of other records and rulebooks. It was the Death Reaper assigned to each particular soul that was in charge of reviewing everything.

Death Reapers not only guided souls to the afterlife, but also acted as accountants, managers, and lawyers of a sort.


	43. Living God H1

He was just one of the many immortals that chose to descend upon the mortal plane and live amongst those said mortals. It was either that or sit upon lofty heavens and simply watch the world go by. It was the monotony of it all that really got to them, and so they boosted the free will that mortals should covet, and descended upon the world, suppressing away a large chunk of their power so as not to stand out or attract the attention of others of their kind.

He was like those others, yet at the very same time he was different from them. He wasn't like them in the sense that they were brought into the world, into existence, by the power of belief. His own power did not rise or wane in response to how much people believed in him.

He also did not govern a certain aspect of the world, of everyday life, or rule over or oversee a certain group of people.

He was special. He had always been special.

He had been a lowly mortal whose destiny had already been predetermined by fate. His ascension had been an accident, or a monkey wrench in the plans of Fate. Instead of choosing to return to the land of the living and fulfill his destiny as the one to ultimately save the magical world from the reign of the dark lord Voldemort, he had chosen to hop onto a train carrying with him the pitiful creature that had acted as a parasite on his soul for most of his mortal life.

The train he had hopped on was one that had no real destination in mind or planned out for it. It was a train to nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It was a fate uncertain and unchartered.

Being a great unknown, it wasn't surprising that something else other than traveling was what happened.

He was jettisoned into a black and white world, a limboic existence, where he watched over his world from a completely different point-of-view than he was used to. He and his companion, that he eventually had to adopt as his child of sorts, one not of as it appeared to be a rather impossible thing.

The piece of a soul that had turned parasitic on him, grew whole eventually, right after Neville Longbottom ended the reign of terror of the dark lord Voldemort.

All fractioned pieces of that once whole soul reunited, the train that he and his adopted son were on picked each one of them up at different stations all over the world, for some reason unknown even to them. When the soul was once again whole, it went through what was akin to instantaneous reincarnation.

The soul that was once of an old man, reverted to being that of a young child, more than half of his adoptive father's age.

They both existed as gods in the realm that they were stuck in. They had thought that they


	44. Living God I1

A rip in the trans-dimensional wall had formed just after his physical, and mortal, body had finally expired. It was something that he had not been expecting, but knew that he should have expected. After all, his life had been far from normal, even at its very beginning.

He had been born and lived the first seventeen or so of his years due to prophecy, saving a whole world with his deeds and victories. He then went on to continue to simply do just that. He became a god among men, revered for his power and his deeds. He was akin to a god that walked upon the mortal coil.

Even now, as his body lay upon his death bed, there were still countless generations outside of his home that chanted his name, that retold his legend, that re-enacted his hardships, battles, and victories. His body bursting into a find purple-blue sand that was wafted out of the open window by an unfelt wind didn't really help matters, he didn't even know how or why that had happened. All he did know and was sure of was that all those that had been there with him, during his final moments of mortality, were going to spread the word of what they had seen, and he was quite sure that his legend would grow even more after that.

But back the rip in the trans-dimensional wall. That was going a bit too far even for him, to some extent. It was a good thing that while he had not been expecting something like this to happen, he was still prepared for something like this to happen.

He had amassed quite a great number of relics and artifacts over the years, when he wasn't out saving the world before bedtime. Three of the items were rather special, more so than most of the others. They were three items that were steeped in legend and in the dreams and beliefs, and in some ideals, of the people he counted himself as being one of.

These three items were the three Deathly Hallows, three items which when brought together under the command of one master, granted their master the mantle and power as and of the Master of Death, thus granting him or her more than just immortality, but also power over both life and death. This had a brief side effect of giving him the ability to transcend the boundaries and limitations set forth by space and time.

One of the items was going to be used at present, but the other two were.

He donned his cloak, which had by this point become his new skin, the stone that he had embedded into a ring became his heart and the core storage for his vast accumulated power. His cloak, or now skin, had him turn invisible even to ones that existed in the plane of existence that he could now claim to remain living in. Only Death Himself would be able to see him or feel his presence now, no other would, unless one was beyond the power of Death himself.

The third item of the trio had been a weapon, a medium or focus through which he could channel his vast power through to achieve results that most would or could view as impossible or at the very least quite difficult. This focus had become a part of him, especially during this time that his immortal soul required some sort of container or protective shell or armor.

His cloak became his skin, that thin layer of covering around his body, the stone became his heart, and the weapon that he had wielded and so had countless others before him, had become everything else within the parameters of his skin.

Being invisible to all made it possible for him to get a jump on this trans-dimensional traveler or intruder that was sure to have come for him, he had a feeling that such a thing was not coincidence. Very few things in his life had been after all.

Most of the strangest and oddest things had been machination of others or of either Destiny or Fate.

That which came forth from the rip was not what he had been expecting now that he knew to expect something at all.

It was a woman with a heart shaped face, green eyes, of a lesser intensity as compared to his, long brown hair, and wore a kimono of all things. He wasn't expecting that his trans-dimensional visitor would be a girl, but he was expecting that whatever came out of the rip would at least be in some form recognizable or normal to him in some form or fashion. Not someone decidedly from the East.

From an East of a world that must have been given life by some kind of cartoon.

The woman that had stepped through had her attire go through an almost instantaneous drastic change once she noticed her immediate surroundings, changing her attire and appearance to match what would have been considered as normal in a European nation rather than an East Asian one.

Her physical appearance too changed, this new one making her look a tad bit more Indian than East Asian, he didn't really care about why she had chosen that form. What he did care about was what purpose her for coming to his bedroom was.

"_Where in this world could his soul have gone...I was quite sure that he did die, the Fates and Destiny of this universe did say that I could add him to _Our_ Throne of Heroes to be one of the defenders of the planet,_" she wondered out loud, instead of thinking her words, "_I suppose it can't be too hard searching for this particular soul._"

'_It seems that the Fates and Destiny have deemed me worthy as staying on as another's champion of sorts,_' he thought to himself, such thoughts sounding distasteful even with his mental voice, '_I refuse to go along with such a foul plan. I would rather become the villain, rather than be shacked to such a fate. I write my own fate, I govern my own story._'

"_I sense no trace of his soul, nor his power, such an entity should have left quite a trail, even if he had somehow manged to cheat death like his ancestors had, according to the Fates and Destiny of this world,_" she said to herself, it was as if they worked more efficiently when she could hear her thoughts rather than think them.

'_Time to unshackle this word from the machinations of the Fates and Destiny I suppose,_' he said as he moved around the newcomer and opened a tear of his own, but this time through the fabric of space and time. He opened for himself a gateway into the realm of the Divine, or the realm of the higher powers known or viewed as gods.

He had never been a fan of either Fate or Destiny. He'd never really done anything about it since he didn't know how, at least that was until he fully and finally realized what he had become after he had come into the possession of and mastery over the Deathly Hallows, which had been the mind, body, and power, of the personified representation of death, or the death of the world or existence or universe that he was conceived or born into.

It was like in YuGiOh, but instead of sharing one's body, more or less, with an already dead pharaoh after solving the Millennium Puzzle, he became that already dead pharaoh. Of course, instead of becoming an actual pharaoh, he became the death of his world, and with death comes life. Thus granting him the power over life and death.

His title was Master of Life and Death. Even with this ascension to a higher tier of existence, both the Fates and Destiny had been and remained unaware of his rise to power. It was as if the previous death of the world had planned it all, had wanted to sever the chains of fate and destiny from the mortals and let them walk down their own paths, and truly leave nothing to fate.

He didn't know how it was in other worlds, but he was sure of his world's Fates and Destiny being either bitches or pricks.

So he crossed over and into the realm of the higher powers, as was his right, and sealed the way he had come in order for the intruder into his universe to not be able to follow him that fast. Not that she had been able to see him, but he had a feeling that she had seen the rip close behind him.

He didn't think that seeking them out and ending them would be easy, he expected that it would be a right adventure for him. A run-o-the-mill quest type thing for him.

Thus he was not surprised to find a veritable army standing before him, ready for battle. He was not expecting them to side with him against his two targets, which was why as he crossed into this realm he pulled all that was his to him and stored them within his very soul. It was something that he knew he could do, thus he had done it.

He brought out the Sword of Gryffindor which he held in one invisible hand, the sword itself being visible, in his other hand, he held no shield, but yet another blade. One which he had found at the bottom of Hogwart's very own Black Lake. The sword of kings, Excalibur. He had a feeling that the Lady of the Lake must have misplaced it or had thrown it away for some reason.

There was also the possibility that someone had found it in the Department of Mysteries and had tried to run away with it only for them to get caught and instead of allowing the artifact to return to the hands of the corrupt ministry of magic employees it was hurled into the lake.

He was hoping for the latter rather than the former, as it sounded all that much more cooler for him.

With both blades on his person, he shrugged off his invisibility and had an armor so black that one could swear all they saw was the void. He had chosen the way of the Mage Knight, or at least that's what it looked like.

He had a wonderful time slaying these already dead things that charged at him intent on subduing him as his purpose in the world had been fulfilled.

He found out, during his fighting, that he was just a pawn or object that could be traded or bartered. He had his price. For saving the world he had thought he was worth a lot more, but apparently the Fates and Destiny of his world thought otherwise.

There was no eternal reward for the righteous or just, for the good, for the saviors or chosen ones. Champions and heroes were simply pawns in a much larger game, or political battle. He wanted no part in it, and thus he fought on with even more or greater fervor.

With his power over life and death, every foe he faced and felled he brought back to fight beside and behind him. He instilled in his resurrected foes an everlasting loyalty to him. They would walk through the gates of hell and battle the devils and demons that lay within til death and should they return to fight again they would go forth to do as they had done before they had died until he commanded them otherwise.

He noticed that most, if not all, of those that he fell and converted over to his side were normal people, whose scales of life did not favor one side more pronounced than the other. There were no villains or heroes here, just the regular kinds of people. Those that were slated for reincarnation most of the time were the ones doing all the fighting it seemed here, in this realm that could be viewed as not only the realm of the gods but also as the afterlife.

By the time he, and his army, reached the walls of the City of the Enlightened Ones, or the city of the gods as it was more commonly called, he had gained control of all the _free_ souls. Those that had been previously forced into serving as foot soldiers and cannon fodder for the army of the gods.

He could not see the two ends of the sides of the great wall that stood between him and the gods themselves or their classical or otherwise, but still, armies. That was how wide the city was, or how long depending on one's opinion or point-of-view.

But that was alright, his army stretched out to those sides as well. It was believable that the City of the Enlightened Ones spanned half the globe, while around one fourth of it was occupied by his army, and the remaining fourth was barren wasteland.

It was quite the siege, if he said so himself. He had his forces construct siege machines and weapons in order for him and his forces to be able to breach the walls.

It didn't matter how long it took him, but he eventually breached the walls, it seemed that belief from the mortals wasn't as strong as it once had been. He wasn't really all that aware of the mortal realm as he was more focused on what he was doing in his present.

Had he been keeping watch over the world below, or the mortal realm, he would have found out that the world was slowly being converted to one religion. A religion which had him at the very top. His legend grew and grew, and those that could see into the realm of the gods had seen him battling against the old religions. In their view or opinions, he was doing so for their sake and not for or due to some insane selfish thing such as revenge.

It was a battle between a recently, or it would have seemed that way to him, transcended Being battling against the old gods and beliefs.

It was a battle between the future and the past, battling for the present.

The woman that had come for him due to the trade, had found herself within the central citadel of the being invaded city, and it was there that she lay in wait for what she believed to still be an inferior entity compared to herself, as she was one of the more powerful forces of her own world.

But in this world, she was no longer faced with one that had merely danced to the whims of the Fates and Destiny, she was now faced with one that the Fates and Destiny were blind to as he had severed their ropes and chains and manacles from himself.

Not knowing what they, those controllers and manipulators of the divine, or gods, were blind to what they were up against and were unable to prepare accordingly to face such a threat to their very existence.

The Fates chose one of themselves to venture out of the citadel to assess that which they could no longer see, as much of the fighting had turned order into chaos and even their own future was no longer certain or set in stone. It kept changing around them, all the possibilities were shrouded in mystery and in shadow.

The one that had been chosen to go forth was the Fate of the Future, the Maiden, a young thing that didn't have quite as much experience with everything as compared to the Fate of the Present and Past.

She caught a glimpse of the fighting which came steadily closer to where she had decided to get a better picture of things, and turned to flee back into the sanctuary to inform her sisters and cousin of a sort of her findings which did include their impending defeat.

She was of course unable to do so as she found enchanted goblin steel jutting from the center of her bloodied chest. The piece of steel was gracelessly pulled out which forcibly flung her to the side.

"_Drown in your own wastes and blood, as you have no place in my future,_" he whispered, but knew that she had heard him even as he marched onto the citadel.

He met up with the Crone, or the Fate of the Past, the wisest of the trio but gave her no time to come up with some form of attack against him and his now even greater army. He used Excalibur to cut her in twain. The blade went through her from the crotch and up, and did not grant her the chance to be reborn as part of his future.

"_I lay thee to rest, as I lay to rest all my regrets,_" whispered to her just before her own life left her.

All that remained were the Mother, the Fate of Present, and Destiny, of course there was also the woman from before who had revealed much of his fate had he remained ignorant and unprepared.

He walked into what could only be the Throne Room within the citadel, where the three women were waiting for him.

He spoke no words to the Mother as he had done to the Maiden and the Crone, he simply ended her life to her surprise and instant recognition. In her final moment she realized what he had become and what she and her sisters had ignored as simply nothing. Master of Life and Death. She, as a mother, symbolized life and thus it could not be that there were two of them.

He took her place, and by ending her life, he took her place completely.

"_I give up_," Destiny said, she had no name other than that, she fell to her knees, but of course motioned for the other remaining woman in the _room_ to flee while he was distracted with her, "_End my existence as well, for I know that in some way I deserve it._"

"_At least you granted me a great destiny and permitted me to aid plenty,_" he whispered to her, almost lovingly, "_So allow me to give you my thanks._"

He placed a finger below her chin and had her face him, before kissing her as passionately as he could, all the while dismissing his swords back into his soul.

One arm encircled her, while the other turned transparent, akin to a ghost, but one that could pierce and pass through the body of one of the True Immortals, or gods.

He captured her final breath as he removed her soul from her immortal body and willed it to rejoin the River of Time and the Stream of Life, for her soul to join the mortals and that she might be reborn. Reborn to experience a life where her responsibilities are far fewer, and where she could write her own story without the burden of dealing with the Fates.

He had not failed to notice the other woman leaving, he just chose not to follow her. For he knew more than enough about her and would be able to track her down and see about causing some chaos in her own world.

But for the time being he had more important things to do. One which his entire army waited with bated breath for him to do.

He slowly stood from his kneeling position from when he had received the breath of life from _his _Destiny, and steadily walked toward the Throne. It was a bone white thing with no decorations whatsoever. It was simple and plain and suited him quite nicely.

Once he sat upon it a great cheer broke out among his forces. Then came the chanting of his title, followed closely by his name. It was not the name he had gone with in him, but a name that they had, more or less, spontaneously come up with to crown him, in a way.

"COSMIN! COSMIN! COSMIN!" was the chant that rang loud and long for exactly a century, before the newly dubbed Cosmin knew that much time had passed since he had last walked upon the mortal world.

It was a longer time still before he ventured back onto the world that he had left once he had transcended past the limitations that his mortal shell afforded him.

He noticed that much progress had happened in both magical and technological worlds. There was even space travel as well as meeting with other worlds and civilizations. It was only then that he noticed that his own world, the one in which his City of Enlightened Ones lived was alone as compared to the mortal realm. Apparently all that was his and all that he was was shared throughout the universe, he and his were simply viewed differently by every different world.


	45. Living God J1

Every chance he got, he snuck off to visit an old man that lived nearby, his relatives didn't like the old man one bit which was part of the reason why he visited the old man. This old man went by the name Harold Potter, and claimed that he's adopt the boy that visited him often if only there hadn't been other forces keeping him from doing just that.

Harold knew of the hardships that Harry Potter had to overcome, and would have loved to have just relived him of his many burdens had it not been for that fact that other forces, outside and uncontrollable, by him, forces were at work. They were all gravitating around the boy. A boy that he had first met after the boy had been left to nurse his wounds at the local park on his seventh birthday no less.

Harold had been startled to find the boy at first, shocked and surprised even. He had not really been expecting to find the boy at all, he had thought that the boy did not exist even. He had thought that by his being in the world the boy's existence was already negated. Apparently he was wrong, and he was different enough of a soul that the boy could still be conceived.

It was at that first meeting, as he healed the boy with his esoteric powers, for he was far from a normal human being after all, that he vowed to do everything in his power, that he was allowed to do in this world that was clearly not truly his own, to help the boy he found lying behind the bushes that one cold night in the twilight between July and August.

So he informed the boy, before returning him to his relatives, that he was welcome in his home anytime. He shoved his address into the boy's head along with tips and tricks and ways for the boy to escape from his relatives.

This was how the boy, Harry, kept finding himself in the presence of the old man. An old man who lived in an old looking house, whose interior was filled with things that looked out of place in such an old looking house. There were trinkets and knick knacks that looked to have come from all over the world and then some. Some of the things the boy found in there screamed that they were the farthest thing from normal as things could get.

He, the boy, was used to it. The old man answered all of his inquiries regarding the items, but he made sure to not ask far too many. He knew how old people could get with their things, their stories, and their memories. Or so it could have been, but the old man picked up on that train of thought and derailed it spectacularly.

The old man could apparently read him like a book, and while we're on the subject of books... The boy learned that he loved to read. He was more than starved for knowledge. The drive to learn was great in him, and since the old man didn't particularly like his relatives, it was okay to read and learn as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted or could get away from his relatives.

The old man seemed to be considered as one of a small respectable sort of person, so much so that all those that met the old man or saw him gave him a polite nod or some other sign of respect. They also seemed to deem it impolite to say anything about the young boy that the old man seemed to socially associate himself with, even though said boy didn't have that good of a reputation.

A reputation which was created or crafted by his own relatives. So would be better believed, what they saw of how the boy interacted with an old man that he could gain something from or what his relatives told about him.

The Dursleys were a respectable family and this old man was of a class that one just had to respect, plus he was an old man that had the cleanest record of them all. There was absolutely no dirt anyone could find to pin to the man, unlike the Dursleys who did have their fair share of splotches on their permanent records.

Harry learned a lot from the old man and with the old man, and things that were not purely stuck in the realm of academia, but even things well and way beyond such things. He learned more than science and math, he learned more than language and history, he learned a lot more. He learned of the arts, he learned of creation, he even learned of religion, mythology, legends, and myths.

He learned about everything under the golden sun or the silver moon that the old man could teach him or had to offer him. He was like a sponge that simply soaked up everything he was taught. It was such a student that every or any teacher would wish to have.

He also began truly applying himself in school after his meeting with the old man, it was nice to have someone that would be proud of him for his accomplishments and would be there to support him through his defeats. He cared not for the opinion of his relatives or those shallow minded others that chose to believe the words of walruses, whales, or giraffes, over what they should have been able to discern with their own eyes.

Even the teachers at the school that he attended didn't really like him, it was thanks to the poison that his relatives had poured down all of their throats, all thanks to that ugly picture painted of him, that they looked down upon him and saw him as a worthless waste of space and of their time. Even when he excelled in his studies, got the highest marks, and such, they still looked down on him and tried to find out how he had cheated. The school even refused to acknowledge his academic accomplishments, going so far as to note in his permanent record that he was a cheat and a scoundrel and that the only reason his grades remained as they were was because there was still not solid proof of his misdeeds. Only the word and opinion of his relatives that had enough compassion in them to take him in when he was left on their doorstep by his drunkards of parents.

Drunkards and drug addicts, unemployed wastes of space, and other such nasty things were some of the words used by his relatives to describe his late parents.

It was the old man, Harold, that shared with him the truth about his parents, and the truth about his hidden heritage. It was the old man that looked after him from the distance between near and far that shared with him what had been hidden from him or taken from him.

He knew all about his fame and his fortune, of the true manner of death of his parents, as well as darkened soul that hunted him even to this day. He knew it all, all thanks to an old man that thought he was old enough and mature enough to take on the world.

With backup of course.

The old man taught him more about himself and the other world that he was a part of than he thought he would have ever discovered alone in his lifetime.

It was the old man that he trusted the most without question, and it was the old man that he saw as his first true friend.

This was the reason why the boy found himself sitting on the old man's front porch waiting for said old man while holding a letter addressed to himself in shiny green ink. He had been expecting the letter, especially ever since the old man had shared with him that he would be receiving it and that the school that he was to be invited to was the one where his parents had gone to after all.

He was excited enough to patiently wait for the old man, after he had escaped from his relatives yet again. He had gotten his uncle angry enough to finally kick him out of the house and to take all his freakishness with him, which luckily for him included everything that actually belonged to him and surprisingly everything that had belonged to his mother that had been left in his aunt's care or something like that.

He had been almost literally thrown to the curb and told to never return. He wasn't quite sure what he had done really to get his uncle that mad at him, mad enough to completely ignore his giraffe of a wife for once whose opinion normally mattered a lot to him.

Harry was grateful and glad, and simply did the impossible before his relatives' wide eyes. He shrunk his belongings without the aid of a wand, as his aunt was aware was supposed to be the norm in the hidden world, until they were small enough to fit into his pockets.

It was only the letter he clutched in his hands that he had chosen not to shrink. It was special after all, and it was also needed. It was the sign of accomplishment which he wished to show the old man, and could be likened to all of his test papers and report cards, that his aunt had been, in the past, forced to grudgingly sign away.

The old man eventually came home, greeted his friend and invited him into his home. Where the letter was shown to him, the old man, and where the old man told the boy to open it and read its contents.

The boy penned his reply to the letter of acceptance and included a short note stating that he did not need anyone to take him to Diagon Alley as he already had someone to show him the ropes. It was that short note that had the old man cackling in mad glee, creeped out the boy a bit as the old man hadn't ever laughed like that before.

But all was explained to the boy, or more like the old man shared his theories regarding ulterior motives and conspiracy theories. It was a rather normal conversation topic, so the boy simply chose to ignore the newness of the situation he had found himself in.

The old man had given him a room in his home for the boy to use. Which was where the boy stored and stowed all of his belongings. It was also there that the boy found some rather interesting papers. Adoption papers to be exact, ones that required his signature as well as a note from the old man that he had finally found a way to get the boy permanently away from his relatives that clearly did not want him. That and some of the outside forces that had been gravitating around the boy had been persuaded to bugger off.

The boy chose to not comment on that last bit, as he really didn't want to know. The old man sometimes spoke in riddles or in riddles within riddles that the boy could just not figure out.

He signed where he was required to sign, and brought the papers to the old man who had a knowing smile and produced a brown envelope in which the documents were placed in.

"I shall be back later tonight, the fridge is stocked so just help yourself," Harold, grandfatherly, told him before leaving him alone in the house, "I almost forgot, a man will be coming by later today, he goes by the name Magus Iunctio, let him into the house and fix him some Jasmine tea as the two of you wait for me to return. I'll have my adoption of you, in a sense, finalized by the end of this working day."

With those parting words the old man left the boy to his own devices.

The boy spent his time in his room waiting for this guest that he had never met before, but had heard the name in passing once or twice when Harold explained some parts of the religious sides of the world around them.

The doorbell rang, loud and clear throughout the house a few hours after the old man had left. The boy rushed downstairs to the front door to see who was there.

Standing on the front porch was a man dressed in a dark blue and purple suit, with matching pants, shoes, gloves, and a fedora hat. He also held in one hand a briefcase with the same color scheme.

"I am Magus Iunctio," the man at the door said, "I'm sure Harold informed you of my pending arrival, may I come in?"

"Yes sir," Harry said, and stepped aside for the man to enter the house, closed the door and led the man to one of the many sitting rooms. The house didn't look it from the outside, but there were more rooms than should have been normal. More floors too.

The boy remembered the Jasmine tea, it was a staple for the old man and the boy liked it well enough as well, though he preferred lemon grass more. He brought the man a cup and pot of the stuff, prepared before hand and kept at a warm enough temperature thanks to his talents in the more magical field.

Harold had taught him all about magic and how to wield it without the need of a medium or focus. How he only needed to believe in the impossible being possible, have a vivid and vast imagination, as well as will enough to make the impossible possible.

There were some other discoveries made while visiting and learning under Harold, much more than just another energy that could be used to manipulate the natural and unnatural worlds.

"So...how do you know the old man?" Harry asked, no longer feeling all that comfortable with the comfortable silence or pregnant pause.

"Hmm," the new person said and rubbed his chin in thought, at least that was what he wanted the child before him to think he was doing, "I met Harold a long time ago, though it was after he had experienced much of what life had to offer. Truthfully, I met that man by accident, I wasn't supposed to meet him and he wasn't supposed to meet me. It was a chance meeting."

"Huh? You mean like when he met me for the first time?" Harry asked, "What I mean by that is that he healed me after one of my uncle's more violent outbursts, back when I was seven."

"Oh, it wasn't anything like that," Magus said, "It was more along the lines of the man managing to widen his pathways to the infinite well or spring of all magic. The pathway or channel had been opened to allow an ocean through to the point that his personal reservoir had overflowed and inadvertently changed him and made him become an avatar of magic of sorts, an anthropomorphic representative of magic in his world."

"Anthropomorphic representative of magic?" Harry asked, "You mean like magic given human form in order to interact with the physical world?"

"Oh yes, quite perceptive of you," Magus noted, "Yes, exactly that. Though I'd make a few more...adjustments to the explanation. He's a higher power, an enlightened entity, some might even go so far as to call him a god, but of what? Nothing really, he's a classless or specialty-less god. He is a higher power without a set purpose, and it was by meeting with me that his place was realized. It also helped that he didn't have a purpose in life at that point in time in his life other than discovering new things as his family had already left him to start new lives for themselves, his wife included. That was probably or cold probably be considered one of his only true tragedies."

"Oh," Harry said, "So why're you here for a visit? Does he need an upgrade or something?"

"Oh, no," Magus said, sipped from his cup of tea, then continued, "I'm here at his request, something to do with you actually, though what exactly I'm not quite sure myself. I admit that I might have the ability of omniscience, but I chose not to consciously use it in conjunction with my core self, which is this form you see before you."

"Oh," Harry said, then asked, "Are you going to be augmenting my magical reserves or granting me some rare or esoteric ability?"

"Hmm, I don't know, it really depends on Harold," Magus said, "It truly does, though I have a feeling that he'll be wanting me to augment your ocular abilities."

"Ocular abilities?" Harry asked, he wasn't quite sure what this no longer a stranger stranger was talking about, he was not entirely aware of any ocular ability that he might possess other than being astigmatic and a rare combination of nearsighted and farsighted.

"Oh, I thought you were aware of them," Magus said, "My mistake then. But I'll explain them to you if you so wish as well as the history behind your eyes, and the abilities that come with them."

"I'd like that," Harry said, sitting upon the floor with is own pot and cup of tea.

"He's told me enough to draw my own conclusions regarding you ocular abilities," Magus said, "There are several of them actually. Though not all of them are purely ocular, they just have a more ocularly visible activation phase. Harold might have to get you some contacts to hide them or teach you a greater illusion to conceal them."

"You mean my eyes change?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes," Magus said, clasping his hands together, "From those vivid emerald orbs to a myriad of colors, ranging from pale lavender to pitch black. Although I have a feeling that Harold has been keeping you in the dark, but no matter, shall I open your eyes to the truth now?"

"Yes please," Harry said, really eager to hear what this stranger that was no stranger had to say about him.

"To start of your eyes are far from normal, they have mutated due to your having a greater access to magic, greater pathways or channels, your early accessing of it, your heritage I believe," Magus explained, "And of course your over exposure to Harold. That last part being partly just the exposure to him and his own esoteric energies and possibly some genetic manipulation on his part."

"You mean like radiation?" Harry interrupted, regarding the exposure to Harold's esoteric energies.

"Possibly," Magus said, "And quite likely too. This house being so full of all sorts of energies and all that, its hardly surprising that you'd be turned into whatever the heck you've turned into. Since it is not only your eyes that have changed over time but the rest of your body and energies as well."

"Could we start with my eyes, please?" Harry said, as he realized that there was a possibility that more would be discussed about him soon.

"Oh right, of course," Magus said, taking a sip again, before continuing with the promised or suggestion or requested explanation, "Your eyes have many abilities, or at least they grant you many additional abilities of which the physical representation of your having them and using them is the changing of the appearance of your eyes. For the time being the most powerful form of your eyes is one that has three levels, or five depending on your point of view...

This specific form is known as Kaleidescope eyes or at least that's what your eyes can be classed and called as.. The first level has three stages, while the other two levels only have just that one, but each stage or level adds abilities to yourself...

But we'll skip all of that since I know for a fact that you've not only acquired the Kaleidescope eyes, but their more powerful version. The Eternal Kaleidescope, which means you won't go blind even if you do keep your eyes in that form all day. Which is a good thing...

There are different abilities granted to you by this class of eye, they come in names as well. Such as Observation Eye, which basically means that you see everything, its not omniscience, but you have an eidetic memory, and your attention to detail is absolutely astounding. Its a good thing you can turn this ability off, since permanently engraving tragic events in your life into your memory banks might make you either insane or delusional later on in life...

To continue, this eye grants your mind the ability to process information faster that normal people. Your mind almost instantly analyses and understands what it sees. You can comprehend things faster than normal. It also gives you the ability to see energies, the manipulable sort of course, as well as track the flow of different movement all at once, and even predict what might happen next. Its like being an experienced martial artist, one that can read one's opponent's movements...

Next is the Illusion Eye, this set of abilities is really just the casting of illusions. You are able to manipulate the mind of your victim, hot wiring or hacking into their senses, which is basically what an illusion is. It is a trick, you hack other's minds to trick them into believing that something that is not real is real...

The Copy Eye, is the third stage of the first level of the eyes you possess. With this stage you are able to perfectly perform whatever energy manipulation techniques or physical skill that you have previously processed. Of course, when it comes to the physical part your body should have the capabilities to perform them...

The only difference between level two and three is the limitation of abilities or their number of uses. With the regular Kaleidescope eyes all upper abilities would be limited to a certain number per day, more due to the cost of energy consumed or used to activate them. There's also the possibility to go blind after too much use. While the Eternal version lets you keep your sight and the required energy for upper abilities is lessened greatly...

There are seven upper abilities or advanced abilities as the three previously mentioned Eyes are the basic three stages of the first level...

These seven upper abilities are, God of the Moon, Goddess of the Sun, God's Majesty, God of the Sea and Storms, Distinguished Heavenly Gods, and the God and Goddess of Creation and Death, or Life and Death...

God of the Moon is an ability that you must have gained from exposure to artifacts that Harold must have collected from the Nasuverse, I won't go into too much detail regarding that as you won't be going there. This ability grants you the ability to warp space and time for one or more individuals while at the same time bringing them into your inner world or mindscape in a sense. The normal time that they can be brought into that world would be three days, one day equals one second, but with the Eternal, who knows how long really...

Goddess of the Sun grants you the ability to create and project black flames that no amount of water will be able to put out. They can burn anything you wish to ash, but will not burn anything you wish to not be harmed by them. If left alone, these flames will burn for seven days and seven nights, or a week if you're not sure about how long that is...

God's Majesty is an ability that grants you space and time manipulation, this is teleportation, as well as having your own private pocket dimension as well as being able to transport yourself instantly to a dimension just outside of this one, your body will act like a ghost...

God of the Sea and Storms grants you the ability to make the impossible possible, or more specifically bring out the avatar or a physical representation of your inner self. Though most of the time it will take on the form of a warrior of a sort, a spectral guardian that will not only defend you, but attack for you. This too is due to your exposure to the Nasuverse artifacts...

Distinguished Heavenly Gods is more of a memory or mind manipulation ability. One where you can erase memories, replace memories, completely rewrite someone else' mind, implant mental suggestions, and the like. Think Star Wars and '_These are not the droids you are looking for_'," he performed air quotes when he mentioned that one movie line...

"God of Creation and Goddess of Death are abilities that could be classed as being a part of one another," he explained, "The God part is the ability to reverse the effects of time on your person, a short amount of time and a single event, including dying. The Goddess part is the ability to trap another person in a loop, to forever experience the same event over and over again until certain mental requirements are met, it depends on you, but it usually is meant for others to see the error of their ways or realize and accept their selves, their individuality and other such things...

These are the abilities of Eternal Kaleidescope. As for how it looks, in the first level your eye a ring of what looks like writing and tadpole like dots in your eyes to appear, they will also spin around your eyes' pupils. In the second and third level your eyes' pattern will change, I believe the form your eyes take when using the upper abilities should be of, with the three tadpoles still swirling about, a triangle with a circle inside and a line going through the center vertically."

"That was really in-depth," Harry said, he knew to keep silent and his questions to himself until the end of the explanation, it was rude to but in, although he sometimes couldn't help himself, "But I have a feeling you have bit more to explain to me about my eyes."

"But of course," Magus said, "You wouldn't be Harry Potter if you weren't extra special."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, a bit sourly thinking it to be some sort of jab at him or insult in some way.

"Take the statement as a compliment," Magus said, "I mentioned earlier that your eyes can change to a range of colors, I forgot to mention, regarding the Kaleidescope eyes that your eyes turn red from their green I believe."

"Somehow I don't think that that color is a good thing," Harry commented.

"I would like to agree but I can't, since its technically a color and when has a color ever intentionally hurt anyone," Magus said, before continuing with the next eye...

"When your eyes turn the color of pale lavender or look blind, then you are using White Eyes, such an unimaginative name I know, but I wasn't the one that thought it up...

This kind of eye grants you three abilities, or a partnership of sorts with the Kaleidescope. The three abilities also have names of their own, they are Insightful, Telescopic Penetrating, and Chakra Eye, the name of the last ability is what a researcher dubbed it and is not my doing at all...

Whereas Kaleidescope focuses more on individuals, White Eyes is more of an environmental or area focused eye or attention to detail. Instead of merely observing a person or object or animal, it grants you a heightened ability to observe your surroundings in greater detail. Think of looking at a lake, normally you'd just see the water, but with the Insightful eyes you'll notice the fish swimming, or a boat sitting upon the horizon. Everything will appear clearer and sharper, though you won't be able to memorize things, just see them with clearer or unclouded eyes...

Telescopic Penetrating Eye is just that, you can see great distances while at the same time your vision loses color and you see in x-ray vision, much like how you can make yourself intangible using God's Majesty, this ability makes objects transparent or opaque to your vision. Your range is nearly 360 degrees all around, you do have a blind spot of course, and the very back of your head, so its more like 359 degrees or something...

Chakra eye merely expounds on the ability to see energy and the flow of energy. Unlike Kaleidescope that does not see the internal flow but the external flow, the Chakra eye aspect or ability of White Eyes grants you the ability to see the internal pathways and channels through which energy flows and moves around. You'll also be able to see the exit and entry points of these energies, which, with practice, will enable you to block or unblock them."

"So they complement each other," the boy noted, "That's kinda cool, or really cool really."

"I know it is," Magus said, "Although, aside from the turning white of your eyes, the veins close to your eyes might bulge, though I might have a solution for that, but we'll tackle that later, as you still have other eye associated abilities or abilities that the eyes serve as the physical manifestation of their activation..."

Before he could explain further or enumerate the others that lay in wait in those emerald orbs, the door of the house opened of its own volition to allow entry to the lord of the house, Harold Potter had returned from whatever it was that he had done to gain guardianship of sorts over one Harry Potter.

He entered the sitting room with a much lighter brown envelope in his hand and shit eating grin on his face that spoke volumes about how his day and errand had gone.

"I've finally got you as my underling! Mwahahaha!" Harold said, then cackled as best as his somewhat temporarily addled mind and body could, before he abruptly stopped to explain what had happened or deliver the good news in a more normal fashion, "Everything has become legal and binding, though at the cost of being able to file anything against the Dursleys by us or against the man that dumped you on their doorstep in the first place and didn't bother to check on you."

"...THANK YOU!" Harry shouted as he bolted toward Harold and gave him the roughest and toughest and hardest of bear hugs that his underdeveloped body could give an old man without having to worry about hurting such a spry old thing.

"You are very welcome," Harold said once Harry let go and stopped thanking him for finally taking him in from the proverbial cold.

"So, what's been going on in here while I've been out legalizing everything?" Harold asked.

"I've been telling him about his eye associated abilities," Magus said, "I've explained Kaleidescope and White Eyes, I was just about to move onto his transformation related eyes, although those do affect the rest of his physical makeup than just his eyes."

"I'll go get us some books for reference just in case he needs to see what you'll be talking about," Harold said, "Go ahead and teach him about conscious activation of his Kaleidescope and White Eyes, they'll help him better understand the regular gibberish that you're about to spew."

"I'll do that and go shoo and don't come back without those books!" Magus jokingly said.

Harold was quick to comply and left the duo in the sitting room as he went off to collect the books needed as well as instruct the kitchen to begin preparations for dinner as well as prepare dinner as he didn't have the time to do the actual cooking.

While Harold was once again away on business, semi-business, Magus explained to Harry how to activate his eyes and their abilities. Since the boy already knew how to manipulate his magic, channeling some to his eyes to activate the abilities or the eyes themselves was rather easy. Though he did advise the boy to take it slow when it came to the partially visual abilities, as it would take time for him to get used to them.

Small headaches and mild migraines were to be expected, and the boy said he didn't really mind as the best things in life weren't free after all. He knew that well enough, what with his life with his relatives that clearly did not want anything to do with him.

At least it landed him with Harold and now Magus.

"What'd I miss now?" Harold said, having returned with a pile of biology books covering his front from view, a pile of books which he unceremoniously dumped on the floor before taking a seat on another available armchair.

Harry remained on the carpeted floor.

"I have determined that you have, through your paternal side that you have inherited and partially unlocked a limited transformation ability," Magus said, "This being what the magical world of this existence calls metamorphmagic, which is the ability to change your physical appearance to anything you can cook up in that sick little head of yours, but you are limited to the male gender and to the human species unless jointly using the ability with some of the others your body has developed over, as I said previously, your exposure to Harold and everything he keeps in his house."

"So that's why my hair grew overnight after Aunt Petunia gave me the ugliest haircut on the planet!" Harry realized, connecting the dots with ease, "Is it also connected to my healing faster than others?"

"Yes and no," Harold was the one to answer that question, "Magicals heal faster than non-magicals, magicals are more resistant and even immune to a lot of non-magical or muggle sicknesses and diseases. But it does help some since with this ability you could force your body to change into one that does not have injuries, though it will take a lot of time and practice as well as a greater tolerance to pain."

"Oh, do I need adult supervisions when I practice things?" Harry asked, it had never been a rule but one could never be sure when it came to such things.

"Not really," Harold said, "But I will keep an eye on you, figuratively speaking."

"He'll focus his all seeing eyes on you to make sure you don't hurt yourself or overdo things," Magus elaborated before his friend and host could, "Shall we proceed?"

"Yes please," Harry eagerly said.

"I have determined that through your mother's side you have inherited a number of things that no muggleborn," Magus began explaining, Harry was well versed in the terms of the hidden world that he was a part of and thus did not need some long winded explanation of something he already knew and these words are just to make the story longer and now on with the story, "Should be able to put on the table, once again figuratively speaking. She is muggleborn, a first generation witch and in a sense a pureblood in her own right. But if one were to trace her genetic history, one will eventually find several instances when several of her direct ancestors weren't exactly human or entirely human."

"Really?" Harry said then turned his attention to Harold, "You didn't know about this?"

"No clue, swear," Harold said, "Prankster's honor."

"Ok, I believe you," Harry said, when Harold swore on his prankster's honor he meant it, especially when he owned Zonko's Joke Shop Incorporated, not that many people knew that.

"Getting back to our discussion or my explanation," Magus said, "From your mother's line you have gained a number of additional abilities and forms, the abilities come with the forms same as with your eye associated abilities.."

"Which Magus shall be adding onto later after everything has been covered," Harold said, finally explaining the reason for Magus' visit, "Yes, I'd like for him to upgrade your Eternal Kaleidescope to its true and final form, the Transmigration Eye, Samsara Eye, or more properly Eye of Samsara."

"I'll explain it and the abilities it comes with later, but just like all abilities and powers, one will need to practice before one can reach perfection or enlightenment in that eye's case," Magus said.

"Please continue," Harold said.

"The oldest of these forms, the farthest from your present state of genetics and magical combination is that of a Silver Dragon," Magus said, "I won't go into details about the love affair between that kind of dragon and your ancestor, but I'll say that the dragon was female and your ancestor the male."

"Erase, erase, erase," Harold said as he rubbed his index fingers against his temples to expunge the image that entered his mind after that statement.

"Huh?" Harry, cluelessly, wondered.

"Don't mind him," Magus said, "You are able to use the blood of the dragon within your veins, as diluted as it is, to transform into a silver dragon. You'll of course have the ability to breathe out dragonflame, and other types of breath, good luck though. You'll also have to practice your flying. Your skin can be willed to being as tough as dragon scales and just as impervious to spells of a multitude of sorts and power outputs. You can be a human in dragon form of a dragon in human form."

"Practice, practice, practice," Harold reminded of course.

"Of course," Harry said, "I'll never forget to do that."

"I know," Harold said.

"Next down the line is a hobgoblin," Magus said.

Here Harold had to show Harry some illustrations of a rare race/species of goblin. A hobgoblin was taller than the bankers of the wizarding world, and a lot more brutal. They also happen to view war or battle as religious experience and absolutely detest weakness. Or so Harold explained.

"Your hobgoblin ancestor was male and the human female," Magus said, and looked into the past part of the time steam, "And what an ugly baby it was.."

"You can see into the past? Can you teach me?" Harry asked, rather interested.

"No," Magus said, he did notice the boy's disappointed look, "You can of course ask Harold to show you his time viewing machine. It acts like a television, but instead of dramas and soaps, it shows the memories of the world, of this world to be precise."

"I'll show you sometime," Harold said, "I still have to look for the thing."

"OK," Harry said.

"The only thing I can say that you get from the hobgoblin is a body built for battle, though for your human base form you'll just get some enhancements, though you could gradually work on that," Magus said, "A physically fit body is a healthy body."

"I know," Harry said, "I exercise."

"Good," Magus said, "Another gain from this goblin blood is that you can speak the goblin language perfectly, including all the guttural and throaty stuff that not even spells can imitate to a respectable degree."

"That sounds rather helpful, especially with what Harold told me about goblins and their general view of wizards," Harry said.

"Next down the line we come across nephilim blood," Magus said, and waited for Harold to do the explanation and illustration showing.

Nephilim, as Harold explained to Harry was the product of the union of the divine entity known as an angel and a mortal, the angel could be of either heaven or one of the fallen, it mattered not, only that the offspring was of a union of both. A child of ether and earth. In a sense, a cursed child and a cursed existence. Harold refused to elaborate more.

"Let me rephrase my earlier wording," Magus said, "Not blood of a nephilim, one of your ancestors was nephilim, it was diluted by the introduction of more human blood. Thus you have an angel form, one with a mixture of black and white feathered wings."

"So I get wings again," Harry noted, more to himself, "Did I get anything from the divine part of the equation other than the wings?"

"Patience is a virtue," Magus said, "But yes, you did. Heightened reflexes, an affinity for the air or wind is already a given. Your bones can be likened to that of a phoenix though, hollow and hard as diamond, not hat many know that part."

"That isn't much," Harry said.

"Be glad you didn't inherit any of the curse," Magus said, shuddering slightly yet relatively unnoticeably, "Shall we move on?"

"Yes please," Harry said.

"Good," Magus said, "Further down the line, your bloodline merged with that of the House of Cronqvist. More specifically you have vampire blood in you, the most powerful of all vampire kind, blood that transcends space and time even."

"I've never heard of the name Cronqvist before," Harry said, "The only vampires I know are Blade and Dracula."

Harold took over from there and explained that the House of Cronqvist's last mortal member was a brilliant tactician and alchemist by the name of Mathias Cronqvist. He did though spend a part of his immortal life as Vald Tepes, just for the fun of it.

Mathias sought out immortality after renouncing the Christian god and turned to the forces of darkness. He plunged the world in darkness several times, but the clan of his once best friend always seemed to be there to stop him before he won.

When he renounced the Christian god, he renounced too his name, this allowed whatever descendant he might have the right to claim the headship of the Ancient House, magical world-wise of course. His chosen name was Dracula, and it was through his one and only son that Harry descended from.

"To add a bit of a complication or oddity to your bloodline you also happen to be the last direct descendant of Leon Belmont, Mathias' best friend," Magus added, "Thus it is safe to say that you've got the blood of the Lord of Darkness or the King of Vampires in you, as well as the blood of his arch-nemesis as well."

"That's cool, really cool," Harry said, "So is he still alive? Dracula I mean."

"Oh yes, definitely," Harold replied, "Very much...quote alive unquote. He lives in Castlevania, somewhere in Transylvania, hidden behind barriers and wards. He's mellowed out some though. His son on other hand...well he lives here in England and is in the employ of one of the Knights of the Round Table."

"Yes, he is the trump card of a muggle-run monster hunting organization and police force that the Ministry of Magic cannot touch due to a number of factors," Magus added.

"Do I have any more non-human blood running through my veins?" Harry asked.

"Oh a bunch more," Magus said.

"What else?" the boy, semi-impatiently, asked.

"Well," Magus said, "Let's see... You have lamia in you.."

Harold did as he did previously, and showed illustrations of lamia.

"So I can become a serpent?" Harry asked, he liked snakes and could even talk to them.

"Yes, snakes, serpents, sure," Magus said, "Naga even. Gorgon too, maybe. You'll just have to experiment."

"I can do that I guess," Harry said, "Next?"

"Next up is lycanthrope blood," Magus said, "There are several kinds of vampires and werewolves or weres. You have the blood of the Corvinus wolf in your veins. Your ancestor can be said to be on equal footing as Mathias, if you only consider the part of Mathias that is vampire as he, before creating Adrian, his only son, was already something more."

"What's this ancestor's name and is this ancestor still around?" Harry asked.

"Oh he's still around alright, his name is William Corvinus," Magnus replied.

"Where can he be found? Since he's still around, I'd like to meet him," Harry said.

"We have enough time on our hands to go meet him, and help him perhaps," Harold said.

"You do not need the light of the full moon to transform," Magus said, "You also do not have the weakness to silver."

"So I get all the good stuff and none of the bad stuff?" Harry asked.

"From your ancestors? Yes," Magus said, "Shall we recap?"

"Sure," Harry said.

"So far I've informed you of your having the blood of a silver metallic dragon, a hobgoblin, nephilim, vampire-demon hybrid, lamia, and lycan, with a side order of vampire hunter human," Magus said, "With all the pros and none of the cons. And also having all of them being as pure as they started with in your bloodstream due to the over exposure to the unnaturalness of Harold here," Magus said and motioned toward Harold who was glaring at him for having been called unnatural, "Ignore him."

"So...is there anything else? I mean other than magic," Harry asked.

"Magical chameleon, and chaos monster," Magus said, "From your mother's side of your blood, I have no idea how the hell you have magical chameleon in you, but the chaos monster was a drunk Tiamat. Your father's side only gives you a bit of banshee and a grim-lycan hybrid...which kind of..."

"Erase, erase, erase," Harold said once again and rubbed his index fingers against his temples, which Harry and Magus ignored.

"Moving on," Magus said, "Your mother just so happened to be the first witch out of the entirety of her bloodline. Now then, is there anything else you would like to know?"

"The upgrade to my eyes?" Harry said.

"Ah, yes," Magus said, "That," he then motioned for Harry to stand in front of him instead of continue to sit on the floor, "Let's see those crimson orbs of yours and I'll do the rest."

Harry did as he had been earlier instructed and consciously activated his Eternal Kaleidescope Eyes, and they were as they had been described, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows with those tadpole like dots appearing on a ring of tiny writing, but remained in place which was on the sides of the triangle.

Magus covered Harry's eyes with his hands, and the boy felt a warmth spread out from the hands and into his opened eyes. He didn't see anything but darkness, but once Magus lowered his hands, the boy couldn't help but gasp as the world changed right before his newly improved eyes.

What he saw was vastly different, he couldn't describe it but he knew that he could see differently.

"It is not that you can see differently, it is just that the world looks new with your new," Magus said, "That effect will eventually fade, and I am sure that you will not notice."

"You said you'd explain what these eyes grant me ability-wise," Harry said, he wasn't impatient, he just wanted to understand himself better as well as gain in knowledge.

Harold was the one that explained abilities that came with the eyes.

There were seven he explained. Deva Path or Realm of the Gods, Asura Path or Realm of the Titans, Human Path or Realm of Humans, Preta Path or Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Animal Path or Realm of Animals, Naraka Path or Realm of Hell, and Outer Path.

Deva Path granted him, Harry, the ability to manipulate the magnetic forces, or the forces of attraction and repulsion. Additionally Harry was granted gravitational manipulation. Magus inserted that there was a minimum pause between attraction and repulsion of three seconds, between activations as well.

Asura Path allowed him to create and store in a pocket dimension, separate from Kamui's own, technological items that could be used to augment his body, like a cyborg's body parts.

Human Path granted Harry the ability to touch souls and pull them out while at the same time giving him the ability to read memories. Magus inserted that he had changed it somewhat, so that the mind reading ability didn't have the side effect of instantly killing the one whose mind was read.

Preta Path gave Harry the ability to absorb energy, in any form and convert it into his own power or add it to his own power. Magus gave, as an example, that if Harry was ever hit by a car and he used this ability he could absorb all the energy behind the hit and negate the hit itself. It would be as if the hit had never happened, though the car would still be pushed against his body. One could say that it was as if the driver had managed to stop the car before he could do any damage.

Animal Path allowed Harry to bring his own imaginary creatures to life and into this world, the realm and waking world. That was really all that it was, although he could have them do his bidding of course.

Naraka Path went hand in hand with Outer Path, which was a golem of sorts that borrowed aspects from Yama the Buddhist judge over the dead that chose whether one remained dead or was returned to life. Hand in hand these two Paths gave Harry a full-proof lie detector ability as well as healing ability, the healing ability went further to necromantic tendencies too.

Magus informed Harry that he had altered Outer Path a bit, so that Harry had a gateway that sat on the veil or fabric that separated the world of life from the realm of the dead. A part of it would be summoned should Harry ever chose to use the combined Naraka and Outer Paths.

"As Harold has not yet mentioned," Magus said, "Outer Path gives you additional abilities, two of them to be exact. The first is the ability to seal away another's ability to internally and externally manipulate of make use of energy, other than the normal automatic things. The second ability is that you are able to form visible chains of energy."

"It allow mid to long range use of otherwise close range abilities," Harold added as an afterthought, "Any other things you'd like to know or, well, do now that all the explanations are over, also I'd like to inform the two of you that dinner will soon be served."

"I'd like to see my eyes in a mirror, if that's alright with you two," Harry said.

"Here you go," Magus said, transfiguring some dist particles in the air into a mirror and had it face Harry.

His Samsara Eyes had added lines in them, added to his tadpoles and his Eternal Kaleidescope.

The symbol of the Deathly Hallows etched itself onto his pupils, the tadpoles swam on a ring of writing still, but what was etched on the rest of the surface of his eyes was a new symbol.

There was a circle, that didn't quite touch the edges of his eye, with a square inside it and its corners touched the circle. Inside the square sat another circle, just large enough to touch the insides of the square. The center circle held an eight-pointed star, with lines radiating out from the points of the star, piercing all the way through both circles, every other line bisected a corner of the square.

The tadpoles and the ring of writing passed through this new symbol as they never really lost their place no matter what was added to the eyes.

"That's...kinda really freaky," Harry commented, then shut off the flow of energy to his eyes, which had them shift backwards until his regular emerald orbs replaced the crimson background. His eyes changed in slow motion as he gazed at the mirror, but in truth the shift was nigh instantaneous.

"Let's go eat," Harold said, "In order for you to master your newfound abilities and the like, I'll be placing you somewhere where you can get a year's worth of practice while aging only a day."

"I'm afraid to ask," Harry said as three of them walked over to the dinning room for dinner, "But was whatever this thing that's going to be used on me come from some alternative universe of sorts that was based or has a cartoon or something based on it?"

"Oh yes," Harold replied as they entered the dinning room, "I'm also going to require you to watch a certain number of cartoons and movies while you're in there."

When the dinning room door closed, Harry realized just how much insanity he had gotten himself into. It had finally dawned that he was in a situation that was the farthest thing from normal, and it had started when he decided to consider Harold as his first true friend.

It could be said that the gods saw mortals as their pawns or playthings, in this case Harry realized that he something like that for two Higher Powers that were his friends at the same time, one was even his guardian.

Their stifled mad cackles were the worst omens a child such as he could have heard before bedtime.

#

After breakfast of the next day he was introduced to where he would be staying for the next 24 hours, although for him it would seem like a year would pass around him. He would be separated from any social contact for the duration of those 24 expanded hours.

He was told of a number of things that he had to be aware of upon entering the room, which was known as or called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

He was shoved into the chamber with all of the things that he would need, along with a journal to record what he did inside the thing, as well as a great number of discs worth of things that he needed to watch, books that he needed to read, and other things, including things that had entertainment value to tide him over until the time that he wold be permitted to leave the chamber.

While in the chamber he was forced or manipulated into exercising, but not to the point that his physical health was compromised. His mental health on the other hand need not worry about information overload due to the enhancements afforded or brought about by his eye associated abilities.

As a storage for information his mind became the reincarnation of the library of Alexandria.

He was forced to endure watching the works of Kishimoto, Kubo, Mashima, Ikeda, Miyazaki, Takahata, and Toriyama, to name a few of the more important ones among the animation category, with his Eternal Kaleidescope switched on.

He was forced to watch movies such as the Matrix, all three of them, Avatar, Terminator, Total Recall, Stargate, Star Wars, and a bunch of other sci-fi – fantasy films.

He was forced into reading more than just the kinds of books that gave out information, pure information, such as school books and encyclopedias, he was also manipulated into reading science fiction and fantasy novels such as the works of Tolkien, Riordan, Lewis, Carol, and a host of others including a series that was written by a woman with the surname of Rowling that starred a female lead character that went to a magical school and had a different adventure for every year of her seven years of magical schooling life. He couldn't help but feel or relate to that main character for some reason.

Secretly Harold and Magus were making sure that his mind did not make the connection that the books had been altered somewhat.

By the time that the 24 expanded hours were up, Harry bolted out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and attacked the two Higher Powers who had been expecting such a reaction or result or action from the, still, boy.

What they had not been expecting was to find themselves tied to wooden chairs and had their eyes taped open. Earphones were shoved into their ears, and they were not only forced to watch, but also listen to THE PURPLE MENACE for the next 24 hours while Harry relaxed in his, relatively, new room. He basked in the silence, since Harold and Magus found that they could not scream due to the electrical tape that had been smeared over their mouths.

The PURPLE MENACE was so bad that the two Higher Powers had forgotten that they could have used their power to banish such a purple monstrosity.

When that was over and done with Magus said his goodbyes to the duo as he claimed that he had to resume his quest, that quest being finding a way to spend eternity with his wife who lived in a world that he could no longer access for more than five minutes every year. Harry was not that disappointed, sad, or happy, to see him go, but he asked that the man come visit him sometime.

Magus made the promise, swearing upon himself before vanishing in a swirl of purplish blue dust and sands, leaving just enough for Harry to not need to resupply on the special sand anytime soon.

It was also on that day that Harold decided to officially take Harry to Diagon Alley, not only for his school supplies, but also to gain full control of the Potter finances, which Harold was sure were not in that good of a post-war condition.

It was indeed as Harold had feared, the Potter finances were a wreak, or rather they were nearly non-existent. In seven years time there would no longer be a Potter fortune as whoever had been overseeing it had been taking from it and not adding to it. All that had remained untouched was the money that was to be transferred to the Trust Vault set up for Harry by his parents, along with the monies for his schooling.

The only other things that remained as they had been were the family treasures, items, objects, tomes, and everything that was kept safe within the hallowed halls of the goblin-run bank that was not gold or of goblin-make.

Harold didn't blame the goblins, since the goblins had not touched any of the goblin crafted items in the Potter vaults. He told Harry such. But he did blame that man that had appointed himself, until recently, as Harry's guardian in the magical world, while at the same time failing in all of the responsibilities and duties that such a position held.

The duo approached a teller that was about to go on his lunch break and simply asked for directions to reach the office of the Account Manager Badonkadonk. Harry had been forced to stiffle a giggle at the name of his account's manager. The teller did give them directions, it didn't give them a second glance or thought after that.

The duo followed the directions and barged into the office unannounced and went straight to business, Harry found it rather rude, but the goblin didn't seem to mind at all.

Harold showed proof that he was indeed who he claimed as being and presented proof to the goblin that Harry was also who he was. Then they went straight into business, Harold gave orders on what to do with the Potter monies while Badonkadonk could do nothing but listen. He was and would implement all of Harold's plans while also taking on an assistant once work and investments became too much for one goblin to handle, Harold suggested Vault Guide Griphook for the job.

Harold also made sure that the bank, in his place, would make sure that all those that made money by using Harry's name and anything that had to do with him would pay, in some way, shape, or form, that did not include joining the family as a free human being.

With that done, Harold and Harry were led down to Harry's Trust Vault which he had a right to go to, as he was not old enough to visit the family vaults. It was there that he stocked up on monies for his own, non-school related, use. Harold insisted on paying for all of his ward's school supplies.

Once Harry was done making his withdrawal Harold had Badonkadonk open an account for him, Harold, but instead of being under the name Harold Evan Potter, which was what the muggles knew him as, he used the name Herwald von Himmel. Badonkadonk had no choice but to use it and it seemed that magic (Magus) permitted its use as well as authenticity.

For a starting fund, which came with instructions on investments, Harold handed over a small pouch which he told his new account manager to pour out into the vault that had been or would be assigned to him.

With their business at the bank over and done with, Harold and Harry ventured forth into the central shopping district of Wizarding London.

It was quite a packed day to be shopping, but it suited the two Potters' needs just fine as they didn't want to catch anyone's attention and what better way to hide than hide than in plain sight.

Though Harold did have Harry use his metamorph ability to move his scar, which unknown to Harry did not house what it previously did house, which was a piece of the now incomplete soul of one dark lord whose defeat, temporary or not, made him famous.

It was also a good thing that Harry no longer needed glasses, or never needed glasses to begin with. He'd only worn a lensed pair once due to his former school's nurse insisting to his aunt that she had him wear a pair. Harold had seen to repairing his eyes, which made glasses no longer needed.

Though he did keep a pair on his person just in case.

Harold bought Harry everything that was on the list, and it was up to the 11 year old to get himself anything else he deemed necessary for his year of schooling, along with whatever miscellaneous item caught his fancy, which did include a broom.

"First years are not allowed a broom," Harold had read, or interpreted from the letter, "Poppycock, go get your broom," he said to Harry, "Bring it with you, hidden in your trunk. I'll hand you a letter of permission to have it with you in case you get in trouble for having it."

"'Kay," Harry said before he had gone trotting off to the broom store, which gave Harold plenty of time to go and get Harry an owl of his very own, no Harry Potter should ever be deprived of his snowy companion.

When Harold met back up Harry who had purchased the cheapest broom in the market, for whatever reason he had, he presented the boy with the snowy owl, sans cage, which the boy automatically, as if programmed, adored the owl and named her, unsurprisingly, Hedwig.

Their last stop for the day just so happened to be the wand shop, no sense in breaking tradition or so Harold claimed.

The tingling of a chime would have normally announced the arrival of a customer to such a shop, but this one did not have one. The duo merely pushed open the door and entered the creepy and dimly lit shop that screamed health code violations and safety code violations as well.

The pair waited a moment before they were assaulted by the normally surprising arrival of the wand maker who looked a bit put out when the duo didn't react in the manner that he was going for. They had essentially ruined his fun.

"_Spoilsports_," the man had muttered under his breath, but the duo clearly heard him as the edges of their lips moved a bit, in an almost unnoticeable smirk.

The man then proceeded to inform the pair that it was the wand that chose the wizard and not he other way 'round. But the duo interrupted him. Harold even silenced the man when he finally realized who the young man before him was and was about to go into speaking about the boy's parents' wands, which Harry already knew about and didn't really want or need to hear again. It wasn't the wand that made the wizard after all.

"I am here to pick up my wand," Harry stated, "Not to hear about histories that I am already aware of. I am here on business and not to be added to the perpetually growing list of sources of entertainment for a clearly powerful individual such as yourself, heaven knows that the truly powerful are ones with quirks such as your own."

"I..I see," the wand maker said, "Then shall we begin," he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster as he already knew that this wand binding would not be as enjoyable and experience as it usually was.

"I know for a fact that you do not need to take any measurements of any sort nor do you need to know which hand is my dominant one," Harry stated, Harold had told him all about it all already, "How do we go about this without any of your theatrics?"

"We'll skip that as I doubt the man actually knows how or even has such a procedure set up for such a situation as this," Harold said, and it also just so happened to be the first time that the wand maker actually noticed the adult that came with the boy, really noticed him.

"Who, sir, are you, if I might ask," the wand maker said, "I don't recognize you, or your magic, and I am quite sure that I was not the one that made your wand, nor was I or anyone in my family the one that introduced you to your wand."

"What business is it of yours to know," Harold stated, he looked down upon the wand maker as if he were a mere particle of dust in the wind that landed rather hard against a rocky surface.

"None at all mi'lord," the wand maker automatically replied, for some reason he found that the fear of god had been put into him as his soul screamed at him to run from the danger that the man before him possessed, "You have a wand in your collection, an 11 inch wand of holly and phoenix feather, kindly have my ward try that one out."

"Very well mi'lord," the wand maker said and went about retrieving the wand and presented it, still in its case, to the young Potter.

Harry grasped it in one hand, it didn't really matter which one as he was ambidextrous, and both he and the wand seemed to glow and all three could hear a faint phoenix song come into existence from the glow, before it steadily and slowly subsided.

"How does it feel?" Harold asked, the wand maker was waiting for his chance to get these people out of his shop, he just couldn't deal with them as he normally would after all.

"Comfortable, but at the same time as if someone is still missing," Harry admitted, hoping that he wasn't saying the wrong thing.

"What? That's impossible!" the wand maker exclaimed, in all his years of playing matchmaker, he had never heard of such a thing, all wands he sold were perfect matches, he personally guaranteed it. It was part of the unspoken contract that he had sworn upon before he started dealing in wand making and selling. If such a statement were true, and it was not a perfect match, then he could lose a lot more than just reputation in the wand making and crafting community.

"Nothing is impossible, especially when MAGIC is involved," Harold stated, stressing the word magic, "Everything is both probable and possible. I expect that you will keep what my ward's wand as a secret, as I know that there is a form of customer confidentiality statement in your oath as a lawful wand make rand seller. Informing another party, say, the Hogwarts Headmaster would constitute breaking that oath and such an action might hurt you more in the long run."

"I...understand," the wand maker said, gulping a little bit in nervousness as he had been intending to inform said headmaster of the specific wand that went to Harry Potter.

"We care not for the history of the wand or any other stories tied to it," Harold stated, "They are past, and we have chosen to leave such things there. We are in the present, and thus that and what waits for us is what matters."

"I...understand," the wand maker said.

"Good," Harold said, "We will of course also be purchasing a wand holster, and a maintenance kit, the very finest available in this historical shop of yours."

"Of course mi'lord," the wand maker said and pulled out the additional items, as well as choosing not to volunteer any information, which Harold didn't really mind at all, "That will be ten galleons and one knut, sirs."

Harold placed the necessary coins on the countertop of the shop, then motioned for Harry to follow him out of the shop, where once they were out of sight of the shop and its owner, burst out laughing at the experience.

Once calmed down some, they ventured out of the magical world and back into the technological one and home, where they would remain until the fall and start of term, when Harry would begin the traditional journey to where he would be having his first, true, great adventure.

#

Harold had promised that during the Christmas break the two of them would be adventuring in the Carpathian Mountains, where two of Harry's ancestors could be found. They would be visiting only one of them, the Corvinus Lycan Founder, William, whom Harold believed should be weak enough for him to turn into something akin to a shapeshifter of sorts.

This was the plan that was devised in order for Harry to have the family he so rightly wished for and deserved. It also would have the effect of preventing a few bad things from actually ever happening.

For the summer, Harold promised Harry that they would be revisiting the same mountain range but instead of finding a werewolf, they would be meeting with one of the most powerful vampires to ever walk the face of the Earth, one whose name, or alias, was forever embedded in history. One who also just so happened to be more demon than vampire nowadays.

These things were told to Harry as the boy prepared to venture off on his own, the first step being leaving his longtime friend and now family at the station's platform as he made his way onto the train to officially begin his great adventure.

He bid Harold adieu and boarded the train, wand in his holster, strapped to his arm yet hidden by his sleeve, not that he really needed it. It being just a prop. His trunk and other belongings were in his the storage space that could be found near his very soul.

He found himself an empty compartment, Harold told him that no matter how big or small the train looked on the outside, it was impossible for there to be any completely full compartments as the train itself was enchanted to always make room for more. It was an ever expanding train, adding compartments and space within those compartments when necessary or requested by those that were within it's walls.

He decided that a prank was in order, a relatively harmless one really, he had his hair turn into snakes, it was from his lamia heritage. Which gave him the ability to manifest such a physical change, since the lamia part of him gave him many abilities including transforming into lamia related creation and beings.

He put a common hat on his head and sunglasses over his eyes, after deciding to have his head go into full gorgon mode.

He waited for his first unsuspecting muggleborn victim.

That victim just so happened to be a fellow first year student that went by the name Hermione Granger, who he found quite bossy and rude as she asked him questions and didn't give him time to answer and in some way managed to call him stupid or ignorant without even saying such words. She also demanded, with not so many words, to follow her order or to believe that she was right.

She only gave him her name so that he would know what to call the would be soon star of the witching world.

She just wouldn't shut up about everything she knew, once he said that he was raised in the muggle world but had prepared for joining the magical one. She appeared to be trying to impress him with her know how, as well as give him the impression that she was a responsible person, albeit socially inept.

To shut her up, he asked her if she knew what a gorgon was. He had to shout the question so as to be heard between her babbling. She answered of course, spouting out word by word what was written in one of the books that Harry had read and which this witch had apparently bought.

"Why did you want to know?" she asked him after her brief lecture.

He lowered his shades which pushed his cap up a little bit, just enough to allow one of his serpentine locks to peek out from under it.

"Oh no reason really," he said to her, as he locked gazes with her, causing her to physically turn to stone. He made sure to make her petrified body indestructible as he couldn't, on good conscience, allow for the possibility of her forever remaining as a stone statue that could be shattered.

It would not do to have a murder on his conscience, even though she was a tad bit insufferable already.

He moved the frozen solid girl further into the compartment before closing the door, but of course not locking it.

Throughout the time it took before the train began to actually move, he had manged to petrify quite a lot of students. Students who would not be able to point him out once he got rid of his disguise. The disguise being the cap and the shades as they did a really good job of covering up his more distinguishing features. His scar, as a precaution, was moved to his ass.

He left the compartment once he decided that he had had enough fun, though he did remember to leave a cure for the petrified students as well as instruction on how to proceed with turning stone back to flesh. The solution would just need to be sprinkled on the petrified students, which would result in the shattering of stone to reveal the flesh that lay beneath.

He walked out and bumped into a pudgy boy that asked him if he had seen a toad. He replied that he would help the boy locate his lost pet, but advised that his former compartment was not the best place to go or be in.

They found the toad, a few minutes later, inside one of the train's loos. It liked the dark and damp place after all.

The boy remembered his manners while he was thanking Harry and introduced himself as Neville Longbottom, while Harry too introduced himself. Neville was one of the many that had grown up on stories of Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived, and was rather surprised to find out that he could not find the famous scar that was the sign of the wizarding savior.

Harry had opted to retain his serpent hair, but returned everything else about him to normal. Including his eyes. He did of course keep his cap on, so as not to alarm anyone else.

He accompanied Neville in his chosen compartment which he shared with two other freshmen, one Susan Bones and one Hannah Abbot, best friends since before they could even remember. Neville knew them thanks to some play dates that they had had as they grew up.

Upon seeing and meeting the two females, Harry introduced himself while at the same time discarding the snake hair and replacing it with his usual black locks, which he made sure was at a length that could easily be tied into a ponytail.

He had his body activate his Cronqvist blood, which made him rather aesthetically desirable and greeted the two witches in a more traditional gentlemanly fashion, which was brushing his lips against their knuckles, one at a time of course.

Harold had taught him well, as he had the two, hopefully, prepubescent 11 year olds blushing.

It was not just his physical appearance that was enhanced slightly, but his aura as well. The three freshmen with him in the compartment mentally compared him and how they now perceived him to the Lords that sat in the Wizengamot or other nobility that they had met in their short life times. They also compared him to the children of said lords, such as Draco Malfoy that exuded arrogance and not confidence.

Harry had confidence in spades, and power enough behind his iron clad control, they could feel it, to back up such confidence in his self.

Then there was his charm, which was the first time that he actually used it consciously. He could be likened to a snake charmer, though why he hadn't thought of using it on the brown haired girl that had been his first prank victim was simple. He found her annoying or insufferable.

After the introductions the group of four began conversing with one another, Harry managed to join in without feeling much discomfort or shyness. It had been as if he had known them his entire life.

Their conversation was paused due to the sudden and unannounced opening of the compartment door by one Draco Malfoy, Scion of House Malfoy, who demanded of that they tell him where the Boy-Who-Lived was. Harry sensed ulterior motives, but decided that it would be best to act like an ambush predator for the time being and simply reply to the blonde.

"I haven't seem him today," Harry replied, as it was in a sense the truth, he had not after all looked at himself by use of any reflective surface yet for the day.

"Whatever," the blonde boy had said as he closed the door and went off in search of the celebrity.

His new, friends, acquaintances for the time being, accused him of lying, and he had explained how he had spoken the truth. They accepted his reasoning of course as it was sound, to them at least, and they resumed where they had left off before being interrupted.

They were of course once again interrupted, and not by the trolley lady who had passed by to sell them some snacks and sweets, by a red headed boy whom those three that had lived their lives around magic knew, but not as a close friend but more of an acquaintance. His name was Ronald Weasley, the youngest son of the almost impoverished Head of the Weasley Clan, they had lost their lordship due to their financial state, which started sometime during the war with Voldemort.

They boy apparently already knew what Harry looked like and demanded to see the famous scar, which Harry did show the boy, due to the bad vibes he got from the boy. He asked the girl to shield their eyes and gave Neville the option as well. The red head thought he was being bestowed an honor, until he was shown Harry's well maintained ass where a lightning bolt scar could clearly be seen.

The red headed boy didn't know how to react at first, and acted as if he was struck by lightning as he stood there gaping and slowly, but surely, turning into a tomato. It gave Harry enough time to pull his pants back up and sit himself down, beside Neville where he had been sitting all along.

"Now that you've seen it, I'd like for you to leave like a good little rodent," Harry calmly said, his voice as smooth as silk and the other occupants of the compartment could have sworn that it sounded almost hypnotic, "Go on, off you go."

The red head actually complied, leaving the compartment without making so much as a peep as he left.

Here, sitting with them, the girls had already opened their eyes, was a Harry Potter that they had not been expecting at all. For one thing, he was not like how the many books about him or starring him had portrayed him as being. He was different, vastly different from anyone or anything that they had ever encountered in their lives.

He was a mystery and an amalgamation of many things in the world.

"How did you do that?" Hannah asked in bewilderment, she knew that the red head was a dimwit, just by the look of him, but even she could tell that the boy would have normally blown up by being treated the way he had been treated.

"Magic," was Harry's simple, yet vague answer.

"No really," Hannah said, not accepting such an answer for something that looked to be some kind of complex piece of magic.

"Charms then," Harry supplied, which in a sense it could be. It was a mix of his natural Potter charm, along with some of his magical inheritances, Cronqvist and his Black blood mostly. Though there was a hint of the lamia in him too, and perhaps the banshee which opened up quite a lot of other additional possibilities as well, thanks to his, as mentioned several times earlier, his overexposure to Harold and Harold's house.

"What charms?" Hannah asked, or more like demanded.

"My charms," was Harry's quick answer, "If you'd like, I could demonstrate it again."

"Go ahead then," Hannah said, "Do me."

"You are far too young to be asking me to do such a thing, ma cherie," Harry said, using both his inborn charisma or charm along with his confident aura on the girl, which Susan actually did notice. She also got the little joke, she wasn't clueless or sheltered after all.

"What? What are you talking about?" Hannah asked.

"I'll explain it later," Susan told her friend, which Hannah agreed to, "But seriously, can you demonstrate this ability of yours on someone that isn't our age?"

"Sure," Harry said, "Pick out a target and I'll have them bowing before me, or even kissing the hem of my robes if that is your wish."

"I wouldn't go that far, it might get you in trouble," Susan said, "But I'd settle for you getting an older student to tell us how we're sorted."

"Alright, sounds easy enough," Harry said, "So choose your target."

Susan left the compartment and dragged Harry along with her. She found a seventh year by the look of the girl and told Harry that she was the target.

Susan, Hannah, and the somewhat shy Neville, followed Harry as he walked up to the older girl and began to convince her to follow him without question. He even made it so that no one bothered them on their way back to the compartment, no one seemed to notice the two of them either save for Harry's three companions.

It was like a localized notice-me-not charm had been placed on both Harry and the older girl, but the three freshmen didn't know the spell and wondered how Harry had come upon knowing it as well, especially when he had shared that he had lived most of his life in the muggle world and had only recently rejoined said world. They had not thought to ask him about his special abilities and knowledge yet.

As soon as the group entered the compartment and the door was shut tight, screams could be heard from somewhere down the train, about some kind of attack on the the younger years. Harry had been wondering when his little prank was going to be discovered.

Harry's slight smile gave away the fact that he had a hand in whatever the commotion was about, but no one chose to comment on it for the time being, as there was something more important.

"Ignore the screams for now, we're rather safe in here as it is," Harry spoke, "This is Hufflepuff Seventh year Nymphandora Tonk, she has agreed to inform us of how we are to be sorted."

"So, what is it? How are we sorted?" an impatient Hannah asked.

"Yes ma cherie," Harry said to the older girl, "How are we, indeed, sorted into one of the four houses? It surely isn't by some sort of test of knowledge or challenge of physical skill."

He silently cast an illusion over his eyes, to hide their change as in this case the manipulation needed to be a little bit more than just charms alone. He needed a higher power.

His emerald orbs bled into crimson and the lines and writing entered his blood soaked field.

"You did say that you'd _tell me all you knew of the sorting ceremony_," Harry silkily said, the tomoe as he, now, knew them as, spun lazily in his eyes, ensnaring the older girl with their hypnotic powers.

The more normal first years knew that something was different with this occurrence as compared to what happened with the red head. They just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Of course I'll tell you," the magical education veteran said, "When your name is call all you'll have to do is sit on a stool and let the sorting hat sort through your memories to discover which house you'd best fit in. It won't share whatever it learns with anyone else, even the headmaster as it is magically bound to keep the secrets of those that put it on for the ceremony, since our memories are quite private and all."

"Is that all? Sounds simple enough," Harry commented.

The other three in the compartment didn't know what to say about what had just happened.

"You may _return to whatever it was that you were doing before I spoke to you, _and_ you will not remember having this conversation,_" Harry said to her, or commanded as the case was.

Nymphandora bid the group farewell before leaving the compartment and rejoining her friends who had wondered where she had suddenly gone off to. She wasn't quite sure, she told them, all she was sure of was that she could not remember but at the same time knew that no one had taken advantage of her in the way that her female friends thought had been what had happened during her brief absence.

There were several minutes worth of silence before the three regular first years broke out in questions.

Harry silenced them with a slight wave of his wand-less hand. It worked just as he had intended, they looked like gaping goldfish. No sound coming out of their moving mouths.

They settled on gawking at him.

"I shall return your voices to you, if you promise to only ask me one question each for the time being," Harry said, "If I deem the question alright, I will answer, but I do have the right to decline, of course this will give you the chance to think of another question to ask of me."

They simply gaped at him.

"If you have understood what I have said, nod your head," Harry said, "If I have to simplify it for you..."

They each nodded their heads, he returned to them their ability to speak by waving his hand slightly again.

"How did you do that?" Hannah asked, without really thinking about it.

"Magic," Harry answered, it was the truth too, "Susan? Neville?"

"But.." Hannah said, trying to argue that that hadn't been her real question.

"It was question directed at me all the same," Harry said, and waited for the other two to say something.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Susan asked him, but clarified before he could give a vague answer, "Talking that older student into giving away such a normally well kept secret."

"From the Muggle world," Harry happily replied, "Specifically from Obi Wan Kenobi."

"What do you.." Susan tried to ask for clarification as she hadn't understood the reference.

"Lost your chance to clarify," Harry said, "Neville?"

"What are you?" Neville asked, after some thought, for someone their age that could do something like he had done, almost impossible things for someone their age, could surely not be done by someone that was not normal like them.

"A first year student just as you are," Harry replied, with a straight face, "That is all for questions and answers today."

"What? But! That's not what I meant!" Neville said, he was a tad bit infuriated.

"Then you should have clarified what you meant," Harry said, "Before I had the chance to give my answer."

"You're definitely going to end up in Slytherin," all three of his compartment companions stated at the exact same time, as if they were prohpesying his House placement for the next seven years of his life.

"I know," Harry said smugly, "And no matter where you three end up in, I'll still willingly consider you as friends."

#

It was to stunned silence that he walked over to the, silent and immobile, Slytherin table. No one had been expecting what had just happened. Harry James "Boy-Who-Lived" Potter had just been sorted into the House of Serpents.

He had spoken within his mind at the same time that the hat announced his house.

**Slytherin**.

His placement had reverberated around the room and into the halls beyond. A Potter in Slytherin. It was unprecedented and unexpected.

Not even the staff dared move or react.

It was only when three students actually decided to applaud, did the rest of the hall follow suit, more out of fear of retribution than actual joy. The occurrence was an omen if they had ever seen one.

Draco Malfoy was livid on the inside, he felt that not only was his pride insulted but also his intelligence when he had been fooled by the very person he had been looking for on the train. The very same person that had landed in the House of Serpents too. He didn't know what to do now as clearly his fellow first year didn't really view him as important at all.

The hall eventually got out of its funk and the volume of the voices in the hall returned to normal once all the first years had been sorted and the food had appeared before them.

While the Lions began to see their savior joining the dark side, the badgers were reserving their judgment for later, the ravens didn't really care all that much. The serpents on the other hand didn't really know what to think, one of their newest members was the one responsible for the fall of one of their House' greatest graduates.

He was supposed to be the bane of the dark, but now they were unsure. There was also the internal hierarchy to think about. The power structure within the House was about to go under a complete overhaul. All due to the inclusion of Harry Potter into their ranks.

"*"

Once in the Slytherin common room and after their head of house, Professor Severus Snape informed them all of the house rules. Especially how the house was to constantly present a unified front before the school and any internal conflicts were to be resolved within the house, or within the dormitory.

Once such announcements, or orders, were dictated or handed out, the professor walked over to one side of the room and waited for the students to figure themselves out.

Where the Lions and Badgers prioritized friendships and camaraderie, and the Ravens prioritized studying and knowledge. The Serpents had their politics. It was alliances over friendships, power was truly at the core of them all. It was the driving force that ruled them, and it power and those that not only chose to use it, but knew how to use it, that they would allow to lead them.

The Lions craved glory. The Ravens craved knowledge. The Badgers, well they didn't really want for much of anything really, after all they were where everyone else went. The Serpents craved Power. With a capital P.

Power came in many forms. The House of Slytherin revolved around power, and in all of its forms.

Professor hoped that the son of the spawn of Satan, that was James Potter, would learn his place in the world which was at the bottom of the boots of his true betters. He consciously and subconsciously ignored the fact that the boy was also the son of his one true friend, that he had mostly betrayed for power. A choice he did regret in the end.

The upper years had more or less already sorted themselves out. It was the first year that was all that was left. Once that was done, the structure would then arrange itself, as being a seventh year didn't mean that they would lead the House. Even a first year had the potential of leading the Serpents, that was if they had enough power to do so.

Tom Marvolo Riddle had been great enough and powerful enough to have done so, some 70 or so years ago.

All of the first years, save for Harry, congregated around Draco. Harry stood out, and it became Draco's responsibility to show him his proper place. Professor Snape chose to not interfere. He was merely an observer, being the head of house, but no longer a participating member.

"I'll forgive your earlier disrespect," Draco stated as he stood a few feet away from Harry, with the rest of the first years standing behind him, "If you kneel before me, and submit to my leadership and acknowledge my power."

"I have a better offer," Harry stated calmly, "How about you kneel before me and recognize my leadership and power."

"You have no power here Potter," Draco mocked, "No one has chosen to side with you."

"With you as my opponent, I need no allies to win such a fight," Harry said, "How about a duel, magic against magic, mine against yours, any spell you might have in your arsenal against whatever I've got, what say you Scion of House Malfoy?"

"I accept your challenge," Draco stated, this was where Professor Snape actually butted in. He insisted that he play referee to the match, and swore an oath that he would not favor either of them should he be forced to make a decision regarding the victor of the match.

Both first years accepted, and stood facing one another.

Harry saluted Draco with his wand and even bowed in respect to his opponent. Draco did the same, though reluctantly, and it showed even.

The professor counted their paces and at the spouting of the word zero, they were off.

Draco immediately spun on his heel with practiced ease and hurled a purple curse at Harry who too spun on the spot with practiced ease. He fired off no spell, yet managed to strike fear in the whole of the House of Serpents.

Amber slitted eyes gazed down upon the Malfoy heir.

This was not your average first year student. Even the professor was shocked into stillness.

The terms of the duel were to use anything magical in ones arsenal. Such a transformation was clearly within the bounds of such terms and conditions. It was just unexpected.

What happened next made it quite impossible for even the upper years to dare challenge Harry now. Here stood, in a manner of speaking, a creature that was spoken of in legends as well as was the true symbol or mascot of their House.

"_B-B-Basilisk..._" Draco barely managed to stutter out, he, a moment later, wet his pants as he backpedaled in his attempt to avoid this serpents many deadly qualities.

The purple curse that Draco had managed to fire off had hit its desired target, but had absolutely no effect on Harry whatsoever, what with the highly magic resistant hide that a basilisk could boast as having.

As no one was able to move, having been mentally stunned due to what had appeared before them, no one could stop Harry as he lunged at Draco.

Someone screamed. But instead of watching the serpent devour the blonde, all present bore witness to Harry performing another impossible feat.

He sent out an astral projection, of a sort, of himself. Half of his magically constructed body could be seen jutting from out of the head of the serpent, and when his mouth moved words actually came forth. Though with an accent that sounded rather snakelike.

"Do you yield?" Harry asked, as that was what it was...a question.

The blonde could do nothing more than nod before finally fainting from fright.

Harry, both serpent and visible astral projection turned around to face the rest of the House, making sure to try and pierce each member, old and new, with his gaze, orbs that shifted to the Eyes of Samsara.

"Who among you must **I** challenge to gain the leadership of the House of Slytherin?" he asked of them, specifically the upper years.

"We concede to you and none of us shall contest your rule," one seventh year snake stated on behalf of the rest of the House, it was unanimous then, Harry had become the undisputed leader of the snakes and gained the honorary, in-House, title of Lord Slytherin.

#

Little did any of the students of Slytherin House know that Harold had taken the initiative and gone to the bank, just after he had left Harry to his adventure, to speak with Badonkadonk regarding the possibility of his ward claiming more than just the Potter account and everything that went with it.

He knew of the fact that Harry could claim the title, mantle, account, magic, and everything that went with a foe that he had defeated in a life or death struggle in a very noticeable and undeniable form. Tom Marvolo Riddle was such a foe, and Harold had a feeling that claiming all that was Tom Riddle's as spoils of war or due to right of conquest would actually work and benefit the boy.

He had their joint-manager to keep a close eye on the Slytherin accounts and magic, for he knew that the goblins did track such things for their own purposes. He had a feeling that the goblin was in for a rather profitable future, more than he already was.

All Harold needed to do was get word to Harry about his little plot.

#

The actual dormitories of the students within Slytherin house were different from the other Houses, of course all of them were different, even the things that could be found within the House itself were different, and not only in decoration.

All students had a room to themselves for their entire seven years of schooling, only to vacate it once their schooling had come to an end. The rooms themselves had also an enchantment on them that made it possible for them to switch or trade places or levels with one another. There were eight levels in total, the rooms situated each year on the same level of the common room were the newly vacated rooms reserved for the first years, the levels went downward instead of upward via a spiral staircase.

The lowest level was reserved for the leader, or Lord Slytherin, of the House. It was said to be the closest one could get to the actual chambers that Salazar Slytherin used when he had been an active and living member of the castle and school. That chamber being the fabled Chamber of Secrets.

Other than the differently enchanted rooms, there was a private library with books on any subject and even copies of books in the restricted section of the public Hogwarts library. In addition, there was a conference room which could hold up to eighteen people at a time, this was where the Slytherin council would hold their House meetings, two representatives from each year, excluding the leader, and with the addition of the supervising staff representative.

The hierarchy of power within the House was settled after all swore fealty, in and out of the school, to Harry, acknowledging him as their Lord Slytherin. Harry was at the top followed by the seventh year's leader and so on and so forth.

This hierarchy of power was not to be shown obviously or visibly while outside of the House. Or so Harry decreed. They were the House of the cunning and sly, not only the ambitious and those seeking power. They were to keep to each other's year groups, but at the same time be united, but only should there be a problem.

Harry also told decreed that they were not to treat him as someone of importance while in public, in fact none of the leaders were to he treated as being that important while in the public eye. Decoys were chosen for each leader of each year, and all of those decoys would serve as Harry's own decoy at the same time.

He even proposed a way for communication between the decoy and the true leader, sign language, but not the obvious sort. Signs, not limited to hand signs. A gesture, a look, a turn, a walk, he managed to convince the House of using such a thing.

Though the way in which he was to teach them was going to be the, almost, exact same way that he, himself, had been taught by Harold. That being using some means to engrave knowledge into another person's memory, while at the same time showing real-time examples of how the language would be used so that those that were going to use it would not have to think about how such a language would be used.

He said that he'd have everything set up during that first and exact same night.

All it had taken was sending a message to Harold via two way mirror which was also how he was informed of the little plot that Harold wanted to implement. Things might seemed to have been going rather too fast for the duo, or Harry more specifically, but that was just how they rolled.

Of course the conversation was held while within the safety and security of the Slytherin leader's dorm room. The other leaders had been informed before bedtime that by morning they would not be having any communication problems.

Which was indeed what had happened.

Harry, with the indirect and direct help of Harold, had managed to both implant the knowledge of the language into the heads of those that needed it as well as scenarios when such a language could be used as well as ways for the language to be taught to others, should those that now knew wish to teach it.

In the morning, the leaders and their chosen decoys all practiced this interesting new language that they had been taught in dreamland and in dream-time. It was like the double-speak charm which allowed a person to have two conversations at the exact same time.

To all those not in the know, everything seemed to be normal, that the leaders of each year and of the whole house were just doing their thing and not speaking at the same time, another language. Professor Snape arrived to greet his House a good morning to find all the leaders conversing in a discreet way, he recognized some of the signs and tried to enter the general conversation to the surprise of those that knew the whole language.

The fifth year leader and decoy managed to crack a joke, which should have been rather difficult, with some ease and managed to make their staff representative laugh, that halted all conversation, new language or English, as no one had ever heard the man laugh, and truthfully it was quite unnerving.

#

School was a rather normal and bland affair.

Nothing really out of the ordinary happened, there were classes and a few confrontations from


	46. Locked Up 1

Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the work of Kishimoto. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU.

Note 2: Read My other fan fics first.

**Locked Up**

_**chapter one**_

He was dreading what he would have to do during this mission, a mission where he would have to fight a friend or at least someone that was as close to a real best friend that he could find. He knew what he would eventually have to do, something which he was dreading terribly. Before entering the Ninja Academy at the age of eight, or rather the day before entering the academy, he had sealed away the things he was truly capable off. He had sworn off becoming the monster he had turned himself into, he had shut away the power that he was now beginning to unseal and unleash upon the world.

The Kyuubi was the least of his worries, the bijuu being nothing to him, in reality the fox was merely a handicap compared to the things that he could really do, what he had been able to and relied on in the past. Back during the time in between his fourth birthday and his admittance into the academy. He acted the way he did with regards to the Kyuubi as not to have to deal with any bitching the thing might start to do if it knew just how _worthy_ its container was of it. He truly did hold a monster back, he did protect the village from a truly frightening thing. He had sealed away within himself, himself.

What his comrades saw, what his precious people saw was merely one small facet of the complexity that was him. The Sandaime had borne witness to this particular jinchuuriki's true power, and had cowered in its presence. That was the primary reason why Naruto had sealed the rest of himself away when he was eight. He didn't want to see one of his precious people cower in fear at the mere sight of him, feel terrified of him rather than safe. He didn't like the feeling, he didn't mind hate towards himself, but seeing abject horror and fear in the eyes of one of his most precious, a man he saw as not only a friend but a grandfather. That was something he really didn't wish to see again, to witness.

But times had changed, he was to face off, he was sure, with a teen that he had grown close enough to see as a rival for his present state of power, his present condition, and soon to be replaced personality.

In his present state, if Sasuke didn't want to return to the village, he was in no shape to force theUchiha back. He was going to bring back the Uchiha one way or another, and if the only way was through fighting, then he would need all the tools available to him. Every shinobi was tasked or told to use everything they had available to them to accomplish their goals. Naruto knew the truth in that, which was mostly the reason why he had lived as long as he did in a village that was quite contradictory when it came to him and their views of heroism and sacrifice.

He ran at the speeds that kept accelerating as he moved, he had already left Lee to deal with the last Kaguya, last as far as anyone knew, and was getting closer and closer to the Valley of the End, where legends meet, ties and formed or severed. He had been one of the ones charged with the return of the last Uchiha, formerly last loyal one anyway, to the village at any cost. There was a shortage of actual able bodied shinobi and so a single newly minted chunin and a bunch of genin were given the task in the place of most skilled and experienced soldiers.

His leap out of the forest and landed on the head of the Shodaime Hokage, while his so-called friend and rival stood on the head of his own ancestor, the man that vied for the position of Hokage, but lost to his former friend and rival. This time it would happen again, once again would an Uchiha lose to his rival. Naruto planned on making sure of it.

"So they sent the dobe after me," Sasuke said, "I expected as much, well? Don't you have something to say? Cause after I beat your ass, I'm leaving and only coming back once I've killed Itachi."

"As you have stated that you shall not be returning peacefully and cooperatively," Naruto said, uncharacteristically, "I shall have to use force to bring you back. How do you feel about coming back with me after I have broken your arms and legs?"

"I doubt you could even lay a hand on me, what would Sakura say if she heard you threatening me in such a manner?" Sasuke taunted uncaringly.

"I don't give a damn what she would say," Naruto said and got into what must have looked like a rather relaxed and bored stance because the Uchiha gained an irritated and enraged look on his face, it must have been due to thoughts that he was not being taken seriously. Naruto was taking him seriously, the stance was the opening or starting stance for a relatively unknown school of martial arts. To use it required the one using the style or school to be faster than his opponent, have faster reflexes, and be able to think up things and moves on the fly, at a moment's notice, among other things. He needed to be able to beat the predicting and copying eyes of the Uchiha clan. The style did not only rely on speed, agility, and precision, it also relied on strength, this was a style that did damage to the body, it did not specifically target one part of the body, but the whole. Once mastered its master had the potential to injure a mass of sentient chakra.

Naruto had learnt the style from somone that had known the creator of the style, and taught it to Naruto back during the years when he was or could be likened to the monster that the majority of the population of his village thought of him as being and not holding back, or containing. The man that had taught him the taijutsu style, among a number of other things – he wasn't as dumb as he acted or made himself seem – had also given him a number of physical and mental upgrades. Like in a role-playing-game where the character would be able to purchase more skills and abilities, so was Naruto able to do so when he was younger, up until he decided to seal it all away, vowing to only use the power when necessary.

It wasn't just techniques, skills, abilities, and physical and mental upgrades that he had obtained from the man he had met when he was four, he had also been able to purchase some items from him. The man was the real source of his knowledge of the monster that mostly slept within him. The knowledge of the monster within was needed in order to be able to pay the man for his services and goods, things that he only offered Naruto and no one else, even though there was a ryo value to his wares. The primary payment was not ryo, but the Kyuubi's chakra which was sucked out of the boy and siphoned into a diamond shaped crystal.

The man had explained that this method of payment was to aid in the ridding the world of the threat of the beast, the Kyuubi being the living embodiment of rage and hate was not really needed in the world as man had those emotions overflowing within themselves already.

The man that did so much to and for Naruto never really did reveal his identity to Naruto, his true identity that is, but he allowed the youth to call him Doc of all things, since most of the time he _cured_ Naruto of his deficiencies, a kind of surgery like proceedure was employed in order to _upgrade_ Naruto.

"Don't you dare look down on me!" Sasuke shouted after a moment of proceessing what he believed his opponent was doing with regards to him, "Chidori!"

The raven haired youth shouted his technique as he plowed his way into what he believed was his ticket to gaining the next level of his bloodline ability. His Chidori skewered a clone instead of the real thing, his arm going through the clone's heart, which caused the false Naruto to cough up blood before it exploded in a cloud of smoke. The Uchiha didn't see his opponent replace himself with a clone, his eyes had not been able to see past the deception.

Naruto whistled to get the attention of his opponent, he now stood in the place which Sasuke previously had occupied. Since the battle had already begun, it mattered not where they stood as the outcome would still be what Naruto wished it to be. But there was something different about him, it was not only his lazy battle stance, but something else. His presence was something else to behold, there was no killing intent involved, there was no aura of strength, there was merely nothing. His aura was simply dead, a dead space to the senses of those sensitive to such things, warriors, ninja, samurai. Sasuke couldn't aptly guage his opponent. This was a Naruto that he could not believe had been the dobe, the deadlast of the class.

It wasn't the emptiness that was different with the blonde, his attire also underwent some kind of transformation. Instead of the orange tracksuit that the blonde was infamous for wearing, and still managing to hide in plain sight, he wore just his orange pants, blue sandals, and his black undershirt, on top of that was what looked like a lab coat, a birthday present from Doc, the designs it sported were multiple dried blood stains, and strapped or hanging from his back was the scabbard or sheath for a wakizashi. The blade itself was planted on the ground in front of Naruto, one hand on the hilt, he was in a way leaning on it, that was the opening stance of the sword set of the taijutsu style that Naruto knew.

"_When did..._" Sasuke whispered to himself, his sharingan whirling in his eyes, he was pumping almost enough chakra into them that if he did feel that necessary regret and sense of loss required for the next level of his eyes, they would have activated already. He turned around with hate and loathing burning in his eyes, and made a mad dash at Naruto a second Chidori primed and ready for use. His attack and arm passed right through Naruto, but instead of blood or smoke meeting him, there was nothing but air, and an after image, an illusion, trick of the light. An optical illusion that his special eyes were unable to see through or past.

'_What in the world is going on here..._' Sasuke wondered, confused, things were not going the way he planned, '_Have I been underestimaing Naruto all this time?_'

"Is that all the great Uchiha Sasuke is capable off?" Naruto asked mockingly and condescendingly.

"Stand still and I'll show you what I'm truly capable off!" Sasuke shouted as a serpentine voice hissed into his mind, urging him to pull out the gift from Orochimaru, so he gave in unlike during the semi-finals of the Chunin Exam, and used the power that had been given to him. His body was soon partially covered in the snakelike ink of the seal on his neck, and he grew more powerful, as well as faster. His chakra grew to be even more malicious than he ever thought possible.

"At least you are taking me more seriously now," Naruto stated, before vanishing, but this time Sasuke's eyes could track him, while not fast enough to deliver a counter attack, he still manged to avoid what seemed like a death blow via Naruto's sword.

"You missed," Sasuke said arrogantly, the seal on his neck making him lose a little bit of his logic, "I knew you were pathetic, those other two times were just flukes. Just as your fight against that sand thing."

"Nothing I've done have been flukes," Naruto stated, "They were all carefully orchestrated and planned actions made to conceal this Naruto that you see before you," he gestured to himself, "I didn't think I'd have to unmask myself so soon, but this mission pushed me to do thing Hokage-jiji isn't around to see me like this."

"Weren't you going to break my arms and legs? I guess that was all just talk after seeing my power," Sasuke said, trying to get a rise out of his opponent.

"Borrowed power," Naruto said, "While my power, is mine alone, the ideas and concepts of their creation simply being that, inspirations. I'm just giving you a chance to see just how pathetic you and that white serpent you wish to go sell your soul to truly are."

"He's the greatest nuke-nin Konoha has produced," Sasuke said, "Konoha is just holding me back, I intend to go to a source of power willing to show me the true way to my goal."

"If he doesn't eat you up first," Naruto said, "He seeks to use you as his next body, gain the sharingan and all that."

"Why the hell should I care as long as he gives me the power I need to exact my revenge," Sasuke said, "But enough talk...have at you!"

Sasuke once again renewed his attack, launching himself at Naruto enhancing his speed with his chakra, his control better than the dobe he could pull off a lot. But Naruto wasn't using chakra to speed up. His body had been enhanced, upgraded, to allow him to move at speeds that rivaled most jounin. He had a lot more upgrades that he had yet to pull out of his 99 maximum capacity per item bag of tricks.

Pulling out a pair of kunai Sasuke decided to go a little insane and charged up some lightning natured chakra, Kakashi taught him how to do it via sharingan training, and he had the chakra coat his kunai. He soon engaged Naruto in a battle of blades, where each moment was a life and death situation. They matched each other move for move, sharingan and Naruto's experience clashing. They moved fast enough that the untrained eye would only witness the destruction to the Valley of the End formed by the force of their mid air clashes.

Neither of the two of them had managed to land an actual hit on the other. When the battle of blades was getting too boring for the two of them, they separated and began launching what mid to long range jutsu they knew. It was a crazy battle of the elements, jutsu clashing against jutsu, and for some reason Naruto opted to use water and earth elemental jutsu to battle against the lightning and fire combination of the Uchiha.

Dragons of water, earth, fire, and lightning clashed against one another. Biting, clawing, strangling, and generally doing whatever the ones that summoned them through chakra to do battle wished of them to do. Soon tigers, phoenixes, and turtles joined in the battle, by way of chakra shape manipulation that regular genin were not supposed to know how to do on the fly, yet there they were.

The two genin soon clashed with their blades once more, their subconsciouses controlling the beasts that they had conjured via jutsu to do battle with one another. As their blades clashed, so did the elemental constructs that they had summoned to do battle with and for them. It really wasn't something that mere genin were expected to be able to do.

Naruto had been getting upgrades, boosts, additions, and the like since he was four to eight years old, while Sasuke had been stealing techniques ever since he returned to the village with his special eyes. He had spied on his fellow citizens and shinobi in secret, he stole what techniques that he could, not bothering to master any, only caring to know the techniques and being able to pull them off when the time came, but not to the best of his abilities, wasting their potential.

Knowing that he could not last much longer in the state that he was in, Sasuke gave up more of his humanity and sanity in exchange for the second stage of his seal. He activated the full capabilities of his special seal, and transformed as soon as he made a temporary hasty retreat from Naruto. Naruto simply stood, he had lengthened his sword a little bit so as to be able to lean on it while putting his full weight on it, he made it longer by adding on to its length with ice. He had been quite surprised to have encountered a supposedly extinct clan where he got the inspiration to get himself the ability to use ice by sacrificing a bit of chakra, Haku had truly been a surprise. Now that he thought about it, the defeat and death of his _first_ encounter with enemy and foreign shinobi had seemed a bit too...unreal, like they had managed to pull the wool over the Konoha-nins' eyes a second time, but this time Kakashi didn't see through the deception.

After Sasuke finished with transformation, Naruto decided that it was time to end the fight, and show Sasuke just how weak both he and the source of his borrowed power was. He lifted his sword and pointed it at the Uchiha.

"I'm done toying with you," Naruto said coldly, the first actual sign of emotion that Naruto had allowed to seep out during the course of the encounter, "Surrender now or prepare to enter a world of pain."

"I guess you really are that stupid, you can't even tell when you're in deep shit," Sasuka said arrogantly, believing that the power he had gained was more than enough, even overkill, when it came to dealing with Naruto. Orochimaru had beaten the Hokage after all, and even orchestrated an invasion of the leaf that had left many shinobi dead, therefore he was more powerful than Konoha, since the Hokage was the leader of Konoha. Sasuke didn't believe in the logic that a group is only as strong as its weakest member.

Sasuke ignored Naruto's words and simply charged up another Chidori before, without any real warning launched himself at Naruto like a bat out of hell, while Naruto simply created a Rasengan, not in the palm of his hand or hands, but one at the very tip of his sword. The two balls of energy clashed, creating a done of energy so potent in destructive power that it created a crater which widened the valley considerably, yet managing to keep the statues in place, in relatively one piece each.

The two combatants continued to push their attacks against one another's not letting up, as this specific clash of attacks would prove disastrous one way or another unless one side really wanted to mess up more than the area they were in. Already the area had been turned into a mini war zone. Neither of the two wanted to end up as something other than what they already were.

Naruto stood his ground as Sasuke continued to push his ball of lightning against the compacted ball of chakra, that could be compared to a bomb. The sword was still what held the ball of whirling energy in place against the ball of lightning, shape manipulation against element manipulation.

Not wanting to prolong the inevitable, or risk the Uchiha's ego to grow any bigger, Naruto decided to up the ante once again. He compacted the ball of volatile energy into an even smaller ball, one the size of a small pearl, an orb that could fit in his mouth is he so chose to put it in that cavity.

With it so small, it grew even more powerful, and with it Naruto began to push his opponent backwards, and eventually crushed the Chidori out of existence and continued up the arm and keeping his word about breaking his opponent's arm. He was sure that the medical staff of the Konoha hospital would manage to piece the arm back together, it was just the physical stuff that Naruto targeted, and not the chakra pathways.

Once the pain finally registered in the Uchiha's mind, it was too late. As much as he tried to get away, the tiny ball of destruction and the blade that held it firmly in place, left the arm hanging limply at the Uchiha's side as it changed course and targets to the other arm, once it made contact with the hand it traveled up to the elbow agonizingly. Sasuke gave it all he had when he tried to retreat further away from Naruto, his eyes for the second or third time in his entire life showing horror and fear, the kind that Naruto didn't want to see directed at him from a precious person, luckily Sasuke was no longer considered as such.

Without the opposing force that in some way countered the small orb of destruction, it was sent sailing into what remained of the valley wall, causing quite the explosion, one which the village was sure to have felt the shockwave of. Watching his handywork Naruto gave Sasuke some time for his borrowed strength to heal his injuries. The healing process was similar but slower when compared to Naruto's own accelerated healing. By the time that Naruto refocused his attention on Sasuke, the Uchiha's arms were back to working condition, not that they were healed in their entirety, just healed enough to be useable in battle.

"Give up, lest I break your legs like I had done temporarily to your arms," Naruto threatened as he sheathed his sword, unconcerned any more for the damange that his modified rasengan had done to the historical area.

"Not until I kill you," Sasuke said, "I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to gain those eyes that my brother was so proud of, then I'm going to go to Orochimaru, get his power, and kill my brother."

As Sasuke monologued, Naruto moved forward and as he walked he grew hammers made out of rock where his hands were. By the time that Sasuke was done with his monologue, Naruto was near enough to swing his arms intent on smashing the Uchiha's legs.

Sasuke's eyes still being in sharingan mode managed to evade the attack, pouring chakra into his legs to make himself much much faster. He needed the greater boost in speed now that he finally knew, the inforamtion finally sinking in, that Naruto had no qualms about hurting him. He didn't want to go through the sheer nigh unbearable pain his arms had gone through, the damange dealt and the advanced healing process they had gone through, both times hurt worse than hell.

He could feel that he didn't have enough chakra for another chidori, which was why he returned to resorting to the use of jutsu, resummoning his celestial beasts to his side, lightning crackled while fire burned around him, creating a barrier of the two elements cutting Naruto off from him for the time being.

Naruto in response called forth his own celestial manifestations, then launched them at his opponent's own weapons. It had been a distraction, as he had finally unleashed all the locks he had put in place on all of his power. He was finally unsealed, he had allowed the battle to continue as long as it had, due to the need for the unsealing of all of his power. He needed it all to ensure that he would win, for he didn't think all that highly of his abilities when they were still on the half assed side of the spectrum. With himself at full power, he knew that the number of beings with the potential of beating or delaying him in whatever he wished to do turned from a large pond to a drop of water in the ocean.

While he hadn't had accessed or practiced or trained in the use of his other abilities and skills due to their being sealed, he didn't need the control and mastery he once had, only the power, to do what he needed and wanted to be done. He had a mission to complete, and his word to keep.

With the distractions in place, he went Hokage on Sasuke's ass. His opening, his celebration for his total reemergence and reunification of his self with himself was the use of his Mokuton abilities, it had been explained to him that the power was already flowing in his blood, a recessive gene which only needed awakening to be used. He sent spears of wood at Sasuke skewering him through his shoulders and pinning him to the wall of the valley directly behind him. From the Nidaime, Naruto dehydrated Sasuke in his arms and legs, making more prone to injury in those places. From the Sandaime, he rocketed to Sasuke's position and slammed a diamond staff onto the boy's arms and legs, shattering the bones, and rendering said appendages broken, but not beyond repair as the curse seal began doing its work, but at a slower pace since Sasuke was beginning to lose consciousness due to the pain.

Had Sasuke remained awake, he would have probably died of a heartattack, as what of the Yondaime Naruto used was something only someone that actually listened to the history lessons in the academy would be able to identify. Hiraishin no Jutsu. Something that was also in Naruto's blood, something which he inherited from his own father, the key to it was unlocking a special brand of chakra, something which Doc helped him out with.

As it stood, with all the upgrades and purchases Naruto had made when he dealt with Doc, the Kyuubi trapped within him was only at four tails of power, the other five tails, even the parts that Naruto had been informed had been sealed in a separate container, had been used as payment for it all.

Naruto used the Hiraishin to take him, and his not so precious cargo up from the valley, into the forest, and in the general direction of Konoha. What he hadn't been expecting were the Anbu looking shinobi that were there, waiting for him. They seemed to not have been expecting him to have accomplished his task of retrieving the wayward son of Konoha royalty, though they weren't treated as such once their esteemed leader had been defeated at the Valley of the End.

As Naruto scanned them, with an eye that really did stand out on his face, he noticed something that actually did make his blood boil. He formed a Kage Bushin to take his not so precious cargo the rest of the way to Konoha via Gamabunta after it ran away far enough from the group of nin.

The Byakugan, one of many eyes he could interchange with his baby blues, saw right through their armor and saw a most and much hated tattoo, one that had caused him much pain and suffering as well as was part of the reason for his sealing of himself away for so long.

At the time, he had secretly amassed a number of people that saw him for himself and not for the beast that lay sleeping and slowly dying within him. They were families and even though they had lost loved ones to the attack of the beast, they did not lay their blame on the boy that protected them from its wrath. He didn't dare share the secret with others, even the Hokage, for fear that something might happen to them, like things, namely assassins, happened to him. He didn't want them to have to go through his hardships.

Somehow someone had gotten wind of these people that were important to him, they were his pillars of support, and one of the reasons why he had wanted to one day become Hokage. He wanted to protect them. He was mostly sane because of them. Someone got it into his or her head to order a hit on those people, it was successful for the most part, Naruto had suffered when he found them laying dead in their homes in the poorer districts of the village.

He slaughtered the murderers, unleashing all the hell that he could on them. One man had broken before him, and spilled what secrets he was allowed to spill. They were to break him, the man leading them wanted him broken, more pliable, easier to manipulate. There had been a plan in the making which would have made him a pawn of one of the political and military powers of the village.

Many lives were lost that day, and if it weren't for the Hokage arriving at the scene of the massacre, one that had been kept secret from the public unlike the one following it, then Naruto might have gone on a rampage, eventually finding the man responsible for the massacre but in the process bringing Konoha to its knees. It was they Hokage looking at him in horror and fear, he didn't look like himself, like a regular eight year old should. He had become an amalgamation of all the things that had been implanted into him and his very genetic make up.

He had become a tailess bijuu, not to be mistaken with the no-tails, a relative of the tailed beasts. He had the power comparable to a bijuu, not on par per se with the one sleeping in his gut at the time, but something close to it. His anger, rage, and hate, were the things that were closer to the kitsune in intensity. When using all of his added body parts, those interchangeable things, all at once he really did turn into some form of deformed abomination. It wasn't a pretty sight, the transforamtion itself was the stuff of nightmares.

He had no plans of entering that state again this time around, he just needed to keep his precious people even safer, or at least find them the means to defend themselves, as well as uncover the one behind the loss of his last batch of _family_. There was no Sandaime, or anyone close enough to the old man, to stop him this time around.

The tattoo was familiar in that the man that had spilled the beans had shown it to him, it had been an accident on the man's part, but Naruto burned the memory of the tattoo into his memory. He would remember the tattoo, where it was located, and its significance til the day he finally croacked. Now that he was surrounded by those murderers of innocents, he was delighted by being in their presence. He hoped to get something out of this latest batch of would be assassins of his will and his soul.


	47. Now What 1

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Hishoshi Shiibashi's Nurarihyon no Mago. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Now What?**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter one**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

He didn't think he'd ever be free of his coexistence with that pest he had lived with for his final years on that pitiful mud ball it called home after gaining its own self awareness after the One had been split into nine. While it had originally felt fear for the great unknown that was death, it had accepted the fate in place of its host. An act of kindness that was not in its character to normally perform. But seeing as it had grown tired of its prison, of the possibility of never being once more free, it had chosen its own form of exile, a freedom in itself. It had chosen death, and with that choice, though its host was unaware of it, his host was able to save the mud ball he had once called home.

Death was a rather pleasant experience, one without any real surprise, it began one minute then ended at the same time. There was no bright light, no explosion of pain, heck there was no robe wearing priest looking death god waiting to consume his soul. Only a white expanse, filled with white, and himself in his human form. His death had cleansed himself, and had turned him into that which he could have potentially become.

Nine white bushy tails were curled around him as he sat on the the white space that he was in. He didn't quite know if he was in heaven or in hell, all he knew was that he had passed on, and turned into a white nine tailed kitsune. His white ears that adorned his human head did not pick up anything that could tell him that he was not alone, all he picked up was silence and the sound of his beating heart and his own breathing.

He was really in his hanyou form, which was mostly human save for the ears and tails. Even his clothes were white. He had on a plain white cheongsam without any kind of design that made it stand out from the white expanse he found himself in.

He didn't know how long exactly he had been there. It seemed like an eternity had passed, and yet nothing changed. He was content, but at the same time couldn't help but wonder if there was anything else, anything more to his present existence.

Time was such an inconsequential part of his previous existence, something which he had disregarded as irrelevant, something he had taken for granted. But now in a space where time seemed to have no meaning, he wished he could know at least how long he had been in the white space.

While he may not have regretted the fact that he had died, since it was at a time of his choosing, he did in fact regret the fact that he did not start counting the seconds after his arrival in the white space. It was an endless void he had found out one day, or he would have claimed it had been one day, but he had walked on for what seemed like an eternity, and had yet to find an end. So he chose to spend the remainder of his time in solitude sitting where he sat.

He did not really expect to be allowed to leave, to move on to another form of existence, nor did he believe that something or someone would eventually join him in this new form of imprisonment.

"Hello, Kyuubi," a new arrival in the white space spoke to him, it had come as quite a shock of a surprise that there was now another in the white space. This new arrival's flowing black robes a stark contrast to all the white.

"Who are you?" the Kyuubi asked, "Do you know how long I've been in here?"

"How long have you been here I wonder, how long indeed," the man said, for indeed it was a man, but human, now that was a question that was likely to be answered with a no, "As for who I am...well...I am Toukou Kyonshi...it would be interesting to note that my name means animated corpse. Do you have any more questions for me?"

"This white space...what is it? Heaven or hell?" the Kyuubi asked.

"It is neither here nor there," the man replied, "Heaven or hell are mere concepts, it all depends on what you have decided for yourself, now tell me...which is it, heaven or hell."

"Neither, as I have been at peace here," the Kyuubi said, "Why have you come for me now, at this inconsequential time?"

"Why have I come, why indeed," the man said talking nonsense, "I have come for now real reason, just that I was curious for the answer for a question."

"What question would this be, oh ancient one," the Kyuubi questioned.

"Ancient One, what a title you have bestowed upon one such as I," the man said, a little bit of melancholy in his voice, a little bit of mischief, "Ancient, that be true, as for the question...well...this one would like to know, would you like to live again, O Ancient Kitsune, O Servant of Inari."

"I am no one's servant," the Kyuubi stated, "I am my own being, not even fate or destiny had managed to determine when I was to perish, when I was to die."

"Indeed," the man said, "Then what is your answer kitsune, would you like to live again, this time white or golden should you chose."

"There must be a price," the Kyuubi said, "I would hear of it first before I make my choice."

"A price you ask, well, let me see, let me see," the man said, and sat on what must have been the ground, and took a thinking position, "A price...one such as I only seek to see a worthy life, an adventure. Would you provide me with such, or would I have to seek such from another?"

"Why this one, why not chose another," the Kyuubi replied.

"Ah, for the other had a wondrous life, one filled with adventure, a worthy adversary for the state of boredom," the man stated, "There was nothing truly missing in the other one's life. Now what be your answer to my inquiry?"

"Should I chose life, what do I gain, save for this new life, and perhaps a name," the Kyuubi questioned from his place on the floor.

"Save for the new life and a name? Anything you so desire," the man said, "If it is within mine and yours, then why not."

"Yours and mine, what?" the Kyuubi asked.

"Power," the man replied, offering a hand to the kitsune, "Will you join the land of the living once more?"

"I have tired of this white space," the kitsune said and took the offered hand, "I shall live again."

"Then chose a name, for an identity to form, a name is the but the first of many steps," the man said.

"I think perhaps, I shall take the name Byakko, Shirogitsune Byakko," the Kyuubi decided, "What now?"

"Now, we get you some more clothes, and equipment for your next great adventure," the man said, then led the kitsune out through a door that had suddenly appeared, "It would not do for your to be unprepared for what lies ahead."

#

Kyonshi had handed over some clothes and equipment which he had taken out of a random closet in his home. His home being a fortress atop an impossibly high mountain, on a world that was a nexus of other realities, a world where countless realities crossed over. He had also handed over a storage scroll with an almost unlimited number of slots, both labeled and filled with things, and ones that were still empty and waiting to be filled by objects.

"How you like the duds?" the man whose name meant animated corpse asked, "I made them myself, while I was waiting for the opportune moment to spring my question on you."

"They are rather comfortable, though I am unused to really wearing anything other than that white cheongsam I had on ealier," Byakko said, "Is there anything special to them?"

"There are spells and enchantments in place that have given them, and any clothes that you will in future have, the ability to self clean, self repair, as well as enhance any magic you or jutsu you may perform," Kyonshi said, "There is also a function which will allow you to shift outfits, there are nine forms all in all for the clothes, what you are wearing is the default setting, the most basic of the nine, the other eight are kept in a pocket dimension."

"My new life...where shall it be lived?" Byakko asked all of a sudden as he was inspecting himself in the mirror of the room he had been led to.

True to his kitsune self and to kitsune lore, he was a rather beautiful man, almost androgynous in fact. He had a fair complexion, golden slitted eyes, and while in his hanyou form he had a pair of snow white fox ears adorning his head. He had long flowing snow white hair to match his ears, as well as ten long white tails. His hands may have looked delicate, but he had an extra strong grip as well as his nails acted like retractable claws.

He wore an ensemble which consisted of a black haori with his host's spiral on the back, over a plain white kimono, and white hakama pants. Unlike the formal wear which covered most of his body, he wore shinobi sandals.

"It has come to my attention that perhaps you are too white," Kyonshi said, "Perhaps a little make up, you know men do put on some, some of the time."

"Fine," Byakko said, and allowed Kyonshi to add some to his face, and nails, "You have yet to answer my question though."

Byakko now had some black rings around his eyes, in memory of Shukaku, and black lipstick. Aside from the additions to his physical beauty, Kyonshi handed him an opium pipe.

"Your new life will be in a world unlike your own," Kyonshi said, "A world where youkai exist alongside humans, but do not necessarily coexist. It is a world where only one kyuubi may exist at a time."

"But since there is already one, you gave me an extra tail," Byakko said, "Will my presence change anything there?"

"Oh sure," Kyonshi said, "You new additions always add something new to the mix, but don't worry so much about that."

"What do I do with this pipe?" Byakko asked looking over the elaborately and intricately designed piece.

"Well, I doubt you'd smoke pot, so I made it so that you could blow bubbled with it," Kyonshi said, "To complete your look. You already have a number of bladed weapons concealed under the folds of your clothes, why not something harmless to complete your look."

"I suppose it shall have to do," Bykko said, "This new life of mine...is there anything I need to know about? Anything of importance, you know, like people or being I should try to avoid?"

"There are some notable figures," Kyonshi said, "But I'm sure you'll find out who they are on your own. As for who to avoid...there are onmyouji, they you might not watch to catch the attention of."

"I see," Byakko said then tested the pipe only to find out that he enjoyed the bubbles, "This is kind of relaxing, will the bubbles ever run out?"

"No," Kyonshi said, "The pipe is unbreakable, and the bubble solution is infinite."

"So when do I leave?" Byakko calmly asked.

"Before that, there is something I nearly failed to mention," Kyonshi said, "In this world the youkai have a special skill...a kind of unique ability per youkai...youkai are beings of fear, of darkness...your youki is your aura...try and find a unique skill for yourself."

"I'll see what I can do," Byakko said, "Do I leave now?"

"Sure," Kyonshi said, "Follow me back to the white space."

Into the room Byakko went, sat in a random spot on the space, and blinked, the next thing he knew, he was in a place foreign to him. His gaze met a city, bustling with life, he watched a battle raged on atop a castle, and wondered who it was. Then he witnessed the end of it.

'_There are strong youkai here it seems...but that one that was defeated...it felt familiar to me...I wonder what it was...as well as where I am..._' Byakko thought as his new life had just begun.


	48. Now What 2

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Hishoshi Shiibashi's Nurarihyon no Mago. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Now What?**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter two**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

He had travelled all over the country, across the straights, and whatever body of water was in his path. It was a rather large country compared to the countries he was used to, it was interesting to find that the people of the place were different from the ones he knew and was used to. He had met many youkai, both the bad and the good. He had remembered to take on an entirely human form as it was the safest way to travel, even though he did look quite unnatural.

He had, in his travels, learned much, as well as found out what had occurred when he had arrived in the world. The Ayakashi Nurarihyon had taken on the strongest of all youkai, Hagoromo Kitsune, and won, claiming the title of Master of All Spirits, an interesting feat. A tale that Byakko did not believe as he had seen that this Nurarihyon had had some help from an onmyouji.

In all his travels he had of course come across youkai that had decided to follow him, be his disciples, his servants, simply to his restrained and controlled power. One of them was an Inugami that Byakko had met and named Akamaru, in memory of that mutt his host had known.

An onmyouji was about to exorcise the inugami when Byakko decided to get in between the dog and the exorcist. He had simply appeared out of seemingly thin air, he had actually been under an illusion, and simply stepped out from under it. He kept to his uniform during that time, and the only real difference aside from lack of any demonic features was that his hair was black as night.

He had been itching for a fight, and also wanted to see how he would fair against an onmyouji, as most youkai seemed to be fairly fearful of them, and their abilities. Suffice to say, it was a massacre, not only was the onmyouji killed, but so was the rest of the village. Every man woman and child in the village was killed, and all of their bodies sealed for future use as food.

The inugami without a name at the time had sworn allegiance to Byakko, and to seal the pact Byakko had given the dog a name.

Another of his followers was a Baku, a dream eating youkai whose demon form looks like a tapir, that Byakko had named Mugen, after it had decided to follow him after trying to eat his dreams. There was also a Doji, a youkai that looked like an angel, who Byakko had named Mitsukai, who he had met while passing a forgotten shrine to some religion. He even met another kitsune, not really caring about its circumstance, he had named it Haku since he had heard some sort of story somewhere where a kitsune had a similar name, as wll as to honor his former host's enemy.

There were a number of other youkai, that for one reason or another, had decided to follow Byakko and made up his Kyakki Yakou, there was Iwanatabou, or Iwana for short, she was a fish that took on the form of a Budhist monk with long blue hair hidden underneath a straw hat. A Jorougumo, who wore a kimono with spider designs, who Byakko had named Kumohime. Even a Nekomusume, a cat-youkai that took on the form of a girl, he had named Yugito after the jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Bakeneko.

He also had a water-dragon companion by the name of Mizuchi, and the spirit of an old man that normally waited for passers by at every turn, who Byakko had named Zabuza since that kind of youkai was known as Momojii, it sounded so much like Momochi, and a few more, but far too many too name.

They had been traveling across the country for several years, growing in number every few months, and sometimes every few weeks. If there was one thing all of his followers had in common it was that they had chosen to follow him as it provided a purpose for them. There was also the fact that he fought to defend them whenever trouble arose. They were a ragtag bunch of youkai, that didn't seem to mind giving even humans a helping hand.

"Where are we headed this time, Byakko-sama?" Haku asked, he and the other youkai were feeling a little anxious.

Byakko was leaning against a sakura tree, as they were in a sakura grove, and was blowing bubbles, and as the youkai had found out those bubbles could be used to attack. He had been contemplating whether or not to stick around, or to move somewhere else, or even find somewhere to permanently stay, since the times were changing.

"There is a town, in the Kantou region I believe," Byakko said after a minute, "We will go there, I think...as soon as Akamaru has returned with his report."

"A town?" Haku asked, "What town?"

"Ukiyoe town, I believe it is called," Byakko said, "It has caught my interest."

"Should I inform the others?" Haku asked.

"Not yet," Byakko said, "I am still waiting for..."

"Master," Akamaru suddenly appeared before his master, "I have returned, the town is as you sensed, there is a dark presence there."

"Very well," Byakko acknowledged, "Haku, inform the others, we leave for Ukiyoe town."

"Hai," Haku said, then left to go look for the others.

"Do you really plan on settling there?" Akamaru asked, "There is already a group living there."

"It will be fine," Byakko said, "You are with me, they will not sense our presence so long as I wish not to be found."

#

A few months later they found themselves settling in the town, in a compound which could house them all, that Byakko had purchased without denting his savings at all. It hadn't really cost much since it was said to be haunted, courtesy of some of Byakko's own people, the former owners had sold it for cheap just to get away from any lingering curse on the property that may transfer to them.

The Shirogitsune Group was a relatively unknown organization when it first decided to make itself known to the rest fo the place, they had revealed themselves as both a possible Yakuza group and as a legitimate business group. Fitting in with the rest of the business community was easy, since all they had to do was create their wares, and use a few illusions and magics here and there, and they were legit. Eventually growing and becoming an internationally recognized group.

All the members had a human form to hide in plain sight with, which of course even Byakko didn't really have a hard time staying in since he already spent most of his time in such a state of being. He walked out in public wearing polo shirts and slacks, as well as sneakers, looking as normal as can be save for his opium pipe which he used to blow bubbles with. He left the human business side of things to his subordinates that just loved to do the job for him.

One day while out wandering the town he stumbled upon a presence, a presence that seemed vaguely familiar to him, he couldn't quite remember where he had felt such an aura, so he followed the trail until he was led to a young girl. She kind of reminded him of himself in a sense, she had a similar presence to him, a similar aura.

"Who are you?" he ventured to ask.

"Huh?" the young girl said startled, and turned to face him, "Who are you?"

"I asked you first," Byakko said, "Should I not be the one who deserves to receive the first answer?"

"I guess," she said, "Since you obviously don't know who I am, I will let you get the first answer. I am Hagoromo Kitsune, and you are?"

"I am Shirogitsune Byakko," he replied, "Now that we know who the other is, what business do you have in this town, Hagoromo Kitsune-chan?"

"How dare you call me such," she said indignantly, "Don't you know who I am?"

"Well, I know your name," he said, "I don't really know much about current events, or the current state of affairs of the world of youkai, though you do feel familiar."

"I feel familiar? You are obviously a kitsune, and yet you do not know who I am, how can that be?" she said, "I am the greatest of all kitsune!"

"The greatest you say," he said, "Then tell me...how is it that I do not know of you?"

"You must be joking," she said, unnerved by a sudden smile that adorned his face, "And what's with that smile?"

"I sense...that you are weaker than last I felt your presence...yet at the same time...you grow powerful by each passing second," he said, "You interest me...now answer my question, what is your purpose for coming here?"

"Why should I answer something that is beneath my station in the pecking order of the youkai world?" she asked, trying to stare him down, it would have normally been an unnerving experience, but Byakko had seen far worse, and far more comical things in his long life, and long past life.

"Because this is my town," he said, "One which I share with the Nura group, and if the so-called supreme commander has yet to notice my presence, and you yourself only felt me when I addressed you, who's to say that I am not above you in both station and power."

"You have a point there, I am forced to admit," she said, "But that still doesn't give you a right to order me around. I am the most powerful still, even that _supreme commander_ would acknowledge that as fact."

"So that was you," he said, remembering where he had felt her power before, "You were the one in Kyoto, interesting. You do interest me indeed. You are here for some petty revenge I take it...or something far more...a warning for things to come maybe?"

"Something like that, though for the life of me I don't know why I am even bothering to tell you," she said.

"It must be due to my presence that you would admit such a thing," he said, "I have that affect on those seeking power, as well as seeking a greater purpose."

Before their conversation could go any further, they were interrupted by the arrival of Byakko's subordinates, some of them for that matter, but all of them in their human form.

"We came as fast as we sensed a new arrival's faint presence," Haku informed Byakko, then faced the girl, "You are a kitsune, what business do you have here in Ukiyoe Town?"

"Leave her be, Haku," Byakko instructed, "She is the famed Hagoromo Kitsune, the one that was defeated some four hundred years ago by Nurarihyon and that onmyouji in Kyoto. She means us no harm it seems, and only wished to exact some revenge on the family which had defeated her all those years ago."

"So you now acknowledge me as a _famed_ being," she said, "Why is that? Why now, that your subordinates are here."

"For I now know what you are," he said, then directed his words at his men, "Leave us, and return to your affairs, I promise nothing will happen to me."

"B-but..!" Haku said.

"I promise to return home safe and sound," he said to them, "After all, what can a measly nine tails do to me?"

"If you say so Byakko-sama," Mitsukai said, and had the rest follow him home.

After the other youkai left, the two were free to continue their conversation..

"A measly nine tails?! How dare you say such an insulting thing!" she exclaimed, some of her killing intent pouring out of her, directed solely at him, and what unnerved her further was the fact that he was unfazed by it all, "I earned all of those tails! It is the highest state any kitsune could hope to reach!"

"I beg to differ," he said calmly, "If it were, you would have already sensed my power the moment you stepped into my town, you would have also been a little bit more cautious. A half life has been lost this day, that much I can tell."

"You can sense that?" she asked, her killing intent dying and being replaced by a hint of fear, she was not yet at full strength and couldn't hope to defeat one that could sense even that, "How?"

"I just can," he said, "Now, will you answer my question, of what your purpose here be."

"I came to consume an ikigimo, one from the most powerful youkai in this town," she answered, a little hesitantly, "But it seems I was mistaken in that regard."

"I assure you," he said, "While you have managed to slay Nura Rihan, you will not be able to slay me. For even I know that you are not truly who you seem to be."

"What are you talking about?" she questioned, not understanding what he was insinuating.

"You have reincarnated, as I heard those Nura say, as it is known that you would do such a thing," he said, "But it appears, that this form you have taken is not entirely you. But only time will tell...such a young and beautiful creature such as you. I hope the future brings you happiness."

"Now, you are just confusing me," she said, "What are you?"

"I am a kitsune," he said, "Similar to yourself, yet...not. I will see you in the future...but know this. I have seen what greed, jealousy, and an unquenchable lust for power can do. This world is not meant for only one existence, but many."

"Man has had its time in this world," she said, "It is time for the darkness to cover the world once more."

"One cannot survive without the other," he warned, "Do what you will, so long as you leave me and mine alone."

"When I have regained my full strength, I shall come back here, and teach you a lesson on how to respect your betters," she said haughtily, "You will rue the day you deemed yourself above **me**."

"I hope this generation of Nurarihyon, teaches you a lesson in humility, as well as compassion," he said, before turning his back on her and leaving, "You would do well to remember, that while you wish the world to be ruled by monster, and for the human to fear us, the greatest monster in the world were human once."

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" she said, then lashed out with what power she had in the form of nine tails, all of which he deflected by a single white tail, "One tail? You only have one tail?" she mocked him upon seeing one tail, "You claim to be of a higher tier of power than me, but only have one tail!"

"One tail was all I needed to bat away your nine," he said, as he continued to walk away, "Remember, there will always be something or someone more powerful."

"*"

"What happned?" Haku asked, when Byakko returned home unscathed, "Who was that? Was it an enemy or a friend?"

"She was interesting," Byakko simply said, "Haku, have everyone keep an eye on the Nura Group, something tells me they will be having an interesting future."

"As you wish, my master," he said, and vanished in a burst of fox fire.

After walking to his room, Byakko was soon joined by another of his subordinates, Mitsukai.

"There is something bothering you?" the Doji asked, noticing that his master seemed to be spacing out.

"She was rather attractive for one so young, yet at the same time so old," Byakko said, "I look forward to how she matures."

"Are you speaking about that kyuubi?" Mitsukai asked, "Cause if yo ask me, you could do a whole lot better."

"There was something different between her aura, her presence now, and that one time in Kyoto," Byakko said, "There is something truly different, but I cannot place my finger on what it is."

"Perhaps it is the ikigimo she consumed," Mitsukai supplied, "It could be the addition of power from the Nura hanyou."

"Perhaps, but I think it was something else," Byakko said, "Even the most powerful can be tricked, fooled, or even defeated."

"Do you speak from experience, master?" the Doji asked.

"I do," Byakko admitted, "In my past life, in my arrogance, I was defeated, not once but three times. But at least I got to chose how I died."

"I see," Mitsukai said, "Then, I shall attend to my other duties now."

"Thank you for the company, Mitsukai," Byakko said, as he looked out the window of his second floor master bedroom.


	49. Now What 3

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Hishoshi Shiibashi's Nurarihyon no Mago. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Now What?**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter three**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

"Byakko-sama!" were the shouts and cries of the youkai of the Shirogitsune Group, a relatively unknown but powerful group of youkai in Japan. There was something else in the sky that night, there were boat youkai in the sky, taking up youkai by the tens.

"What?" Byakko said, sticking his head from out of his room's window, "I'm trying to sleep here."

"The Nura Group! They're leaving!" a random youkai shouted from the first floor, while others were busily pointing at the sky.

"Something big must be happening!" another shouted.

"So, what do you want me to do about it?" Byakko asked, "Its the middle of the night for crying out loud! You've all got duties to perform in the morning!"

"But there must be a reason for them to be gearing up, and leaving!" someone else shouted.

"They look to be heading for the capital!" yet another shouted, while pointing in the direction of where the boats were heading.

"They're heading for Kyoto!"

"The old capital then!"

"Byakko-sama!" Haku urgently said as he entered his boss' room, "The young head of the Nura clan is heading to Kyoto to sever his ties with a certain kitsune, my spies in Toono said so."

"Now that changes everything," Byakko said, then shifted his casual wear to his old travelling clothes, "Haku inform our compies, and work places that we shall be taking a short vacation, you will be attending a conference of sorts. I trust our businesses can run themselves for a little while?"

"They can, and more or less already do," Haku confirmed, "Why?"

"If that the Sandaime Nurarihyon plans on taking on Hagoromo Kitsune, I want to be there to see it," Byakko said, then leapt out of his room and landed amidst his subordinates, then announced, "We, the Shirogitsune clan, will be heading for Kyoto!"

"WHAT!? WHY?!"

"Are we not youkai? It has been four hundred years since Hagoromo Kitsune has made her appearance!" Byakko spoke, "Four hundred years ago, Nurarihyon with the aid of the Kekain clan defeated her, and now that she has returned to her full power, the Nura clan once again marches to battle, to claim the title of Master of All Spirits and Monsters! It is to be another historic moment in Youkai History!"

"But what does that have to do with us?" Akamaru asked, "You cared not about the going ons of the rest of the world before, what makes this time different?"

"That last battle was one between youkai," he said, "This one is between youkai, and coexistence. Nura Rikuo is one quarter youkai, and therefore represents humanity as well in this fight. And if that's not good enough, when was the last time we have done battle?"

"But our enemies have always been human in the past," Yugito said, "We have never once battled against another group or clan of youkai."

"Tamamo no Mae, once sought to rule the country," Byakko said, "She has chosen to do so again, but through a different root. While day is the time of the humans, night the time of the youkai, darkness cannot survive without the light and light without the darkness. Her group and their supposed dream is to eliminate the light and bring about a thousand years of darkness."

"But that's a good thing for us, isn't it? We're youkai just as she is," a youkai said.

"We have stayed in between both day and night," Mizuchi spoke up, "We have lived fruitful lives, with a purpose. We were all drawn to Byakko-sama for reasons that are our own. But the most important of all was, thanks in part to his power, the promise of a purpose and protection, as well as stability and continued existence. We have lived this long as his loyal subordinates, living happy lives, ones without strife, but only joy. Why should we want for more, when he himself, who boasts more power than Hagoromo Kitsune, sees the way things are as sufficient? We are at peace, we have attained that which many have wanted and are still seeking to this day. Why should we allow this peace be shattered, why should we allow chaos to raise its head and devour the world?"

"Enough Mizuchi," Byakko ordered, "I think they have heard enough of your philosophies. They were already committed to whatever cause I chose to pursue, just like you. They like you just like to hear the sound of their own voices, am I right?"

"Hai!" the youkai gathered shouted as one.

"To Kyoto!" Byakko shouted, then jumped into the air, shifting from his human, to his hanyou, to his youkai form, "To me! Follow me! My Hyakki Yakou!"

They needed no other prompting and raced after their master, some jumping into the sky to join him, while others ran on the ground, others dived into the nearest water source to follow through that element. While there were those that hitched a ride on others. As they left their compound, it glowed as protective seals lit up the compound securing their base of operations while they were away.

They shifted all of their forms as well, following in the footsteps of their master, from human, to hanyou, to youkai. They transformed, filling the darkness of the sky with their osore, their fear.

As Byakko himself allowed his fear to fill the night sky, those not of his clan felt a cold chill run up and down their own spines. Something far greater had made itself known. Even Nurarihyon could not help but shudder at the feeling.

"_What in the world?_" Nurarihyon whispered as he felt the cold chill pass through him, it was a fear unlike any other he had ever felt, "_Were they too late?_"

As a cloud far darker than the clouds of fear that permeated the sky about Kyoto, the Shirogitsune clan traveled like a nightmare sweeping across the land as fast as Byakko chose to travel, all those sleeping falling into dreaming of their greatest fears, of the things that go bump in the night.

Even the capital youkai had felt the chill to the core of their very being. There was something heading their way, something whose aura was even more powerful and frightening than anything that Hagoromo Kitsune had ever made her presence feel like.

"Minagoroshi Jizou," Hagoromo Kitsune said, "What was that I felt?"

"That was nothing, Hagoromo Kitsune-sama, a side effect of removing the darkness growing ever stronger around the capital," the old man with a big eye on his forehead and a bird on his shoulder said, reassuring his master that there was nothing wrong.

"*"

"Much has changed, while much has stayed the same," Byakko said, after his party had arrived one the hill overlooking the city on which he himself had first arrived.

"Your orders, Byakko-sama?" Mizuchi asked, standing beside him.

"My illusions will hide you," Byakko said, "Leak out none of your fear, as that it would attract some unwanted attention. Hinder not the Nura youkai, but make sure that those that serve _that_ kitsune do not interfere with the Nura."

"What about you?" Mizuchi asked.

"I will lend my strength to one that would need it," he said, "I wish to know what it was that I sensed a few years ago."

"Hagoromo Kitsune?" Haku asked, "She didn't feel all that strong when we met her that time. You would help her?"

"No," he replied, "That Rikuo, I have seen him in Ukiyoe, he has what it takes to bring both the youkai world and the human world together, coexistence, a tall order...but an attainable one. I would like to see how he fares against one of the most powerful youkai."

"May you find the answers you seek," Mizuchi said, as he prepared to set off, after feeling the illusions wash over himself.

"We shall meet up after all of this is over," Byakko said, "I promise."

"Hai," the youkai said, "We will not let you down."

And they were off, to face opponents that would not see them coming until it was nearly too late. Of course some of them would reveal themselves early in order to have a real battle.


	50. Now What 4

Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Hishoshi Shiibashi's Nurarihyon no Mago. There will also be some elements from JK Rowling's Harry Potter. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the other fans of the original work. This is merely for fun, and not profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.

Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.

Note 1: AU (of an AU...sort of).

"*"

"*"

**Now What?**

"*"

"*"

_**chapter four**_

"_*"_

"_*"_

There were many pockets of Kyoto youkai scattered around the city, some of whom were battling amongst themselves for the right to follow Hagoromo Kitsune. As Byakko passed them, they all stopped for a moment feeling the chill run up and down their spines, the chilling sensation of something far worse than the deepest depths of hell passing by them, almost within their reach, almost caressing them teasingly, tauntingly.

He saw their fights and was unimpressed by such small fries thinking that they were worthy of such heights, pathetic insects with no real care and worry other than selfishness, even among youkai it was something he personally didn't all that much admire. His Hyakki Yakou stood by one another, even while he was not around, they always looked out for one another even those that didn't see eye to eye. They were friends, and family.

There was surely a reason or more as to why the Kyoto youkai were unable to rise up from their ashes and return to their former place of prominence in the world of youkai. They were all relics of the past thrown aside, forgotten, waiting for a true master to elad them towards a greater and brighter future for youkai kind. Sadly Byakko couldn't really care less about them as they squabbled amongst themselves, he was far more preoccupied with the fight between Hagoromo Kitsune and Nura Rikuo which was happening at the castle, while the egg of the Nue prepared for hatching.

The Nue, a formidable youkai, one that had at one point in time also been human, an onmyouji that had turned from his dream of coexistence to that of total domination with youkai at the top due to the actions of a select few men. Byakko only learned of such from the scant few loose lips around the capital as he made his way, silently and stealthily to the main battle between the monarchs of the demon world.

He arrived just as Hagoromo Kitsune was being dragged to Hell without her son, the Nue, showing her any sort of affection for all of the hardships that she had undergone to return him to the land of the living, to the land of which both human and youkai lived and thrived in their own respects.

Just as she was about to be pulled into the underworld, the real one, a long forgotten memory surfaced within his mind, one from long ago when he was once a part of a whole that he now stood on par with or was even greater in strength. Contrary to popular belief of his former world, the Rikudou no Sennin was not the only one that had managed to gain a victory over the gargantuan Juubi. There had been another, a woman, one like in some tales managed to soothe the savage beast for a time, specifically attracting the part that was the former Kyuubi. Though through the passage of time, her beauty waned and the beast as a whole grew tired of her, eventually forgetting about her save for the Kyuubi within it that had managed to form a kind of bond with her. She was the reason why he was always in a rage, a bad mood so to speak, after being separated from the rest of what became known as the Bijuu. Losing her was a blow that he could not take, and the only means by which he could release his frustration was through rage, anger, and sheer and total destruction.

Now that she was once again within his grasp, even though she was in her reincarnated, several times too, state he took his chance and leapt for her. The hands of Hell shooting back into Hell from whence they came feeling the power of something far viler than even the Shinigami itself. There was just something about the power of Byakko that pushed them away, that or the fact that he had had prior contact with one of the illustrious _five_.

He left an illusion in place, as it would not do for the enemy to realize that there was another player in the game, one that could prove their downfall if he so chose to take up a more active role in the war that was surely to come.

When it was Tsuchigumo's turn to be swallowed up into Hell, Byakko signalled some of his subordinates to get that particular monster to safety, but also make sure that he would not be able to foil any of Byakko's plans by layering illusions over the knocked unconscious monster.

It took a while before Byakko decided to reveal himself, along with the youkai that were members of his already considerably strong clan as well as those that were recently inducted into it. It was quite a surprising development for the Nura clan to find themselves completely surrounded on all sides by a number of youkai that none, not even the First had managed to sense the presences of.

"More enemies?" Kurotabou said preparing for battle once again, just as the rest of his comrades too were doing.

"No," Byakko replied, "We're here to offer some form of aid to the Nura clan. I am Byakko, and these," he gestured to his youkai, "Are the members of my own Hyakki Yakou. I seem to find myself disliking this Nue character, but for different reasons from yourself. So how about it Nura Rikuo, would you permit another clan to fight by yours?"


	51. Their World 1

_**Disclaimer:**__The anime Naruto and Twelve Kingdoms are not my properties. If I owned them, why would I be writing fan fiction based on them. No money is being made from this, it is just for the entertainment of any that wishes to read it. _

_**Warnings:**__ AU, OOCs, OCs, Crack, Sues (you have been warned)_

_**Note:**__ none at the moment._

"***"**

"***"**

**Their World**

"***"**

_**chapter one**_

"_***"**_

"_***"**_

The worlds are all connected in some way shape or form, Hourai wasn't the only world that was connected to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms.

No.

It wasn't the only one.

There were others, but these others rarely had people cross over and into the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. Shoku, those blackhole like storms that sucked things into them and into the world of the twelve kingdoms weren't common in those other worlds. Their reach didn't go that far, but even without them it was still possible to travel from those worlds to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms where the god Tentei ruled.

There were other ways, some far more supernatural than most, while others were simpler like slipping off into a dream and never waking again in one's birth world, but waking once again in the world of Tentei's creation. Retaining memories was a rare occasion, but only those that were blown away or with a shoku, those rare occasions that it happened, did memories remain.

Taika were what those that returned were called, while those that held no connection to Tentei's world did not retain anything and sometimes was just like all the other natives of Hourai, they were unable to understand anything.

Tentei's creation is a world of change and permanence. While the borders would forever remain the same, the governance of those lands changed hands, eventually, usually anyway. Most rulers either abdicated when they realized that they were steering their countries to ruin, while others needed to be removed from power by those that dared to face the wrath of heaven to do so. While there were those that remained in power, until the creeping hands of corruption sent them to their deaths some other way.

Rare was it for a prosperous bringing ruler to be removed from power, as those rulers were more blessing than anything else. But that was not to say that it was not possible for a ruler to meet an untimely or unneeded end. This was still a world of people, a world of economics and politics, a world like any other.

To the heaven that showed itself in the light of day, there would always be a balance to that light, the dark depths of the underworld. While not always relevant to the shaping of the world, it was still there, lurking in shadowed corners, waiting for the perfect time to strike and cause some manner of chaos or problem for the world.

#

It wasn't all that impossible for the worst of people to be sent off to another world on accident or intent, nor was it all that impossible for the best of people to be sent off in the same manner and in the same general direction.

There had been a war that been waged, where there were only two sides. The side of a megalomaniac intent on enslaving the world forever in an illusion of peace under his rule and whims. On the other side of the field was the unified forces of the different lands, lands that at many points in time had been at each others throats vying for dominance and for simply survival.

A unified alliance of all nations fighting for the survival of their world and their continued existence as well as for peace, against a force commanded by one man against the world for complete command of the world.

It was quite the war to be waged, and quite a war to be won.

Each side had their own champion, the conquering side, the side that planned on enslaving the world had Uchiha Madara, the strongest Uchiha in history, far surpassing even the actual founder of his own clan in power and ambition. The alliance on the other hand had Uzumaki Naruto, one whose blood was a mix of legends and heroes.

Just like any fight, any war that these two sides were used to, the champions of each side, those carrying the hope of each side, met on the field of battle. It was inevitable for both of them to meet. Not only was it written in the stars, but it was foreseen ages upon ages, and generations upon generations ago, when their ancestors did battle.

Uchiha Sasuke was not even considered as one of the major characters of the play that was playing out in the middle of the battlefield. He was nothing but another member of the supporting cast. He was nothing but another bystander that had placed his hope, added some form of burden on the shoulders of one of the champions.

His former teammate had actually managed to sway his heart, change it, and changed his decision. It was an inevitable thing to happen as he had some light left in him despite the darkness that had clouded his heart for most of his life.

That was one of Naruto's unconfirmed innate powers.

It was two titans clashing, one with stolen power against one with the hopes and dreams of an entire people coupled with hard work, determination, as well as his own heritage. It was a battle of monsters and gods. It was a battle that would not be forgotten, would not be washed away by the flow of the river of time. Their legends would only grow greater and more epic with each telling.

It was an intense battle, one that eventually caused all the others to stop around them. It was better for all the rest involved in the war to move as far away from the battle between the two behemoths lest they be caught in the crossfire. Attacks were traded, fists and feet met fists and feet. It was an epic event of any of their lifetimes.

Such a fight would never again be witnessed by any generation in the world. It was a battle of true living legends. A battle between the old and the new. It was a battle of chaos and order, though one couldn't really tell which was which in this case.

Suffering and despair clashed with hope and peace.

Like any epic battle between two titans, the end, the winner would only be decided with the final move. The kill shot. The finishing blow.

Each had to decide what would be that move, what would be the winning blow. What they would have to put in their all and then some to win.

Madara had sealed within the first eight tailed beasts, the Hachibi had come into his possession as a tactic and decision that Killer Bee had chosen for himself in order to give his friend and comrade time to prepare for the inevitable final confrontation. Madara also had the power of the fully evolved form of the Sharingan, along with the stolen powers of the Senju and the Uzumaki in the forms of Mokuton and the Rin'negan. He also had a heart so dark that even demons cowered at the prospect of facing or serving it.

The attack he had settled on was something which he himself had stolen from his almost protege. Chidori, but this one was different. With access to all elements, it would be something infused with all of that along with the combined might and power of his eight bijuu combined.

An end move to end all moves.

Naruto on the other hand had made the split second decision to use the one thing that he knew he could do and still had a high possibility of working. He winged it, and formed a Rasengan in each hand that he had access to which considering that he had enough chakra to create more Kage Bushin than anyone else alive and sane for that matter, he could create a lot and had a lot of spare hands.

It was the legacy that his father had left him after all. It was about time that he upgraded it, and not in the way that he had already done. The only way to defeat this foe that he was facing was by facing it head on, close quarters.

He had to be sure of the outcome himself, and not leave anything to chance or fate, even though both were firmly on his side, actually Fate and Luck were both his bitches, he just didn't think much on that fact.

Dominating the bijuu, all eight that he had sealed within him, he channeled all of their available power into the ball of the elements that he had formed within the palm of his hand. It burned black with the added flames of Amaterasu. He prepared for his charge, Kamui would not be needed here.

When each of their attacks were ready, they charged.

They were each on a side of a ravine that resembled the Valley of the End, it was fitting in a sense as once they were through it would be the end.

One chaotic ball of darkness met with one solid ball of light. It was a battle of wills as soon as both balls met. Much like how Naruto had had a battle of wills with his inner demon for control of that awesome power.

He gave his attack his all, he pushed as much energy as he could into his attack. It was well known that when it came to control he wasn't the best of the best, but in this case he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could not mess up. His success was what everyone else relied on for their continued better future.

He could not falter. He would succeed.

He was being pushed back, and the smirk that he saw that graced Madara's face pissed him off to no end. He promised himself that he'd wipe that smirk off of the arrogant old shit's face once and for all. So he did something that everyone should have expected.

He did the unexpected.

He switched places with a shadow clone, one of the many that had been attacking Madara's own versions of the technique. The clone continued to fight the good fight, while Naruto used a sealess version of one of his father's other legacies, the Hiraishin and appeared just behind and angled somewhat below Madara.

"_Eat__this__,_" Naruto whispered, "**Konohagakure****Hiden****Taijutsu****Ougi****: ****Sennen****Goroshi****, ****RASENGAN****STYLE****!**"

No one was expecting something like that. It was the first jutsu that had ever, in a combat situation, actually been used on him. Hatake Kakashi hadn't been expecting it at all. It was one of those things that people didn't expect to happen during a battle that was to decide the future of the world after all. It was a prank jutsu at best, but Naruto decided that it could be used seriously in a fight, and with a rasengan added to the attack it could truly prove devastating.

It was a stroke of genius, that's what it was. Instead of creating a regular sized Rasengan, he did what he had only dreamed of ever accomplishing, the Bijuudama, a ball of compressed chakra. But unlike the regular technique that was launched like a laser beam from within a jinchuuriki's transformed body, this one ball of brilliant blue, gold, and flaming red, energy and light hovered just on the tip of one of Naruto's fingers. It was also just about the size of a ping pong ball.

Size didn't really matter, it was how something was used that counted. Naruto wasn't the sharpest kunai in a pouch academically, but that was just because his education had been sabotaged and also because he learned differently. But when it came to thinking the fly, he was a genius to rival all geniuses.

When it came to unpredictability, this teen was king.

Madara only had those words as warning for what was to come.

His world exploded in pain as the ball of light was inserted where the sun don't shine. This was a ball of swirling chakra shoved up where such things were not meant to be shoved up. It was a ball of glowing energy that was made up of his own human chakra, the Kyuubi's bijuu chakra, and Sage chakra or nature energy. It was made of the three things that made up his unique energy, all perfectly balanced and compressed extensively and extremely in that one small ball.

One false move and it wouldn't be just the battlefield that would go up in smoke, like a Kage Bushin, but possibly the whole alliance as well, not that anyone realized it, of course, that would really put a dampener on morale.

The malevolent energies of the Kyuubi combined with the balanced energies of nature or of the world did something that Naruto hadn't planned on. It made him truly the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths, it drew from within Madara the eight tailed beasts that he had sealed within himself and placed them under Naruto's control to do with as he pleased.

These were no longer the malevolent beings of chakra that they had once been. They had been slowly reformed into somethings closer to humans due to their integrations and interactions with their hosts, and the seals that had kept them at bay.

Along with these beings of chakra came their knowledge and memories, those and the ones that they had all subconsciously copied from their previous hosts, along with a number of things that they had unintentionally incorporated into themselves.

All this came crashing down and into Naruto as he withdrew his hands from the disgusting place they had been just to inflict some pain on Madara. It may have been disgusting now that he thought about it, but it had been worth it as the man that a whole people had feared due to his power and ambition lay a few feet away crumpled in a heap moaning and groaning in pain.

He had never been or felt so violated in all his long nearly truly immortal life. It was so degrading what he had suffered.

'_All__I__wanted__was__to__become__truly__immortal__, __respected__, __and__adored__!_' Madara thought, a tad bit insanely, to himself, '_I__just__want__to__rule__the__world__, __is__that__so__much__to__ask__? __Who__cares__that__I__'__d__have__to__strip__the__free__will__of__all__human__life__to__do__it__! __But__why__in__Kami__'__s__name__did__I__have__to__be__violated__in__such__a__way__!_'

"You DEMONIC BASTARD!" Madara shouted as Naruto approached his still in immense pained form, "I WOULDN'T HAVE EVER EVEN THOUGHT OF DOING THAT TO HASHIRAMA-TEME! YOU SICK SICK BASTARD!"

"Can you still fight?" Naruto, kind of, dumbly asked his downed opponent, the man should be dead actually but he wasn't yet.

"Not in this state! Let's see how you feel after having such a painful thing done to you!" Madara whined, it was so like Tobi, splittle also just so happened to fly out of the man's mouth as he shouted those words.

"Eww, gross," Naruto said as he wiped away some of the salivatory grime that landed on him, "Could you please die properly now?"

"No," Madara said, and as a final fuck you to the world, since he knew he was almost dead anyway, he did one last thing, "**Kamui**."

It was a rather weird, but not unpleasant feeling, having time and space warp and distort around a person, or so Naruto thought. He didn't know of any way for him to stop what was happening, but he was happy to note that it was Madara's final hurrah, so to speak. It was an I-may-be-going-down-but-I'm-taking-you-with-me thing. While Naruto would miss his friends, and would miss the fulfillment of his dream he was glad that the bastard that had caused so much pain and suffering was going to finally be gone from the world. He was also glad for the fact that he hadn't promised anyone that he'd return. While he may not have been able to become Hokage, he did something better.

He became the hero of the world.

"Naruto!" his allies called out to him as they trickled close to the place where the warping and distorting of space and time was occurring.

"Its alright guys!" Naruto said, a true smile gracing his face, "We win, though it doesn't look like I'll be going home after this. Haha! I'll just be going to my next great adventure sooner than expected!"

"Shut up!" Madara half shouted half whined, "I'm trying to make you suffer the loss of your friends and your world! Damnit! You're not supposed to be happy!"

"Shut up yourself ya has-been!" Naruto shouted back at the man before kicking a soccer ball sized Rasengan at the man's groin, he could apparently do stuff like that now like it was nothing.

"Only you, Naruto, only you," Kakashi said, deciding that at least his one time student was happy as he left the world, "You really are Konoha's Number One Most Hyperactive and Unpredictable Ninja."

"Of course I am," Naruto said, and gave the assembled and still arriving ninja a thumbs up, "Believe it!"

Having said his catch phrase, the wrinkle in time and space distorted some more by a little bit, before all of that area was sucked into a pin hole in the fabric of space and time, and he and Madara were gone. Leaving the world of the Elemental Nations forever.

"What a way to go," Kakashi said, "Well, at least he was happy."

"So are we adding his name to the memorial stone?" another Konoha-nin asked from the assembled group.

"Technically we're not sure if he's dead or stuck in a never ending battle with Madara wherever that man sent the two of them to," Kakashi said, "So...we'll let the Hokage decide...or the Kage Council...anyway, the battles are over, the war has been won, and I need some rest. We all do."

"Wait," someone, from another village said, getting the attention of all present and still converging on the spot.

"What?" was the collective question.

"We won?"

"Yeah."

"We won?"

"Yeah."

"WE WON!"

"WOOHOO!"

From there, everyone forgot their troubles for a moment, and the lives that had been lost. There was much rejoicing, all the sacrifices that had been made, were all not for naught. They had won, the world had been victorious.

They had won.

The Bijuu were no longer in the world and thus no longer a threat.

There could finally be peace.

All it had taken really was a single teen with drive, determination, and a dream. As well as the support of an entire continent backing him up.

#

'_Where__the__Hell__am__I__?_' Madara wondered upon regaining consciousness, he knew that by all rights he should be dead, but instead he found himself laying in a very comfortable bed with silken sheets the kind that nobles or royals used.

He looked around the room that he found himself in, it was a rich room, he wondered who it belonged to. But he had priorities, one of which was finding out where he was, for he was sure that it was not anywhere near the Elemental Countries. He also needed to know what had become of Naruto, the bane of his existence.

There was also the reason for his survival, had he actually been immortal like he had wished, and if so why had it only kicked in after he more or less tried to commit suicide.

He got out of the bed, or tried to. He didn't know that he had been bedridden for a good portion of a month. Which meant that he would be needing some sort of or form of physical therapy to get his body back into shape, the kind of shape that he could use to his ends or needs or whatever.

Try and try as he might, he just couldn't remain standing for more than a minute or two. It was something new, since he was quite used to just being able to force himself to stand and move about normally after ordeals such as the one that he had gone through.

He was clearly forgetting the fact that he usually had some chakra induced healing to help along his healing and getting better process. But he was not in a world where chakra was in abundance, it seemed, since he couldn't find it in him to move about on his own for the time being.

"I see that you're finally awake," a woman entered the room, she wore clothes that befit a very high station in life, and society for that matter, "How do you feel?"

She really did look like she belonged in the upper echelons of the social strata. Something that Madara could relate to as he had been a member of such a class himself back when he was just one of the two strongest ninja in all the world. But that was a long time ago and his clan had fallen from such a height after he had become the village he helped found's first ever rogue ninja.

"Weak," he replied, it was something he learned about healers. It was best to be honest with how one felt, lest the healer force one to remain in their care longer than necessary. It had messed up a few of his plans in the past, and it had led to being one of the reasons why he never had managed to have kids. Contrary to popular belief he hadn't always been an asshole. He had loved once, he had at one time had a heart.

He lost most of that heart after he pissed off the healer or medic that had been in charge of his health that he had actually had a crush on.

It was because of her that he knew not to piss off a healer ever again. It just wasn't all that good for one's health and love life, that is if one wanted to be romantically involved with one's healer.

"Oh?" the woman said, "Well I guess that is to be expected."

She had ebony black hair, that reached well beyond the small of her back, an oval face, and a pair of black eyes that would have looked just right on a woman of the Uchiha clan. What actually started creeping him out was that she vaguely also reminded him of one of the Senju, one of their best kunoichi to be exact, and he wasn't thinking about Tsunade either.

"Err..if you don't mind me asking, but where am I?" he asked.

"I suppose that is an expected question," she said to him, "You are in the Seikan Palace, though I don't suppose you know what I'm talking about, do you."

"No, I'm sorry but I'm a bit lost already," Madara said, he knew he wasn't anywhere near the universe or dimension that his beloved birth world, "I appear to know not of this palace of which you speak of."

"It is the seat of power and home of the King of the Kingdom of Sou," the woman said, "I am Bunki, I head the national hospital and the department of health of the country. You were lucky that I stumbled upon you when I did, since I'm the one responsible for saving your life."

"Never heard of such a place in my life," Madara told her, "Thank you for saving me then, but how were you able to do it? I was sure that I was going to wake up in the after life."

"I asked my father to temporarily have you become a sennin of our kingdom," Bunki said, "It was the easiest way to ensure that you lived. You do know what a sennin is don't you?"

"I don't think my understanding of what one is is the same as what you know a sennin to be," Madara said.

"Being a sennin basically makes you immortal," she said, "In the sense that you will not age physically, and can not die by old age or any form of disease. It gave you a health boost when you were at your weakest allowing the best of our medical practitioners to get you into a more stable condition."

"I see," Madara said, "Thank you. I owe you my life it seems."

"Think nothing of it," she told him.

But he would not be able to do as she said, since even though he was a real bastard, he still had honor and a a truck load of pride. He paid his debts, he was honor bound to do so, especially since she had saved his life, nigh selflessly.

Instead of voicing his intent to see about paying her back for saving him, he keeps such thoughts to himself lest she find him more useful and actively and actually use him for things that he had no knowledge of or interest in. There was a limit of course on the things that he would willingly do.

"Since I'm obviously not from around here...what happens now? Do I return to being mortal?" he asked her from his bed.

"Not until you've fully healed, and even then, if I find you useful, we'll see," she said, "Now, I've already introduced myself, your turn."

"I am Uchiha Madara," he introduced himself, as best as he could from his bed, "Do you believe in the possibility of coming from another world?"

"Yes," she replied, almost mischievously, "While rare, it does happen. People from another world can find themselves in this world, people from this world can also find themselves in another world too, which is also just as rare."

"Really? That's interesting," he said, "Well, I'm from another world. I was fighting in a war, but apparently was on the losing side, at the end of the war I was removed from my world, and I guess you found me in the state that I had left my world."

"It appears so," Bunki said, "Well, until you are well enough to move on your own, I shall have one of my servants tend to you, since all the ones that have been taking care of you while you were unconscious have other duties to attend to."

She left him then, and a few minutes later someone in servant's attire entered the room he was staying in, and informed him that she would attend to him as per her mistress' instructions. She would be helping him get back to how he was or must have been before he had gotten so grievously injured, and would also help him understand and get to know the world he had originally been intended to be born in.

Knowledge was power, and he intended to be powerful enough to call himself a proper immortal once again.

He knew that it would take time, but he also knew that he now had all the time in the world. This was a new world, with new opportunities, he could even possibly find a way to rule the world, this world. But first he would soak up as much knowledge as he could. There would be time for his megalomaniac tendencies to arise once again later in the future.

In the days and weeks of his return to full health, he learned that taking over the world wasn't all that he had thought it would be. For one thing, there was a strict hierarchy, there was even a real god since immortality was real so why not higher powers that governed the world from a higher plane of existence. So he ruled out conquering the world for his own ends and satisfaction.

But why rule the world when it can be manipulated, he was a shinobi first before some power hungry creep that had already tried and failed and failed again at ruling the world.

Let the Kings and Queens keep their kingdoms, he would carve his own piece of the pie. But in order to do that, he needed to shake things up a little. He'd gather an army worthy of his power once more. Which meant that he'd have to seek out those that would willingly serve him, much like Orochimaru and Danzo had been known to do back in his birth world.

But he would also have to balance out this new need for creating chaos with his need to please and serve and repay the debt he owed to Bunki. It was a bit troublesome, but his pride as a man and his honor as an Uchiha demanded that he saw it through to the end.

He learned much more than just he inability to actually rule the world out in the open like he had originally wished. He learned of how the world worked, and of the differences it had as compared to his birth world. It was a unique world in its own, one where rulers were chosen by holy creatures called kirin. He also learned of how to kill immortals, he found one method rather straight forward: Decapitation. He rather liked that method a lot.

It took him a while to find a comfortable place for himself in the daily routine of the palace, as well as the country. He knew a lot about medicine, unsurprisingly thanks to his various experiments and other side projects over the years. So he helped out with Bunki's thing. It came as a surprise to him that the princess of a country had been his savior, it made him think back on those childhood dreams of protecting a princess.

While rather foolish, he rather enjoyed the thought, that with him always so close by he was ever ready and vigilant to protect her should the need arise. It wasn't that she didn't have other guards, it was just that he still owed her, plus protecting an actual princess was kind of cool.

During his rounds or tours of the cities and provinces, he found it rather hard to believe that there was absolutely no poverty, and there hadn't been for more than a century at the very least. It was still rather hard to believe that the King had been in power for 600 years and counting, it was still so surreal.

What was also hard to believe was that he could find hide nor hair of an underworld. It was as if such a thing was not only not needed, but no one cared for one. Things were rather more prosperous in the light.

While there were some criminals, they weren't the kind that he thought he could use. The justice in the country was also rather swift and sure. There were very few mistakes in the country, although if he counted himself, he was a mistake that had the potential of regret.

He was a relative unknown, coming from a world that was unlike the Hourai that the people of Sou were rather more familiar with. He was truly one of those extremely rare cases. But he was thankful for this second chance at life. Here he would live, learn, and if possible, love.

He just had to play his cards right, and all that he wished, or most of those dreams, would come true.

#

Just as he wasn't so fortunate in his last _life_, he wasn't so fortunate in this new one. He was supposed to be dead or something. But for some reason, some higher power had decided that he not be. That he still had so much life to live.

So here he found himself. In the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by trees, and a bunch of wolf-like creatures that were looking at him as if he was lunch. He didn't like their look, it was not something that he liked seeing at all, on any animal or person for that matter.

It was a good thing that he wasn't injured at all when he awoke, and that he had everything that he had brought with him to battle, the only thing missing from the battle was Madara. Not much of a loss since he believed the man to be dead.

All of his things had returned to him before he vanished from his birth world, they all had seals on them that he had activated to call back to him. It would not do for others to get their grubby paws on his things. He was rather possessive of them. The only thing he made sure to leave was a letter to his friends, as a precaution in case he died, and some trinkets for all of his loved ones in that _life_.

He knew that there was no use talking to such creatures out of trying to kill him. Trying, since there was no way that they would ever win, even if there were a hundred of them. Unluckily for them, there were only ten of them, and roughly a near infinite number of Naruto.

Whipping out a pair of kunai, he proceeded to dissect the creatures one by one. He had no need for some clones to help him out since the numbers were not overwhelming, and also since he needed to know where he stood physically in this new world. He was faster than them, that was for sure, he was stronger too. He was more than they could ever hope to be, but the one thing that he had not been expecting was that one of them, probably the strongest one, had this flight ability.

It was probably going off to get some reinforcements, Naruto couldn't have that. So he threw one of his kunai at the fleeing creature. Where once there had been a single metal blade, now flew a hundred.

The creature, that he would later learn was a kiki, didn't stand a chance. It was dead before it even realized that it had been hit.

While he had everything he knew he needed to survive, he was still left somewhere in the middle of nowhere. In a forest, where the potential for more of such creatures lurking about was great. He needed to find some shelter fast, else something else happen to him.

He also needed to meditate as he had a killer headache all of a sudden, it was like receiving the memories of close to a thousand clones all at once, but not as epically bad as that one felt. This one was growing in steam, which was a different kind of bad if he didn't find somewhere safe to rest first.

He didn't know what had happened as he hadn't felt that little bit of transfer of power and memories and all that while he performed his humiliating attack on Madara. He had yet to realize what he had become. It would be a shocker sure, but he would have a clone bop him on the head later since it was to be expected in the life that he lived, or simply just his life after all.

He found a tall tree, and decided that there shouldn't be anything big enough in the skies to find him there. So he set himself up there, and entered his meditative state. It was a state where his body automatically had him enter sage mode. It had become a subconscious thing to him. He almost couldn't help himself.

Once within the confines of his mind he found himself facing multiple people, or the mental representations or replicas of other people. People that he knew in life or knew about. He was on immediate high alert when he spotted Madara of all people, but grew even wearier when he spotted Gaara of all people. There were others of course, and he wondered how they were all in his head.

It was as if he was suddenly no longer alone, but at the same time knew that it was next to impossible for all of these people to be with him, especially since they were all in his head.

He decided to leave a clone of himself with all these copies, copies that didn't move an inch after he had arrived there. It was his mind, and so if they were hostile, he didn't have to worry about any of them attacking him and succeeding. After all he had accepted and defeated his darkness, and the Kyuubi wasn't that far behind in losing its malevolence.

He entered a deeper state of mediation, something that he wasn't all that sure was possible for himself, but he tried nonetheless, he needed to figure out what was going on, and where better to meditate, than in one's own mind. It was very safe for him there, it was his mind after all.

Viewing and reviewing his own memories would be easier than way too, due to the close proximity to them.

To all of them.

There were so many memories, he found out. He found all of his memories, the whole of his life was laid out before him. Since this was the first time that he would be doing something such as this, he didn't know how he was going to chose a memory and view it. So he did the only thing that came to mind. He would review, or re-live all of them. One by one.

How bad could it be, it was his life after all, and the best way to grow stronger, or one of them anyway, was to know one's self. This was the best way to do so.

It was rather odd that his memories weren't viewed from his own eyes, but from a third person point of view. It was odd and weird, but also gave him new insight on his life, on his world. He saw not only what he wanted to see, which were his strengths, but he also saw the things he didn't really want to see, his weaknesses. He saw everything whether he wanted to or not.

He knew something about his mind, having spent so much time in it, visiting the Kyuubi in the past and organizing the thoughts and memories he gained from his unique training, that was that time flowed differently in his mindscape in comparison with the rest of the world, with the real world, with the outside world.

It was like being in the Uchiha's world of Tsukiyomi, where 72 hours fit into a single second. In his mind it was the same, but longer than a measly 72 hours. It was days, weeks, months, or years, to a second in the outside world.

It was a good thing too since he found out that he would need all the time in the world to view all of the memories that he actually had, after finding out that he had more than he originally started off with. He also found out how it had happened that he had gotten them all.

He didn't think that it was actually possible, but there he was, reliving lives that while not his own were now his own. It was a good thing as these additional memories were integrated into his own, they were made truly his own.

He had become that which Madara and Orochimaru only dreamed of ever becoming, the closest thing to god as possible. The only thing he didn't get was the state of immortality, it was presently out of his reach even though he had the means to be as close to it as possible now that he possessed the truly reincarnated body of the Sage of Six Paths.

He had the Rin'negan in both eyes, as well as the Sharingan. His eyes also remained their cerulean blue. It was weird, but he had acquired a Kekkai Genkai, a bloodline limit. When active his eyes, while keeping some of their cerulean hue, gained the rings of the Rin'negan, the tomoe of the Sharingan, and some parts of his eye transformation while he was in Sage Mode.

Sage Mode, that was another thing that had changed. He didn't really need to remain still for himself to be able to gather nature chakra, he could do it anytime, and even while in motion now that he had the Rin'negan. He could draw on the energies of the world, connect to the world, anytime he wanted to now without having to worry about losing the balance of his energies as his eyes automatically regulated all of his energies.

He had all the abilities of the Rin'negan, the Sharingan, and all of the enhancements that Sage Mode gave him, all at the same time, they were not always turned on though as he could deactivate these things at will if he wished.

He also found that he had a bunch of other additional abilities. He was like an Ark, like Noah's Ark, in that he had a majority of his birth world's abilities in him. He had a sample of them all, and all of them were integrating themselves with himself.

He was Orochimaru's and Madara's dream vessel.

That wasn't even counting what he had gained from absorbing all of the nine bijuu, he was the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths and the Juubi all rolled into one. He was the best and the worst that his world had to offer, and while frightening to an extent it was also rather exciting.

He found that he was really powerful, and with great power requires great control. Screw responsibility, he already knew that thing. What he knew he needed to work on now was control, while the Rin'negan more or less governed and regulated the balance of his energies, he still needed to be able to control his output when doing things or further enhancing his capabilities.

It was troublesome, as he could already imagine how much work he would need to do before he got to the point that his newly integrated memories would be satisfied with. There were a few perfectionists in him now, and thus that made him want to be the best that he could be.

He came out of his deeper meditation to find that he was alone in his mind for the time being with only his mental clone remaining. Even the seal that had once held the Kyuubi was no longer there. In its place was a single safe door. The kind that had a combination lock on it.

He knew what was behind the thing, since it was within his mind, behind it lay those secondary personalities that he had absorbed into himself, they were remnants of others that he had taken with him through whatever it was that had happened during his fight with Madara. He wouldn't disturb that place, those others could do as they pleased in that part of his mind, that chaotic part of his mind where he assumed was an anything goes place.

He dismissed his mental clone to learn what had transpired within the main chamber of his mindscape while he had delved deeper into himself. He learned that with each other life that he viewed and integrated into himself, the specter like thing willingly walked into the vault. One by one that was what each one did.

Each one walked in without a backwards glance.

He was Legion, in more than one context. He could create a legion of clones to fight alongside him, and had just as many if not more sets of memories or lives in his mind.

Coming out of his meditation and returning fully into the real world, he found himself forcing himself to jump out of the tree as another creature was almost successful in making him into its lunch. Apparently he was wrong in his thought of there being nothing in the skies big enough to make a meal out of him.

This thing also had friends just like the kiki, there were around six of them.

It was time to test out some of the things he had acquired from his last human battle.

His hands flashed through a set of seals, a seal set that was unfamiliar with him since he hadn't really focused on learning that many jutsu in his life for his last battle for his birth world. He had focused on what he had and improved on them. It was better to have a few techniques that were mastered rather than have a thousand but not know what to do with them all.

Now he had more than a thousand and needed to know what to do with them all. But for the time being he would stick with the few that he thought were useful.

'_Katon__: __Housenka__no__Jutsu__!_' he mentally called out as he spat out several small balls of fire at the big birds of carnivorous prey.

They knew enough that fire was bad for their collective health, and dodged out of the way instead of trying to bat the balls of flame away with several strong flaps of their wings. The tried to come at him in waves, or one by one since they were so few.

He stood at the top of the tree that was next to the one that he had been sleeping on and had an easy time dodging out of the way as well.

He needed something that was sure to hit each bird, either to drive them off or to eliminate them from being a threat to himself.

'_Katon__: __Gouryuuka__no__Jutsu__!_' Naruto flashed through a set of hand seals then spat out several larger balls of fire, these ones were in the shape of dragon heads flying in the direction of the birds. They were deadlier, but were still avoided, but at least they stopped diving his way.

"So katon jutsu are out," Naruto said to no one in particular, "Let's try fuuton.."

'_Fuuton__: __Daitoppa_' Naruto flashed through the seals needed for it then exhaled a great amount of wind, these were gale force winds with how much chakra he put into the technique.

While balls of fire were evadable, how were the big birds supposed to dodge the wind it self. They were hit, not matter where they went or tried to go. It temporarily caused them to lose their balance in the air, and so Naruto used it to his advantage.

'_Fuuton__: __Renkuudan_' Naruto inhaled a large amount of air, charged it with wind chakra then spat out six large bullets of wind, each one was like a drill which did the job of ending the lives of each of the six large crow like creatures. A clean hole could be seen through each of the downed birds.

Waste not want not. Naruto decided to collect all the salvageable things he could from the 16 creatures whose lives he had ended. He didn't really have a choice in the matter since he needed food, protein, which he would get from the meat of the beasts, and the other things could be used for tools and possibly clothing and such.

He knew how to survive and some of his new memories were of living in the wilderness, scavenging and surviving for years at a time in the wilds of the world.

He knew what to do now, and so did what he had set himself up to do. He skinned the kiki, and as he would later learn that they were called, and did the same with the kochou.

Once he had all these raw materials, he sealed them into one of the remaining empty storage scrolls he had on his person. When he rummaged through his clothes, he learned that he needed a change of clothing since the battle had apparently turned his clothes into a state where just one more fight would turn them to mere threads.

He needed some new clothes, and since all he had at his disposal were the skins and feathers that he had collected, he knew what to do with some of his collected raw materials. He would have to make some clothes and use his old threads to patch up the skins to make suitable clothing for himself.

Once he was done, his new attire consisted of an, actually quite well made, set of pants, long sleeved shirt, gloves, boots, and hooded cloak. The cloak was made out of the feathers and skin of the kochou, which made its coloration dark brown to black. The rest of his clothes ranged in shades of purple from dark to light. He had also managed to fashion himself two masks, as best as he could anyway. One was of the kochou while the other was of the kiki. He resealed everything that he didn't use.

His boots were more like those slippers that some people wore while in the comfort of their homes, specifically their bedrooms, the ones that looked like bunnies. But instead of bunnies, his boots were in the form of the hind paws of the kiki. His gloves were the same. Both pairs still had the claws in them, not only for aesthetic purposes but for combat as well.

From the creation of his outfit he decided to add onto that by turning the bones and other things from the dead animals into other tools and weapons. He didn't really have anything better to do after all.

He spent several months in the wilderness perfecting his crafts as well as getting his chakra control to a level where his additional memories and personalities were satisfied. It was a ton of Kage Bushin style training that filled the forest and all the trees, the numbers also helped in gathering even more raw materials for his arts and crafts projects.

The forest was bountiful not only in creatures that wanted to eat him, but in creatures that didn't want to kill him. He left those ones mostly alone unless he found something from their bodies that could be of use to him and his projects. He also found a weird tree with weird fruit, he dared not eat the fruit for fear that it might be poisonous, there was also something really weird about the trees. Their fruits were not normal at all.

He avoided them at all costs, he didn't allow his curiosity to get the better of him in these cases.

Unknown fruit trees in an unknown world were things that he had no intention of messing with since most things in the world were still mysteries to him. His gut was also telling him not to mess with these weird fruit trees that he found.

All other vegetation was relatively fair game.

He spent his days and night doing relatively the same things, training, training, and training. He had a lot of things to learn, not counting the things he would have to learn in the future once he figured out where he was or at the very least what world he was in for he was sure, dead sure that he was no longer in his birth world.

It was inevitable that he would come across other intelligent life in the world. He knew it as an inevitable truth. He was just caught more or less off guard by the situation in which he met his first natives.

It wasn't the way he was expecting. From one frying pan into another, that was how he decided to compare his life at that moment.

He had gone from one battle, to another, almost constantly, almost every day. Now he found himself in another one. One where once again he knew that he could win.

It was a band of highwaymen, as the term suggested they were thieves that preyed on travelers. The travelers in question were what looked like a caravan of merchants, traveling from one city to another. It looked like the caravan was on the losing side of things.

Naruto decided to step in before things got worse, before innocent lives were lost, like the children that some of his clones had spied.

He became one with the forest that he was in, it was easy with all the practice he had under his belt. He had more than enough experience hiding in the forest, blending in, and attacking instead of just counter attacking. He was the kiki and the kochou that he proudly wore over his own skin. He was a skin walker in a sense.

His chakra smoke was now minimal, as it wasn't realistic to be rid of the temporary obscuring mist whenever he unsealed items from his storage seals and scrolls.

He unsealed a set of bows and quivers of arrows that he had fashioned from the bones of the kochou and gouyu, which was a bull or bison beast.

His clones gathered round and got their own sets from him. He had a team of four clones with him, so the five of them surrounded the battling criminals and the losing merchants.

'_Kirigakure__no__Jutsu_' Naruto initiated one of Momochi Zabuza's signature techniques, it caused the water vapor to turn into a dense mist in a certain area, the change could be gradual to instant, in this case it was somewhere in between the two.

The fight was forced to a standstill due to the dawning lack of visibility. Not one of the two sides knew of the reason behind the unnatural occurrence. They all couldn't help but feel scared.

There was silence for but a moment, until the first scream of pain rang out across the trail.

It was an unmistakeable sound, one of pain and fear, a lot of fear since they thought that they were being assaulted by some beast, one of the monsters that called the forest their home. Naruto could be considered as a monster of the forest, he looked the part and had powers that were not of this world.

There were around 25 bandits, all built for battle, strength over speed, as knew how to use their surroundings to their advantage.

It was unfortunate that they had become Naruto's prey, for Naruto did so enjoy the hunt. Be it beast or man, he had learned how to enjoy the thing. Killing, death, it was an eventuality, all are slated to die sometime. He understood the rule of kill or be killed. While he knew that most of the time taking a life was wrong, it was a part of who he was, and in this case it was a necessity.

It all happened so fast, too fast for it to have been human in the minds of those that didn't know what was happening.

Before anyone could try to figure out what happened or even give their fear a voice. The mists began to clear away as if it had never been there in the first place, the trail looked as if nothing had happened, like the merchant caravan had just stopped. The only evidence contradicting that statement were the splotches of blood on the ground and the injured merchants. Other than the merchants and their families, there was no one else on the trail.

Not one of them knew what had happened to their assailants or what exactly it was that had attacked them. They believed that the bandits were all dead, since they were all alive and not a single one of the bad men were there.

There was nothing to prove otherwise.

It would be weeks later that the merchants would know what happened to the bandits when they passed through another part of the forest, deciding to avoid their tried and tested route due to the unknown dangers that particular route presented.

It was when they were deep in the forest in the other carved trail that they chose to pass through that they stumbled upon what looked to be the piled remains of the bandits that had assaulted them earlier in the year.

It was just the rags that they wore and decayed matter that Naruto had not found worth anything. He treated them like the animals they were. He thought of them as such after using a Yamanaka clan jutsu on each of them that allowed him to absorb all of their memories and sift through them, while also allowing him to throw away the useless things.

It was how he finally learned about the world he was in. The knowledge might have been limited, but it was enough for the meantime.

Their memories also showed just how base they were, and thus gave him enough reason to treat them without any respect at all and like the animals that he stripped to the bone and sometimes used even those bones, for his use.

It might have been a bit cruel of them, the merchants, but they decided to get rid of some dead weight in the forms of children. The children of the men that had failed to recover from their injuries that day, the ones that didn't have wives to take care of the children they had left behind.

There were, in reality, only three children that were left by the caravan, that was one child for each of the three men that had lost their lives so carelessly that they had not made sure that there would be someone to care for their children and that those children would not have been burdens.

It was as shame really, that these humans would show such carelessness of their own. One act would lead to more troubles in the future should they ever cross paths with highwaymen again. Naruto would not swoop in and save them a second time due to abandoning other human beings. Had they no hearts?

Well Naruto had a heart, a heart big enough to save a world risking life, limb, and dream for it too. So he did so for the three children, children that couldn't be any older than five years old each.

They hadn't been left with anything, just the clothes on their backs for modesty's sake. That was it, that was all.

Naruto could work with that.

He walked out of the forest, disengaging his illusion of being a part of nature in the process just after the last cart vanished round the bend.

The children were frightened, but relaxed in his presence as he didn't seem hostile in the least. He meant them no harm even though in his garb he looked quite intimidating since he wore the skin of the defeated.

He had three clones come out from the forest, wearing the exact same thing that he was and had them carry the children who allowed themselves to be carried without protest.

He brought them to his camp, his base of operations. It wasn't much, just a tree house, a perimeter fence patrolled by clones, and a fire pit, and a well. That was it. It was home.

He handed them some clothes, ones that he had made from the skins of other beasts. He actually had some of his clones make them as he was returning with the children. They were young but they knew how to dress themselves, and did so when he wasn't looking.

The clothes of the children were made out of the hides of hiso, which were creatures that were like rabbits or weasels rolled into one, as well as the hides of sanki, which were weasel and ferret hybrids.

Two of the children were boys, while the remaining one was obviously a girl. The boys were dressed in the browns of the sanki while the girl was in the white of the hiso. He didn't fashion them masks, as he didn't think that the children were ready to wear the faces of animals yet, even not so scary ones.

"Since it looks like you'll be living with me from now on, we might as well get to know each other," Naruto said to them, the looks on their faces led him to believe that they were surprised to realize that he was human or close enough to being human, "I'll start," he removed the kiki mask he wore, "I'm Naruto. I like noodles, training, and my precious people. I dislike...a number of things really, and I don't really have a dream anymore. Your turn, any of you can go first."

They were seated around the fire pit where some soup was being heated over the fire in a pot.

Naruto was making a lot of soup, since he had three more mouths to feed added to all the clones he had. He found that he could strengthen and extend the lifespans of the clones with food, it was a side effect of using the combined energies that he did when he created them.

"I..I'm Kenta..I..ah...I'm Kenta," the first boy said. He had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes.

"I'm Michio," the second boy said, he didn't have anything to add either. He was the opposite in looks to Kenta, down to the colors of his hair and eyes.

"And you little miss," he said to the little girl before him that came with the two boys.

"I'm Ran," she said shyly, "I..."

She had light blond hair and light blue eyes.

"That's alright," Naruto said, "I'm sure you'll find something you like, dislike, and maybe even a dream for the future. Now, I'm sure that you three have had a trying day, what with being left in the forest like you were.."

"Yeah," the children all shyly said.

"Well," Naruto said, then waved one of his clones over.

"Hai," the clone said as it stood at attention before the still sitting Naruto, it awaited its orders, "Whatcha need boss?"

"I want you to show these kids where they'll be staying for now," Naruto ordered, "Have some of the others begin construction on a kind of barracks for them. Inform the orders to up the alert level, we've got children to look out for now."

"Hai," the clone said, then turned to face the children and motioned for them to follow after him.

The three children didn't have any choice in the matter really and thus followed the clone to an area within the walls that had some camping supplies strewn about. Clones needed rest too which was why there were such supplies.

The Clone, who introduced himself as Ichi to the kids, set up one of the larger tents for the three children's use, then he went about gathering some of the loitering clones and had them begin construction of a second tree house, as well as extending the wall.

The children settled in, they knew each other and were the closest thing to being siblings now that they only had each other and a camp or base worth of people that wore the skins of youma to call a family, or what they hoped could become one.

They found that they were indeed tired, it was an emotionally and mentally tiring experience, being abandoned all of a sudden like that. But they now knew that they would survive, unlike what those merchants hoped would happen to them. They had help, they knew that they could trust Naruto.

They woke from their rest an hour or two later to the smell of food, there was more than soup. They weren't dragged out of their tent, but they were called out. They were each handed a bowl and told to get in line like everyone else while Naruto dished out the soup and handed over some wrapped food.

"Finish it all up, ya hear," Naruto told the three children.

"Yes sir," they replied and went and found themselves somewhere to eat.

It was the best meal they had ever had. Things weren't so strict at the camp, as they heard the adults, all of whom were clones not that they knew save for Naruto, were all quite noisy. Naruto was actually experimenting with planting parts of the personalities that he had in the vault into his clones, mixing and matching them up to give his clones some kind of personality of their own.

He didn't really fancy having to deal with bland clones all his life, even with the addition of three children into his ranks.

Once they were done with their meals, they brought the bowls to the well area of the place where one of the clones, who introduced himself to them as Sho was cleaning all the other used things. Once they were done with that they didn't know what to do, or what there was that they could do. They didn't want to be freeloaders, and even at such young an age they wanted to earn their keep.

"So you want to help out huh," Sho said, "Go back to the boss and ask him about what you can do."

"Ok," they said and trotted over to where Naruto was meditating by the still burning fire.

They approached Naruto but didn't know whether to wake him or not, they didn't know that he was meditating. He was also keeping watch for any youma that wanted to make a meal out of him, his clones, or the three children.

"Yes? How can I help you?" Naruto asked, his eyes still closed and his body in a state of perfect relaxation.

"We want to help," Kenta said, "Not be burdens.."

"Ok," Naruto said, his eyes still closed, "What do you want to do?"

"I want to help with the food," Ran said, she had a feeling that the two boys wouldn't volunteer for that, she also wanted to know how to cook for the future, she knew how important food was.

"Alright," Naruto said, "Go to Sho, I know you know who he is, tell him you want to help, he's the one in charge of domestic things."

"Hai," the little girl cheerfully said and skipped back to Sho who was finished with his washing.

"What else is there to do?" Kenta asked.

"Think of something," Naruto said, "Cooking and cleaning is what Ran has decided on, but there are still other areas you can help out in."

"The men on the walls, what do they do?" Kenta asked.

"They keep watch for trouble," Naruto replied, "They are our sentries."

"I wanna do that," the boy said.

"Go find Ichi and tell him you want to help with the patrol," Naruto told the boy, so the boy walked off in search for Ichi who could be found on the wall.

"If someone gets hurt...does anyone help them get better?" Michio asked.

"We have someone that does that here," Naruto said, "But its not your usual herbal treatment, but other methods as well. Why?"

"I wanna do that," Michio said, "My dad was a medicine man...before _that_ happened."

"Alright," Naruto said, "Go find Orochi, he's out healer, tell him you want to help."

"Ok...but where is he here?" Michio asked, instead of asking anyone else.

"Good, good, you know how to ask and not be too shy," Naruto said, "He is currently overseeing the construction team that is building where you, Kenta, and Ran, are going to be staying. To tell him apart from the others, he is the only one that wears the scales of a snake or lizard creature."

"Alright, thank you sir," Michio said and went off to where he could hear hammers and saws.

A few hours later it was evening, the most dangerous part of any day. It was night, the time that the only lights were the moon, the stars, and the fire. It was a time when beasts, when youman, chose to attack.

Warning bells and shouts sounded off from the distance. Fire light roared to life courtesy of the sentries, one of which was Kenta who had been told what to lookout for and what things meant what. The kid was the first one down from the wall and the one rushing to Naruto's still meditating form to inform him of what was coming.

"The outer patrols report of an incoming raid," Kenta said, he was a bit worried, it was youma, fellow humans he was used to, but youma were another story altogether.

"Do not worry," Naruto said as he opened his eyes and stood up, stretching a bit in preparation for the battle that was to be fought. He had seen the numbers, there were several packs of kiki on the prowl this night, "Go find Ran and Michio, I want you to stay with them. Sho and Orochi will make sure nothing happens to you in the coming fight."

He knew that the children were scared, they had all the right and reason to be. There was a fight that was about to commence, one not between man and man, but between man and monster. They had heard stories in their short lives of men fighting against youma and never returning alive. They didn't want to lose these people that seemed to care for them after just getting them.

Kenta ran off in search for his two other companions as well as those two adults that would be protecting them.

Sho wore a bear's skin, while Orochi wore a lizard's or a snake's. The two of them and their charges were already together by the time Kenta came across them. They had just reentered the base and were about to go looking for him.

"Stay close to us," Orochi ordered firmely, "We'll make sure nothing happens to the three of you."

"We'll be heading for the tree house," Sho stated and motioned for the kids to start heading for the tree which was near the center of the base. It was a large tree with the tree house up in its branches.

"Hopefully the kiki haven't brought any aerial help with them, though it is rare for the youma to cooperate with one another," Orochi said once they got to the base of the tree.

"How do we get up?" Kenta asked, "There's no ladder."

"Climb of course," Orochi said, "Now start climbing."

The three children didn't need to be told twice once they heard the distinct howl of the kiki, there it was a loud reverberating sound as a whole mess of them howled into the night, announcing or calling out their charge.

The gate of the base was firmly shut, the walls were solid and steady awaiting the attack. The sentries were ready with their bows and arrow. The lights of the wall were all lit, and on the ground Naruto was surrounded by his soldiers, armed to the teeth and ready for battle.

Inside the tree house, the children found a desk, a bed, and a number of scrolls..

"The Boss lives here," Orochi replied to their unanswered question, "Which makes this house the heart of the base."

"So why isn't he here?" Michio asked.

"For the subjects to follow, the king must lead," Sho stated as he kept watch over the battle that was about to begin below them, "Now please be quiet, we don't want to attract any unwanted attention."

Wild howls broke the silence of the night, the children huddled close together while Orochi and Sho kept watch from the entrances into the house. Down below them Naruto and the other clones prepared themselves for the fight ahead, it was going to be one unlike any other that they had encountered before in this world.

Packs upon packs of kiki were descending upon the base, Naruto hoped that the walls would be able to keep the majority of them from getting in. He could also hear the distinctive flapping of wings, large ones. It appeared that in a rare show of inter-species cooperation there were some kochou joining in the charge. It was probably the large concentration of potential food that they knew was located there, or it could also be some form of vengeance they sought for those that had fallen to Naruto and his clone forces.

Once the first kiki barreled into the wall, blades were drawn, and the battle was on.

Howls, blades clashing, scratching, tearing of flesh, growls, snarls, and the shouts and battle cries of men, were the sounds that were heard from all around the ground. The children couldn't help but sate their curiosity and so chose to see what they could see by the light of fires of the base.

They saw chaos, and it was only thanks to the honed reflexes of the clones that were protecting them that they were able to survive their first encounter with a kochou.

Orochi pulled the three of them backward while Sho thrust out both palms slamming into the claws of the kochou that had tried to grab onto the children.

"From now on stay away from the walls," Orochi ordered them, "It looks like the youma are working together. But not to worry, we'll survive this, like we have survived countless battles before."

He handed each child a tri-pronged kunai, ones with a certain seal etched onto them.

"If we somehow fail in our duty to protect you, use those," Orochi told them, "Help will come for you."

"Hai," the children said, they were frightened beyond belief and felt as helpless as they would ever feel such.

"Good," Orochi said, as he pulled out a katana from below the bed in the room, it was unsheathed already, "Hopefully you won't need to use that."

By the light provided by the fires from down below, Ran could have sworn that she saw Orochi's face and it reminded her of a snake, one whose eyes promised pain to any that dared harm her and her fellow children.

"SHO! Bring out the big guns!" Orochi shouted as he noticed that three kochou were diving for the house.

"Right!" Sho said and stepped out of the house, the children dared not voice their protest at the action.

He prepared himself for what was to come while Orochi covered him from within the house.

"Kazekiri!" Sho shouted as he swung his hands in slicing motions, from them blades of wind sliced their way toward the kochou cutting off wings and other parts from the incoming birds, halting the first wave in their tracks and actually killing them as they fell from the sky helpless.

"What was that?" Kenta couldn't help but ask.

"An attack," Orochi replied, "One of our special skills."

"Oh," Kenta said and continued to huddle with his companions in the middle of the room.

Three more kochou decided to brave the dangers that Sho presented, but instead of swooping in from one direction, they swooped in from three different directions.

"Shit! Orochi! Help!" Sho shouted as he prepared to take on two direction.

"Coming!" Orochi shouted, then reminded the kids to stay in the house.

Once outside, Orochi pulled out a small fan from a pocket, then prepared to bring send a cutting whirlwind at the incoming bird.

"Kamaitachi!" Orochi called out as he swung his small fan, but the whirlwind that he released was one that looked to have come from a larger fan. The whirling vortex of cutting winds ensnared the kochou and treated it like a piece of meat that had been dropped into an active blender.

"Fuuton: Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Sho called out as he infused some shuriken that he pulled out of seemingly no where and hurled them at the incoming kochou, the original six that he hurled turned into sixty, all of them powered by wind, and wind was the one element that cut.

Orochi and Sho used wind attacks to take care of the attackers from in the sky. While the children tried to watch from the safety of the tree house. It was an amazing sight, how two people could just take on several youma at the same time and keep them at a desirable distance too.

What none of them had been expecting was for one of the kochou to managed to maneuver itself finally away from an attack that was meant for it. It got the chance to smash into the house and grab hold of one of the children, Ran, and took off with her.

"Use it!" Orochi shouted, a bit panicked at the turn of events.

"Ran!" Kenta and Michio shouted, wishing it was one of them instead that had been taken.

Ran in her panicked and in pain state hurled the kunai upward in the hopes of hitting the bird, she didn't think that if it let her go she would plummet several feet before hitting the ground and turning into paste.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he slammed into the kochou, then used Bansho Tenin to get a hold of Ran, followed by using Shinra Tensei to keep himself, and Ran, afloat.

"Time to end this skirmish," Naruto said, his eyes morphed signaling his activation of his bloodline, his limitless potential one. He said it in such a grave voice that Ran and the other two children could hardly believe that he was the same nice guy that took them to where they were now.

"Revised: Chibaku Tensei," he intoned, and threw up a black ball of gravitational force, it was a revised technique due to the fact that instead of pulling everything into it, it just pulled in whatever Naruto intended to suck in, and instead of just being some black hole, it served as a gateway to a pocket dimension, the very same one that anyone with a sharingan had a potential of having. It was something like Kamui, but on a larger and different scale.

When it had done it's job, it simply returned to Naruto's palm before vanishing, or looking like it had dissipated when in reality it had been sealed away into a storage seal somewhere in the base.

He floated back down and into the tree house that had a gaping hole in one of its walls and slowly put Ran back down as well. Orochi and Sho bowed in apology, but their apologies were waved off as it really couldn't be helped and it wasn't like Naruto was just going to have them dispel themselves. They still had a purpose after all.

"How did you do that?" the three children asked enthusiastically once they got out of their shock at what had happened right before their very eyes, Ran had even forgotten about nearly dying for the moment.

"Training," Naruto replied, "Lots and lots of training. Why?"

"Teach me!" all three children said at the exact same time with the exact same volume.

"Why should I?" Naruto asked.

Ran remembered what had happened just a few moments before, while the two boys remembered their feeling of helplessness with the situation. They were useless when it came to what almost happened to Ran and didn't want to feel that way ever again.

They told Naruto this, but not using such intelligent sounding words.

"Alright, fine," Naruto said, "You each already chose a route to take with your training. They will be the ones to teach you, along with some additional skills you will each have your specialties."

"Hai," the children said, still a tad bit enthusiastically.

From there the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years. Before any of them knew it ten years had passed since that day. The skins that the three children wore also changed as the years passed by, from the coats of the smallest of youma to the ones of kiki and others closer in range to that size and deadliness.

Though that didn't mean that they had masks like the ones that Naruto and all his clones sported, all of them wore different masks so that the children could tell them apart.

The children were fifteen each, and were the only none clones in the base so far, not that they really minded as they each had each other. Though Kenta could have sworn that he felt like a third wheel whenever he and his two other companions were alone together in their barracks. They were very close being the only children in the base, a base that looked somewhat like a small village hidden in the leaves of the trees.

It wasn't that hard for Naruto to notice the signs, while he had been clueless in his younger years, he had relived far too many lives for him to remain the clueless buffon that he had been for the first seventeen years of his life. Now at 27, he knew better, he was loads smarter than he was back them.

This was why he decided that perhaps it was time to act like an orphanage when he believed that he had what it took to take care of children that had no one else to turn to. It was a startling prospect, he felt like he was emulating Danzo, minus the emotionless part. It had always been a good feeling, helping people, and now he was about to set out to do just that, but on a larger scale.

It was a large undertaking, but he knew that he had enough clones to accomplish that and perform just as well as with three children under his indirect care.

"Ichi, Orochi, Sho!" Naruto called out, and the three clones who answered to those names appeared before him leaving some leaves where they had been previously.

"Assemble your teams," Naruto ordered, "We're going hunting, but for something different this time," the only real reason he talked to his clones was so that they all appeared more human than they were, it gave a sort of normalcy feel to it while still being abnormal since he could just talk to the clones through their chakra-mental link, "We're going on an adoption spree."

"About time," Orochi said, "The kids haven't really said anything for years, but they want more interaction with their own generation," Orochi knew more about these things being the chief medic of the base.

"Whatever, just go gather your teams," Naruto said, "So we can head on out."

Orochi was the one to fetch the three teens, they made up his team after all even though he only trained one of them.

"Gather your gear, we're going on a mission, possibly long term," Orochi told them as he appeared in their midst all of a sudden.

"Don't you ever knock!" Kenta asked, "What if we were doing something disturbing in here?"

"Then I would still be here giving you orders," Orochi said, "Now get a move on, we haven't got all day. Boss has ordered three teams to form. So move it!"

They moved it, once the thought of finally going on an official mission sunk in they moved like their lives depended on it. They had only ever really seen the forest, but now they were going on one of the things that the other adults talked about. Going further than the trees.

They met up with the other teams by the gates of the still small village, the walls had been upgraded over the years, adding stone to the wood, and metal in some parts.

"Good, glad of you three to make it," Naruto said, he was a bit sarcastic though, "I guess we can start on the briefing now," he paused as the teens straightened up, "We'll be heading out to the closest city and once there shall be on the look out for those that have no one else to turn to, finding none we shall move on, and if we still can't find any potential new recruits we'll find ourselves some transport and head on out to somewhere that we can find some."

"So..basically we're adopting into the ranks?" Ran asked, she was a sharp one.

"Basically, yes," Naruto said, "Even in a perfect world, there will always be that minority that don't fit in. That's where we come in."

"Understood," Ran said.

#

Naruto wasn't the only one with a budding village. Maadara had one as well, though his was based in the kingdom of Sou while Naruto's was based in the kingdom of Ren. Madara's version of a hidden village was based in the red light district of the capital of Sou, every place needed such a district without it there would be no sign of there being a balance.

It wasn't really a village like Naruto's own, just a number of connected buildings ranging from a hot springs inn to a brothel or two and a gambling hall. Just three businesses that were fronts for Madara's actual organization. He had actual people under him and not more clones than people like Naruto. He easily found people to recruit from the district and other places around the country as he had enough contacts and pull to do so easily.

He wasn't isolated like Naruto was in his forested home. He was a high ranking medical officer in the country and a trusted friend of one of the children of the king. He had _friends_ in many places, and his numbers were steadily growing every day.

His people were more mercenaries and spies, rather than what Naruto trained his three kids into becoming which were the almost jack-of-all-trades that they were. Madara had numerous actual people who were comparable to Chunin, while Naruto had a village full of jounin, including those three teens under his command.

Madara knew nothing of Naruto's own budding organization. He had spent the last ten years focusing on his own organization and the country that he had found himself living in, along with the continued protection of his princess. How he liked calling her his, and his main responsibility.

He had successfully been able to locate the minority of the country of peace and prosperity and recruited from there as well as waged secret wars there. He was the dark side of his world, keeping the peace in the shadows for the king that he indirectly served. Things were good enough for him and he dared not allow anything to destroy what he already had.

"_Trouble brewing_," a passing operative of his whispered while discreetly handing him a note from the organization's spy network.

He both liked and disliked such things happening in his happy life. He was just walking to work when such news reached his unfortunate ears. He scanned the note before turning the paper into ash, scowling he walked faster. He would be seeing his people under the guise of his patients.

He gave them instructions, specific ones, they each were given missions separately where each one was vital to a clean completion of the operation he was orchestrating on behalf of the continued peace and prosperity of the country.

There were always and would always be people in power that wanted more power and people without power that wanted power. These self important people were a danger to society, these greedy people, these people that Madara could understand due to having walked down such paths before.

It was another big business merchant, a high rolling player of one of the merchant guilds. He was planning a coup, one that would be participated by some dissatisfied sectors and groups. He had incited them to rebellion. Madara would have none of that.

He sent out his people to sabotage the plans, and if that didn't work in stopping the merchant's momentum then he would declare war on the man and have him and his whole power structure removed from the picture.

It took a whole week for the latest incident to be put down quietly, the court didn't even hear of what had happened under everyone's noses. Things were resolved quietly and with as little use of Madara's personal talents as possible.

The man's businesses were divided amongst Madara's people, the ones that had performed quite well during the operation. The ones that had contributed the most to the success of the operation.

No one bothered to question what had befallen the man's family, since they too had slipped into obscurity.

Madara was quite thorough in his dealings and operations, just as he was thorough when dealing with an illness or injury. He did not accept defeat so well, unless his foe was someone to respect like Naruto had been in the end. It was a grudging respect. So if he ever lost to someone that was of Naruto's caliber he would accept it. He had learned how keeping unnecessary grudges was bad for his health.

He found that he was running low on potential recruits and found that it was time to branch out. He decided to form an outpost in another country. One of the neighboring ones, he was sure that there wasn't anything like his organization to stop him from succeeding in that endeavor.

So he set about doing it, but only after acquiring some guards for his princess as well as filing for paid leave. He did most things by the book, the things that didn't really call for being avoided. Simple things like requesting paid time off.

His request was granted and he was permitted to go on his vacation, a much needed one as he had only taken a vacation only once in his history in this world.

Such a hard working person was he, that no one questioned his reasons for wanting a vacation. They had all seen how tirelessly he worked, and agreed that he deserved some rest.

It wasn't fishy that a number of people left the capital in intervals while heading in the same direction, which was one of the borders. They were headed in the direction of the kingdom of Kou, a kingdom that had no protection in the form of a ruler from all the bad things that had begun happening before the last ruler had passed away.

It was there that Madara set up his second base of operation, he set up in the capital of the country, the center of the country where all operations would be based in. He believed that he would have to take a leaf from Naruto's book and try the helping people approach. He would be overseeing the country in his own way and providing whatever medical aid he could for the people of the country without seeming too suspicious.

He would be further building up his forces.

It wasn't against any law of heaven if what he was doing was for the general benefit of the people.

He worked tirelessly until his vacation time was almost spent. When he left he left people that he could trust in charge of the operation and the division in Kou.

He would receive reports of their continued progress and successes in that kingdom. It was a new challenge, keeping the people relatively well when the heavens themselves were pushing for the gradually increasing decline of the country as a whole.

After returning to his home for the past ten years he returned to his practice and continued his day to day oblivious to the effects of his actions for the past ten years on the suddenly growing underworld. While there had been limited opposition to the evils of the world, with his involvement people started thinking of the possibilities of rising up against the norm.

His actions, visible actions, had a cascading effect, be they good or bad, within the country. Smaller organizations began cropping up out of nowhere. New guilds were being formed, and life became more complicated once more.

There were people that realized that the way to power wasn't entering into official politics, but by ruling from the shadows. It was he who controlled the shadows that controlled the world, or at the very least the country.

After ten short years, the shadow wars had begun, and it was only then that Madara began to feel truly alive again. All it had taken was some showy actions on how his organization managed to control the flow of events, and now there were copy cats everywhere trying to gain the same results.

Things were getting interesting, and as long as people kept their quarrels to the shadows, then there would be no problems.

The Kingdom of Sou was slowly turning into something close to the way the elemental nations were. But instead of one country having a hidden village of their own, it was every province growing a kind of shadow power structure, the capital's own having Madara solidly at the top.

Madara's organization formed the backbone and starting point of the Sou Kingdom's Underworld.

"Have you heard?" Bunki barged into his office one day, she seemed rather excited in a sense.

"About what?" he asked her as he looked up from some patient files he had been looking over.

"A warehouse of medical supplies was found in one of the provinces," she told him, "They were in the process of being shipped off to Kou, no one would have been the wiser had a patrol not accidentally stumbled upon the operation."

"Oh? Is that so bad?" Madara asked, he hadn't heard anything from his own people and thus knew that it wasn't any of his operations.

"Of course it is," she said, "Especially when the use of the supplies were going to be sold to the suffering people of Kou with high prices. Someone organized a group of people to over price needed services in an already suffering country."

"I take it you are appalled at this turn of events," he said calmly.

"Of course I am," she told him, "We are medical professionals, our vow is to aid those in need and not add onto their suffering, mental or physical."

"I know that," he said, which was why his own operations were almost free when it came to the people of Kou, "So what's happened to the supplies."

"They're to be distributed to our people first, and any surplus will be delivered as aid to Kou's present government," she told him, "I just had to tell someone. Sorry for disturbing you."

"S'alright," Madara said, "I know some people that could look into this matter and see about having the same thing avoided, if you want."

"Please," she said, "Anything to alleviate the cause of more problems in the world."'

"Erm...if for some reason monetary compensation is requested by these contacts of mine, what am I to do?" he asked her, he was trying to implement the mission system into his organization, so he might as well be the first one to use the payment system.

"Well, it had better be just the right amount," she said to him, "I'm hoping you're not requesting to bribe someone."

"I'm not," he said, "Just a token of thanks is all. Its not really a payment but a token of thanks for helping out, you know."

"I guess," she said, "While I don't think it would be a good idea to have it viewed as a donation or something from my father, I guess we could pull some funds from the allotment to the Health Department."

"Well, I'll get to speaking to those contacts of mine about this problem," he told her, "I already have a sum in mind for the just compensation if they manage to do something about the situation."

"Thanks Madara," she said and gave him a brief hug, it wasn't awkward, but it was short. She then left with a smile after that, now that she was assured that one of the problems on her mind was sure to be taken care of.

After hospital hours were over, the regular working hours had passed, Madara made his way to the red light district, specifically to one of the most frequented tea houses there. Once there he met with his captains, the ones in charge of his many operations, one of them being an accountant and another being a lawyer of sorts.

He discussed with them their first official job, which was either providing adequate security for such processes or making sure that such processes are either stopped or hidden better, or such a business is taken over by their organization.

The discussion was a short one, where no tarrying or bullshitting was spoken. Business was business and they treated their little meeting as such. When all details were penned, orders were given, and decisions were made. The little get together split up with Madara heading for his apartment in the residential district, but one the side closest to his place of work.

From just another one of many acts that he himself started or orchestrated, others began to form, others began to follow in his footsteps. It started from odd jobs that members of his organization was being hired for. Payment was in the form of donations or tokens of thanks for _voluntary_ work, the payment for jobs was significantly lower compared to such things being done by more professional persons.

As his mission and payment system was slowly incorporated, it eventually reached a point where it was like he was back in his birth world, but instead of being just another soldier, he was a Kage, a finally legitimate one, and not some copycat poser like he had been as the Shodaime Mizukage.

Madara had a more organized feel for doing things, while Naruto was more of a riding by the seat of his pants kind of person.

Madara planned, while Naruto just did things, but for both men, this time around, things would just fall into place for the both of them.

It would be a long time before their paths crossed once again. So in the mean time both of them would walk their own paths their own way. Living their lives to be the best that they could with what they had on hand.


	52. Their World 2

_**Disclaimer:**__The anime Naruto and Twelve Kingdoms are not my properties. If I owned them, why would I be writing fan fiction based on them. No money is being made from this, it is just for the entertainment of any that wishes to read it. _

_**Warnings:**__ AU, OOCs, OCs, Crack, Sues (you have been warned)_

_**Note:**__ none at the moment._

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**Their World**

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_**chapter two**_

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Apparently, their coming from such an out of the way world, had made them a bit immune to the mandate of heaven as well as kept them from affecting the relationship between a ruler, the people, the kirin, and such things. The missions that Madara had started his people doing in exchange for payment of sorts hadn't been seen as a bad thing by heaven, proof of which was that the kirin of Sou did not begin to show signs of shitsudou, which was the sickness that the kirin contracted when the ruler that he or she had chosen was not doing well in ruling the country and keeping it prosperous and peaceful.

Madara and the way he did things was so far from the radar of heaven for some reason that he didn't fear any reprisal from heaven, just the regular human ones. His organization, and the ones like his or Naruto's own, were like cheats for those that didn't want to affect the present balance in the world, the light side of the world at least.

His people had so far not gone and done any of the extreme things that he had done in his first _life_, they hadn't had to go sabotage entire countries, assassinate anyone, destroy towns and or villages, and the like. They were stuck doing regular mercenary work, and a few odd jobs like helping out with construction, hunting, search and rescue, delivery, and weeding gardens.

Thankfully there weren't any missions so far like Catch Tora, Madara might have returned to wanting to rule the world, his path paved in blood and filled with the corpses of his enemies if he had to go on another mission like that hellish one.

The most elemental nation like mission that he had any of his people perform was a kidnapping, or at least an attempted kidnapping one. Once he was informed just who the target was, he had canceled the mission and had involved the true authorities. No one threatened his princess in any way. He made sure that the clients were submitted to the soldiers without any memory of attempting to hire Madara's organization for the actual kidnapping.

His organization didn't have to deal with anymore of those kinds of missions for a while, but other organizations took up the slack, though they knew that targeting the royal family was a big no-no since many of their number had been taken into custody thanks to Madara's operatives. It was like that until the message was conveyed that the ruling family was untouchable, and any that dared go against the rulers would be in heaps of trouble.

It was kind of like how the hidden villages of the elemental nations indirectly served their Daimyo.

"What happened now?" Bunki asked him as she saw him in the cafeteria sporting a bandaged hand, it had become a normal sight, him with some sort of injury. It was from some of the fights that he had gotten himself into in her protection from indirect threats, like fights breaking out close to her position. He of course had to step in, and injure himself, thanks to the nature of the fights.

"Punched a wall," he replied, which was what did happen, he hadn't reinforced his hand with chakra for some reason, he was a bit distracted, "No biggie."

"You are really starting to worry me," she told him, "I'm not going to force you to take it easy, I'm no longer your personal physician you know."

"Yeah," he said, a bit dejectedly, "But you care more than my physician does."

"Because you keep avoiding him," she said, "What do you have against Junbei anyway?"

"Nothing," he said a bit defensively, "I just prefer your sweet caress."

"Now don't go talking like that again," she said, she had long dismissed his advances, but that didn't stop him from trying, "So tell me, what else have you been up to?"

"Nothing much," he said, he couldn't just come out and tell her about his organization after all, "You know, this and that."

"Really now," she said, "Fine, don't tell me then. If you don't tell me what you've been keeping all hush-hush, I won't share any more of my gossip with you."

He couldn't have that, so he decided to let her know something small.

"Well...fine," he said, "I have a part-time job that I do after my doctor work."

"Why? You clearly don't need the extra income," she said, a bit surprised and concerned at the same time.

"I needed a hobby," he said, "I consider work as a hobby, so yeah."

"You really are still a strange one," she told him, "Even after all these years, you're still a weird one."

"I know," he said, not puffing up, "Please continue stroking my ego."

"Oh, why do I even bother," she said, harrumphing a bit, "Aren't you going to ask what I've been up to?"

"Err...should I?" he asked, wrong thing to say really cause she just stood up and left him there.

It seemed that he had gained something from Naruto just as the now man gained somethings from him. He was back to being clueless, it was probably from all the time he had spent planning global domination back in the Elemental continent.

"_Nice going Lord Kage,_" one of his operatives that worked at the hospital as another doctor whispered mockingly as he passed him by. It was a joke really, and Madara knew it, but he couldn't help himself when he tripped his operative with a jutsu, so no one could blame him for the accident.

Once he left the hospital for the day, he sensed his princess following him, kind of like stalking him. She was accompanied by her older brother, Ritatsu. Since he knew that they were there, he decided to show them just how good he was at hiding in plain sight. They knew what his life had been like before he found himself in Sou.

He acted as if he didn't know that they were there, before suddenly vanishing from all of their senses and walking to the main headquarters of his organization. He had named his organization Akatsuki in honor of that failed organization of his, possibly it wouldn't fail this time around with whatever his plans were.

Bunki and her older brother didn't know what to think about what they had witnessed. He had simply vanished, and they knew not where he had gone. While Bunki knew that he was frequently seen visiting the red light district, a district that she barely tolerated as it was simply needed, she doubted that he was there at the moment since he claimed to have an after hours part-time job.

She was really and increasingly curious about him and didn't know why and for what reason. Her brother was just curious about the company she kept, especially Madara of all people, he was a puzzle whose pieces were scattered around the kingdom.

He was a mystery that the siblings didn't believe they'd find an explanation for anytime soon. He was an efficient oddity. Neither one of them wanted him to disappear completely, he was a kind of spice that added flavor to their lives, more of Bunki's life really, but who really cared about the effect of his influence.

For the time being they just wanted to know where he slinked off to. Bunki wanted to sate her appetite for knowing what he did with his time. It was a bit stalkerish, but he liked knowing everything about him or more than most anyway.

"What are you two doing here at this time?" one of Madara's patrolling operatives asked the two royals that were still peering from just around the corner.

"Huh?" they whirled around to find themselves face to face with one of the mercenary class operatives.

"What business is it of yours?" Ritatsu stated.

"You look a bit suspicious is all," the operative said.

"Well we were just wondering where a friend was going," Bunki defensively said.

"If you say so," the operative said, "But since there's no one where you were looking, I don't think you'll be finding your friend anytime soon."

"Oh, yes, that's true," Bunki said, "We'll just be on our way then."

"That would probably be a good idea," the operative said, "Word on the streets is that someone's put a hit on the head of the princess, so yeah. Come to think of it, you kinda look like Princess Bunki."

"R-really?" Bunki said, she was a bit surprised that someone didn't think she was herself, but a mere look-a-like, it was a new experience for her.

"What do you mean by put a hit on her?" Ritatsu asked the man.

"Politics, hell if I know why anyway," the man said, "Someone's hired an assassin, hasn't happened in a while, but there's a price on the princess' head nowadays."

"Why not report this information to the authorities?" Ritatsu asked the man.

"Its just gossip," the man said, "Why would anyone believe me, especially in this time of long lasting peace and prosperity?"

"I see your point," Ritatsu said, "But still, giving the authorities a kind of heads up would be better than doing nothing at all."

"There's also the fact that the princess shouldn't have to worry," the man said, "There have been many attempts on her life and the lives of the royals over the years. None of them obviously succeeding what with there being those in the shadows that have sworn to protect the royals."

"How do you know that?" Ritatsu asked as his sister began to hyperventilate, her brother was oblivious to this of course.

" Its in the gossip," the man said, "Well I best get back to work.." he then walked away leaving the two royals to their thoughts, and it was also only then that Ritatsu noticed that his sister was almost catatonic.

"Bunki!" he exclaimed and just couldn't figure out what to do with his sister.

"Give her here, Ritatsu," a familiar voice broke the prince from his panicking.

"Madara!" the prince exclaimed, relieved, "What are you doing here?"

"My job," Madara stated as he knocked Bunki out by hitting a pressure point.

"What did you do to her?" the prince demanded.

"Knocked her out," he said, "She was having a panic attack, nothing to normally worry about. She'll be fine once she wakes. C'mon let's bring her back up to the palace."

"How'd you know where to find us?" the prince asked as they rode two kijyuu, which were like tamed youma that could fly.

"Like I said, I was doing my job, my other one," Madara said as he kept a firm grip on the princess.

"And what job is that?" the prince said, his voice having an accusatory tone.

"Protecting your sister and the rest of your family, including yourself," he replied, "You were supposed to continue living oblivious to the dangers of the current climate."

"B-but...you mean the gossip's real?" the prince asked, "That someone wants my sister dead?"

"And most of the rest of your family, yes," Madara said, he sounded so calm, "All of you except for the King, no one wants the king dead, no one for the moment that is."

"So your part-time job is protecting us?" the prince asked.

"More or less," Madara said, "There are forces at work in the world today that undermines Tentei in a way, who knows what it is, but Heaven does not seem all that concerned with the land of shadows."

"What land of shadows?" the prince asked, he had never in his life heard of such a term.

"I am talking about the world that has avoided and continues to avoid the gaze of heaven and the kings," Madara said, "That's the best way that I can describe the land of shadows."

"Why are you telling me these things?" the prince asked.

"I need you to trust me for me to be able to continue protecting you," Madara said, "After all, I still owe your sister my life."

"Is that why you've been protecting us?" the prince asked.

"But of course," Madara said, "That and you guys are really the only friends I have in this world."

"Well, I guess you still have my trust," the prince said, "Though I don't really know about my sister, since you did knock her out."

"Let her think what she wants to think," Madara said, "I'll explain it all to her once this crisis has passed."

"You mean someone really is after her life?" the prince asked, worry plainly on his face.

"Yes, someone out in the kingdom wants to end your sister's life," Madara said, "For what purpose, I don't know, but I do know that I will do everything in my power to make sure that she does not die. And please don't inform your father about all this, he doesn't have what it takes to take on this problem, please leave it to the professionals."

"I...fine," the prince conceded, "We'll leave it in your capable hands."

"Thank you," Madara said as they neared the palace.

Madara left Bunki in the care of her brother while telling the prince to tell his sister that he, Madara, would not be around for awhile as he had business to tend to.

He left the kijyuu at the palace and simply dived over a railing and into the sea of the sky. It was a bit insane, but he was immortal, so he had that added protection from dying, he also had a kind of immortality that all shinobi had once they were at his level. He vanished in a distortion of space and time, reappearing in his apartment from which he took out his work tools, the hospital gig being his hobby.

He was off to work, or war as the situation looked.

Someone had decided to go against Akatsuki's version of Mandate of Heaven, and whoever they were, they were going to be paying dearly for crossing Uchiha Madara.

#

Ren didn't have that many people that could be recruited into Neo Konohagakure no Sato's ranks, the few that Naruto had managed to find had told of hearing opportunities overseas and would be going over there. In short, Naruto and company found no one in the kingdom of Ren that wanted to join his hidden village.

But during this time of recruitment, journeying from city to city, town to town, village to village, province to province, he heard tales of another country, one that was suffering and gradually and increasingly declining. It was Kou, and it was the nearest one to suffer such a fate. It was there that Naruto decided to venture off into.

While Madara had mostly encountered only people as his foes, Naruto encountered youma.

At a port town, Naruto, and company, managed to make enough money by trading goods, like furs, tools, and the like, to the local merchants, to purchase a good sized ship for their use. It wasn't anything fancy, just a regular merchant vessel, and with the right seals was fit for their use.

The people of the port town had called Naruto's group a bunch of wild men, but were corrected. They were to be known as Konoha (collectively) and Konoha-nin (individually). Who ever doubted Naruto's rise to Hokage was proven wrong when he dubbed himself Hokage, he continued to live by the Will of Fire.

Naruto decided that it was a good idea that he continued to wear clothes made from the skins and pelt and furs and feathers of youma, since when in the future he would send out spies, they would not be easily found out since Konoha-nins would be associated with such clothes and not common clothes.

They had enough supplies already for a journey across the sea to the kingdom of Kou, they knew where it was thanks to a map that they had acquired. So when they all met up at the wharf, they left immediately. There was no real need or worry for a passport, since one of the tricks of the ninja trade was falsifying documents, and that was what Naruto had a clone do for the teams.

It was while they were out at sea that the teens were allowed to continue their training, the flashy moves that they knew couldn't be practiced out in the open and in places where just about anyone could stumble upon them. So out in the ocean was where they practiced. They, along with Naruto and his clones, practiced their Suiton jutsu, with all the water around it was an easy task.

Once they reached the deeper waters, and they used their stronger jutsu, they managed to once again attract the attention of youma. The water and sky dwelling ones, specifically the worst thing that they could have attracted.

Naruto's knowledge of the world was based on all the information he could steal from the minds of all those that he, and by extension his clones, had ever encountered. He knew what the serpent that rose out of the depths was. It was a jyouyou, the closest thing to Manda in this world that he would ever find. Just several times bigger.

"You have got to be kidding me," Naruto said as he looked up at the thing, his Chibaku Tensei would not be enough for something so large. It was attracted to them since it sensed the skins of other youma, and thus thought that prey had arrived.

"That would be the infamous jyouyou," Kenta noted, part of his studies was being able to tell all the different youma apart, "And it looks hungry."

"Which would make us dinner," Michio helpfully supplied.

"Its skin should make for better protection," Naruto noted, as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "We could use some armor, and its other parts could prove to be of use to us..hmm.."

"It can use electricity to its advantage, like raiton jutsu," Kenta added some input.

"Alright," Naruto said, gathering the attention of his subordinates, "I've made my decision, we're taking that thing down! Whoever deals the killing blow gets the first set of armor from its scales, and gets to wear the first jyouyou mask!"

He was still the most unpredictable ninja of Konoha, or that the original Konoha had ever produced, since he made such a decision.

"I'm game!" Ran was the first to shout and dragged her teammates over to one side of the ship, it wasn't a military vessel, but it had seals that more than made up for it.

"We're in!" the two boys chorused.

"That settles it then!" Orochi, Sho, and Ichi, chorused themselves and went about unsealing the the ballista they had sealed away.

It might have been a siege weapon, but in this case it was the biggest archery set they had available to them. Naruto wondered why his clones had decided to bring that thing with them in the first place, they even had the huge arrows that it used as ammo.

"So what's the plan?" one of the nameless clones asked.

"Wing it!" Naruto shouted, he came up with the best plans on the fly after all, and in this case planning was not an option.

The three teens formed hybrid dragons made out of water, wind, and lightning, and had their creations rise up to meet with the jyouyou, its head was too high up for them to reach, and they believed that it was too quick and strong for cutting winds to decapitate it.

"Time to put its ability to fly to the test!" Naruto shouted as he jumped overboard and showed the teens that it was indeed possible to walk on waves, just difficult to do so.

Naruto held out both hands, and allowed his bloodline to activate, the teens felt the shift in power, their leader's power skyrocketed. They knew he was planning on doing something that they knew they would never be able to do. It was the closest to godly that they knew someone could get.

"SHINRA TENSEI!" Naruto screamed out as he poured as much chakra as he safely could into the technique which he used to pull the jyouyou down. He fought against the beast's own power to stay afloat.

"KILL IT!" Naruto shouted as he briefly deviated from fully concentrating on his task.

"Hai!" the clones and teens shouted.

"Team Ichi, run across the waves and prepare to catch our anchors!" Ichi ordered, his team of six clones rushed overboard and made their way across the turbulent sea to a distance that was far enough from the ship.

"What are you planning on doing?" Ran asked.

"Just keep the beastie busy, while we do our thing," Ichi replied, "We'll make sure it can't escape even if it wants to."

At those words the teens redoubled their efforts at bringing the beast down or keeping it interested in them.

The three commander clones loaded the ballista, took aim, and fired, then repeated the process until they ran out of ammo. The clones on the water caught the massive arrows and held onto them for dear life as anchors for the thick ropes that had been attached and were thrown over the beast. The attempt was to tie it down, and help the Boss in bringing the thing down to a manageable level.

The ropes were kept secure on the ship's end by the three commanders.

"Team Sho! Climb!" Sho barked out, his own team of six clones rushed up the ropes, actually running up the unsteady things while the winds above them roared and raged thanks to the jyouyou. Brief spurts of electricity ran through the ropes, but the clones paid them no mind, they were only minor attacks and could still be brushed aside as compared to the attacks that the thing was dishing out against the three elemental dragons.

One of the dragons was unable to keep its form after a nasty attack courtesy of the jyouyou. It was Ran's, and as her dragon blew up she, herself, was blown back against the main mast of the ship.

"Owie," she said, her body was tougher than a regular girl's body and thus she didn't really hurt herself that much with the hit.

"Don't just lay there!" Orochi barked at her, "Get back up! A jyouyou is perfect for us! Go for the gold girl!"

"H-Hai!" Ran shouted and got back to her feet.

Like her fellow teens, her teacher had given her weapons of her own, she may be a medic but that didn't mean that she couldn't wield something bigger than a mere scalpel.

Kenta had received a short sword, and an archery set, along with a spear which he left at the village. Michio had received a battle hammer and a pair of sai. Ran had received two thin swords, they were like needles, but like any blade, when coated in wind natured chakra, could cut through almost anything. Her blades had been given the names Kurokaze and Shirokaze, which mirrored how they looked while out of their sheathes.

She readied them, holding them in the correct grip, and not in the difficult to use reverse grip, and ran up one of the ropes. She earned the envy of her peers at her ability to go up and have her chance at the beast.

She ran up like an expert at chakra control would be able to. She was an expert after all, having perfect control thanks to the small pool of the stuff that she had started out with, along with her specialized training in the healing arts that required perfect control.

That was why Orochi was the chief medical officer, he was the clone with perfect control.

She made her way to the top, to the beast, and without wasting any time sprinted along its back, quickly making her way to the beast's head. She then took a leaf out of her leader's book and jumped into the roaring maw of the beast.

"NO!" Kenta and Michio shouted as they saw what happened to Ran, their loss of concentration cost them their dragons and flung them to the deck, which they hit harder than Ran.

The next thing everyone knew was that the whole head of the beast exploded in gore, and falling from the center of the explosion was Ran, her blades extended, making it impossible for anyone to doubt that she was the one to cause the explosion.

While the jyouyou's hide was tough on the outside, the inside, just like most any other living thing was soft. So she didn't really have much problems sending cutting whirlwinds and spinning her blades all over the place in the thing's mouth. It was gory as hell, but it did the job.

"That settles it," Naruto said, "Ran wins, now...SEAL IT!"

"Hai!" the clones that were still on the length and breadth of the massive serpent shouted as they unrolled a particularly large storage scroll as Naruto held the body in the air while using a combination of the three gravitational techniques that he could use with ease.

"FUUIN!" the clones shouted as they channeled their chakra into the large seal that peppered the storage scroll. A slight puff of smoke that covered the whole body of the serpent later and the thing was gone, leaving the clones hastily rolling up the scroll and sealing it into a much smaller storage scroll, before righting themselves and diving into the depths of the sea.

All that happening within the time it took them to go from standing to diving into the water, which was quite fast.

"Get back on board people!" Naruto shouted as he himself walked back to the ship, his clones swam, and Michio carried Ran whom he had caught as she fell, Kenta was helping the commanders bring towels for the drenched.

"Looks like we'll have to find another one," Orochi said as he _somehow_ inspected the corpse they had sealed up, "With the head missing completely, we don't have the right tools for a mask."

"You medics can keep the guise of the serpent," Naruto decided, "But it looks like we'll have to go find us another one for the mask and added raw materials," he turned to one of the sealing clones, "How many more of those big ones do we got?"

"Enough for four more big ones, sir!" the clone replied after checking the supplies.

"Good enough," Naruto said, "Set sail, we're hunting snake!"

"Revenge against the Hebi-teme!" the clones crowed or howled as they prepared to go jyouyou hunting, if it were any other group of people, they'd be considered insane by this point, but Naruto...well...he was Naruto.

"Who's the Hebi-teme?" Kenta asked his sensei.

"Orochimaru," Ichi replied, "He was this bastard from before we met you, Boss' best friend killed him though, so its not really a big deal, but he had this snake that was a number of meters shorter than a jyouyou and a number of like sized snakes. One of them had the audacity to try and digest Boss."

"Oh," Kenta said.

"Yeah," Ichi said, "Well, looks like once we make land, we'll have to commission someone to upgrade our boat into a real ship."

"Guess so," Kenta said, "So where should I go from here?"

"Crow's nest," Ichi said, "Or at least atop the main mast."

It took them a few more weeks to get the remaining scrolls filled, this time with heads remaining intact. Naruto decided that to tell the future medical division apart from the rest of the village, they were designated the jyouyou as the mask of the leaders, and would wear mostly jyouyou or serpent and lizard uniforms.

After filling the large scrolls they didn't encounter any more of the serpents, Naruto hoped that the things were now wary of them or learned some new tricks if they weren't, seeing as the things were easy to catch once they figured out how to.

They had the proper passports to weigh anchor at the port located at the Southern tip of the Kingdom of Sou, no one suspected them for what they truly were, although people did wonder why in the world they walked around wearing such clothing. It was a mystery to many why someone would chose to wear such clothes instead of the normal outerwear.

Naruto paid the stares and questioning gazes no mind, while his clones continued their tasks. He ducked into an alley and created some new clones, ones that were like the commanders of his clones. He rarely ever made the regular kage bushin anymore. These improved versions were more useful than their predecessor in make.

He had them wear normal clothes and instructed them to learn whatever they could from the country, as much as possible before returning to the village by their own means. They were also to avoid suspicion to their true intentions.

It was an intelligence gathering mission, and the clones would succeed. They would succeed so well that Madara would not know about them and the truth about them. He wouldn't even be made aware of Naruto and his intentions as no one would think about informing him about the group in animal skins that arrived in his princess' country.

"I don't think we'll find anyone here," Ran said after going around the market district as was her assigned hunting ground, "I also found that they had amazing medical facilities."

"I've seen to that already," Naruto said, "We'll get what they know of medicine through some of our operatives who shall be remaining here."

"Oh," Ran said, a bit disappointed that she wasn't asked to join that operation since she really liked her specialization, "That's good to know."

"Yeah, well," Naruto said, "Knowledge is power, and we need more of it. Since I doubt anyone else found anyone to bring with us, we'll move on to our original destination of Kou."

"Great idea Boss," Ran said, "But how do we get whoever we manage to recruit into our ranks back to the village?"

"I'll think of something," Naruto said.

His clones were also assigned other places to search, but Madara had also started something in this country and thus finding any potentials was very hard as it were. There were very few that wished to join up with an organization they knew nothing about, and Naruto's forces tried to be as subtle as possible, keeping the entire truth out of the picture so that no one would find out about them, or find them for that matter.

They left the port town by way of purchasing horses, they were cheaper than kijyuu and easier to control due to their numbers. It was one Konoha-nin to one horse, and they bought some additional supplies for the people that they hoped to recruit into their ranks.

Getting to the Eastern border of the country was easy, just as was getting past the border and into the suffering land of Kou. Once inside the country, they were wished luck on their purpose by the border guards since there was a high chance that Naruto's group would not be returning to Sou.

They split up, going by teams, leaving Naruto on his own, while it wasn't the way he liked it, he didn't really need to be with an existing team since he could just create one for himself should the need arise.

Team Orochi went for the heart of the country, Team Sho was assigned the borders and would search the country in a spiraling pattern that would end with the capital so that they could meet up with the other teams. Team Ichi was to just walk in a random direction and hope for the best.

Naruto...well...Naruto just winged it. He used Kamui to randomly send him somewhere in the country. The three other teams didn't know where he did land in, but he didn't expect to land just in front of the kirin of the land. It was his first ever encounter with a kirin of course, one that was very much surprised to be face to face with him. Kouki was the name of the kirin, the ki in the name denoting that the kirin was male. He was so surprised by the sudden arrival that he almost bowed before Naruto, something which Naruto didn't want to happen even though he didn't really know the significance of such an act. Yet.

"You don't really want to be doing that," Naruto abruptly said to the kirin which did stop the young one from bowing.

"Huh? Why not?" Kouki asked.

"I'm not the one you think I am," Naruto replied, "Say, would you know of anywhere I can go that I might find some people in need?"

"Huh? Why?" Kouki asked.

"I'll looking for people that would willingly come with me," Naruto said, "Work for me actually."

"I don't know," the young kirin said, they were atop the sacred mountains, specifically the one that the kirin called home before finding a suitable ruler for the kingdom, "I think anywhere you go, you'll find such people."

"Well, thanks for the help then," Naruto said, "I'll be taking my leave now."

"Ok," the kid said, then changed his mind, "Wait!"

Naruto was just about to use Kamui again when the kirin shouted.

"Yes?" Naruto said.

"Play with me?" the kirin asked.

"Sure," Naruto said, "What do you want to play?"

"Tag!" the kid said, happily.

"Ok," Naruto said, "You're It," he tapped the kirin on the shoulder and bounded away, slowly.

Then ran around the courtyard that they were in until day began to turn to dusk, and one of the kirin caretakers approached them. The one that arrived called the little kirin over, and just looked at Naruto while wondering how he had gotten there. It was odd and strange, and not a natural occurrence that someone could just go into the place unannounced.

"How'd you get in here?" she asked him after the little kirin left them, but not before waving goodbye to Naruto.

"Accident," Naruto stated, "Well, I'd best be going now," he formed a single handseal and vanished from her senses, completely, he also left the mountaintop completely only to appear atop another mountaintop.

This one was a desolate one, not a single shred of life could be found there, unless one counted the kochou that were already swooping down for him. He really disliked those birds, they were a pain.

He whipped out some metal wires and laced them with wind chakra, the birds didn't stand a chance once he swung the things around and cut off their wings, among other things. There was a literal murder of the things, quite a lot of one single youma species in one place. He wondered where they had come from.

He hadn't sensed a shred of life in the place just before they appeared, and suddenly there were so many of them.

With his treasure trove of information, via memories, he decided that he wanted to try kugustu jutsu, or puppetry. He didn't really have anything else to do at the moment, and he did have a lot of raw materials to work with. He also knew how to fly in the sky thanks to dust element, his gravitational ones. He knew how to perform Deidara's clay techniques and Sai's ink ones.

He had birds in front of him, and it gave him the idea on how to get back home with all the people he was sure to collect.

With the materials at his disposal, he multitasked by creating a boatload of clones and had them each do something different, ranging from making clothes, adding seals to those clothes, creating the kochou puppet, and so on and so forth. It was a complete harvesting process, he wouldn't be wasting anything, if possible.

It took him half a month to finish what he was doing, that included mastering to the best of his ability how to control a puppet or more. He knew what Akasuna no Sasori had been capable of, and thus strived and succeeded in attaining that level of mastery. He had a kochou puppet that was three times larger than a regular one, he also had a carriage or basket like thing that could be used to carry people or things in it. He also had a number of smaller kochou puppets created, about three times the size of a regular crow. The reset of the things that he had done were sealed into storage scrolls that he created there using some of the skin and feathers of the kochou. There was a lot of spare everything.

He flew from that mountaintop and surveyed the land beneath him, he had a clone man the puppets that he rode on and flew all around him. He had his bloodline activated and stayed in meditation to better survey the life of the area he passed over. It was something he thought about when he took off from the mountain.

The signs of life that he found seemed to be managing to eke out a living of the declining land, so he didn't bother with them, and he perceived that they wouldn't have taken him up on his offer to go with him. So instead of looking for potentials from all ages, he looked for those that were teens and below. The ones that could get in trouble in the future if they weren't careful or mindful of the world.

Those that could use some guidance.

He failed in finding anyone that fit the criteria he had decided on by the time he reached the capital. Seeing him up in the sky with his murder of kochou really made it easy to hide his presence in the city since as soon as anyone saw him people rushed into their homes, to hide from the perceived youma threat. There weren't even any soldiers about to see about dealing with the youma threat.

The only ones that didn't run and hide were the Konoha-nins, they all rushed out of the city, followed by the new recruits that they had managed to scrounge up. The total count of newbies was 30 individuals total, quite a haul if Naruto said so himself.

The carriage or carrier was lowered to the ground first, the kochou puppet, Karasu, let go of the handles that it grasped onto to carry the thing. It was only once that was down did the puppet land along with all the smaller ones.

Most of the recruits were children whose ages ranged from three to ten, there were only ten teens, five girls and five boys. It was rather peculiar that they had managed to make it seem a bit like Noah's Ark when it came to the teens.

It was a wonder how all of them could fit in the carrier, but they fit. It was mostly thanks to all the seals that covered the whole thing.

The plan from there was for Naruto to head back the village via the sky while his original companions would take their boat, they needed it returned to the village as well. It wouldn't do for such things to be left laying around with no explanation.

That was the plan, and that was how things went. According to plan. No problems whatsoever, and they were grateful.

Had they remained in the capital of Kou, they would have had their first encounter with Akatsuki, but since they didn't, the two formerly opposing forces didn't get to have their first meeting there.

Once they all were back in the village, the children and teens were divided into groups for specialization purposes. He distributed his knowledge as evenly as he possibly could.

Years would pass before Naruto went out with a few teams to search for more recruits, but between then and now, his forces would grow stronger, just like the great tree that the administration tree house continued to grow into, thanks in part to chakra. The new recruits found it easy to fit in with the orignals, eventually forming the bonds that the old Konoha was famous for.

It was sometime during that in between time that the village began taking missions, though unlike Madara's way of doing things, Konoha took payments and not donations.

#

It took a while for Madara to return to the light, he had spent a few years in the shadows protecting the royals of Sou. It was rather troublesome, to quote certain clan, as he couldn't visit his friends as he wished. After one set of assassins had been taken out, another one would crop up.

Things had gone as he expected while at the same time didn't go as planned. Trouble just kept finding him, and it kept him from returning to the light for years.

When he finally did, he found out that Ritatsu was the only one that still trusted him, Bunki was distrustful of him due to the way they had last parted ways. He wasn't even allowed into the palace through normal means, it was a good thing that he had been such a good ninja, else he'd be stuck on the outside and his inside people wouldn't be able to receive new orders and such.

By this time he had realized that keeping all of his knowledge to himself was rather selfish and didn't really help his people. So he shared some of what he knew with his people, teaching them about chakra and its basic uses. This gave them trump cards against most foes they did face.

It was a turbulent time that he returned to after stopping the countless assassination attempts. It was turbulent due to someone deciding to link up the land of shadows with the light. With such a connection in play, the corruption in the land was made known and the kingdom as a whole began to suffer.

Madara had to coordinate with all of his forces, all of whom were scattered throughout the country to keep such negative things from having too much of an impact on the country as a whole. He couldn't stop everything from happening, but he tried to keep things to a minimum.

It was a good thing that he had such a good head on his shoulders since he managed to keep the country from losing its king at such a time. Business suffered, sure, as he made plenty of enemies. It went from there being much support for Akatsuki, to them becoming almost the enemy of the state. There was much distrust.

There were many shifts in power, and Madara didn't like it. The calm that Sou had about itself was beginning to wane, and chaos was beginning to set in. He had some second thoughts and doubts about his actions, but in the end had to quash those thoughts since to doubt oneself would bring oneself ruin.

He couldn't afford to lose, and thus fought even harder for the country that he had grown to love, along with the family that he had sworn himself to protect.

With the amount of distrust and dissatisfaction in the air, Madara knew that the clock was ticking, something big would be brewing, something that had the potential to shatter his perfect world. He wished that he had some allies, but he didn't. All he really had was his organization, a few clients, and Ritatsu, had he still had the trust of his princess he would have been able to gain more support and favor with the people, but as things stood, he was really on his own.

While he wasn't used to being in such a situation, he knew how to cope, how to adapt, for that was what a good shinobi did, they adapted. They evolved to suit the situation. So that was what Madara did, he transformed himself into the kage that he had become, and immersed himself in the shadows. He retreated from the light once he knew for certain that there was no longer anything for him there.

He became like Danzo, but with morals and the lack of unnecessary sacrifices.

It was during this immersion in the shadows that he saw the bigger picture, and he didn't like what he saw. While he wasn't about to change the whole world order, he knew that he had to be more steadfast in his protection of Sou and the stability of his world. He had to keep the peace by any means necessary, or almost any means anyway. There were still lines that he dared not cross again.

The king could only do so much, which was where he came in, he and his Akatsuki.

The underworld was gearing for war within itself. For a long time Madara had been at the top, but no longer would the other organizations and families stand for it. He wasn't chosen by heaven after all to rule in the shadow of the king, and he no longer had the favor of the royal family as they knew him to have had in the past. To the majority of them, his time was over, and theirs had just begun.

He should have been more thorough and ruthless against his enemies, not lenient like he had been. The world had changed him, while he had made it his world, the world had made him it's own too.

Philosophical banter aside, he had a position to hold onto, and a country to help keep stable. He had people to protect, and he would do his damned best to do it without involving the light any further.

He learned a few months before the underworld war began that he had lost his place on the registry where all the names of the immortals could be found. While he didn't like the fact that he could now die like anyone else, and that he would start aging once again, he knew that he still retained that bit of immortality that he had in his previous life. He still had _those_ eyes after all. He would manage without some heaven granted form of immortality.

Due to the loss of his immortality, Madara was viewed as being more human and thus was more prone to attack and dying. But what his enemies found when they tried to take him out, they found that without any visible link to the royals, he could transform into a real monster, one that was just short of being called a youma.

He had three subordinates that he trusted enough to train even more than the others. Their training made them equal to if not better than the people they had unknowingly copied. The Kiri no Shinobigatan Nananin Shu or the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, while they didn't look anything like the first batch of such a group, they had special swords, ones that had been made by them for them, ones that thanks to Madara's extensive knowledge of seals were granted special abilities.

In Akatsuki, they were the seven strongest a distant second away from Madara himself. They loved him as he was their teacher, a teacher who took them in and treated them as not only his pupils, but also his children. They swore to do anything to pay back the debt they had with him, the debt of life they owed him for giving them the life they had when others wouldn't have bothered with them at all, human nature was that others would have simply turned a blind eye instead of reached out to them.

War, he knew it well, but with the new climate, he had to balance how the war was waged, there was just too much potential for civilian casualties as his opponents were growing bolder and more confident that their actions would not call forth the wrath of heaven.

#

In a sense, both Madara and Naruto got what each wanted. For the time being, that is.


	53. Their World 3

_**Disclaimer:**__The anime Naruto and Twelve Kingdoms are not my properties. If I owned them, why would I be writing fan fiction based on them. No money is being made from this, it is just for the entertainment of any that wishes to read it. _

_**Warnings:**__ AU, OOCs, OCs, Crack, Sues (you have been warned)_

_**Note:**__ none at the moment._

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**Their World**

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_**chapter three**_

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Not a single member of Akatsuki or Konoha knew how their respective leaders had managed to live so long. Both men should have died years ago, yet there they both were, looking as if they hadn't aged a day after reaching a certain age. Although in Madara's case he hadn't aged a day period. Naruto stopped aging once he reached the age of forty.

Both continued to look to be in the prime of their respective lives, neither one succumbing to disease, or weakness. Their injuries always healed at an accelerated rate. It was unnatural, but their subordinates or people wouldn't have them any other way.

They were the epitome of their dreams, they were constantly at the zenith of what they strived to be. They were each what a kage was supposed to be, the strongest warrior but still the most loved and respected. The kind of ruler that their people gladly served under and obeyed.

Akatsuki had grown in membership, it was turning out to be more like a yakuza family or clan than anything else, what with their setting being in the city. Madara was of course the top guy, he remained in the shadows only leaving and entering the light when necessary or when Ritatsu wanted to see how he was doing. The prince really worried for him sometimes.

Konoha itself grew as well, covering a large minority of that one forest of Ren. All homes remained in the trees, connected by bridges and the like. Most other work related structures were on the ground. The wall was thicker around the whole village, had more rock and metal than wood nowadays. The village was very secure.

Recruitment drives had lessened over the years, Naruto knew that he couldn't save everyone, and he also knew that the numbers of residents of his village were growing at a good enough pace. There were whole families and clans living with him now. They were truly separate from the rest of the world, that the higher powers, called Heaven, seemed to allow abnormal forms of birth to occur in the village. Abnormal in the sense that children were not plucked from ranka, but from the wombs of women.

But that exception to the rule only applied to those who were Konoha-nin of course, any where or anyone else in the world got children from ranka. Madara could have become an exception, if only he managed to settle down. Same went for Naruto who remained single all these years, choosing to think of his whole village as his family, rather than found one for himself.

They both enjoyed their lives thoroughly, both faced each day as it was supposed to be faced, not as their last, but with a smile (as close to one that Madara could get).

The two of them had been around in the world of the twelve kingdoms for over two hundred years and it didn't look like they'd be leaving it anytime soon. They never ran out of things to do, Madara with the serious stuff and Naruto with his adventures. Their lives truly reflected the kinds of people that they were.

"My father has decided that he wants to extend aid to the less fortunate countries that have no ruler to speak of at the moment," Ritatsu told Madara during their most recent of meetings, "But he doesn't really seem to know how to help these other countries without them deciding to take advantage of his kindness."

"Advise your father to not push through with this plan of his," Madara said, "I'll deal with it, ease his mind in that someone is already doing something while keeping any problems away from Sou...or as much as I have been able to anyway."

"I know...I was just telling you his wishes," Ritatsu said, "My sister doesn't hate you or distrust you anymore."

"So..?" Madara said, acting as if he really didn't care.

"I was just informing you of how she feels about you," Ritatsu said, "You can try talking to her again now."

"I'd rather wait until everything back to being peachy again," Madara said, "All these troubles that seem to keep popping up every now and then have been causing me to lose time for myself, be glad that I have enough time for you in my busy schedule."

"Whatever," the prince said, dismissing the statement, "Anyway, I was wondering, how have you remained alive all these years, not that I want you to die on me. I've just been rather curious."

"I'm not quite sure myself," Madara said, "Though it may be due to some things I did in my past life. Its strange really, back then I was striving for immortality, and now that I couldn't care less about it I've got it, in spades even. I just wish some of the old excitement would come for me."

"What old excitement?" the prince asked, he always wondered what Madara's past life was really like, he only ever shared generalities and not specifics.

"The last person I even fought with back in that old world," Madara said, "We never really got to finish our fight, I mean neither of us really ended up killing the other. Its a real shame that he's not here right now, I could use the exercise. Not that I wish someone were here to kill me and ruin the paradise that I've found myself in."

"I don't really think the country could manage two powerhouses like you," the prince said, and noticed that the sun was beginning to set, "Looks like our time's almost up, and I best be getting back to my duties."

"Alright," Madara said, "Until next time then."

"Until next time," the prince said and left the man alone.

A few months after Madara made his involuntary wish, it might have just come true. It was bound to happen eventually, while the world was vast, it was still not big enough that two attracting forces would never meet again in their lives or at least their lives and those connected to it would never cross paths.

As he was making his own rounds of the capital, accompanied by the latest generation of seven swordsmen, his chakra senses picked up something that was not supposed to exist in the world without him knowing about it. He felt three powerful signatures, ones that while concealed should not have been in the city. He didn't recognize them and thought that maybe he had some rogues in his organization that had taught some outsiders the art of chakra. So he deviated from his routine route and into the direction of the three unknowns.

"What's wrong Lord Kage?" one of his companions asked him, they were the descendants of the first batch of inheritors of a group that he had started in a past life.

"Intruders in the city," Madara replied, his tone being one that was serious and business-like, "They shouldn't exist in this world, but something about the signatures that I'm sensing are too familiar to be coincidental."

"What signatures?" one of the others asked, "I can't sense anything out of the ordinary."

"Its something that I hadn't deemed worth the time to teach," Madara told them as they raced across the rooftops shrouded in the dark of night, "That being telling apart different chakra signatures."

"So everyone has a different signature?" one asked.

"Yes," Madara replied, "Though there are those that might resemble others, more due to similarities in personalities and life choices, unique and similar at the same time."

"So these signatures that you've sensed, what's got you all worked up over them?"

"They feel like the signatures of some old foes of mine," Madara replied.

He could feel the anxiety that was within his skin, he longed for an encounter such as this, but at the same time he hoped that his subordinates were prepared for such an unknown factor and element in their world. He didn't even know about them until they entered the city itself, and it seemed by the path they were taking, they were headed for the palace.

If they were a cell of assassins as he feared, then they were very dangerous ones as they had been the first group in years to make it into the city without him knowing about them in advance. They were also the first group that he didn't know the origins of. They were a traveling mystery to him, and he hoped that things didn't go all bent out of shape.

"Prepare yourselves for the fight of your lives," he instructed his subordinates, "I'd call for reinforcement, but due to how late these intruders were detected, we can't waste anymore time."

His subordinates had never encountered him being at this level of serious before. They were frightened, it was the first time that he showed this side of himself to them. It was difficult for them to comprehend that their leader could be this professional.

He changed all in the span of one moment, going from semi-serious to dead serious. His power levels which they normally could have easily read vanished as he concealed his power. He delved deeper into the land of shadows than they had ever or would ever dare to dive into. He had gone from their almost run-of-the-mill resident of the shadow land to something else, a death god, though they didn't really know it.

It was rather frightening. His enemies had seen the change that he had just so suddenly undergone, but his allies had never had the fortune to see him like he had suddenly transformed into. He had gone from Lord Kage Madara to Uchiha Madara, the man that had plunged a whole continent into chaos.

"Shit!" he cursed as they reached the base of the mountain atop which sat the royal palace.

"What's wrong Lord Kage?" one of his subordinates, Haku (who looked and sounded like the one Naruto knew but was female), asked.

"They've beat us here," Madara said, "They're already headed up the mountain..we're almost too late."

"What?! But they can't be faster than us! We're the best there is!" another of the seven, Gai, exclaimed in surprise, just like Haku he was like the person that Naruto knew just not as loud and _Youthful_.

"Unfortunately," Madara said, "We still have time, we can still catch up," he powered up one of is eyes, "Its time I use one of my kinjutsu."

"Which one would that be?" Haku calmly asked.

"Kamui," he replied and they all felt the distortion in space-time then found themselves in one of the courtyards of the palace, it was near where Madara stayed while he was recovering from his injuries, "We'll split up into pairs, I'll take Haku, the rest of you pair up and find these interlopers."

"Yes Lord Kage!" they said, saluted with their swords, paired off, and rushed into a different direction.

"Madara! What are you doing here?" Ritatsu shouted in surprise as he nearly bumped into his friend, "Are you here to visit my sister finally?"

"No," Madara replied, his eyes wildly taking in every single detail of his surroundings searching for the intruders, "More serious business. There's intruders, their intentions are unknown. Its a new group."

"Should I inform the soldiers?" the prince asked, growing serious due to the situation.

"Yes, please," Madara said, "It might help us with finding these intruders."

"You must be slipping to have let some assassins into the palace," the prince joked.

"Maybe," Madara admitted before returning to his search.

While Madara was off searching for the intruders, the intruders themselves were more or less resting from their exhaustive climb. This mission was their ultimate test, get into another country's palace without being detected or caught or detained before reaching the palace, then they were to rest, and seek out the true objective of their mission. It wasn't to assassinate anyone or to sow chaos.

They had been contracted to finding out what had been happening in Sou. It was a mission assigned to them by the Taiho of Ren. While the mission was infiltration and intelligence gathering, that didn't mean that the trio that had been assigned by their leader, known as Boss, whose more ceremonial (to them) title was a certain Kage. They had other collaborating information about the specifics of the mission, like someone possessing something akin to or could be chakra in Sou. There were also the unexplained events that occurred in the country, but were usually taken as gossip and untrue. But everyone knew that gossip had to have started off somewhere.

The intruders were Konoha's very best, they were descendants of Kenta, Michio, and Ran. They were Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. Naruto had been rather surprised when their parents named them such, and decided that they would be trained into becoming worthy of the names they had been given.

These three weren't as old yet as their namesakes, they were fifteen but at the same time were already well on their way to being closer to their leader's level of skill, but of course not power.

Kenta Jiraiya, he was the heir to the headship of his clan the Kenta clan and the position of chief security officer of Konoha. He favored spears and bows.

Ran Orochimaru, was heir of his own clan and was next in line as chief of the R & D and Intelligence section of the village. He took after his namesake in a lot more than looks, as he even had some small snake youma as his helpers, they lived in a part of Naruto's available pocket dimensions just as the Snake summon clan of the elemental nations had lived. It was easy teaching a bunch of snakes and serpent youma how to speak and use chakra.

Michio Tsunade, was an heir to her own clan it was an offshoot of the Orochimaru's clan since Michio and Ran had paired off and somewhere along the line someone gained an affinity for healing the likes of which the rest of the clan couldn't fathom. She was the young chief medical officer of the village, surpassing her teammates and best friends already.

They were Naruto's first students in a long long time. His own personal team, he kind of now knew how Sarutobi Hiruzen must have felt all those years ago.

The three, once finished resting were interrupted in their plan making when a squad of guards spotted them and without asking any question began to attack. It was a fruitless effort on the guards' part since they were all knocked out in rapid succession by Orochimaru, who had managed to figure out how to make his body extremely flexible and also able to stretch like a human rubber band.

"That was unsurprisingly easy," Orochimaru stated after dusting off imaginary dust from his clothes.

"Of course it was," Jiraiya said, "This place doesn't have people like us running around doing almost every kind of work possible."

"You've got to admit that it's been fun," Tsunade giggled, "I can't wait for the mission to end though, its not been that much of a challenge."

"Yeah, well.." but Orochimaru was interrupted as he had to dodge a throwing knife that had been headed his way, the three of them were surrounded by unmoving bodies which made them look like a bunch of killers rather than just infiltrators, "Crap!"

"We'll give you more than a challenge," the one that had thrown the knife said, as he made himself known, "I am Gai! My powers of youth will make you wish you hadn't trespassed! YOSH!"

"Shut up Gai," his silver haired companion said as he was nudged in the side by said partner, "I am Kakashi, and you shall feel our wrath for daring to come in here to kill whoever it is that is your target."

"Wha..?" Tsunade said, she didn't realize how they could reach such a conclusion, and before she could try and and say anything else she was forced to dodge as the silver haired person dashed at her with a blade of lightning that had an actual solid hilt.

"Orochimaru! Go find the objective! These guys don't look like they want to talk!" Jiraiya shouted as he engaged Gai before the loud one could chose between the remaining two males.

"Gotcha!" Orochimaru responded and slinked away.

His teammate was right, the two they had encountered were looking for a fight and didn't look like they cared much for talking, the mission could only be completed once they knew what these two fighters they encountered were and who they were working for as well as what their general purpose was and if they posed a threat to the peace and stability of Ren.

He managed to avoid a number of soldiers and a few more pairs of warriors that were like those two. It was only when he arrived in the throne room that he knew that his team was in way over its head. The presence that assaulted his chakra senses and regular senses told him that he was in more than just deep shit.

"S-shit!" Orochimaru cursed as he felt the presence all around him, it was a more than foreboding presence, "Who's there! S-show yourself!"

He was trapped and potentially surrounded and he knew it.

"I refuse," came Madara's silky smooth voice from all around, the technique was like ventriloquism and what Momochi Zabuza had done when he encountered Naruto for the first time, "Tell me what your purpose for coming here is, and I might spare your life. I don't enjoy such dangerous surprises."

"N-not until y-you show yourself!" Orochimaru said, standing firm despite his growing fear.

"You don't have any grounds to be making demands," Madara said, his black eyes shifting to the red sharingan and were seen staring at Orochimaru from all around the room in every one of the dark corners and shadows of the room.

Surprise was suddenly expressed clearly on Orochimaru's face, he never thought that he'd encounter a set of eyes that his teacher had shared with him and his teammates as being tools or weapons of one of his most difficult to defeat foes and a best friend or two. They were a pair of eyes that he didn't think he would ever encounter anywhere else in the world.

"Surprised? I wonder why?" Madara said, "Why don't you tell me and I might come out from the shadows. But before that, tell me who your target is, what is your purpose here."

"Err..." Orochimaru didn't know how to answer that, no one was to know the specifics of the mission, "I can't really s-say."

"Oh, but you can," Madara stated, "If you value your life you will share what you know."

"I think that since I'm quite sure that my objective has been completed, I'll be taking my leave now," Orochimaru said as he began to inch his way to the doorway from where he came from.

"I don't think so," a voice said from just behind him.

He was glad that he had trained so extensively and had very good reflexes or else he might not have been able to move as fast and agile as he did. He was faced with an emotionless mask, a porcelain one that is. He didn't think that the one he was facing had a partner.

"S-shit," Orochimaru cursed, "J-just let me g-go! I'm not here to kill anyone!"

"You'll forgive me if I decide not to believe you," Madara stated, still hiding in the shadows.

Before anymore could be said or done between the three, one of the walls of the room exploded just before Jiraiya and Tsunade leapt into the room, breathing heavily. When the dust cleared, Gai and Kakashi were seen knocked unconscious on the floor.

"We leave you for a few minutes and you're already acting like a scaredey cat!" Tsunade said, "So what gives?"

"Oh..so there's more of you," Madara said, keeping his cool, even though Haku was close to panicking, she had never encountered anyone that could go toe to toe with her two unconscious companions.

Another door slammed open, instead of exploding anyway.

"I heard an explosion, what's happening in here?" unfortunately it was Bunki, and she hadn't been informed of the trouble that was taking place within the palace.

"Hime! Get out of here!" Madara's cool slipped at the sight of her and the potential danger she had unknowingly put herself in, "Its too dangerous!"

"Thanks for the opening!" Jiraiya said as he suddenly appeared behind the princess and hefted her over his shoulder, "We'll be taking our leave now. So if you try anything we'll kill her!"

"Yeah!" Tsunade said, deciding to play the bad guy since they were being viewed as such already.

"S-shit," Orochimaru cursed under his breath for a different reason this time, "Get a move on! Don't move person in the shadows! My teammate's serious!"

"F-fine," Madara seethed inside, he had failed in his life's purpose, and it wasn't a very good feeling, "Just don't hurt her!"

With those words, the trio made their escape with the princess, taking kijyuu since they might as well and it was easier than taking any other route. They landed outside of the city and left their rides somewhere out in the open. Bunki was kept over Jiraiya's shouder for safekeeping purposes.

They gagged the princess.

"I demand that you let me go!" she could demand all she wanted, until they were at the port town that they were scheduled to take a ship from heading for home, they wouldn't let her go not with the likes of a Sharingan user surely after them, "Or at least show me your faces!"

Unlike in times past, they didn't wear full body skins of youma, just bits and regular clothes, but they did keep the tradition of wearing masks. The masks covered only their faces, but looked to have been molded for their faces, not like the ANBU masks of the original Konoha.

"Would love to, but can't," Jiraiya cheekily said, "We're the bad guys remember, we're not supposed to show our faces."

The trip to the port town wasn't the quiet one they expected it to be at all. It was filled with chatter, made mostly by Bunki who refused to shut up. The only time she did shut up was when the group was faced with the random youma, which Orochimaru took out with relative ease since his two companions were far too busy keeping their hostage from running away.

When they finally reached the port town Jiraiya dropped their charge onto the ground, not really caring that he was treating royalty like a sack of potatoes.

"You are free to go," he told her, "We weren't really planning to kill you anyway. We could have gotten away some other way, but you were the best way that didn't have us having to destroy a larger chunk of the palace than we already destroyed."

"What was your purpose in the palace if it wasn't to kill anyone or kidnap me?" she demanded, she wasn't about to run now that they were willing to let her go.

"Can't really tell you that," Jiraiya said and shrugged.

"He won't just let you go even though you've let me go, you know," she told the trio.

"Doesn't really matter anymore," Orochimaru said, "He wouldn't dare come after us once we leave the borders of this country."

"So you're not from around here and yet you willingly trespassed into the palace and caused chaos?" she asked them, "Why?"

"We go where we are ordered to go," Orochimaru stated cooly.

"Stop sounding all hip," Jiraiya said, "You were a scaredy cat back when we crashed that wall in with those two weirdos."

"Fine," Orochimaru said, pouting, and it could be seen through his mask too.

"Well, we best be leaving you now while we still have the chance to," Tsunade said and ran off in the direction of the wharf, with the other two following closer behind her. A moment later Bunki was joined by Gai and Kakashi who were had been keeping track of the intruders movements on orders of their Lord Kage, Madara.

"We're glad you're safe and sound princess," Kakashi said, "Lord Kage was really mad at himself when he failed to protect you. But he knew that they would not hurt you, really, but he sent us to follow them anyway. Now that we know where they are, Lord Kage will be here shortly to deal with them himself."

"I'm already here," Madara said as he landed after using Kamui, he swayed a bit as he wasn't used to using so much chakra he had, since he hadn't had to in a long while, "Which direction did they go?"

"To the wharf," Bunki replied, she was rather surprised that he was still protecting her even after how she had treated him.

"Alright," Madara said.

"Be careful, and I'm.." Bunki began to say.

"We'll talk more later," Madara said as he rushed through the town and heading for the wharf. By the time he got there the three teens were no where to be found, he couldn't sense them at all. They had already managed to leave, and his senses couldn't help him find them, the sea causing some sort of interference.

He returned to his princess and his two subordinates grumbling to himself about being a failure of sorts and that he shouldn't have slacked off so much.

"Problems in paradise?" Bunki asked him, as if she hadn't not liked him in the past how many long years.

"More so than usual," he admitted, "Come on, let's get you home, before your brother decides that he can take me on, for not protecting you better."

"Are you mad at me?" Bunki asked as she clung to him from behind as she rode the same kijyuu that he did, he was too worn out from using far too much chakra with his chakra draining transportation technique.

"No, why should I be?" he asked her.

"Well, I was supposed to be your friend, and after some bad news I wasn't much of a friend," she said.

"While I may have been a bit sad after you started distrusting me, I still cared for you enough to continue doing what I've been dong," he said.

"I see," she said, "So..what happens now?"

"I have no idea," Madara said, "I guess its time I send out some feelers out of the continent to see where our mysterious trio came from. I have a nagging feeling that I'll like the answers to one of my bigger questions."

"Which would be?" she asked.

"What ever happened to Naruto."

#

"So..what happened?" Naruto said as his three students stood before him.

"We managed to reach the palace, but finished the mission with a complication or two," Orochimaru reported, "And I acted like a big scaredy cat too."

"O..K...explain," Naruto said, it wasn't like Orochimaru to sound so vulnerable.

"We know what happened to that guy you told us you fought before coming here," Tsunade said, "He's alive, and he's the information we managed to get before making our hasty retreat with a hostage."

"I may be old, but I know my hearing hasn't been failing me," Naruto said, "So please repeat that last part, I'm not sure I heard right."

"Jiraiya had this idea that taking a hostage would not get us killed," Tsunade said, Jiraiya eeped punctuating the point.

"I see," Naruto said, "So tell me, before I kick your asses for doing such a politically stupid thing, will he be a problem?"

"No, he's nothing like you told us he was like back when you engaged him in battle," Jiraiya said, "He was rather protective of the princess."

"I see," Naruto said, "Well, I guess that is a good thing."

"Great, so...we'll be..leaving now," Orochimaru said as his two comrades inched their way to the door, "We've had a long mission...we really need some time to rest..."

"Alright," Naruto said, he created a clone behind them.

"But only after I've dealt with you," the clone said, causing them to shout and make a run for it.

The rest of the village watched on as the game of tag commenced.


	54. Their World 4

_**Disclaimer:**__The anime Naruto and Twelve Kingdoms are not my properties. If I owned them, why would I be writing fan fiction based on them. No money is being made from this, it is just for the entertainment of any that wishes to read it. _

_**Warnings:**__ AU, OOCs, OCs, Crack, Sues (you have been warned)_

_**Note:**__ none at the moment._

"***"**

"***"**

**Their World**

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_**chapter four**_

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"_***"**_

Ten years had passed since Naruto had confirmation that Madara was still around and apparently the years of living in the world of the twelve kingdoms had caused a change in the man. It was as if he had beaten Senju Hashirama and gained the title of Shodaime Hokage. He was the person he was meant to become, instead of the person that had become bitter, cold, and had a heart filled with hate.

Naruto supposed it was his ability to change the hearts of people for good that had done it or at the very least played a part in it.

He trained his team extensively, to the point where Orochimaru wouldn't shit his pants if ever faced with Madara, but not to the point that the boy or young man could actually hope to beat Madara, stall sure, beat no. No way. No way in hell. That was Naruto's job.

Konoha continued doing the jobs that it had been doing for years, still reaping the rewards of being very good at what they did and have a positive and very good all around reputation when it came to the people of Ren. Renrin still did have them do some jobs, mostly for the security of Ren and the some other things that she did behind her master's back.

Konoha had a few more run-ins with Akatsuki, it was like old times for Naruto, although the difference was that no one got killed in the encounters, only injured or overly bruised, on both sides. Madara, it seemed, had decided to share more of his knowledge now that he knew without a shred of a doubt that he had a rival of sorts in the world.

To match Naruto as Hokage, Madara had chosen the official and ceremonial title of Mizukage. The two Kage had yet to meet face to face once again, but most of their top subordinates had met each other at some point in time each.

Technically the man was Mizukage anyway so it didn't really matter that it didn't fit into Akatsuki's original make up.

Naruto still hadn't found anyone like Madara had, or at least that's what some of his spy reports had managed to find out about the mysterious Lord Kage as his subordinates and everyone else called the man that ruled the underworld of Sou and protected the country when the King in light couldn't do it that well.

There were a lot of missions coming into the village everyday, and Naruto dealt with all of them and all of his paperwork even better than any kage before him, with Kage Bushin of course. He even sent a friendly message to Madara about it, but didn't really need to as the man already figured out that little shortcut.

The Sannin, like their namesakes, were really making a name for themselves within the country. They were known individually and collectively, and even had a growing following outside of the country, thanks to some traders and travelers. The three of them were viewed as some sort of warrior saints of sorts by some people due to the deeds they performed, these deeds being thing that they were not originally paid to do. Like battling some random large youma, or rescuing trapped miners in some mine somewhere while doing another job that had nothing to do with their personal exploits.

"Why are we still here?" Jiraiya asked his companions, he was getting bored.

"Because sensei asked us to run an errand for him," Tsunade replied.

"That and it was either we wait for whatever the heck we're waiting for or catching that infernal Hiso pet of Lady Renrin! Why she doesn't just turn it into one of her shirei I'll never know!" Orochimaru wailed.

"What are we waiting for anyway?" Jiraiya asked.

They heard crashing and toppling of trees, and a number of other things breaking. They were in the middle of one of Ren's other large forests. They didn't know what to expect, but knew that they had to collect something from something in the forest that would present itself.

"I would have to say that," Tsunade said and pointed at a large gray dragon-gargoyle looking thing that stood infront of them and behind it was a trail of destruction, "Is what we're waiting for."

"I see that the blonde isn't here, are you here for the package this year?" the thing said and asked.

"Y-yeah," Jiraiya said, he wasn't so sure of what was going on but he sure as hell knew that whatever the thing was it wasn't your run-of-the-mill youma.

"Good," the thing said, then asked, "He didn't tell you what you'll be doing did he?"

"Nope," Orochimaru replied, "What are we supposed to be doing...um...sir?"

"Sir? Hmm...I like it," the thing said, "You will call me Sir. The blonde calls me something else, but that's between him and myself. What you will be doing is fighting me while I am in a berserker rage, self induced of course, your aim is to retrieve the package which is the outermost layer of my hide. The blonde uses it for something, or whatever. The purpose of my ridding myself of the outermost layer of my hide is that its the only way for me to shed."

"Isn't there some other way?" Jiraiya asked, he had a bad feeling about this, like he was about to get his ass kicked.

"The other option was what I used to do," the thing said.

"Which was?" Jiraiya had to know.

"Attack some outpost or fortress nearby, killing a number of innocent people in the process," the thing said, "The blonde offered this alternative, stating that it also gave him a chance to go wild as he called it."

"Oh...so...yeah," Jiraiya said, "Lets get my ass kicking started now.."

"What my idiot of a teammate said," Tsunade said.

"Manda will finally get to see real battle at least," Orochimaru said, then asked, "What are the chances of us dying?"

"Dunno really," the thing said, "The blonde never bothered with dying."

"Sounds a lot like sensei," Tsunade said, "The guy doesn't really care as long as he's either having fun or kicking ass."

"Alright," the thing said, then from being gray its skin turned blood red and the trio could feel the spike in power from the thing. The spike grew, and grew, until it was like a geyser had erupted in front of them, a geyser of lava that is.

"We're in deep doo doo," Jiraiya mumbled, then jumped away to avoid a paw-fist thing that slammed down where he had been standing only mere moment ago, Tsunade and Orochimaru doing the same.


	55. UA 1

'_Think of me as a genie, here to grant you three wishes,_' a voice ghosted through his head, he didn't know where it came from or who it belonged to, all he knew was that he was forced to listen and probably answer as well, '_But these three wishes are specialized, they have limits to their potential scope. You may not wish for external things such as material wealth or anything that might affect someone else or something else aside from yourself. You are also forbidden from wishing for something like family or bringing your parents back from the dead, or even wishing for some long lost family member that might show you some love and care to find you._'

He didn't really put much thought in what became his wishes. Three things that could only affect himself, it was like he was really being asked what three special or super powers he could or would want to have.

He hadn't really been exposed to much in terms of supernatural powers and the like, just the few superheroes and comic books that his cousin and the other neighborhood children had exposed him to both intentionally and unintentionally. More of the latter than the former of course.

He may only be eight years old, but his mind was sharper than any other he knew. He was also a little bit more mature in some cases, he learned to be more independent than most people he knew or could be considered as associated with.

He couldn't be greedy and wish to become as a god, there were downsides to such things, or so he believed. Thus he didn't want to be perfect, for where was the excitement in life if one was incapable of making mistakes. There was also the fact that such a wish could affect others if it was granted, thus he was left with a more limited range of possibilities. But that didn't mean that he couldn't make his power scope vaster than normally would be allowed.

He had already been exposed to the X-men, a band of humans with varying super powers.

He could sympathize with them for in some ways he was much like them, mostly in the way that they were treated by the rest of the world. They were just as much outcasts as he was. As his mind drifted and focused more on them, he tried to think up which one of them stood out the most for him.

His first wish revolved around the first name that came to mind.

Professor X.

'_I wish to be better than Professor X!_' he mentally wished with high energy.

'_Granted,_' the ghosting voice that maneuvered itself within his mind confirmed that the wish had been granted.

To make the wish granting more real, the owner of the mind in which the conversation was taking place felt as if his mind was momentarily set on fire. This was followed by being bombarded by numerous thoughts and memories that were clearly not his own. Secrets were revealed to him, dark memories, forgotten thoughts and nightmares, as well as dreams.

'_Make it stop!_' the owner of the mind shouted, pleaded more like, he could take it no longer.

'_For the meantime,_' the voice in his head replied, in a sense, '_In order to control your first wish you will need a lot of practice, I have sealed it away, but not out of your reach, and leave this first wish alone with the following words... Your mind is your own, master it and once you do the collective consciousness of world will be your plaything.._'

So with that, they moved on to his second wish. Or at least they would have, had he not decided to push it aside for the time being. He decided that he would or should focus more on his mastering of his own mind before something else being added to his workload.

The other voice agreed with his decision stating that it was a good course of action and showed his early developed maturity.

It took a whole year before the owner of the mind where the conversation was held met up or had his second encounter with the voice that had ghosted into his mind that first time a year ago to the day. It surprised him that it could bypass his defenses like a hot knife through butter.

'_The collective consciousness of this world does not include my own mind, for what I am is greater than this world, and at that same time not a direct part of the existence which you call yourself a part of,_' the voice explained, '_I am not about to hand over my secrets to one that could potentially one day seek to overthrow me, or do worse things._'

'_Understandable,_' the owner of the mind said, another part of his mind was busy manipulating the minds of those he lived with. He had used them as his training tools and guinea pigs in his mind mastering experiments. They were now quite malleable, and obediently followed his mental instructions, not even conscious of the fact that they were being controlled in a sense.

While he may not have forced them to change who they were, while he may not have forced upon them to become better individuals. He made it so that they were very susceptible to his mind control.

Should that ever cease to work, he still had all the blackmail material that he had stolen from their minds, on accident and intentionally.

As he had mastered his mind, it was also safe to assume that he had gained an eidetic memory, even if he didn't have such an ability originally. It was one of the side effects of his first wish.

He looked back into his memories, focusing more on the things that he had encountered in science fiction and fantasy. From literature to video games.

As he was partially on the topic or action of mind control he found his mind wandering to the possibility of controlling more than simply the mind, but the body as well. Thus forming the basis of his second wish.

He delved away from actual super powers, and found himself wandering down the path of the arts and of crafts. Puppetry stood out, Pinocchio came to mind as well, but he thought that perhaps breathing life into a formerly lifeless object was a bit too close to the god-experience that he still wanted to avoid.

'_I wish to be the greatest Puppet Master to ever walk the face of this world,_' he mentally wished, and left the rest of the details up to his wish granter while also waiting for whatever sign was to signify that his wish had been granted.

Having already mastered his mind, he mastered control of his own body, and prepared himself for whatever it was that might affect his body in order for him to be this great puppet master.

'_Granted,_' the ghost-like voice replied.

The signifying occurrence that displayed that the wish had been granted was that all the things within the owner of the mind's vicinity suddenly moving around as if on their own volition. The owner of the mind also felt as if there were fine invisible strings coming out of his body and connecting to each of the inanimate objects.

Even before the ghost-like voice's owner could seal away the new wish for it to be mastered throughout the remainder of this year, the owner of the mind in which their conversation was being held took hold of the strings and disengaged them from the thing they had been connected to and sucked them into him, in a way.

'_See you in a year I guess,_' the ghost-like voice stated, with nary a goodbye, his presence vanished from the mind.

Leaving the owner of the mind to his own devices, to discover the extent of his newest addition to his repertoire of abilities, as well as how to effectively use them subconsciously and unconsciously.

If he was able to become a master practitioner of the mind arts or simply anything that had anything to do with the mind, it was greatly possible for him to become the puppet master that he wished to become.

Though due to the fact that he was affecting something that was indirectly connected to himself, as in something that was not originally part of himself, he had only mastered his art of puppetry to the point of perfectly controlling one humanoid object. He had one of his relatives purchase a mannequin which he converted into a perfect replica of his mother based on some of the memories which his aunt had of her own sister.

At the start of his training the only thing he could do was lift into the air anything that he managed to attach his strings to. It was a start, he had forgone finding an explanation for how he could manage such a thing, and he moved on from there.

He had his aunt also purchase a regular puppet for him to practice with and familiarize himself with an actual puppet. It took him a while, but he eventually moved on to attaching his fine invisible strings to that small puppet, before moving on to needing less and less strings, until he was finally left with needing only one to do everything he wished to do.

Then came the construction of the life-sized human puppet whose base form was that one mannequin. He made the puppet so life-like that after he finally mastered the thing and added his own things to it, that most that encountered the puppet thought that it was a real live person.

He didn't know how or why, but his first ever life-sized and life-like puppet was life-like even at the touch. What should have felt like plastic, paint, or wood, felt like flesh. It was strange, odd, freakish even, but he accepted it. He was the only puppet master in the world with enough talent and ability to bring his puppets as close to life as possible, without crossing the threshold into the realm of playing god.

'_I have returned once more, this time to listen and grant your third and final wish,_' the ghost-like voice, as before, entered the mind in which the meeting had taken place the two previous times, '_What wish do you wish to have granted this final time?_'

His thoughts did not bring forth an immediate answer, just as had happened the past two times.

He sought out what possible power could give him even more of an edge in the world. He was already a master at controlling not only the minds of others but their bodies as well. These two were not god-powers as he still would have to fight against those with strong minds and strong wills, or even strong physical forms.

Then his mind wandered over to his puppet, his life-sized one and to the fact that whenever he had it come alive it's fake texture gained some manner of life of its own, allowing the whole thing to fool the living's sense of touch. This train of thought and thoughts led him to the conclusion that only thing left for him, the only logical thing for him to wish for as far as wishes were concerned was the power of transformation.

His mind settled on that decision.

'_Transformation,_' he stated in his mind with finality.

'_A wise decision,_' the ghost-like voice stated.

Just as the previous two times, there was a obvious sign that something within the owner of the mind meeting place had changed or been added.

It was pain unlike anything that he had ever physically felt in his short life. He witnessed and felt as his body shifted from solid to liquid to gas and back again, as it changed from animate to inanimate, from living to non-living, to organic to manufactured. He went through so many potentially possible transformations that just as he was about to wish for death it all ended. He was returned to what he would from that day on refer to as his base form.

Transformation? It was more like he had the power of spontaneous or instantaneous evolution. In a world where the law of nature was survival of the fittest, he met that requirement every time. It was only a matter of time before he could do it at a moment's conscious thought or even faster than even that.

'_With this I take my leave,_' the ghost-like voice stated, but just as his presence was about to leave the mind a quick question of why stopped him in his mental tracks, '_I saw an opportunity and took it. Now do your best with what you've got, and don't forget to entertain me._'

The owner of the mind didn't really know what the ghost-like voice meant, but he figured that it must have been the price he would pay for the granting of the three wishes. He was still a mere mortal after all, and it appeared that he was a certain higher power's plaything, of a sort.

It took him the rest of that year, each meeting was just before his birthday, until his eleventh birthday to get his third ability down to another art-form. It took him a year to control his transformations as well as get himself to customize them. He went from minimal transformation like the changing the color of his eyes to changing the texture of his skin. By the time of his 11th birthday he was proficient enough to shift through varying forms without having to revert back to his base form first.

It was some of the most fun he had ever had in his short life. It also allowed him to become a rather efficient and dangerous person to deal with. With his mind reading ability, and a trick that he learned and chose to call his own personal Jedi Mind Trick, along with his puppet making and controlling talents, with a dash of his transformation ability, he managed to worm and weasel his way into the very heart of the international criminal community.

He didn't really have a very moral upbringing, since any discipline he might have been shown or given was rudely stopped by his mental attacks and experiments on his relatives after he turned the age of eight. Due to this he was forced or he forced himself into learning more about the world and what he could do in it and how it worked and all those important things by watching through the eyes of his relatives, watching television, watching his neighbors, and all that. He based all or most of his conclusions on the actions and reactions of all those that he observed.

He knew that there were only really two things that truly ran the world. Money and Power. Most of the time those two things went hand in hand. He found that his relatives didn't really have either in the quantities that he would have liked, and thus had used four of the six months in his training year to find a way to get those two things in that short amount of time.

It was a really good thing for him that he stumbled upon some small time crooks that were escaping from the scene of their crime just as he was making his way home from school. He was still a student after all. While he was special, he didn't really want to stand out too much. He wanted to be and remain as being just another face in the crowd, just another voice in the cacophony of voices in the background.

He delved into those two elements of darkness' minds and dug up as much information of the world they lived most of their lives in as he could. When he had gained enough he turned them into vegetables, followed by turning them into his human puppets. His acting skills were always quite good, coupled with his mind reading he could fool anyone.

He was good enough to fool a random stranger that he was speaking with his grandmother when in truth he was speaking to a corpse turned puppet, a corpse that belonged to a young man that had been dead for quite some time.

He used the bodies to get him to where they were to meet up with the buyers of their wares. They weren't the run-of-the-mill robbers, they didn't do just petty crimes, that was more so that the authorities wouldn't catch onto the bigger things they had done in recent memory.

The meeting place was ideal for doing illegal business. Sure there were a lot of the potential witnesses, but the noise level and the traffic made it next to impossible to tell that what was going on was more than a simple business transaction.

Upon meeting with the contact, the puppet master loosened his strings and let the two now useless bodies fall. It had quite the shock effect, it surely caught the contact off guard and suddenly on guard for anything out of the ordinary as he made his way away from the suddenly seemingly lifeless forms.

The mind walker had a plan in mind already and implemented it as soon as he slackened his strings on the two puppets, it was a good thing that he could already control more than one at the same time, in fact he could control a total of ten puppets at the same time performing independent actions.

No one really paid much attention to the then ten year old that was stalking the much older man in a trench coat who looked rather suspicious for simply leaving his two companions as they fell to the ground in what most others thought was mere unconsciousness.

The man himself didn't even pay the kid much mind until they actually physically bumped into one another. Before the man could berate the child, he felt intense pain as his mind was ravaged by an intense mental assault that would have left him reeling if not for the fact that his mind was wiped clean of all thoughts was replaced with something like a puppet program.

It was a total brainwashing.

The wishes were to make a change in the wisher, whatever the wisher did with his wishes didn't matter even when they affected the the rest of the world. The limitation on affecting only the self was when the wishes were being made after all.

The memories were then returned after their forceful removal, but these memories were not all as they had originally been. They had been tampered, enough so that the man's loyalties now lay with the boy. He was now but another toy, a puppet still just not without any strings.

It was this mole that was used to gain the 10 year old access to this other world, the shadow of the world in the light. He gained nigh unrestricted access to the shadow world, it was more than enough for him to begin planning out what he would be doing and how he would be leaving his mark on that world, a mark that he could use to gain some manner of control or power in that world. That and gain some money in the process.

Making more than just a name for himself in that world took some work on his part. He had to find his niche in that world, something that he would be needed for, whether if it was a service provided or a commodity. He needed to work on that, and work on it he did.

Since he didn't really feel bad or feel anything after doing some things that other more normal people would have felt some form of guilt about, he chose to go down the path of hired killer and part-time spy. He could accomplish those two feats, what with the resources he had at his disposal.

After watching a few movies, mostly suspense and horror ones since he wanted himself to be more unique, since his true face would not be used in any of his business dealings, he settled on two sets or kinds of forms. Forms which his puppets would take. Obtaining their parts were easy, since all he needed to do for the time being was have his mind slave and uncle procure his needed materials for him.

The sight that met his relatives upon entering his room around two months after his sneaking into the shadow world was a horrific sight. He was after all practicing at the time with his newly constructed puppets. His relatives were relived horror induced nightmares after that incident.

He had built himself one Predator puppet, and around three Xenomorph puppets.

It was a good thing that he figured out that his transformation ability extended to anything that he was touching at anytime, and the transformation could become permanent if he so wished even after the thing, whatever it was, was no longer touching him. This meant that his puppets were as real in real life as they appeared on the big screen, complete with different colored blood, acidic blood, and drool.

The guiding principle of everything he did was 'to think is to create'. That was all there really was to it, that and that 'belief is a powerful thing'.

His puppets had become an extension of his body and of his will. This was how he operated on that first job that he had taken. It was a low paying one, since the hit wasn't really that important but a mere annoyance.

He didn't have need of a bank account,which could have led to some problems, since the job was an in cash thing, half before the job was performed and half after it was done. But since he was a newbie, a relative unknown, his client opted to wait until the completion of the job.

The middleman, the mind slave, took care of all the details so that no face to face meeting was necessary.

Due to his transformation ability being able to extend to his puppets, they too had base forms to revert to once a transformation was canceled. In this first job's case, he had them transform into replicas of a combination in looks of some normal people and pets, specifically dogs.

The Predator was the pet walker, while the xenomorphs were the dogs. The target normally took nighttime jobs at a park and was always on schedule. The client couldn't or didn't want to get his hands dirty, and so left it to his hired assassins.

It was one of those make it look like an accident or animal attack kinds of things, which was what the boy had indeed done.

Other joggers and innocent bystanders that night were treated to quite a sight, had anyone of them been unlucky enough to have watched the 1979 film that the xenomorphs were based on or taken from, they would not have been able sleep or walk about at night without being very very paranoid for a very long time.

It was a scene out of a horror film, the client was just jogging, who cared about his profession and whether or not he had a family of his own, and just as he was about to pass by a dog walker and his pack of dogs things turned nasty.

The dogs got away from the dog walker and began to chase down the unlucky jogger. It looked like a classic case of animal attack. That would have been the case had the dogs not dropped the illusions and turned into the vicious killing machines they were known for being in the movies that they starred in.

It was a deer in the headlights kind of thing for all the bystanders, as the dog walker seemed to vanish, only to be replaced by a blade wielding, monster in its own right, thing where once the dog walker with the three leashes had been.

After viciously bringing the jogger target down the beasts noticed the stalking hunter and began to, look like, they were about to engage it.

Suffice to say that in the chaos that ensued the jogger lost his head, and before any of the authorities could arrive the dog walk and his dogs had already resumed their walk. No one was the wiser as to what had really happened, though a number of UFO enthusiasts grew to believe that there truly was life somewhere out there and that Ridley Scott and those that came after him were in some sense or way prophets.

The target had been a stock exchange broker that had lost the almost anonymous client a few hundred thousand pounds in a mistake in judgment business deal. The client was pleased with the work, but at the same time chose not to fulfill his end of the deal since he believed that the hired killer or killers didn't even know what he looked like and it wasn't like the middleman would be able to rat him out either.

The man received as payback a revised facehugger and chestburster. That and being the second polished skull to adorn what would later become the boy's trophy cabinet.

Investigators and authorities that had been after the client for quite some time due to some related suspected crimes of the man were baffled when they found what seemed to be a stage prop of a xenomorph egg, a husk of the revised facehugger and of course the from toes to neck remains of the man that had had his chest blown out from the insider.

Due to the earlier incident of there having been alien sightings in a park, some investigators sent out search parties to track down some kind of animal that might have been born from the chest of the client turned victim.

That and if possible bring in an interstellar bounty hunter if there even was one.

After the incident of revenge, the middleman went off to find yet another client, after finding one and agreeing to the full payment being delivered after the job was accomplished he left with the parting warning not to make the same mistake as the last guy, the one whose killer had yet to be found.

The target was dealt with in the same manner as the first client had been. The same things were found at the scene of the murder, and another hunt was secretly started for a second creature. The authorities were now on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary.

And just like the first client, this second one refused to pay, but made sure that if anyone did try to do him in there would be plenty of witnesses and he had plenty of backup and guards watching him. It was a test of sorts, but one which he would not be coming out of alive.

He was dealing with a master of the mind after all, and all it took was watching a movie about a dream walker that did more than walk and talk in another person's dreams. The inspiration of how he would be proceeding with his next revenge kill was a 1984 horror film, this also led to the creation of yet another puppet, a puppet that could pass of as Freddy Krueger himself, should the dream menace actually himself in the real world.

The second client had been dreaming the night after he threatened the middleman after deciding that he wouldn't pay his hired blade. It was a dream that seemed to have been borrowed from a memory. It was the man's first kill, but in some bizarre manner it was from the point-of-view of his first victim. The twist in the dream came when the killing strike was to be delivered, the second client's body the one he remembered having in the actual events that the dream was based on morphed into the nightmarish fiend himself.

The clothes that he had been wearing when he ended the life of his first ever murder victim morphed into a dirty green and red sweater, he gained a dirty brown fedora hat, his face morphed into a burnt and scarred one, and of course to finish of the transformation, one hand turned from wielding a regular knife into a hand ending in finger knives.

He screamed a blood curdling death wail that alerted all of his guards that something was wrong. None of them had been posted inside his room, just outside of it and all the possible entrances and exits, even the vents leading into the room had been monitored from the outside. Nothing should have been able to get into the room. But for someone that could turn into air and enter such unguarded minds, it was a piece of cake, and this boy could bake.

His guards barged into his room ready for anything, what they were not ready for was their boss standing on his bed and his body contorting in ways that they didn't think normally humanly possible. Then came the coup d' grace of the kill, a gloved and knived hand burst out of the chest of the client turned murder victim.

It was once again like a scene from out of a horror film, though not the one that had more or less melded with the mind of the main victim. The body that the hand belonged to seemed to materialize from out of the air, which was the case in this case as the boy who had been keeping the puppet in his pocket in a shrunken state had simply let it do his bidding as he unshrunk it and had it gradually, for dramatic effect, turn solid from the gas state that it had been in.

From there it had become a one sided blood bath, for how does one kill something that was never alive to begin with.

Authorities discovered the scene of the massacre where only one survivor could be found after a cleaning lady reported what she had found as she reported for work that morning.

The survivor did not need to be intimidated, watching what happened to all his friends, his boss, and co-workers die in the most horrible ways imaginable and unimaginable had been more than enough to make him help out people that he normally would not have considered spilling the beans to. Word needed to get out that there was a mass murderer out in the world, lurking in the land of shadows.

Due to the sloshy quality of some of the remains that were strewn around the room, all the blood and gore had somehow been contained and limited to only the bedroom. No one had managed to notice that some body parts had been taken from the scene of the crime as either some sort of souvenir or raw materials for another project.

The third client was just as hard headed and unprofessional as the first two. He too had sufferent a similar fate, as did his job victim.

The client's reasoning for the kill was that the victim had stolen his identity, or his birth identity as was the case. It was a revenge kill for taking the life that the client could have lived had he had a firm and unquestionable grip on his original identity which had been used in all sorts of cases of fraud and embezzlement.

The victim had suffered a repeat performance of Freddy, while the client who refused to pay up had suffered a rather unique and coincidental fate as the man just so happened to have the surname of Myers and had a son by the name of Michael.

Witnesses to the murder of the client claimed that they were in so much shock at the startling turn of events during a friendly gathering that they hadn't been able to move once the kill started and ended. It was like watching some sort of movie parody or movie murder scene brought to life.

The kid could not be charged with patricide since he had a solid alibi which was that he was in school where many teachers and classmates would attest to his innocence. But every witness could swear that they thought they saw the actual son of the victim, walk into the room they were all in wearing a clown costume and proceed to viciously stab the victim with a kitchen knife before running out of the place, without any evidence or clues as to where he had gone.

It not until the fourth double set of kills did the authorities decide to finally admit to the public that there was some sort of serial killer on the loose, a copycat killer of a sort that seemed to bring movie villains or monsters to life.

His fourth set of kills were another client and target kill, the middleman had actually decided to bring his boss more jobs, especially after the first job, that would bring his boss more fame rather than money. More fame made the price for jobs higher, and money could be gained later on much more easily, especially if the fame entailed that crossing his boss would lead to unquestionable death.

The fourth set of murders or mass murders since the client was always accompanied by a guard led to the revelation of a secret world that would not have been revealed to the boy killer until he received a very special letter on or a little after his eleventh birthday.

The client had been a man that went by the name Michael Zabini, research had revealed that the man had adopted his wife's surname upon their union as it was a stipulation of their marriage contract. The man simply wanted a rival crime family iced completely. The rival family went by the name Tonks, a complete list of all members that the client wanted dead was handed over to the middleman who passed it on, in a most mysterious way, to the young killing machine.

Zabini was a paranoid man, as much as he was a ruthless one. He was paranoid since he was in fact the seventh husband that his rather young and beautiful wife had taken on and forced to adopt her name. He was the seventh husband of the woman in the span of ten years, only one of the woman's previous marriage had produced a child by the name of Blaise.

There was a rumor that had been circulating for years that either the woman was cursed or she had all of her previous husbands, all of them quite wealthy in their own rights, killed.

No one could prove or disprove the rumors of course.

Not even the young Blaise knew the truth.

There were a total of twelve Tonks crime family members that were to be iced. Freddy made his appearance to them one by one, on the same night. And the boy used his puppet to kill them all in the same bloody fashion after each man had awoken barely escaping from the murderer in their dreams. Their deaths soon followed their sharing of their nightmares that all seemed so real and sounded so similar to one another's nightmares.

Zabini, after refusing to make the payment had sent his refusal to the boy by way of leaving the middleman's desecrated corpse in the middle of London's zoo where it was sure to be found and shown quite visibly on the news.

While authorities didn't think that it was connected to the serial killings, all those in the know regarding the situation knew that it indeed was.

Michael Zabini laid protection upon protection on himself and in the penthouse in which he lived. They were all magical in nature and not some gift from some higher power that was even beyond the complete comprehension of Magic himself. His guards too were in the know of that secret which they kept from a majority of the rest of the shadow world in which they lived in.

There were quite a number of their kind, those from the secret world that lived a part of their lives in the shadow world, all of them knew who the others were or at least suspected as none could be sure without an actual confrontation. But the point was that they were there.

With all the protections in place, it came as quite a surprise that the Zabini client still managed to die. The rumors following his death fueled the rumors of his wife having a curse on her or at least her name.

He had thought not that long and not that hard on his manner of premeditated murder this time around.

Just to go with the trend that he was on, mostly using puppets which were in a sense like dolls, he would go a little bit further with the doll concept by making a puppet of a doll he had seen in a more recent movie. It was film that came out in 1988 about a serial killer that transferred his soul into a doll that went by the product name of Good Guy.

He visited his client in wind form, his puppet strings continuously attached to his puppet which he had earlier on sent to the man in the mail. He watched as the man and his men checked over the doll and the packaging it came in in the oddest manner, before the man actually held the doll.

The man's surface thoughts were of him possibly giving the doll to his stepson, which in the mind of the child was a bad thing if it ever occurred, while at the same time the man was also wracking his brains for the reason why he thought that the doll looked a little bit familiar. Some of his guards were also moving down the same train of thought. They all also wondered why someone would send a grown man a doll of all things.

They all got their answer when the doll, who didn't look like it had any means of moving on its own, sat up from where it had been set down after the grown men had personally inspected it by hand and suddenly spoke.

Alarm bells rang in the heads of all the grown men when they heard the words..

"Hi I'm Chucky, and I'm your friend til the end. Hidey-ho!" the doll said, via its own voice box, but the voice was of course courtesy of its puppet master.

The grown men brought out not only guns but also a bunch of sticks. He found out what the sticks could do after a the head man himself gave the order to destroy the doll. A doll that by their inspections should not have been able to have gotten passed such inspections.

A few bolts of energy were flung from the sticks, and by the incantations that some of the men forcefully called out, the boy determined that they were wands and that the men were some sort of magic user like wizards or mages, but most certainly not magicians.

It was the first time that something had actually managed to make noticeable damage to one of his puppets. It was a doll after all, molded and based off on another doll. But it was one of his creations nonetheless and thus the damage dealt to his creation cause some more additional rage to build up within him.

Magic, being as real as his power and abilities, had him decide to barrel his way into the minds of these magic user and divine their secrets. He met some resistance and some mental walls that had tried and failed to keep him out.

It was from their minds that he learned quite a lot about this hidden world, a world which he also found out he belonged to. It turned into quite the educational venture.

With his information gathering over and done with, he allowed his doll puppet to be blasted and torn up, in short get ripped apart with parts flying all over the place.

He could and would make another, once he found a better way to keep it and the rest of its brethren relatively safe, or safer from harm.

He decided to make this little visit a little bit more personal, and what better way than to shock these people to their core than to have himself appear before them, his other puppets tucked away in his clothes, he wore a multi-pocketed vest over a plain blue long sleeved shirt and cargo pants. Of course he had shoes and socks too, but those weren't that important.

"Hi, I'm Harry!" he greeted them to their surprise as he materialized right before their very eyes, he cast a glance at his downed and destroyed puppet, "Wanna play?"

"Kill him!" Zabini shouted at his men, and when the kid brushed aside some of his bangs and showed them who he was, the order remained the same but with less passion in it for the one that stood before him and his men had escaped certain death once already, "Kill him!"

Wands snapped themselves in half, and guns trained themselves on their owners and wielders alike.

He just loved the looks on these grown men's faces when he pulled all of the triggers at exactly the same time. They all dropped dead at the same time too, their gray matter and blood, of course, splattering all over the room.

Before leaving he made sure to leave with a number of valuables, he had gained quite a lot of information this night, such as some old knowledge that Zabini had regarding spoils of war. Sure the man didn't have control over the Zabini fortune, but the man still had his own wealth, which just so happened to have been discreetly transferred to the control of his killer, along with whatever belonged to the man's men.

It was a profitable night for the boy and those that managed to gain something from the exchanging of control over certain accounts.

For the first time in seven marriages, the Zabini matriarch would not be getting a single pound from her latest late husband, it was business after all. She had failed to add a clause in her prenuptial agreement regarding what would happen to her most recent late husband's wealth should he ever pass on due to being killed or defeated in battle of any sort by a fellow resident of the secret world. She had believed that all of his wealth would have automatically gone to her like what had happened in her previous marriages.

Aside from being the cause of gaining the media nickname Freddy Krueger of London, since he brought nightmares to life or something like that, this double set of murders gained him some personal wealth that he himself worked for, worked hard for if anyone were to ask.

After this job he brought back his middleman as a puppet, knowing enough about his middleman he could fool even the deceased's former friends. He dubbed the puppet Middleman since that was its job, to be the middleman in getting him jobs.

His fifth job was paid for upfront, the client didn't want to end up like his predecessors and decided that trust was a very important thing between business partners, that and it ensured his survival after the job was accomplished.

The target was someone that went by the name Arthur Weasley, details were given at the meeting between the client and Middleman. The guy worked for some government department in the secret world, the client assumed that since Michael Zabini had been eliminated then it meant that this hired killer knew about the secret world, even if the person could possibly not be an actual resident.

Arthur Weasley and Arthur Weasley alone was the target, not his family nor his friends. The man was considered to be a pain in the ass for certain individuals, and so decided to do something about the meddling man.

For certain individuals, the death of this mundane loving man would spell out for those like him that those that they irritate 'don't fuck with us' kind of message. It might have been a peaceful time for the whole world in general, but that didn't mean that there were no more horrors lurking around dark corners.

Since he knew of no movie that these people of the secret or magical world would recognize, he decided to simply go with the one person that he knew they would recognize, this meant that his killing would have to happen in broad daylight with multiple witnesses. But before that he needed to get as much memory information as he could regarding the puppet that he was going to make.

His puppet, his chosen puppet's face was that of none other than the man that had been responsible for making him a celebrated orphan in the magical world himself, the self styled Dark Lord Voldemort and three Death Eaters to be on he safe side.

This fifth job was to be his true debut, since it was unique to him since receiving his school acceptance or invitation letter was not that unique an experience.

He ventured into the magical world in disguise, making sure that no one would pay him any attention. He wore his cargo pants, vest over dark blue long sleeved shirt, and added a multi-pocketed trench coat. He loved having pockets, lots and lots of pockets.

In the pockets he placed the things he would need, these being his wallet which contained what meager funds he had managed to swindle out of his relatives without things growing suspicious, his puppets of course, and some identification.

He also, of course, remembered to change his face. He knew that those in this secret world would more or less recognize him, if not for his scar then for his resemblance to his father. He knew about that from his aunt's memories, he also knew that he had his mother's eyes.

His parents and who he was also prompted him to belay the decision to walk into this relatively, to him, new world with his mother puppet that he used when venturing out into the mundane world.

He didn't need his uncle or aunt to take him to London, he had his own mode of transportation. He loved flying, as he found during his experiments in transformation. Thus his favorite mode of transportation was turning into some bird of prey and going for a fly.

He chose to go as an owl for this intelligence gathering foray into the magical world. He needed to know what his puppets for murderous purposes would need to look like, as well as what kinds of people to keep on the lookout for while he was on his mission of murder.

Getting into the main thoroughfare of magical London was easier than pie being an owl, they were the one avian race that had free access to the world, as they were the primary messengers or postal carriers.

He perched on a store's signboard and scanned the thoughts of the wizards and witches passing by and underneath him. This was how he got to know the world he would be joining in part.

Once he got most of the mostly and widely used terms down, he delved deeper into the surprisingly unguarded minds of these passing people to dig up even more information, as not everyone knew the same things about the same thing and different things. He also needed to find out what the supposedly late Dark Lord looked like as well as the basic design of his loyal followers.

He eventually found his way into the mind of one that had been an active participant in the war that he had ended at the expense of his parents and possibly and probably a more normal childhood. This man intimately knew both sides of the fence, thus became a treasure trove of information.

The intelligence gathering mission became a history lesson of the war, that he had somehow ended, seen from the eyes of one of its participants. In the mind time flowed or moved different from the rest of the outside world, this allowed him to have his history lesson end within a matter of minutes and it seemed that even though the man had quite the formidable defenses, they were not formidable enough to keep this child out.

With the faces of much of the supposedly defeated Dark Lord's forces in his mind as well as the evolving faces of the Dark Lord himself, the owl took off from his perch and made his way to the London flea markets and craft shops. As well as to his uncle's office, he needed supplies now that he knew the faces of those that were to serve as his first magical puppets.

It didn't take him long to turn his resources or base materials into four new puppets. He found that puppet making became so easy, more like natural really, to him. After discovering the world of magic and that he had it, he figured that his puppet making was some sort of inborn magical ability that he might have inherited or something like that.

It was possible that he just might not have been aware of it that his magic flowed through him and into his art whenever he performed said art, which was puppet making, the puppetry part was a power all its own since he knew without a doubt that his strings were not magic or any kind of quantifiable energy.

He deployed his latest additions to his puppet army as he made his way through the main thoroughfare of the shopping district of magical London. He had received and replied to his acceptance letter just the other day, stating that he would not be needing a guide and would be able to make it on his own.

He didn't want anyone meddling with his affairs.

Having riffled through the minds of the many bank patrons, he knew what he needed in order to access his vaults, a key. A key that he was not in possession of and should be in possession of. Someone, that was not him, was breaking the law. For what purposes, he was not sure but he had an inkling of a clue of the possibilities.

He also had knowledge of the many oaths and vows that could be made in order to protect him from harm. Words and vows and promises were powerful binding things in the magical world. He intended to use this new knowledge to his advantage.

He walked into the bank, which while already looming in the upper ground, was even more massive in its underground parts. A vast and deep series of tunnels and caves. He found the goblins, the only thing that they could be depended on, by the wizards who ruled the magical world, was banking.

These vicious creatures he could respect, or learn to respect more than he already did. They didn't really give a shit about what others thought of them, the only things that mattered to them was power and honor. Personal power and personal honor. These people he could deal with.

Their hard exterior was natural to them, they were naturally the way they appeared, and no amount of kissing up would get them to like a person. They didn't respect others that had more wealth than they, they craved that wealth and wanted it to become their own, they were just honor bound not to try and gain it through unsavory and illegal means.

They would sooner kill the majority of their clients than serve them.

While the majority of the wizarding race knew next to really nothing about the goblins, he, this murderous child, knew more than enough about them to even go so far as to claim as to understand them.

He knew that knowing their language would not get him into their good graces, it was a language, a spell could get one to understand and speak it after all. There was nothing truly special about it.

While wealth they envied, it was power that they respected. Power not in the same sense as the wizards, but that willingness to simply end another's life. Though they might have respected the Dark Lord Voldemort, they did not side with him, join him, or whatever since he didn't see them as his equal or anything close to that. They were just tools in his eyes, ones that once their purpose had been served were to be cast aside or destroyed outright.

He walked into the bank and up to a teller to request to see his account manager if he even had one. He wasn't all that sure, since he didn't have his key and had never even really known that he had one until a few days previous. It was possible that whoever had his keys had already emptied out his vaults of their contents for whatever nefarious purposes they had for such wealth.

Blood was the key, blood was the answer, blood was more than just a commodity. It was special and highly prized and sought after. Through it many things could be accomplished, like turning another into one's willing or unwilling slave. Much like how saving a life, whether selflessly or otherwise tied that saved life's fate to the savior. Tricky tricky this magical world.

He argued with the goblin teller into swearing an oath on his honor that his blood would only be used to verify his claim to his identity, no keeping some for a later time or some other such nonsense. He didn't allow the goblins to have any hold over him other than his material wealth locked away in their bank, in the vaults that were in a way considered as a part of their territory.

The goblin agreed, seeing and feeling the sheer viciousness that this one eleven year old child or young teen possessed. There was a willingness to kill veiled in those emerald orbs, a color which reminded the goblin of one of the most feared curses ever discovered by magical kind.

The goblin was more or less forced to agree to the terms of the honor bound oath that it was to give the wizarding child. While it knew that it had been more than threatened by the child, it was impressed at the guile and sheer power that such a young human possessed. For there before it was a child that had no problems with ending lives and finding ways to get what he wanted.

There before the goblin, who swore a binding oath on its clan's honor, was a child that had claimed the possessions and all that belonged and could be given to him by right of conquest.

The goblin of course did not know how a child had managed to pull it off, of course it could also be noted that no one still knew how a child had managed to survive a direct hit from a curse that no one before him had ever survived from.

His account manager had also been forced, coerced, manipulated into swearing a similar oath as the teller. The child suddenly, though his actions and decisions, had gained the respect, lasting respect, of two goblins, a feat that not many could boast about having gained, and in a single day too.

He was brought up to date regarding his accounts, as well as all the laws and decrees that had been either broken or ignored, along with a list of all the names of the people that had wronged him financially. There had also been a brief discussion about his late parents' wills, there had been two of them.

He gave the green light for his account manager to file the correct and proper documents that needed to be filed for the guilty parties to be charged in their world and in their courts for all the wrongs that they had committed. He did not share with these goblins what he intended to do should the law fail in its duty to serve justice.

Blood would flow like a river, coating the streets in its crimson goodness should justice not be delivered in the wizarding courts. He would see to that.

With business concluded, as well as a magical checkbook, and the magical equivalent of a credit card, in hand. He left the goblins with nary a farewell, they were busy creatures after all and couldn't be bothered with such human formalities.

It was time for his school supply shopping as well as taking out the target that he had already been paid to eliminate and set as an example that certain darker individuals in the magical world were not to be messed or trifled with.

The red headed man and those like him or of like mind as him had received hints and clues as to what might befall them should they continue their ways. Whatever those ways and dealings were of course. It wasn't the eleven year old's business after all, he just had a job to accomplish.

He ducked into a deserted alleyway and unshrunk the four puppets that he was to play with. They wore black cloaks, and three wore pristine white masks to cover their faces under their hoods. The Dark Lord puppet had been modeled after the more snakelike visage of the former man turned abomination that had performed quite the number of rituals in his life.

The Dark Lord puppet took wore its hood to cover its face, a face that would later be revealed once the chaos was to ensue.

Chaos. That was the true and underlying reasons for why these four puppets were truly created. What better way to be remembered than to sow such chaos that would unsettle a public that thought that they were living in a time of peace.

Four strings were all he needed as he walked out of the alleyway his puppets following close behind him, then moving in front of him.

His strings connected him to them, his extensions of his body and his will. They served as not only additional arms and legs, but also additional eyes and ears and other senses if he so wished.

What he saw in his mind's eye or heard in his mind's ears would have confused any other person, but not one such as him. It was just another one of those unexplainable things. His brain had gotten used to having more of a single sense working or running at the same time.

He located his target rather easily, as the man was in a verbal and almost physical confrontation with a blonde aristocratic man. A man that he recognized from the memories he had stolen from that walking history lesson, the war from the eyes of a spy.

Lucius Malfoy, was the man's name. He was a wealthy pureblood that had served in the inner circle of the Dark Lord's army and had claimed to have been under mind control during the war explaining his actions. That and the man had bribed his way out of prison and into being seen as an innocent man and victim of circumstance and all that rot. He was a traitor to himself, and thus needed to be punished. The man would, this day, be reminded why it was not a good thing to betray one that one has sworn eternal fealty to, and so visibly to too.

He scanned the minds of the crowd and recalled the dark curses that the history lesson had provided him. In the end realizing that just like his powers it was really all about intent, will, belief, and intentions. But it was the words in this case that were supremely important as they were the triggers that would cause chaos to ensue. Two of a trio of unforgivable curses, was all he really needed to cause panic in a populous that had nearly forgotten all the fear and mistrust that the previous war had brought them.

He channeled his magical energies through his strings, they were invisible to any form of detection, he was sure of that and more especially while in a magically saturated environment.

His four puppets more than came alive as he, in a ventriloquist-like manner uttered the words in different voices through all four puppets' mouths...

"_Crucio_"

It came out as a whisper, but the screams of the targets of the spells could be heard all the way in the bowels of the bank he had more or less just come from. The three Death Eater puppets had situated themselves right behind the family of three that was the Malfoy family. While the Dark Lord puppet stood just a few feet away from a shocked to panicked Arthur Weasley.

It took barely a moment before the main thoroughfare of London's magical districts to crash down in instant pandemonium.

It was as if the war had not been won, it was as if a one year old did not become an orphan to save their collective hides. It was as if the light had dimmed to allow the shadow world to emerge like a dark hidden dragon finally rearing up and breathing its killing flames.

Then came the two words that the whole peace loving light wizards had been hoping to never hear in their presence ever again or ever for that matter.

A bolt of sickly emerald green light streaked between the heads of two red headed twin boys, and struck true. Arthur Weasley's soul emptied out of his eyes as a Death Reaper became visible only to the eleven year old killer. The Reaper removed the soul from the red headed man's body, as if in slow motion and separated the magic from the man.

It was a startling turn of events even for the killer, the assassin, as the Reaper stretched out a bony hand with a ball of magic held in it, offering it to the puppet that had fired the dreaded Killing curse.

~Take it, as a gift, as shall all your magical kills after this one yield~ the Death Reaper spoke, its hollow voices tickling the child's ears and mind, in the same ghost-like way that that one granter of three wishes had done in the past.

The Dark Lord puppet held out its own hand and accepted the gift, a gift that would now be his, the child's, to claim after the death of every magical that he chose to slay.

The puppet lowered its hood, to the horror of those that still dared to see the face of this murderer, that they thought was alive, and so they screamed in horror as what they thought to be the red head's soul be consumed by the maw of the snakelike creature that those that knew how he looked like screamed out the nickname that they had collectively given him.

Before any form of counter attack could begin, the four puppets continued with the rest of their destructive offensive. Spells flew from the wands that had no real cores in them, the puppets themselves served the purpose that a wand would for the child.

Not that anyone was aware of it.

Spells were flung, intents were made known, and more and more bodies hit the floor by each passing second. By the time that the authorities arrived, late as they usually were as the public were prone to complain about, the four puppets would have already been shrunk down, and their master would have already left. Pandemonium left in his wake, and only one life taken for the day.

He left his shopping for another day.

He was cutting it close when he finally did go for his school shopping. After all cutting it close didn't get any closer than the night before he was to leave for his new school, when the shops were just about to close.

Due to the wealth that his parents and ancestors had managed to accumulate over the centuries, he had more than enough monetary resources to spend on more than what was required of him to bring to school for the year. He focused more on books and material resources for potions, chemical concoctions, and puppets. The books part was an obvious choice since knowledge was power, even wrong knowledge was helpful.

He would still be enjoying his part-time job as a hitman-assassin-serial killer, even though he would be somewhere in some hidden castle in Scotland or wherever the school was located. He could travel from one place to another quite fast, and as he learned by using Middleman to get himself some more jobs, one to three puppets could still be controlled without issue from long distances.

Since anything he touched he was able to force a transformation on, his things were kept shrunk in one of his or several of his pockets just like his precious puppets of death.

He found the platform easily, having followed the still grieving family of red heads whom he had deprived of a patriarch. What he found on the other side was a cacophony of sounds and people littering the platform, well wishers, families sending off their children to this next stage in their lives, and a few giving their condolences to the still grieving family. There were even those that were staying as far from the a group of Italian looking people as possible.

Very few people paid him any mind, who would anyway, he didn't look all that unique or out of place after all. He also made sure to have Middleman out in the open accompanying him as a precaution if he needed someone or something to run interference for him.

He boarded the train avoiding any of the other freshmen and more senior students that could be found on the platform and in the train. When he had to actually interact with the other students he either ignored them or excused himself from their presences.

On the platform, as he had left Middleman there, the puppet was being approached from some potential clients that had heard about him along the grapevine or from their contacts in the shadow world. Some of these people were mere feelers, while others were rather serious in their propositions. They were more honorable people as compared to the first ones who had refused to pay what had been promised for each kill.

Their targets were all people that would not really be missed, it was really just their way of testing out this killer or killers skills and abilities. There were also questions regarding the Dark Lord Voldemort's possible return, Middleman stuck to business and did not comment on the possible return of the Dark Lord or respond to inquiry as to the possibility of polyjuice having been used somehow.

While Middleman was busy peddling his wares so to speak, his master was fiddling with a new set of puppets, smaller ones this time in the forms of cute furry creatures, but had features, now that he knew how, that allowed them to change their forms like how animagi did. From cute furry creatures to reptilian monsters, that with a modified gemino curse, wet the puppet and it would duplicate itself. The duplicates were temporary, and were more like pre-programed wind-up toys that mirrored, in a way, their mother puppet. The trigger for the curse was if the puppet actually got wet.

He was working on them from within the confines of one of the compartments at the tail end of the train, where not that many students actually ventured, save for those that arrived late for the train or those that were unwanted by others.

There were rather few of those, and thus he was left in relative peace. That was of course the case up until a third of the way to the final destination of the train for the day when another freshman rudely opened his compartment door, introduced herself, asked about some toad or other amphibian creature, and demanded that he explain himself to her. He ignored most of her words and concentrated on what he was doing.

The girl just didn't know when to shut up, so he shut her up for the good of his ears and peace and quiet, which was the state of the area in which he liked to work.

She didn't like having some spell or whatever it was that kept her mouth unable to move, as if the muscles and tendons were not there. Which they weren't due to the boy having had one of his strings latch onto her to keep her from speaking and also to change the muscle placement or lack thereof of such things around her jaw. So she tried grabbing him to get him to undo whatever it was that he had done to her.

He forgave her foolishness since she was either starved for attention, had no experience in a social setting, or was incredibly spoiled. He let go of her, of course permitting the changes to revert back to the way they were, allowing her to begin ranting about his rude and unethical behavior towards her.

Of course by physically coming into contact with him of her own free will, she got him a little bit more irritated than he already was with her. This triggered a few things that caused her to not only shrink back in fear but swear on her life and magic not to reveal anything that he deemed secret, as well as to not bother him about anything or bother him at all unless he invited her over for whatever reason he might have.

As she ran off to find her compartment once more and apologize to a fellow first year that she had been trying to help, and unfortunately got sidetracked from, she couldn't help but think that she had had her first brush with death. It had been a close call, but she also swore that she would not be getting much sleep for the nights to come, especially if she ended up in the same house as the boy she had irritated.

The rest of the train ride was relatively uneventful, if one did not count the momentary disturbance caused by the son of Lucius Malfoy as he barged into the compartment and demanded to know if he, the puppet making master, had seen hide or hair of the Boy-Who-Lived. The blonde brat knew not to mess with the doll playing fiend, his bodyguards were unable to do anything in his defense as they were physically lifted off of the ground and thrown out of the compartment. The blonde experienced his, more or less, second brush with death when the Dark Lord puppet made his second appearance.

He finished the creation process of his latest batch of puppets by the time the train pulled up to the station of the purely wizarding village of Hogsmead, or whatever it was called. He managed to complete his desired seven fuzzy little creatures that could turn hellish if he so wished or if certain requirements were met, whichever came first.

He made his way to the boats and caught his first glimpse of the magical castle along with his fellow freshmen. He listened to the clearly speech of the clearly biased professor regarding the four Houses of the founders in which each freshman had the potential of landing in. There was no hidden clause about a student not being sorted, it had NEVER happened before and NEVER would happen, the school's magic making such a thing impossible for some unknown reason.

He walked with his fellow shorties and waited for his name to be called. It was a patient wait, as he had quite a lot to do, such as delve into the minds of all those near him. It was a pastime of his, to dig up blackmail and only sift through the other thoughts and memories if he needed to, why ruin the surprises life had to offer all in one go, when one could still chose to wait for them to jump at oneself.

Then he heard it...

"Potter, Harry," the old crone called out, summoning him from out of anonymity and all that.

He walked out of the bunched up group of shorties and had his looks change instantly into what the whole of the hall expected him to look like, a relative carbon copy of his father with only his mother's emerald eyes messing up the cloning process.

The hat was slipped on his head and his sorting began, with the hat insisting that he be placed in Slytherin of all Houses, he adamantly demanded to be placed in Gryffindor. The hat surrendered to his choice of House, his personal preference, and thus he was sorted into the den of the king of the pride lands.

It was the perfect place for one such as himself to be. He was like a chameleon, blending in, hiding in plain sight. No one being the wiser to his truer nature and the fact that no one was safe from him, as every life had a price, thanks to his chosen profession and occupation as a resident of the shadow world.

He started out his year as striving to be one of the stellar students...well not really. He wanted to keep a low profile and thus made himself look like he wasn't or didn't really care to apply himself. He even fooled the bat of Slytherin that he didn't see the importance of having an education, his mind powers were greater than the bat's after all.

He did fool around with the idea of crafting a Joker puppet just for the heck of it, but decided to scrap that idea for the mean time, he still wasn't sure whether his walking history television was like the bat enough to bother with such an entertainment ploy.

He pretended to show pity or was it compassion toward the Weasley in his House and year, the boy had after all lost his father to either the Dark Lord or a very good copycat which still had the Ministry of Magic in chaos, along with the peace loving people of Magical UK still in a state of panic and semi-high alert.

He generally found a dislike for Defense Against the Dark Arts seeing as the professor pretended to be an idiot, which contradicted what older students had to say about the man prior to some dark creature attack somewhere in Romania or wherever. There was also the fact that the man had some sort of parasite with really good mental defenses, enough that an espionage probe might actually alert the thing to his intentions.

While he may have been at school and did indeed learn some things that one just couldn't steal from the minds of the mentally helpless or defenseless, he didn't forget about his jobs outside of the school. Not that he had any within the school yet.

The gremlin or mogwai puppets really came in handy, what with some of their automatic features in their puppet matrix. Magic was a very good thing to have, especially when one had a magical talent for puppet crafting. If he wanted something implemented into his puppets he didn't have to understand how to do it or make it happen, his magic did what needed to be done for him. It was that simple and he didn't care that he didn't understand it, since there were some things that were not meant to be understood.

He did it somewhat like in the movies, he sent his puppets, with string attached for specific commands of course, to his targets using post owls from the nearby village. Middleman did the sending of course. The recipients were more than a little excited about receiving some sort of exotic pet, but eventually their curiosity got the better of them, which led to their timely demise.

The deaths were like clockwork, and the authorities of both worlds couldn't figure out what had killed these men and women, what kind of animal had it been. The cases were eventually shelved of course due to lack of clues that either side could understand. It wouldn't be until sometime later that someone would make the connection between these timely demises with the murders of the Freddy Krueger of London.

He got bored sometimes and played around and chose to actually bring to life some of his puppet ideas like implementing what he liked to call 'having eyes at the back of his head. He had a pair of eyeballs floating invisibly around him at all times. Eyes that he could use to see in the opposite direction from where he was looking.

Sometime during the year some students had stumbled upon the reason why the third floor corridor was off limits. While he didn't really care much about the corridor, he was a little intrigued that the headmaster might have hidden something in a school, something whose protection, if it was so valuable, could easily be bypassed by an experienced wizard, or puppeteer as the case may be.

There was only one person in all of the castle that was sure to have owned the lumbering brute of a beast, according to some unnecessary memories he had gained from the history lesson he had borne witness to. The Keeper of the Keys and the Grounds of Hogwarts was the only person that lived on the castle grounds that had the skewed enough belief of what was cuddly and cute enough to have as a pet. This particular half-giant also had a habit of having loose lips, and and even more defenseless mind. The half-man was also particularly dim witted enough to not guard how to get past any of his creatures.

So that was how this puppeteer managed to get passed the first protection, and all the following ones he dealt with using his puppets, strings, and his transformation ability.

The Devil's Snare was no match for the cutting power of his Freddy, Michael Myerses (he had a kid version and an adult version), Jason (he crafted one but hadn't used it in the field yet), Predator, and three xenomorphs.

The keys weren't so difficult and he didn't have to use the old broom that was there, why would someone leave such a thing when it could be used to get passed a door by catching a single key. He used his strings to catch all the keys and let them go when he realized that the door could be bypassed if he just turned into air.

He met the troll head-on and killed it with a Killing Curse from Dark Lord, then packed up the thing's carcass for potions ingredients and puppet supplies.

The giant chess board and set were melted into slag by the shape shifter turning into a dragon he had read about. Dragon's fire was more than enough to turn the rest of the chamber in which the chess set could be found into something more like a cavern within an active volcano, not that he noticed just how hot it really was.

He continued forth, but had to revert to his base form when he encountered a magical wall of flames. It was a logic puzzle, and he found it quite interesting, so he decided to solve it instead of _cheat_ his way through. It was mildly difficult and led him to believe that perhaps a Joker puppet might come in handy sometime.

If these were the so-called protections lain out for whatever was being guarded, then there was definitely something wrong with the headmaster and his school.

To his great surprise he found the last chamber empty, thus making him believe that it was entirely possible that the object had yet to be transferred. Which in a sense was a bad thing since now there was a greater chance of the thing being hidden elsewhere and security would have to be beefed up a little bit more for the object, whatever it might be.

Sometime later on in the year, more like just after Christmas where he had received a cloak of invisibility which he stored away in his trunk at first before adding it to Middleman's bag of tricks, he stumbled upon a mirror that showed one one's greatest desire. It showed him something that he still secretly wished for, a family, a loving family...It was possible that what he actually craved for was to experience love in a more real and memorable way and not the fragmented things he had scrounged up from his memories as a one year old and before that.

It was quite a contradiction, he a guiltless killer craved for love one of the most innocent things in the whole of the world or existence or Everything really.

But it was also then that he divined the true nature of the mirror being found in the school. It held within it a precious tone, one that was nestled within it, waiting to be plucked by a person that met the requirements for freeing it.

This small revelation accidentally caused him to actually gain the stone. He was merely curious about it, and this not knowing what it was led to him not really wanting to use its abilities or properties, which was a kind of loophole when it came to the release mechanism of the spell that kept it in the mirror.

With the stone tucked away for later study, he left the mirror only to return sometimes later as he just wanted to confirm that what he had seen in the mirror was really what he had indeed seen. It was also then that he was found by the headmaster who held an open train of thought about testing him or using him or something of such nefarious purposes.

He didn't like being used, he liked being the one that used. He was the Puppet Master here, and not some old man who was way beyond his prime.

The old man didn't let slip what was the stone that had been kept within the mirror. Not that it was necessary to know such details at the time, as he found out after the winter holidays having passively reading the thoughts of one Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnigan, and Neville Longbottom. They served as the only visble trio in the lion's den, and was recognized for it for some reason. Ron Weasley was a loner, Dean Thomas interacted with others like him from other Houses, and Harry was just another guy, albeit a celebrity that didn't really act like one.

The stone was actually Nicholas Flamel's infamous stone, the granter of Elixir of Life and could transmute iron or whatever metal into gold.

He had unintentionally struck gold, and as they say, finders keepers and all that. While he had a feeling that it was possible for the stone to be a fake, he decided that he would test the thing out.

If the Elixir was real it would be able to grant life to even the dying. It didn't take him long to find someone that was dying, he just went on a job and offered a vial of the stuff to a man that was close to death due to Jason's doing. And to think that the setting of the murder was campsite.

The man agreed to pay whatever price just to live, and live he did. But not before signing over everything he owned and loved over to one Harry James Potter. Not that he knew that little tidbit of course. This was then followed by the man being revitalized, rejuvenated, and more or less revived. The man swore that he felt better than ever.

The man also thought that he could pull a fast one and vanished with a loud crack, apparation was what it was called apparently. It was a good thing that the puppeteer already knew where the man was heading, and met him there, as one of the nurses of the wizarding hospital. The healer that the man visited informed him that he was in more than simply good health, that he was better than most men his age should be, and wondered how it was possible.

Before any part of the story could escape the man's lips he found himself dead or rather frozen, by one of the puppeteer's latest creations, one of a trio of puppets based on three DC comics villains. There was Joker, which was mostly used to torment Professor Severus Snape when the man went out on his forays into the rest of the world, actually causing the man to get himself involved in solving crimes. Two-Face not much for killing but for when he needed a face to show crime lords and bosses of the shadow world, and finally Freeze for the sole reason that his icicleness was cool.

It was an interesting turn of events, which gained the mistrusted and somewhat hated man some pleasant recognition. He even managed to work his tall, dark, and somewhat handsome looks and charm on some ladies that he did meet on occasion.

Professor by day, detective by night. But now we return to the main story...as Snape can have his own story some other time..

Fortunately or unfortunately, the puppeteer was unable to freeze the healer in attendance and the other nurse. Both of whom were at least shocked into silence by the sudden turn of events.

Something in the healer snapped, some pent up desire that the man had for using other living beings as guinea pigs for his potions experiments. The man was a potions master on par with Hogwarts' own resident man bat.

The healer turned on remaining authentic nurse with him, after seeing the puppeteer transform into Middleman's form, and stabbing the witch with a syringe of all things containing some form of potion that the man was developing at the time and just needed a test subject. Something someone with his salary was hard to come by.

After realizing what he had done, the healer turned to the other two living persons in the room with him, but did not dare attack, especially since he believed one to be an armored ice warrior from some long forgotten magical race, while the other was, in his mind, a metamorphmagus as well as the boss of the ice warrior.

Behind the healer, his assistant went through some rather quick physical changes, much like how a werewolf changed forms by the light of a full moon. The man turned into some kind of monster from the black lagoon or something like that and destroyed its way out of the room and rampaged all over the hospital. It would later escape from pursuing aurors before finding its way to its creator's side.

"I've always wanted to do that...but..." the healer began to say, some part of his sanity had already fractured.

"Serve my master," Freeze, the puppet, spoke, "And you shall be well rewarded. Be a faithful vassal, and you shall not have to worry for test subjects or funding ever again."

The words, the lure, was formed from reading of the man's mind, getting a willing servant of sorts was better than a mind slave any day.

"Count me in," the healer said, "Where do I sign up?"

"Swear this oath of fealty," the Puppeteer in Middleman's form said handing over a hurried scribbled note containing the words of the magically binding oath.

"I, Healer Nicodemus Jonxton, solemnly vow to forever be faithful and loyal, to serve as willing vassal, servant, and minion, to one Harry James Potter," the good healer's eyes grew wide as he spoke those few last words of the oath," So mote it be."

"So mote it be," the puppeteer spoke, solidifying the oath and agreement.

This was followed by a brief flash of light surrounding both men.

"Find a way to frame your nurses for the freezing of your former patient," Freeze stated, "Then quit your job here, and find your way to Number 4 Privet Drive and stay there, the mundanes living in that house will have no choice but to house you until we can get a more permanent headquarters. Experiment on the neighbors and local squib if you wish, just don't get caught."

"Is this the will of my new master?" the healer asked.

"It is," Freeze replied, of course it was the ventriloquist-like talent of the puppeteer that made this possible.

"Then I shall do just that," Nicodemus said.

"Before that," Middleman form said, "You'll need a code name, we can't have the worlds know your real identity. For example, this form is Middleman, and the icicle is Freeze."

"I'll think of something and send over an owl," Nicodemus said.

"Good," the puppeteer said, and vanished from the room, taking Freeze with him. He had become air and charged away back to school.

Having confirmed that the stone's Elixir worked, he decided that aside from his assassination profession, he would go into extortion of a sort, he would be peddling the elixir as a miracle cure which it really was. He knew for a fact that a dosage wasn't permanent, when was any medicine ever eternal lasting. He needed to know how the thing worked and thus decided to do a lot of research, and if possible get some info from the creator of the thing himself.

His next venture back into the more real world was to a scrap metal junkyard, there, with some converted pounds he sought out as much iron as he could buy and bring with him for his gold transmuting experiments and soon to be second source of money, not counting his vaults at the bank that the goblins were making sure increased in value from interests and other such business related things.

He went in the guise of Middleman, with his human based puppets walking alongside him, acting as his guards of sorts to avoid any trouble. The junkyard workers were a great help, but did wonder why these people that had come for a purchasing visit were all in costumes, it wasn't to be Halloween for quite some months yet.

They spent quite a sum on just iron. Iron. Iron. Iron. It was a little suspicious, especially since only one of the men looked normal, the puppeteer in Middleman's form.

One man eventually decided to listen to the little voice in his head and give the authorities a heads up regarding what could possibly lead to some criminal activity.

They arrived just as these costumed people were about to leave, the iron having been mysteriously tucked away somewhere, just another one of the puppeteer's pockets of course they were shrunken.

Since Middleman could not be exposed to such people, the puppeteer shifted his form to look like a stereotypical thug, but wearing shades, stood back to join his puppets and had Two-Face take the lead spot in the play that was about to commence.

One of the lead investigators of the Freddy Krueger of London serial killer case was one of the officers that arrived to stop these maniacs from going forth to do whatever illegal shit they could be planning.

The guy looked like some stereotypical detective, he even had a cigarette in his mouth which promptly fell out when he saw just who or what were staring them down.

The man didn't think that the person or persons that he was tracking down would and could all be found in one place. It was coincidence at either its worst or best. But there they all were, staring each other down.

'_This can't be happening...we don't have enough men on our side..._' the man thought to himself and went about trying to call for backup, '_It's not a serial killer after all..but multiple killers working together..._'

"It might have made more sense if I had a black skull mask or something, wouldn't it?" Two-Face said, "Instead of half perfectly good looks, and half burn victim. But I am what you got, and you just gotta live with it. So here's how we're gonna go about this, you let us go or we just kill you all."

"Can't we talk in a civilized manner and resolve this in some other way?" one of the officers asked via loudspeaker, "We were called in for suspicious activity, and your threat is not making things any easier for you."

"How about...no," Two-Face said.

"Unacceptable," the officer stated, then demanded, "How about you take off those ridiculous masks and show us your true faces."

"The answer was originally now...but since you asked so nicely, how 'bout we flip for it," the puppet then pulled out a silverish looking coin, instead of two faces on each side there was a fist on one side and a gun on the other, this coin had some transformation augmentations to it, its form would be whatever side won in the flip, either some brass knuckles of a revolver that ran in cutting curses instead of bullets.

He flipped the coin, while the authorities slackened their guards thinking that it was just part of some act, that the man had to keep being in character even though he knew that there was no way for his group to escape the authorities what with the looming threat of some approaching sirens.

When he caught the coin things went pear shaped for the officers as they had to deal with a sudden shout of "ATTACK!" from Two-Face as he held a revolver instead of a coin and had already begun firing.

The officers didn't really stand a chance, not since they had so little intel on the group that they were dealing with. Gone were the days of regular gun fights, as this fight was something a bit more than bullets or spells flying. This was a time of bullets coming from the cops only for the bad guys to perform all sorts of acrobatic feats, avoiding crippling injuries while still fighting.

One squad car was torn apart by the attack of the three xenomorphs that were released from the confines of the generic thug that was running around the perimeter of the battlefield. Another was blown up after the seven gremlins unleashed hell upon it and the two officers that used it.

Jason, Freddy, and the two Myerses, didn't bother with guns, instead sticking to blades, from the finger kind to the machete and kitchen knife kinds. Big Myers served as the shield for Tiny Myers, they were a gruesome twosome that upon reaching the closest cop, ripped the officer to pieces before moving on to the next one. Sure they looked like they bled, but it wasn't like they were alive and it could bother them, though their puppeteer did make it seem like they were affected by the wounds.

In order for Freddy to be used to his full potential, his puppeteer would need to implant nightmares starring the puppet, during such a time, it was not possible so just plain slashing and stabbing would have to suffice.

Predator used disc blades to deal mid to long range damage, more like decapitations from far away. It was fun playing with flying discs of death, and retractable wrist blades slicing bullets in half from officers that had yet to be taken down.

Joker used laughing granades, which were small balls that stored magic with the intent of causing incessant laughter, until the lack of oxygen killed the one that got hit by the magic, it worked one at a time only though.

Freeze used freezing charms, ones that looked like beams of frost that shot out of a freeze ray, which on closer inspection resembled a hair dryer more than anything else. Not that he needed it, since the spell could be released just by touching a target.

Then there were Dark Lord and his Death Eaters, cruciatus curses slammed into the lead investigator that had been hunting their puppeteer down, the man would not be able to continue his career, what with a green killing bolt being sent his way once every other comrade of his was dealt with.

When all was said and done, the puppet master made sure that all case files related to his murders were erased from the system and minds of all those that were still alive. He also rewrote how things went, he didn't need the authorities hounding him, even though his being a student was a sure way that he would not get caught with his crimes. Those that needed to know about him were the other denizens of the shadow world. Their opinions of him mattered, not the mundane world. He completely erased his presence from the mundane world.

The police massacre would later be blamed on gang violence, evidence was planted, and the puppets were gone, vanishing back into their master's puppets. Though some bodies were unaccounted for, since Healer Nicodemus needed test subjects.

The rest of the school year didn't really yield much in terms of excitement, revelations, or uniqueness. Slytherin won the House cup, and the headmaster had the greatest headache of his life when he realized that there was no stone in the mirror he had brought to the school, and of course there was also the fact that he had three students who had the crap scared out of them when the three students had decided that their DADA professor was after the stone and went off to stop him only to faint due to the heat of the former chess room.

Their reckless behavior almost got them expelled. Almost, but not quite, since they had good intentions. Or at least that's what the headmaster claimed, which the puppet master had overheard.

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	56. UA 2

His first ever summer vacation from magic school was not as dull as some would think theirs were. It was not filled with excitement either though. It was a plain mixture of the two.

He managed to purchase himself an entire apartment building, the kind which needed a lot of fixing up and renovating in order to pass all the inspections that would permit people to actually live in it. It was his first step in making money in the mundane world, it also served as a front for his illegal activities, such as being a hired killer, that department really boomed, though it would slow down in quantity due to his rising prices which depended on the difficulty of the kill or complexity of the kill or kills.

He had managed to locate and interrogate the still old and living man that was Nicholas Flamel, the man was quite powerful magically speaking and quite knowledgeable too. He was old so that was really a given already. The man's mental defenses were quite powerful, but once the puppet master broke through them and copied everything that there could be found in there manipulating the oldest mortal man alive's mind was as easy as it was breaking into the man's mind, which meant that it was quite a worthwhile thing to do. It was challenging, but well worth it.

To say that he did not suffer getting to the man, would be an understatement. The old man had nearly crippled a majority of his puppets, the only ones that were left in working condition were Middleman, Two-Face, and Tiny Myers. The rest needed the whole of the first month of summer vacation to fix back into working order, followed by a week of upgrades to their bodies.

At least the venture made it easier to figure out the limitations of the old man's stone. The Elixir was on the market already, the blacker than black black market that is. It was a relatively knew thing, but not a unique thing as there were many others peddling miracle cures and life extensions. His was the most legitimate one, but due to the high price he set for it, there weren't that many people interested in something new what with it being relatively untested and all that.

Healer Nicodemus decided on a name at the end of the school year, mailing his master or boss or whatever he decided to call the puppet master, he had chosen the name Dr Patchwork, even though he didn't have anything to do with patching things up, nor did he know anything about the puppets' true natures and assumed that they were just extremely loyal servants of this puppet master, of Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived-Turned-More-Than-Dark-Lord.

Severus Snape also got a little bit more involved with his part-time job as a detective, more like a private investigator but dealing with the solving of actual crimes. At one point he had the urge to call himself "L", but decided against it, since he didn't have such a letter in his name.

He did come across Joker and Freeze on some occasions, but could never really pin any crimes on them, just those foolish enough to follow the two mad_men_. The only thing the two puppets could actually be charged with was fighting, destruction of some public or private property, or being really really really annoying to the point that Severus Snape stopped hating James Potter, forgiving the man and his band of merry friends altogether so that he could focus all of his hate on the clown of the villainous duo.

There came a job that would force the two elder scions of the main branch of Clan Weasley to return home, someone or one too many people had grown far too annoyed it seemed with Molly Weasley and everything that she was. One of those things was being an overbearing mother hen who mothered everyone. It wasn't just a chance decision that her eldest sons made when they decided to work as far away from her as possible while still doing the things that they loved doing.

Since the woman loved to use her voice at its maximum potential, the puppet master crafted a puppet that would serve to give the woman exactly what she wanted or needed done to her while at the same time allowing her to scream her heart out. Literally too.

A bald, white skinned, leather wearing, puppet was the product of tireless hours of work. Tireless hours of work was what it took to not only craft the actual puppet but all the additional accessories that the puppet would use to deal its own brand of death.

While that description alone did not and could not instill the amount of terror or fear that the puppeteer wanted, the additional pins on the puppet's face sure did the trick, though as to not infringe on copyrights, like some of the others, this puppet was dubbed Xeno.

The puppet also happened to be linked to a puzzle device with a compulsion charm or set of such charms on it that would cause the target or even just regular holder to try and ultimately solve the puzzle. With the puzzle solved, either by disassembly or by twisting and such until its etchings formed a certain picture, Xeno would appear in the place of the object, but a foot or two away from the one that finished the puzzle.

This appearance would be followed by the torture of the individual and would later end in the death of the person. The puzzle would put itself back to the way it was before it was solved, and would then return to it's master via the string being forcefully pulled back, like in fishing.

The small cube was sent by owl to the Weasley matriarch, who upon touching the cube couldn't put it down. She became quite obsessed with completing the puzzle. It did one good thing, it taught her children to be more independent, as well as get them off of their collective asses and find ways to make sure that they would still be able to return to school and also stop relying on their father's remaining life insurance money, which wasn't really all that much.

But if anyone could stretch a knut, the Weasleys were the family that could do it.

The horrors that the Weasley children faced on the night that their mother finally managed to complete the puzzle would forever be burned into their minds, not a moment would pass by when they would not be able to easily recall all the horrors that they had been forced to face, to watch in order to not repeat the mistakes of a woman who clearly was OCD, in a very bad way in some people's eyes.

The aurors that were sent to investigate the matter did not find much residual magic, it was something that the sometimes paranoid puppeteer, puppet master, and puppet maker, had prepared for. Leaving evidence that he didn't want left behind was one of the things he obsessed over and found that intentions, after all, did work wonders when it came to his creations and himself too.

So these keepers of the peace decided to shelve the case, since most of them didn't really understand how such a good guy such as Arthur Weasley had gotten stuck with the BUB, or Big Ugly Banshee, they'd call her a big ugly hag, but that would be an insult to hags. The Banshees would see it as a compliment since her voice could match theirs octave for octave.

The first interested purchase of a vial of the Elixir of Life, which had been given the name Luxor, was Lucius Malfoy, who wanted a demonstration of before committing to an actual purchase. It was marketed as some sort of panacea, even for dying, but not death, that took another bunch of things that were not yet in the puppeteer's possession.

The man insisted that the demonstration be held at his manor, where he thought he would be safe, but no one can ever really be safe when the one they are dealing with can not only read one's mind, but also unleash puppet hell, or transform into one's worst nightmare, though some of the puppets, had they been alive, would have said otherwise.

Dr Patchwork came along with Middleman and the puppeteer who decided to be called such, or one of four names. Puppeteer, Puppet Master, Crafter, and Unknown. His other puppets were always in his pockets, unless they were in his workshop.

Lucius brought them to the Malfoy Manor's dungeons, something which every respectable old blooded family should not do without.

"Thank you for coming gentlemen," Lucius said, with fake sincerity, "I look forward to your demonstration."

Dr Patchwork had also brought with him the Dursley family, the only surviving residents of Privet Drive, since the good doctor had been so kind as to use all other inhabitants as his guinea pigs for his potions and chemical experiments, none of them survived. The only real success he had was in chemical warfare types of things, that and Man-Thing, no other name suited the nurse turned creature turned magically bound assistant to the good doctor.

"Then let us first begin with some introductions," Dr Patchwork said, "I am Dr Patchwork, I did not discover this panacea, though I did bring the subjects which will be used for the demonstration."

"You already know who I am," Middleman went next, "Who in the dark world has not heard of Middleman."

"Dark world?" Lucius questioned, he wasn't used to the criminal world being called such after all.

"The criminal world, or underworld, or underground, or whatever you would like to call it," Middleman stated.

"And lastly, I am Crafter," Harry Potter said, "Twas I that discovered this panacea."

"Good to meet you all," Lucius said, "Shall we get this show on the road then?"

"Very well," Dr Patchwork said, and brought out the Dursley family whom he had shrunken and imprisoned in a milk bottle, he let them out and reverted their size by shattering the bottle against the hard cold stone floor, "Hello Dursleys, the good Headmaster thought that you could hide _Him_ from us, but he was wrong, wasn't he? Yes he was, he very much was."

"What are you talking about?" Lucius asked, curiously.

"The good headmaster decided to leave the savior of the wizarding world on the doorstep of number four Privet Drive one one cold November eve," Dr Patchwork explained, "Had the good headmaster left this scion of the light with a more magically intuned family, he might have gotten the light champion he wishes to still cultivate, instead of the," he chuckled to himself for a brief moment before continuing, "Well...uncaring wolf in sheep's clothing that he has had during this most recently ended school year."

"What are you...?" Lucius was interrupted before he could finish his question.

"Let them know terror Patchwork," Harry ordered, his tone commanding and unmistakeable.

"As you wish," Dr Patchwork complied and lifted the curse that was over the Dursley family which kept them from noticing the danger level they were in.

They started screaming and shouting like their lives were being more than threatened, or more like more than their lives were being threatened. Like their afterlives were too.

"Please silence them!" Lucius shouted over the noise the trio of people were making.

"With pleasure," Harry said and brought forth Chucky, Lucius didn't know how a fourth person, a rather short person had managed to enter his home unannounced like that, but before he could question it or demand an explanation, he witnessed the three mundanes lose their tongues, followed by their voice boxes, but somehow miraculously remaining alive.

"...y-you...w-what..." Lucius's dark mind wasn't really fully able to process what had just happened right before his very eyes.

"You wanted a demonstration, well then," Middleman said, "We need the subjects to be on the doorstep of death to be of much use in that sense. Wouldn't want you to be fooled by some common parlor trick now would we. We're here to sell the real deal and what better way that to show you just how much our panacea can heal."

"I see...they're not...one of our kind...are they?" the man tried to ignore the blood flowing from the mouths and throats of the still living and breathing but slowly drowning individuals in his dungeon.

"Of course not!" Dr Patchwork exclaimed, "I wouldn't do that to people that didn't deserve such treatment, unless I was contracted to do so."

"A real taker of life knows just as much about sustaining it, or something like that," Middleman added, then asked his boss, or himself as this case was, "Does this seem sufficient?"

"Can I play more?" Chucky asked, Harry clearly had a case of MPD and ADHD and likely close to autism.

"No, to both of your questions," he replied, then brought out Xeno, and let him play with the three mundanes a little bit.

Who knew Dudley could squeal like the pig he resembled, and Vernon act like a cross between a rabid hippo and a manatee. Petunia was much worse, sounding so much like a horse it hurt Lucius' ears, though he supposed it was better than hearing Molly Weasley's voice.

What was left of the three Dursleys was quite the bloody mess. Xeno had not wasted any of his accessories when dealing with the trio. His puppeteer had had to master knowing how the human body ticked, how it worked, how to end it properly, delay death, and so much more. He did this by mind raping a helluva lot of medical practitioners.

The Dursleys were left hanging by hooks, most of their skin had been torn off, but they were still alive, no matter how gruesome their injuries looked. It was life threatening sure, they actually only had about three minutes remaining in the land of the living before being sent off on their next great adventure.

"Middleman," Harry said, and handed over a vial of clear liquid over to his puppet of a real man.

"Watch closely Lucius," Middleman said, then dropped a few droplets into the gaping maws of the three torture victims.

The group then watched as the bodies began knitting themselves back together, and following that watched as the trio actually began to look a lot healthier, or as close as obese and anorexic could look.

The trio of mundanes were back to their old selves, but with an extension on their natural lives, the only thing missing were their clothes. It was a good thing that their relative that was with them that night didn't give a flying fruitcake about such matters anymore.

"Are you satisfied?" Middleman asked, "Was our demonstration good enough?"

"Oh, and don't mind them and their catatonic looking stares," Dr Patchwork said, "They're clearly in shock from the torture session. Don't mind it, but if you want a demonstration that results in the subject having a healthy mind, relatively to your opinions of course, we can have it done."

"How and when?" Lucius asked.

"We, collectively speaking," Middleman said, "Were contracted into assassinating Minister Cornelius Fudge. We can perform the deed tonight. You've seen the healing part of things, let us show you that the mind can remain healthy by this kidnap for killing job we've got to handle tonight."

"I can live with that," Lucius said, and waited with Middleman and Dr Patchwork as Crafter vanished from their, the two humans', sight, "How did he do that? That wasn't any form of apparation that I know of, nor was it a portkey...for that matter where did those other two go, the short one and the one with pins in his head."

"Ah...them..." Middleman said, "They are very special instruments of death and destruction, don't think of them as people or as being alive, chances are you'll find that we, Crafter's servants and or vassals, are rarely alive or even human, Dr Patchwork included."

"I am very much human, and you know it!" Dr Patchwork said, "I'm just slightly insane and psychotic. Nothing wrong with that, and Man-Thing is human...with a few additional strands of DNA and all that due to my little experiment."

"I see...with the minister soon to be out of commission, how would you like to work for me in eliminating the competition for the new Minister of Magic for an era when peace is a relative thing of the past?" Lucius prodded.

"If you can pay, we charge quite high considering our reputation, which just keeps rising and rising," Middleman said, "Its all about money in the end, just like the fact that should you chose to purchase Luxor, you'll be handing over roughly 50,000 galleons per vial."

"I knew the price was a bit steep, but isn't that a little bit much?" Lucius said, trying to enter into negotiations regarding the price.

"If you can't afford it, you should have said so in the first place," Middleman stated, and began to move to leave Malfoy Manor.

"Wait! I didn't say that at all, I was just commenting on how expensive a single vial costs," the blonde said.

"It isn't really that expensive, since healing really just needs a few drops, and the life extension part takes a few more when one is already quite healthy," Middleman said.

"See, when your body is in tip top condition thanks to the few drops that you'll need to attain such a form," Dr Patchwork continued the explanation of their product, "You are then in perfect condition for the rejuvenation effect of the product, potion, elixir, whatever. It will undo what time has done to your body, spanning from just a few months to a year or more, depending on how much of the stuff you take. One whole vial will add a grand total of ten years to your life, since it will be bringing your body back to what it was ten years ago."

"I see...I guess it is worth its price after all," the blonde said, as they continued to wait.

A few minutes later Crafter reappeared within the dungeon with nary a sound from either himself or from the bound and gagged Minister Cornelius Fudge. Holding the Minister was one of the three Death Eaters code named One.

"That's the Death Eater from Diagon!" Lucius all but shouted as he jumped hastily to his feet, then rounded on the good doctor and the middleman, "You attacked me in Diagon Alley when Arthur Weasley died."

"We needed to sow some chaos, and we also don't particularly like traitors," Middleman stated seriously, "It was nothing entirely personal though.."

"Had it been personal," Crafter said, "You would have died that day alongside Arthur Weasley and the rest of your small family. Just like how Michael Zabini and his cohorts fell that day they died."

"I...see...business is business I guess..." Lucius said, thinking that perhaps having this meeting in his home was not such a good idea after all, he was endangering his family, consisting of the wife he loved and the son he cherished, "Please...proceed with the demonstration."

"Gladly," Dark Lord said after seemingly materializing amongst them.

Now there was a face that frightened Lucius to his very core. He had seen that face many a time in the past, during the war, in private and on the field. The face of the Dark Lord whom he had denounced publicly in court and in the papers, as well as claiming to have been an unwilling sycophant when in reality he was all for it and the cause.

"Ah, Lucius, it's been a while since we've seen each other face to face," Dark Lord silkily said, the words rolling off or out of his mouth as would a serpent speaking the human tongue, "But fear not, I am not the master you betrayed, I merely wear his face, a face that I am quite comfortable with, especially considering its infamy, and the fear it brings to those that know of it."

"Begin the torture of Minister Fudge," Crafter ordered, and was obeyed when two simultaneous shouts of..

"CRUCIO!"

...Reverberated around them, the incantation bouncing off the walls and echoing around the dungeons. The screaming of the Minister grew like a crescendo, and the man could really belt it out.

It was loud enough to catch the attention of the lady of the house, who came running down into the dungeons wand drawn and orders to the house elves to keep her son from venturing into the dark abyss where danger was afoot.

She thought that the business deal her husband was attending had gone south and that he was the one screaming, and thus before she could utter the first syllable of the first curse that came to mind, she found herself writhing in the firm grips of Two and Three, the other two Death Eater puppets.

The volume of the screaming only grew louder the closer her captors brought her to where her husband was surely at.

"Calm your wife before Crafter gets irritated and takes it for himself," Dr Patchwork advised as he noticed that Two's and Three's wands were beginning to come out of their sleeves, the ones unhindered by holding onto the lady of the house.

"Lucius?" Narcissa Malfoy questioned, her tone sounding as if she wanted to know if her husband is alright. She saw him a moment later, and felt his strong arms take her away from Two and Three. Then she saw the Minister and realized that it was his screams that had woken her and had tormented her on her way down.

She had never borne witness to any of the torture session of Lord Voldemort, so this was relatively all new to her. Lucius had kept her in the dark during the war, never really allowing her to enter the fray, and see the reality of what war was all about.

She was grateful for what he had done for her, but at the same time wished that she had come more prepared for the sight and scene playing out right before her eyes. She was also glad that she had threatened the elves with clothes when she ordered them to keep her son away from the dungeons and away from danger.

"Enough," Crafter ordered, and Dark Lord and One stopped the continuous stream of pain inducing magic.

The Minister of Magic was left mumbling incoherently even with his own vocal cords hurting so bad that the mumbling shouldn't have even been possible anymore, not that his mind knew that. It was an automatic thing now. The man had been turned into one of the long term patients at St. Mungo's that had suffered extremely long exposure to the second unforgivable curse.

"So you have demonstrated your ability to reduce a man to a puddle of mental goo," Lucius said, some fear ringing clearly in his voice, "What do you intend to prove by doing this?"

"We have showed you the extent of the ability of our product to heal the body," Middleman said, "It is said that there is yet to be a cure for overexposure to the Cruciatus curse. We shall now demonstrate our product's effectiveness in healing the mind."

He strode forward to where the minister was seated on the ground, and forced a drop or three of the elixir down the man's hatch, and a few seconds later they had a Minister of Magic screaming about Death Eaters, who ignoring the pain his body was still suffering begged Lucius Malfoy to help him. Pathetic really.

"I'm impressed," Lucius said, "I'll take ten vials."

"Good to hear," Middleman said, and produced a gun of all things and shot the Minister of Magic in the head with it. Information regarding the minister's demise would be sent anonymously to the various wizarding and magical publications, all of them stating that mundanes, or Muggles, had witnessed the Minister perform some magic in the act of saving a child or something to that effect and been killed due to the Muggles believing him to be some sort of demonic entity or something like that who intended to take the soul of the child he had _rescued_. Several other _witness_ accounts would be spread, such as the man having several affairs, and a whole bunch of other things, such as being the one responsible for the assassination of one Arthur Weasley.

"*"

Lucius Malfoy had money, money by the mound, in his vaults, more than one too. He had enough to fund an election campaign, though he wasn't the one running. He placed his support behind Fred Macross, a pureblood that had been in Ravenclaw and knew his way around the political arena. There were a few other people that were in the running for the office, but in the end the only one left with any support and his life was one Amos Diggory. All the rest had been taken cared of by Crafter and his puppets, not that Lucius was permitted to know that they were puppets.

Lucius had one more job for Crafter and his crew before the elections would come to a close. It would ensure that Macross would win.

It wasn't an assassination job, but more of a muscling job. Lucius offered a lump sum instead of waiting to hear the price for the job, due to being a repeat customer he had received a kind of discount.

All the puppets were assembled for the impressive raid on the Diggory Manor. The attack was to be a purely mundane type of thing. How was a public supposed to trust a minister that could not even defend himself from mundanes after all. Especially ones that would end up physically harming his wife and son while he was out making promises to the public regarding their safety from harm.

Lucius had simply gotten him the exact address of the place, it was surprisingly near where the Weasleys lived too.

The Gremlins, they were called that collectively and when it came to individuality it didn't really matter since they all looked the same anyway. Same went for the Xenomorphs.

The Gremlins were would be the ones to tear apart the house elves, there were supposedly six of them in the property. The xenomorphs were the ones that would be dealing destructive damage to the manor itself.

Freddy had the pleasure of being the one to awaken the household, via Crafter implanting life-like nightmares into the mind of one Cedric Diggory.

Jason and the Myerses (Big and Tiny) would be the ones hunting down missus Diggory.

Every other puppet was in charge of causing as much damage as possible. That and making sure that no one disturbed the goings on. Including killing anyone that got close enough to hear the racket or come investigating.

When Amos got home, the first thing he did was call for some auror back up seeing as his house had just been attacked. The attackers could still be there after all, and he also needed help in locating his wife and son, seeing a head of a house elf was not a very good sign.

The ministry lost some good aurors that day, Alastor Moody being one of them.

Shouts of..

"Die demon spawn!"

..met the ears of the aurors that apparated in, and they were taken down by gunfire, leaving only Amos, with some minor injuries alive. His wife and son were later found when additional help arrived, both of whom had suffered quite a lot physically and mentally, but would live, just not be the same after the ordeal.

Amos lost the election due to his waste of ministry resources as well as his inability to keep his own family safe.

The Dark faction of the government was gaining power due to recent events and since the Light faction didn't want to dirty their hands...well...Crafter couldn't really care any more or less about what happened, so long as he was free as a bird and still got paid.

No one knew who he was still, and no one would know if he had anything to do about it. Lucius didn't really care, he dealt mostly with Middleman, and rarely ever met with Crafter after their first meeting. There was something in Crafter's aura that the dark wizard just couldn't stand being around or feeling. He feared Crafter the Puppet Master even more than he feared both his betrayed dark lord and his own death.

"*"


	57. Untitled 01

**Untitled **_- it is unknown what they originally were meant to be called_

"Get your lazy ass up already!" Choto shouted as he banged one end of a broomstick against the ceiling right underneath the room where his jack-of-all-trades dormer slept, "It's been morning for several hours already! You need to get to your jobs!"

There were some bumps, crashes, and sounds of violence that came from the room above, then some more crashing, it sounded as if there was a scuffle and struggling. It was really the dormer battling with his futon and blankets, followed by the dormer changing into suitable work clothes.

He stumbled as if drunk down the stairs that led to the second floor where his bedroom was located on. He a simple long sleeved gray shirt, brown leather gloves, dark green cargo pants, leather boots, and an eye patch over his left eye. He didn't really ever wear anything else, unless he absolutely needed to. He had a few kimonos for formal occasions and some festivals, he had some other attired, but he didn't normally have a reason to wear them.

He had a scar that ran down from just below his right hairline, through his right eyebrow, through his right eye, then down his right cheek and ending at the right tip of his mouth. His right eye looked rather special or odd due to something that resembled a jagged scar running through it, it ran across the iris and the pupil giving off the effect that his scar extended down his eye but he could still see.

It was the eye underneath the eye patch that was truly unique and which others rarely saw. There was a reason why he always kept it hidden. It was because it was so special and made people ask too many questions, it was safer for him and simpler for him to simply say that he was blind in that eye. His visible eye could be explained away as some birth defect or family thing.

He lived in this port town in Kaminari no Kuni, also known by the names Land of Lightning and Lightning Country. He held many jobs being a master of many trades, his range was phenomenal that he was sometimes referred to as Jack. He could do anything asked of him, which was why his profession consisted of doing anything anyone was willing to pay his price for. He worked on a schedule, his schedule, one that he had worked out himself, people didn't really care when he was done so long as he did a good job.

He could fix the boiler of a ship in the boiler room while the thing was as hot as hell, he could paint a house while babysitting seventeen children, he could find a needle in a haystack in under one minute, he could design a house and have it completed within the day complete with everything. He could do many things, most of them extraordinary, but that was the way he was. People in the port town had yet to find something that he couldn't do. Some local yakuza had even paid him a hefty sum to knock Kumogakure no Sato's, also known simply as Kumo or Cloud, strongest bijuu out. He did the task with seemingly no problem, there was a reason that Kumo had him listed in their bingo book as a triple S-rank threat and had a flee on sight order, even the mention of him merited running away in fear.

He had dealt with the beast, as it had been unsealed for the nth time, just after the Raikage, at that time, had been flung into the side of a mountain. He simply walked up to the beast admist the shouts of warning and some agony by the Kumo-nin present at the battlezone. It was the most frightening sight that the Kumo-nin and the yakuza members that were there to witness the feat had born witness to in their lives. All he did was jump up to its snout and pull it it down to his eye level.

The words he spoke to the beast were not heard, but what he did everyone there managed to see even the Raikage. He simply flicked the beast on its nose and it was sent backwards and even before it landed it was visibly knocked out. He walked away with nary a glance once he was done with the job, the yakuza were honorable folk and paid what he was due and even gave him a bonus. He was also made aware that no one in the whole of the criminal aspect of the world would would cause him any trouble or involve him in any if they could help it. They feared what possible retribution he could perform on them.

The Kaminari Daimyo, the ruler of the land, had hired him on some occasions to perform some odd jobs like painting portraits of the man's family members, weave him some extraordinary outfits, and even walk his wife's pet cat. He was even once hired to accompany the royal pet to a nobility's pets convention as its primary caretaker and trainer. The cat won so many awards and medals that the cat was banned from the competition for around five or so years before the matter of considering it be permitted to join again would even be considered itself.

For this day, he was paid to do several jobs around town ranging from mixing some potions for medical use by the town clinic, proofread a best selling novel by written by the world reknowned super-pervert, novelist, and ninja, Jiraiya, fix up a ship that had docked but no one else could fix up for ocean travel, and do something that someone decided might the one thing that he would be unable to accomplish.

Potions, at one point in his earlier years in his very long life, was thought of as one of his worst disciplines. He used to be crap at the art of brewing, up until he realized that it was just like cooking and chemistry, that was when he suddenly became a master at the art, and even received a mastery in it back when the world still had tests and journals for such things. Back when the world was still young, and technology ruled the world, while magic was kept secret, hidden away.

Nowadays technology was not as advanced as it once was, not all technologies worked in the world anymore, and magic itself was a thing of the past, something which only a rare few could boast about having. Things in these days and age were more like the fuedal eras of Asia, the renaissance era, medieval, and dark ages of Europe, the conquest of the Americas, while at the same time had some aspects or elements of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Something had happened in the past to make the world what it was today, as if the whole world had traveled back in time to when technology was not that big of a deal, back to a time when people actually knew the value of hard work. It was a world where shortcuts were not that easy to find. The world was one ruled by might, right, money, and the sword.

He had lived that long, all because he couldn't help but save the world. It was a blessing and a curse, a curse because he outlived so many people precious to him, a blessing because of all the things he had been able to do over the years. He was immortal and a god in his own right, he just never had the time or the will to transcend the boundaries of life and death to sit on some lofty Heaven.

He was a Master of Death, as well as a _cousin_ of Death himself, this made him immortal, sickness would not touch him, poisons would not affect him, injuries would not hinder him, old age and aging was old news to him they were things of the past for him. He had spent thousands upon thousands of years learning and mastering everything that he could, it was his way of avoiding boredom. Boredom was anyone's or anything's greatest enemy.

He had lived through many evolutions of the world, many upgrades and downgrades, and he would most likely live through many more in the future. He didn't mind, and was actually excited at the prospect of living on til forever.

It was in the constant flow of time, the forward motion and repetition of history, the constant evolution of all things, adaptation, mutations, and the like, that his powers were deeply rooted in or actually lay. He was immortal and in his own right a god, a god of evolution, or adaptation, of survival, or mutation, of many things. The only thing that no one had bothered to test him on was dying. He did it once already, there would likely never be a second experience, unless one counted his erratic visits from Death himself or one of the so-called Death Gods.

His name back when the world was young was Harry Potter, through the thousands of years he gained numerous different names and identities. For this stage of the world he chose the name Takeshi, a name he shared with the man that saved the world in his stead from total destruction and annihilation by the living embodiment of rage and hate, a living embodiment of the darkness foundi n all of man's hearts.

Not that many people had ever found out that he had actually helped the legendary Rikudou Sennin, the Sage of Six Paths, when it came to devising a way to defeat the mighty Juubi. The few that did find out were mostly old timers that had born witness to the battle of epic proportions.

He was for the time being, unless the world experienced another End of Days, Takeshi. He more than just that, he was some others things that connected him to the world, the continent he now lived in. He was also the one that had helped in the birth of the royal ruling families of the continent, almost each of the lands could trace their bloodlines all the way back to him. He had fallen in love with several women through the years and they had borne him sons in each of those relationships. He left his children as soon as they ascended to the thrones or leaderships roles of their respective lands, it was at those times that Takeshi felt that they no longer needed him.

The Five Great Nations, the five most powerful nations didn't need to trace their roots to him all they needed to do was visit their clan vaults and gaze upon the family portait of their founding families. Each portrait held three people in them, the first ruler as a babe, his mother, and Takeshi though wearing what he chose as his work clothes. He was Tenshi Takeshi, if he really wanted to he had the right to be crowned as Emperor of the Elemental Continent and Countries. But he didn't want that, and most present day rulers were unaware of his still being around or of their connection to him.

He finished his regular jobs for the day and went off to meet his last client by the gate of the town, he didn't know who it was but his contacts in the Yakuza had been the one to send the client his way, they were the ones who informed him of the meeting place and that it was yet another supposedly impossible task.

"Tenshi-sama," the man that met with him said, it was one of the civilian councilmen of Kumo he had a guard of two jounin with him for his own protection whether from Takeshi or from other more sinister elements was yet to be known, not that Takeshi cared to know, "I thank you for coming, I am Councilman Tenso Chokuto, I am willing to pay you double what the Yakuza paid you a few years back if you can do the impossible, otherwise known as what would take nature years of evolution to accomplish."

"I'm interested," Takeshi said, "What would you have me do? What miracle do you wish performed?"

"Kumogakure no Sato has for a long time now been trying to gain the Byakugan," the Councilman said, "But every specimen that we have managed to acquire had the Caged Bird Seal on them which destroyed those precious orbs. Your reputation is one that claims to be able to accomplish anything. So what I want done is for you to provide Kumo with a Byakugan or better."

"Oh, is that all?" Takeshi said, as if creating a bloodline limit relatively from scratch was such a simple thing to do, "Do you want it specifically given to one person or like a serum which will cause the transformation to take place?"

"You're saying you can do it?" the councilman asked surprised, "Well then, I want it in serum form the kind that should be injected to cause this bloodline limit to manifest itself. Of course, I want the thing to be hereditary, Kumo would benefit from a clan to be founded."

"For the price you are willing to pay, it can and shall be done," Takeshi said, "Come back tomorrow. I'll have it ready tomorrow."

"Alright," the councilman said before walking away to a hotel in the town where he was staying. Takeshi on the otherhand walked over to the nearest tree and was seemingly absorbed by the tree, it was actually a manner of travel that he had created, which he had taught to two ninja in the past as they had been able to use plantlife to such a degree that they were worthy of using the mode of tranasportation.

He reappeared in a laboratory found deep within the heart of Water Country, also known as Mizu no Kuni and the Land of Water. It was even underground, surrounded on all sides by rock, the only way into the place was by using the same route that Takeshi had used, there was a single tree in the place one that did not rely on sunlight or water at all, it was a magical plant, one of Takeshi's own creation. Its sole and only purpose was to be used as an entrance into the laboratory.

Once there he began the process of creating a bloodline limit, one that was meant to surpass the Byakugan but at the same time be very much like it. The Byakugan a mutation that he had actually helped in creating, many of the bloodline limits present in the world were not just genetic mutations, some were creations of his, while others were gifts from gods and or demons.

He considered the Byakugan as one of his masterpieces, and now he truly knew its worth since Kumo wanted it so much that they would actually be willing to pay him such a large sum to get them something like it or similar to it. He was going to make something that would surpass the Byakugan, and he was going to enjoy doing it.

He pulled the materials he needed from the world around him, seemingly random things like eyeballs, rocks, plants, seeds, and other such things, all of them seemingly unimportant to anyone else, but to him they were vital in the birth of a bloodlne.

The Byakugan allowed the user to see through things, plan and simple as that. It was x-ray vision. But with a blindspot and a limited range which depended on the chakra capacity and willingness to train of the user. One of the things that it could be used to see was chakra, that energy that flowed in everyone in the world in this day and age, it was a side effect of the encounter between the Father of Chakra the Sage of Six Paths who used nature energy which mixed with the energies being released by the Juubi which caused chakra to form in everyone.

His new creation was to give a full 360 degree range of x-ray vision, one which would allow a longer range distance wise than the Byakugan, chakra viewing would still be present, there would also be additional viewing modes. There was the orignal chakra viewing mode, night vision mode, heat vision mode, cold vision mode, and pheromone viewing mode. There would also be no need for a seal like the Caged Bird Seal, since these eyes would deteriorate into dust should the body die or they be removed from the body.

It was what he believed that Kumo wanted and a little bit more, though he wouldn't be including an instruction manual even though he had prepared one by morning, he didn't need sleep so he could afford to do that.

He reappeared at the meeting place just as the coucilman arrived, in hand was a single syringe, it was a one time use thing and he wouldn't provide a replacement should the thing happen upon an accident. He handed over the serum and was told that the payment would be forwarded to him once it was confirmed that the serum did indeed work.

It was a few weeks later that the councilman returned to the town with a contingent of ninja, he had failed to inform the Raikage just who it was that had created the serum which had worked, had the Raikage known just who it was that he had sent his ninja to capture he would have just sent a single one with a scroll containing the payment for the serum and a small bonus along with a request for a training or instruction manual for the new bloodline limit. But alas all of his ninja and the councilman were returned to Kumo with lots and lots of injuries ranging from broken bones to the requirement of quitting from the profession altogether.

The ninja and councilman had been returned to Kumo via portkey which dropped them into the middle of the hidden village along with a note demanding double payment for the job he had done and should the payment not be sent his way, then the new bloodline would be forced to no longer exist in the world once again, there was a failsafe in the serum which made it possible for Takeshi to cancel the thing. He could actually do that with every bloodline limit that he had ever created or encountered.

Kumo immediately sent a reply or response by having a messenger-nin deliver the scroll containing the payment along with the request for some tips on how to train in the use of the bloodline to Takeshi. He sent the messenger-nin back to Kumo with the manual along with another bill for the manual.

Kumo sent back payment for that with a little bonus, they didn't want to anger someone that clearly had more power than the whole of Kumo combined and deserved his triple S-ranked status.

His status didn't have a bounty on it though since Kumo didn't want to piss him off by giving him one as it would send unneccessry trouble his way, and the Yakuza had warned Kumo that Takeshi was not fond of trouble after all.

"So how was work?" Choto asked, "I noticed you haven't been back for a whole week."

"I advanced payment for my stay here, dumped the amount in your bank account," Takeshi said, "I'm heading up to my room now."

"Alright," Choto said, "I'll wake you in the morning, your workload's been pilling up since you've been gone."

"Alright," Takeshi said, before trudging his way up the stairs and to his room where he began trying his hand at writing a novel.

He had proofread too much of Jiraiya's work which lead him to writing his own novel. The difference between the adult material that Jiraiya liked to write about and the manuscript that Takeshi came up with, was that that there was no tastelessness in the story, it had the right amount of everything. It was just like the first novel that Jiraiya had ever written, one which Takeshi had stumbled upon once he published his own book. He added something to his to do list, get Jiraiya's autograph for that first novel.

"So I take it you're finally leaving," Choto asked his dormer as Takeshi walked down the stairs of the dorm with an old satchel hanging from him, Choto knew that Takeshi was a master of seals so didn't question why only one bag was needed to carry all of the man's things.

"Hai," Takeshi confirmed, "Something told me that its time to leave. I've already deposited in your account my remaining payments," Takeshi then walked out the door, "Well..see ya."

He felt something change in the world, it was like a shifting in the destinies of the world. He didn't know what it was, all he knew was that if he stuck his nose in it, he could sow some much needed chaos in the world. So he found himself walking to Hi no Kuni, the Land of Fire or Fire Country, his destination: Konohagakure no Sato.

It was like one of those Jedi feeling a disturbance in the Force, it was kind of like that for Takeshi, he just had this feeling that it would be for the best for him to relocate to Konoha for whatever reason. He supposed that it could be a chance for him to have his copy of The Tale of a Gutsy Ninja autographed by the author. He was a bit giddy at that, he had a collection of autographed copies of books. He had a lot of books, his collection would have or could have caused one of his earlier friends to have sold her soul to Devil himself for a chance to just look at them all.

The Kaminari court and Kumo were informed of his departure, and deemed it important to upgrade his status in the Bingo Book to quadruple S-rank status, it was unheard of for anyone to have such a rating, but there was his rating along with a note that said that going after him simply wasn't worth the the risk.

Getting to Konoha was easy as pie, Takeshi only had to move through a few other lands, lands which he had some laboratories or other such residences to play in, before entering the Land of Fire via the Valley of the End.

The Uchiha and Senju, their bloodlines could be shut down by him, but they were not his creations, they were two halves of a very powerful whole. They were the direct descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, just as the Uzumaki were descendants of that man as well, though they were also descendants of Takeshi too due to a one night stand.

Getting into Konoha was also easy as pie, all he needed were the papers that the Kaminari Daimyo had at one time provided for him, granting him quite the status in the world, political immunity anywhere in the world, there was also his automatically updating family tree in the form of an ever lengthening and expanding tapestry but he'd only reveal a fraction of that if he really needed to, which he hadn't ever needed to.

He found the village to be in quite the disrepair, after asking around some of the civilians informed him of the recent attack of the Kyuubi and that it had been defeated by the late Yondaime Hokage. He didn't know what to say to the people of the village that he wished to live in for the time being. He made his wa, eventually, to the Hokage Tower, also known as the Hokage Residence and Village Administration Building, where he applied for residence in the village, the papers that had been drawn up and sealed with the official seal of the Kaminari Daimyo were more than enough to get him residency status within the village.

He idly wondered if the Hi Daimyo was aware of his line being that of an immortal's. Something was telling him that it would be a good idea to meet with his Hi Daimyo of a descendant. That something was telling him that his life would be a whole lot easier if he did just that.

So he did, he ventured forth, out of the village after purchasing a plot of land on the outskirts of the village near the Forest of Death, and went to the capital of the country where the Daimyo's palace could be found. He went right on in, since he did actually remember the basic layout of the palace, having been part of the construction team when it was originally built. Soldiers were sent after him, but he managed to lose them thanks to his memory of the secret passageways that he was sure his descendant was unaware of.

The daimyo was quite surprised to find Takeshi sitting on a chair in the throne room that had been in the throne room since the reign of the first Hi Daimyo. It was a chair that was said to prevent anyone other than the father of the first daimyo from sitting on it. But there Takeshi sat, dressed in his finest of kimonos, one that resembled the one that the first Hi Daimyo was said to have worn and had only borrowed from his father for his solo portait.

"So..has anyone succeeded sitting on this comfortable thing?" Takeshi asked the daimyo as soon as the man's surprise had died away, his 12 guardians were not around to protect him in-case Takeshi was a threat to his life.

"I-Impossible..not even I have been able to sit in that chair, much less get close to it," the daimyo said, "How are you able to?"

"It's my chair, of course I can sit on it," Takeshi said a bit cheekily, "Let me introduce myself, I am the living breathing immortal Tenshi Takeshi, Father of the Five Great Nations' Royal Clans. How do you do, my desar descendant?"

"I-Impossible," the daimyo said, "You can't be immortal...there's just no possible way..."

"Then explain how I can sit in this chair while generations of you daimyos have tried to sit on it," Takeshi said, "I also have proof to my claim, deep within your clan vault..there is a family portrait with three persons in it, one is the first daimyo, one is his mother, and third one is I, though I would be wearing my work clothes and not these this kimono that I wear now."

"You just wait right there, I'm going to go down and validate your claim.." the daimyo said but before he left the throne room he remembered that the key to the vault been supposedly given to the first daimyo's father for safekeeping, the treasures of the clan were automatically sucked into the vault if placed before the vault doors and a secret phrase was spoken that activated the strange mechanism, "It seems like I wont be able to validate your claim, the key to the vault is not in my possession.." he was interrupted in what he was saying as he reflexively caught a large bronze key that Takeshi had flung his way.

"Use that," Takeshi said, "Only those of my blood may even hold the key, and even then there is still a bloodline requirement."

The daimyo didn't need to verify the claim any longer, as once he left the throne room he had one of the guards stationed outside of it to hold the key, the man had been unable to even grasp it, the key refusing to even go near the man's hand. But when it came to the daimyo it stuck almost like glue. He also noticed while he was outside that the bronze key had the clan symbol etched on it along with the depiction of an eye with a jagged line running through it. The etched eye looking eerily like the single visible eye of the man that sat on the cursed chair in the throne room.

He walked right back into his own throne room where Takeshi continued to wait for his return.

"Alright, I believe you," the daimyo said, "I give up. I believe you. Why have you come for a visit after all this time?"

"I had a feeling that I had to meet you for some reason," Takeshi said, "Though I must admit that I do not know what it is. I'm more here just to reintroduce me to one of my families. You might also want to contact your distant cousin in Kaminari about myself and my services, you know, just in-case some of the ninja of your hidden village prove a wee bit too over confident or incompetent."

"I...alright," the daimyo said, "I guess I am bound by something to tell you that you are still welcome in these halls and walls. I'll prepare some papers for you to make your stay in this country easier."

"Thank you," Takeshi said before simply vanishing into thin air as if he had never been there.

He reappred in Konoha, on the piece of land that he had purchased for his own purposes. One such purpose was building a house to live in, another was to provide a safe haven for whatever family he found that needed his help, since that was what he sensed had called him to Konoha.

He checked the village population records and archives regarding any family that he might have in the village that needed his help. He brought with him a portion of his family tree, it was in scroll form since the tapestry showed the whole thing, he just needed the ones relating to Fire Country, Konoha specifically. He found that two of his descendants had been members of the village and the ninja forces, they were Uzumaki, both women. Then to his surprise they were closely related to one another. Delving further, he found out that there was still one more Uzumaki still alive in the village, an Uzumaki Naruto. He was listed as being an orphan and presently under the care of the Sandaime Hokage.

Takeshi didn't like the sound of that, one of his family was in the care of a very busy man, a man that Takeshi doubted had the time to deal with or take care of a child. Takeshi planned on doing something about it.


	58. Untitled 02

"Where do you think you're going?" the owner of the establishment young Uzumaki Naruto had taken an apple from and was about to leave since he didn't think anyone was there.

"Um..out?" the little boy answered as he inched his way to the door.

"With an unpaid for apple," the man said accusingly, "Where I come from taking without permission or payment is considered stealing. Are you stealing my apple boy?"

"Uhm..yes...s-sorry...I was hungry...and there wasn't anyone around.." the boy said, trembling a little as he decided that telling the truth was in his best interests.

"Well at least you're honest," the man said, "Well do you have any intentions of paying for it little boy?"

"I...I don't have money," the little boy said.

"Well you don't need to pay with coin," the man said, "There are others methods or modes of payment. Labor is a choice you have. So how about it?"

"Labor? What's that?" the little boy asked.

"Work," the man replied, "I'm Tenshi Takashi by the way, what's your name little one?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!" the boy enthusiastically replied.

"Uzumaki Naruto huh," the man said, "Well..now that was a name I had not been expecting..oh yes..the apple's free boy...but I'm sure that finding food is hard for you, as is a place to stay I believe...how would you like to stay with me, and all you'd have to do is work on whatever I tell you to do. How about it?"

"Why the sudden change Tenshi-san?" the little boy asked.

"I knew your parents," Takeshi said, "I've been wanting to meet you for some time now, but its rather difficult to visit Konoha most of the time."

"You knew my parents? You know who they are? Tell me!" the little boy demanded, the Hokage had told him that he didn't know who they were, he told the little boy only that they surely loved him.

"You are forgetting one very simple word boy," Takeshi said as he walked out from behind the counter of his shop of oddball things.

"Please tell me?" the little boy said in a little boy voice.

"I knew your parents," Takeshi said, "Both of them were frequent visitors of my shop, starting from when they were young like you all the way to when your mother was pregnant with you."

"Can you please tell me who they were? The old man says that he doesn't know who they are," the little boy said.

"I'm sure he knows who they were," Takeshi said, "He just doesn't trust you to keep such things secret."

"Why?" the little boy asked feeling betrayed by the old man.

"To protect you mostly," Takeshi said, "Both of your parents had many enemies. You are a little boy, finding out who your parents were might cause you to want to shout it out to the world, bringing down the wrath of your parents enemies. But I will tell you if you promise not to tell anyone, not even the old man."

"I promose," the little boy said.

"I'll hold you to that promise," Takeshi said, "Though I will allow you to share the information I am about to share with you when I think you are strong enough to protect yourself from your parents' enemies. Remember, your promise is your word, it is your solemn vow, it is your honor. Promises are not to ever be broken. People with judge you and trust you based on your ability to keep your word. Understand?"

"Hai," the little boy said seriously, "I promise not to tell anyone I know who my parents are and who they are until you tell me that I am strong enough to protect myself."

"Alright," Takeshi said, "Your mother's name is Uzumaki Kushina and your father's name is Namikaze Minato. The Red Hot-Blooded Habanero (Akai Chisio no Habanero) and the Yellow Flash (Konoha no Kiiroi Senko)."

"Wow, they had nicknames," the little boy happily said, "So they're really famous!"

"Oh not only does your father have a nickname," Takeshi said, "But he was famous for another thing."

"What?" the little boy asked.

"He was the Yondaime Hokage," Takeshi stated seriously, "And there is something he did that you deserve to know about, but you must promise panic."

"I promise," the little boy said, if the Yondaime did something it must have been for a good reason.

"You know about the Kyuubi?" Takeshi asked the little boy as he led him to a couple of chairs in the back of the shop.

"Tou-san killed it!" Naruto replied excitedly.

"He did not," Takeshi said.

"You mean its still out there?!" the little boy said, not really panicking, but very much concerned.

"Not really," Takeshi said, "While your father did not kill the thing, as he did not have the power to do such a feat, he sealed it into the only one that he could trust to protect the village he loved. The sealing was actually the reason why he died. Your mother on the other hand died protecting you, as well as due to a forced extraction by an evil evil man."

"So tou-san sealed the Kyuubi," the boy said in contemplation, "Where or who'd he seal it in?"'

"You," was Takeshi's simple reply.

"Me? Is that why people don't like me?" the little boy asked, keeping to his promise of not to panic.

"Yes," Takeshi said, "See, many people lost loved ones in the Kyuubi's attack on the village, so instead of seeing you, they see the monster you hold back everyday. So remember, you are Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto and not the Kyuubi."

"Ok Tenshi-san," Naruto said, "I understand and I'll remember."

"Good," Takeshi said, "Now about your staying with and working for me. Will you be?"

"Hai," Naruto said, "I'd like to..but where would I stay in here, the outside didn't look like much. What would I do?"

"First and foremost, my shop and house are one and the same and is not found in one place only," Takeshi said, "Think of it as magic since my home is in every single village, town, and city, all at the same time. The shop only looks small because I want it to, but it has several floors and several rooms. You will stay in one."

"Ok," the little boy said, "But what will I do? I'm still small.."

"Before I actually have you man the shop or do the other things I'm thinking of making you do, you'll have to learn some things," Takeshi said.

"But I already go to school," the little boy said, "What else is there to learn?"

"A lot of things," Takeshi said, "Many things not taught in school or anywhere in some cases. We'll start of with reading and writing, and move on from there once I'm satisfied with your penmanship and your ability to comprehend complex reasoning and other such things."

"Uh..ok Tenshi-san," Naruto said, "I'll do it."

"Good," Takeshi said, "Now, I want you to promise me something else."'

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"you must promise me that you will only show others what you need to show until I say otherwise," Takeshi said, "Meaning that while at school or the academy, you will only do what you need to just to pass, nothing more than that. The people that do not like you do not need more reason to dislike, hate, or fear, you."

"Ok, I promise," Naruto said, "So when do we begin?"

"Now," Takeshi said, "Follow me.."

Naruto spent most of his free time with Takeshi, calling him Takeshi-sensei. He learned many things from the man, many of the things had seemingly nothing to do with being anything in particular. He learned not only to read and write, but everything that Takeshi could think of to teach the boy. Takeshi knew a lot of things, he was a master of many things thanks to how long he had been alive.

He had been around to see several End of Days, himself causing the first one after seeing what humanity had eventually become due to greed mostly. He had seen many wars, he had seem many times of peace. He had seem and learned many things, he had even met many people. He was that old and that immortal. He should have looked like an old man instead of the middle aged man that he did actually make people see him as.

The ability to stay relatively young forever was thanks in part to his true identity of having ascended to something akin to godhood, he was Evolution himself. He was the ability to shape, to change, and to destroy all rolled into one. He was also a _Master of Death_.

He had many things to teach Naruto, he even taught the little boy how to properly and efficiently harness the chakra, from the regular blue to the burning orange-red of the tailed beast. Since he was starting off young, Naruto's control would be better than if he only found out that he needed more control when he was finally in his teens. He even taught Naruto how to meditate, a requirement for becoming a sage and being able to gather and manipulate Senjutsu chakra.

Naruto was also taught how to defend himself and others, how to plan ahead, and how to manipulate others with words and actions. He was even taught the value of the subtle art of deceit.

There were some thngs that caused Naruto to wonder about Takeshi's sanity, since the man also taught the boy everything that kunoichi were taught from flower pressing to seduction. Naruto was subjected to The Talk at such an early age, it was both enlightening and traumatizing, but he vowed to practice the things he learned when he was old enough.

Takeshi even helped Naruto in unlocking his bloodline limits, all four of them. There were the spirit chains from his mother's side, some gifts that his father had merged with him like the ability to perform space-time jutsu, the Rin'negan that he got from the combination of his mother's and father's bloodlines, and his connection to magic which he actually got from several different ancestors one of whom was teaching him presently.

Naruto really didn't make much time to make friends other than his classmates at the academy. Although he did have a few people that he could count as precious people, like Takeshi himself and the Ichiraku family. Surprisingly the Hokage was no longer on his list of precious people as not only did the man lie to him, but did not trust him too. Naruto also noticed that the Hokage didn't spend a lot of time with him, only checked up on him from time to time seeing if he was okay just like all the other wards of the village.

Naruto passed through his classes with relative ease since all he needed to do, just as he promised, was perform with the minimum requirements. He was the dead last of the whole academy, no one could go any lower than he could. His grades were so low, but not failing, that he set a record one that academy instructors doubted would ever be broken by anyone.

The Hokage ordered the academy instructors to perform better due to Naruto's performance, while the other students' performances went up, Naruto's remained at the bottom. He was consistent in his being at the bottom, but no one wanted to acknowledge the possibility that he was intentionally remaining there even though he was extremely consistent.

Even Nara Shikamaru, the class' resident lazy-genius, didn't or wasn't able to remain as constant as the blonde. The result of his hiding what he could really do resulted in him having to find some way to release the pent up energy he was keeping compressed within him. Takeshi permitted him and even taught him the glorious art of pranking so that the blonde could unlease hell...err...energy somewhere while keeping his abilities secret, most wouldn't really bother over analyzing the a prank and how it was done, most would only hunt down the prankster so that punishment could be given.

It was through pranks that Takeshi actually tested Naruto on what he knew. Each prank consisted of hidden tests and Takeshi even graded the blonde on each prank that he accomplished. He even provided the safehouse that the blonde would use after every prank to successfully escape punishment. It also helped Naruto that he did not limit his pranks to Konoha as he was able to move freely all over the continent thanks to a special door that Takeshi had in his home, the second floor above the shop, that connected the establishment to all of the cities, town, and villages, on the continent.

The Tsuchikage nearly had several heart attacks when Naruto decided to toilet paper the Iwa Anbu Headquarters which Takeshi helped in locating one day. The academy had held no classes that week thanks to the peace talks and signing between Konoha and Kumo. Naruto spent that week away from the village and in Iwa to perform his week long pranking spree while evading capture and even freaking out a few of the Iwa-nin when he used the Hiarishin to evade capture, it was only after he told Takeshi that he was informed that Iwa, the entire village, was one of his father's greatest enemies.

While he was unaware of the kidnap attempt of one of his classmates, he did manage to save the Hyuuga quite the loss in Hyuuga Hizashi as the man had been brought to Kumo alive instead of dead as per some weird political bullshit that Kumo managed to pull due to Hiashi killing their ambassador.

How Naruto managed to save the Hyuuga quite a loss in the clan leader's twin brother was that he pissed off the Raikage so much that the man and the rest of Kumo actually forgot about Hizashi who Takeshi perfonally rescued and even provided forged documents to that would make everyone think and believe that he had died on the way to Kumo or some bullshit story like that. The man was moved to the nexus of Takeshi's establishment and became a servant to Naruto due to the blonde being the one that had taken the heat for him instead.

While Hizashi could not return to Konoha, he could communicate with his son by means of Naruto dropping off letters from father to son whenever he pranked the Hyuuga, and thanks to Hizashi managed to not get caught.

The blonde boy mastered the three basic academy jutsu, Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique), and Bushin no Jutsu (Clone Technique), to such an extent that they were the basis of some of the things that he created to help with his pranking. They were also what he used in order to get to his targets and escape.

He managed to gain the begrudging respect and ire of the Raikage as he managed to escape from one of the fastest men in the world along with the rest of Kumo's elite forces after doodling on the Raikage's face. He also accidentally stole the records of the orders from the Raikage to his ambassador to kidnap the a main house Hyuuga. It was such a good and bad thing that the Hidden Villages kept records of all of their missions, covert or not. These were why Naruto actually gained a spot in Kumo's Bingo Book, there wasn't a picture or a name, just a description of the blonde including his whisker birthmarks. He was labeled as an S-rank threat, and had a bounty of 50 million ryo bounty if he could be brought to the Raikage alive, dead would not bring the hunter any reward.

Hyuuga Hizashi also gained a bounty, but it was only after he helped Naruto in pranking the Raikage a second time by not only managing to doodle on the Raikage's face a second time but also doodling on his brother's face and dumping Nii Yugito into a large tub of dog food. They were spotted as they made their escape, but only Hizashi's face was only one not blurry when photos of the pranksters were submitted to the Raikage.

Konoha was informed of Hizashi's bounty, but they refused to include help in the capture of a man that they had though had died at the hands of Kumo. Even though the Hyuuga had petitioned for the Hokage to send out search teams for Hizashi, the Hokage did nothing of the sort since it was kind of a clan matter and they had not fought for the man instead sacrificing him when the village was prepared to go to war with Kumo over the kidnapping.

When the Uchiha were slaghtered by one of their own, Naruto had once again been out of the village, though this time he spent his time in Amegakure no Sato in Ame no Kuni, Takeshi decided that Naruto needed to be absent more, to build up a kind of delinquent reputation, so he sent him to Ame where the little blonde boy wrought havoc within the two warring sides' ranks. There was still a civil war going on within Ame's borders, between Salamander Hanzo, the leader of Ame, and a bunch of rebels lead by a man that went by the name of Pein.

Somehow in the chaos that he had sown into the country, more chaos than normal, he had managed to befriend the rebel leader. Pein couldn't find it in him to dislike Naruto at all. The kid was just that likeable when one spent enough time getting to know him or around him. It was also around that time that Hanzo discovered the rebel base and the two leaders faced off against one another.

Naruto not wanting to leave his friend to fend for himself had ordered Hizashi to help the rebels while he helped the rebel leader against the village leader who had fallen quite far from the protector of the people he had at one time been.

Pein, whose real name was Uzumaki Nagato, was surprised when an attack by Hanzo had been deflected by Naruto himself, the little blonde boy had arrived with kind of reinforcements. He had somehow convinced Takeshi into helping the rebel forces even though the man didn't really enjoy going out of his establishment. Hizashi was also seen leaping in the direction of the soldiers of the rebel army and the Hanzo loyalist army.

Naruto attacked Hanzo in order to give Pein enough time to rest and prepare his own counter attack. Naruto attacked Hanzo using his variations of the three basic academy jutsu along with the Kage Bushin no Jutsu which Takeshi decided to teach him what with his already substantial chakra reserves and stores.

It was a battle of quantity versus quality, and of course quality eventually managed to win. Naruto had been flung into a far away wall, but he did not fall into unconsciousness, he was just a little bit stunned. He had managed to buy Pein enough time to get a really big attack ready, once unleashed managed to snare the village leader and almost kill him.

Hanzo managed to escape certain death by using the kawarimi, replacing himself with Naruto which saved him but caused friend to skewer friend. Pein had figured out what Hanzo's weakness was and had attacked with all he had. While he had managed to trap Hanzo long enough to deliver the blow he had not counted on the man relying on such a simple jutsu. Once his shock and surprise wore off he watched his newest and latest friend slide off of the blade he used.

Hanzo saw it as a minor victory while Pein saw it as a major loss, both thought their own thoughts until they both felt confusion as Naruto suddenly jumped up from his downed position shouting.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" Naruto shouted at the two leaders, for all intents and purposes he should have died, but there he was shouting at the two leaders. It was a bit unnerving.

"I did not mean to do it!" Pein replied uncharacteristically, "Its not my fault that Hanzo switched places with you!"

"Argh! I'm sorry..I guess I forgot it was a battle we were in," Naruto said as he flung several shuriken Hanzo's way and sending out enough chakra to activate the Tajuu Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu which multiplied the shuriken thrown at the village leader who was only then preparing to summon his personal salamander summon.

Hanzo not expecting such a little kid that had used numbers to stall him had not been prepared for the sudden appearance of so many shuriken that he stopped mid summon and was actually hit by several dozen, though he did manage to protect his weak spot. He shunshin'd his way closer to the two friends, the blonde and the red head interrupting their chat.

"Take me seriously damnit!" Hanzo shouted at them before vanishing and attacking with his blade, Pein parried and countered with a kunai and Naruto kawarimi's with a regular bushin. Pein decided on keeping the battle close range which helped him and Naruto since it restricted Hanzo into using only close range attacks against the double-teaming Uzumaki.

"You lost your hope of defeating me when your little friend decided to cut in," Hanzo told Pein.

"You are wrong!" Pein shouted in reply, "Your oppresive reign ends here!"

"Accept your fate!" Hanzo shouted back, "Your rebellion ends here!"

Hanzo was only really concentrating on Pein and more or less lost track of what he believed to be a mere pest. Naruto didn't like being ignored so prepared an attack, he had been taught by Takeshi, in secret. It was a speed technique one that rivaled his father's own time-space speed technique. There were several ways of using the technique, Naruto was going to use the one that didn't really require a bloodline limit to use the jutsu. He gathered all of his regular chakra and covered his body in it, then he went into sage mode as he gathered senjutsu chakra and covered his cells in it, he followed that up by accessing all of the chakra he had locked in him that belonged to the Kyuub for the time being and poured it into his muscles. Using healing chakra he caused all of his molecules to vibrate and become unstable. When he was ready to perform the technique he lay in wait.

His friend, while not counting on him, could really use his help since Hanzo was covering his weakness really well this time more so than before. Pein kept track of his young friend and noticed that Naruto was just itching to help him and had even prepared some sort of attack. He decided then and there that it didn't matter who ended Hanzo's terrible reign, so long as it was ended. He just hoped that Naruto was prepared for the consequences of ending another's life.

Naruto had already been prepared for it as he had already conveniently killed before, Takeshi had explained it all to him, and he had forced himself to understand. One of the things that he had learned was that the world was sometimes a kill or be killed world, sometimes it was a you or me world. Which was why he decided that before committing himself to ending someone else's life he would first consider all of his available options before choosing such a serious thing as death.

This was one of those times that death was the only real and viable answer.

Hanzo noticed Pein's inattentiveness and so decided to comment on it.

"Have you accepted your fate yet? I see you are not paying all that much attention to our battle," Hanzo mocked.

"My fate is to live, while yours is to not," Pein stated, then jumped back while shouting, "Naruto! NOW!"

It was a good thing that Pein did not blink. He watched something that he would not have ever seen again in his lifetime. Naruto was far off from the battle one moment and in the next moment stood looking like he was shaking, his body was powering down, right beside the lifeless body of Salamander Hanzo.

Hanzo had died thanks to the combined efforts of Pein and Naruto, the killing blow being delivered by a nine year old.

"Was this your first kill?" Pein asked his young friend after checking if Hanzo was still alive.

"No," Naruto replied, "Takeshi-sensei explained killing to me as an option after I killed a man in self defense. So is it over? Are you free?"

"Not yet," Pein said, "I still have to make sure that my comrades win in their own fight. The whole of Ame also needs to know that Hanzo has fallen."

"So we just need to end the fighting?" Naruto asked.

"Basically, yes," Pein said as they made their way to the bigger battlefield.

"Ok," Naruto said and shouted, "Sensei! End it now please!"

Takeshi didn't need to be told or asked twice, he simple slammed a staff that appeared in his hand, it was light purple in color, and the fighters were forced to stop as they were all frozen in place and all of their injuries were healed. Takeshi was just that powerful it came with being as old, immortal, and what exactly he was.

"How's that?" Naruto asked facing his friend, "Good enough for ya?"

"You didn't tell me he could do that," Pein said as he looked on a bit dumbstruck at what he had witnessed.

"You never asked," Naruto retorted.

"Duly noted," Pein said, then asked, "Now that my side has won, what will you be doing? Seeing as I'll be very busy running a country."

"I guess I'll go home," Naruto said, "I've been absent from class for too long, the Hokage might get a bit too worried about me..hehe," he scratched the back of his head a bit out of feeling a tad bit awkward.

"So you live in Konoha," Pein said, "My former sensei is a ninja of Konoha. Perhaps you've heard of him, Jiraya."

"Sensei said that he's a Super-Pervert," Naruto stated, "But that everyone he's taught became a powerful person, one with the responsibility to bringing peace to the world."

"We all may have the ability," Pein said, "But I believe that you are the one who will actually do it. You told me you wanted to become strong, strong enough to protect what's precious to you. You changed me..I was originally going to have the whole world feel pain in order for everyone to attain peace. But I have seen through you, that there is another, better, way."

"Ok," Naruto said, "I'll achieve peace, for you and everyone, but I'll need help, you know."'

"I'll help you," Pein said, "Just as you have helped me."

"Great," Naruto said, "So...do you want your comrades to be able to move again? Sensei's kinda waiting."

"Please.." Pein requested.

Takeshi had been listening in on their conversation and so slammed his materialized staff once again against the ground causing all of the previously frozen in place people to fall to the ground. Takeshi then seemingly half walked half teleported to where his pupil and his pupil's friend were standing overlooking the former battlefield.

"I take it you two are done for the day, done planning for the future?" Takeshi rhetorically asked.

"Hai," Naruto said, "I'm ready to go home now.." he noticed that Hizashi was not yet with them, "Where's Zashi?"

"I sent him home, since he managed to stumble upon something Hanzo had been in possession of," Takeshi replied.

"What was it?" Naruto asked, Pein too was interested in knowing.

"Not it, who," Takeshi stated, "Hizashi's wife was reported to have one day died on a mission. Her seal would have destroyed her eyes which was why the Hyuuga clan didn't really care much for the loss. Apparently someone from Konoha sold her to Hanzo for some favors."

"...I don't know how to react to that," Naruto said.

"Its the way our world works," Pein told his young friend, "There are many sicknesses in the world that need curing. I look forward to working on a cure with you."

"I do too," Naruto said, "I guess this is see you later, huh."

"It seems like it," Pein said, "I'll be sure to update Ame's Bingo Book with your information in it."

"Why would you do that?" Naruto asked.

"To fan the flame of your fame," Takeshi told his student, "I'm sure he's going to lie a little bit, and make it seem like you single-handedly defeated Hanzo."

"I was planning on doing that," Pein said, "You did deal the killing blow after all, I just helped distract him."

"Ugh," Naruto said, "Just put Naruto as my name..no picture if possible."

"Alright," Pein said, "I can do that. But I reserve the right to update your information should I think you are prepared for the added attention."

"Ugh..fine," Naruto said, "I'll be seeing you then."

"See you, my young friend," Pein said, he then watched his young friend walk away beside his teacher, a man who more than deserved his own place in the Bingo Book but Pein felt that he didn't have enough leverage to do such a thing since he was sure that Takeshi would not be happy.

It took until Naruto's gradutation exam for Hizashi's wife to get back to being normal physically and mentally after her ordeal at the hands of people that wanted to learn as much as they could from the Byakugan and the Hyuuga clan as possible, they knew that taking the eyes from a sealed member would not work in anyone's favor other than the Hyuuga clan. So they kept her relatively alive.

Neji was informed through a letter of his mother's status as being among the living and had demanded that he be permitted to visit her. His request had been denied as Takeshi believed that his visit would do more harm than good to her still fragile psyche at the time. It was only when he believed her sane enough that Neji had finally been allowed to visit his parents at Takeshi's Emporium, which was the name of his establishment where Naruto worked and trained.

The small family reunion was a quiet affair spent in Hizashi's room in the establishment. Neji had been informed that he was free to visit whenever he wished though he had to at least inform either Naruto or Takeshi about the visit before heading for the second floor.

Neji had also been introduced to a way to make the Caged Bird Seal no longer function. It was something that Takeshi had created a long time ago, it disabled the seal anti-tampering mechanisms then kind of reprogrammed the thing to become a way to protect the secrets of the Hyuuga clan without harming the one baring the mark. Hizashi's small family hoped to one day be able to introduce the new seal to their fellow branded brach family members.

Naruto had been instructed by Takeshi to intentionally fail the graduation exam, fail it so bad that he would have a plaque dedicated to him in the academy. He would hold the record for Epic Failure at the academy for years to come, and it would further cause others to underestimate him which would be both a good thing and a bad thing. Takeshi's reasoning was that he suspected that one of the instructors at the academy needed a student to con in order to get his hands on something very important to the village, a jounin had done it in the past for a genin who wanted to become a chunin. So why not use an academy student who wanted to become a genin.

Mizuki, a chunin instructor of the academy, decided that Naruto was his best candidate for the job of stealing the village's Kinjutsu Scroll. Naruto went along with the plan, but since he was really good at stealth, one of the best, if not the best, that the village had to offer, was not caught by the Hokage and so there was no search for him until morning which delayed Mizuki's plan as he needed Umino Iruka to track down Naruto, the man was one of the select few people that Naruto liked in the village and one of the very select few people that were able to track down Naruto when he was needed for something for whatever reason, of course those were times when he was not hidng due to a prank, no one had been able to pin his pranks on him thanks in part to his grades at the academy.

Due to the parts of Mizuki's plan going haywire, Takeshi decided to step in, he used his connections to the Daimyo, something that no longer surprised Naruto, to get some documents that would enable him to not be overly suspicious to the Hokage when he brought Naruto with him before the Kage and presented evidence of Mizuki and a number of relatively unknown shinobi of Konoha being traitors to the village and the country for associating with outside parties. Takeshi played the part of Country Security Agent or Officer or Official, with the documents and papers to back up his claim, and the blessings of the Daimyo, the Hokage believed Takeshi who met with the Hokage in a different form his usual form.

Naruto had been promoted for his professionalism as well as for already having worked with the government, Takeshi permitted him to show of a few of his skills to the Hokage just so that the tale could be more believable.


	59. Untitled 04

He'd been having a bad day, or several bad days that had piled up or accumulated into something more like the years since the day he had been born save for a few days. Being born could probably be counted as the only real blessing that he had ever received in his existence. Everything else wasn't free or without pain. He had worked hard fro the day that his parents had left him alone in the world with the hopes that he would grow up the better man than what they knew, at the backs of their minds, could turn him bitter, spiteful, or hateful.

He grew up amidst constant abuse, hate, or ignorance. He was treated in such ways and he didn't even know why until the day he was begrudgingly welcomed into the ranks of the village protectors, those warriors viewed stereotypically in black.

He was checked on from time to time, and helped, mostly by the village leader, but most of the time he was left on his own to fend for himself in a den of wolves and other predators. The village leader was not always there for him, leaving him to mentally mature faster than anyone else in the village for he had to deal with more than just being alone. He had to combat the negative feelings that were attempting to take a firm hold within himself, coupled with all the things that adults, or parents if he had any, would be or were in charge of doing.

He had to learn, to adapt, to improvise, to survive in a village, or world, that was mostly against him. He had to budget his monthly stipend, the allowance he received courtesy of the village each month for his needs. It was always never sufficient for his needs since most shops overpriced their products when he was the customer. He had to find ways around his lack of funds, and there was even his apartment which was one of the only major things that the village leader decided to help him with.

His home was the one thing he didn't need to shell out that many funds for. He owned the whole complex so he didn't need to pay rent, although very few people wanted to live in the apartment with him, the few that did did contribute a little to his funds, but the rent he collected was mostly used for the maintenance of the complex. Regular laborers would also overprice their services when it came to him or anything associated with him, this lead to his learning how to do all the things needed to keep his apartment up to regulation and standards.

He grew into a Jack-of-All-Trades, one that only began to be appreciated by the people who became his clients when he and his team performed those supposedly boring D-class missions. While his teammates viewed them as chores, he viewed them as things he normally found himself doing in his spare time, aside from training, his sensei saw them as team building exercises.

His skills as a warrior were just as they appeared, though there were a few things that he kept secret from his teammates, there were some things that he could do that might make them hate him too or simply not trust him. These were things that he also didn't want to share with others.

His pranks from before he was joined the village military could be considered as training exercises. He used everything in his arsenal to perform those pranks, ones which he rarely got caught for, and in some cases couldn't be pinned on him. He was a prime example of what the primitive ninja used to be.

He was a master of traps, stealth, espionage, reconnaissance, theft, sabotage, and so much more. He was one of those that still kept to the shadows using deceit and trickery to complete his objectives. While he wasn't a master of the Bushin no Jutsu, he was a master of the other two basic jutsu, Kawarimi and Henge.

He used those two basic jutsu to such great effect that it was how he sometimes managed to escape from places where he normally would not be able to otherwise. As long as he knew where the thing he was going to replace himself with was and of course what that thing was, he could replace himself with it. As for the transformation technique, his transformations ranged from just the basic illusion to some versions that he had accidentally stumbled upon while training. He could shift shape, physically change or alter his appearance, he could literally transform into anything yet keep his mind. He actually had to attend several kunoichi remedial classes and lessons to perfect his female form and acting skills.

That was another thing that he was, he was an actor, he could out fake a fake. Out act a professional actor. He could impersonate anyone he had spent enough time with or around. He actually impersonated the Hokage on one occasion just to get out of trouble. This was one skill which he kept secret since with it he could be considered as a village threat.

He even knew how to work with poisons, he even immunized himself by exposing himself to every single poison he could get his hands on, this was more out of self preservation after a failed attempt on his life by a poisons expert. It was then that he found out and truly realized the blessing and curse that was his advanced healing factor. He healed at an alarming rate which was also responsible for making him as immune to many poisons as he was, it was also this that boosted the growth of the physical half of his arsenal, his mental and spiritual parts were enhanced through necessity, though he wouldn't be able to boast about being a genius, he was just that hard a hard worker.

He played the part of the fool as that was what was expected of him, but he didn't really learn much thanks to the sabotage that some instructors implemented with their plan of stunting his growth, as well as his finding many of the lessons boring. While he knew they were important to some, he didn't really consider how important they could be for himself as he was a person that learned things faster with experience and not with mere words.

He knew the importance of history, but didn't really see how the favorite food of the Nidaime Hokage was important to current events or the future. He did know that knowing the past was a way of preparing for the future, so he studied what he thought would be important to himself or applicable to any situation that he came across.

He knew etiquette, table manners, manners, and all that, he just chose not to do all those things all the time. He had a reputation and image formed in the minds of the villagers, he chose to show them what they wished to see and hide that which they wished not to see, acknowledge, or accept that he was capable of doing or being.

D-class missions were a blessing in disguise for his finances. He could afford more things now compared to before. He couldn't wait for a C-class mission as that was sure to bring him more income than all those many Ds. He was planning on investing or starting a business, something that most of the clans in the village did to support themselves when missions weren't enough, the higher paying ones were rather dangerous to one's health.

He had formed some connections thanks to the hardships he had faced in life, the seedier parts of the village and members of society could be counted among his local haunts, not that that many people knew about it, and could be counted among his circle of close acquaintances. He wasn't new to the business at all, he was an old hand at breaking or bending the law for fun, profit, or simply survival.

There weren't that many people like him in the village, one with the ability and luck to have been able to live in both worlds, the lawful and the one where the strong rule and the weak usually end up being used or dying. He was one of the strong ones, he had been exposed to far too many life lessons to be otherwise.

Even with all these, he still considered his days as bad days. The general discomfort and put downs he received on a daily basis were far too much as they outweighed most of the good things that happened in his life.

That was until he entered a shop that he hadn't ever seen before in the entertainment district of the village. There was a middle aged man manning the counter, one who sported long ebony locks, an eye patch, and a single emerald orb with a jagged scar that ran through it from the man's forehead and went all the way to the tip of his mouth. The man wore a full gray body suit, a belt with many things hanging from it, and a vest with far too many pockets to count or was thought possible.

"Heaven and Hell are what you chose them to be," the man said, it was the weirdest greeting that Uzumaki Naruto had ever heard or encountered, "Think of the good, disregard the bad. Enjoy life, and live a long one."

"Uh.." for once Naruto didn't know what to say or how to react.

"I am Tenshi Takeshi," the man introduced himself, "I've been waiting for you Namikaze Naruto, to visit my little shop. It has been a while since your last visit. I am glad that you have decided that you need an alteration in your outlook in life."

"What do you mean visit again?" Naruto asked, "I've never seen you in my whole life. I'd remember meeting a weirdo like you."

"Ha Ha," the man said, "We've met before, but back then it wasn't yet face to face, you were still growing in your mother's womb back then. So you see we have met before. Aren't you going to ask why I called you Namikaze and not Uzumaki?"

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said, then asked, "Why did you? I'm Uzumaki Naruto, not Namikaze."

"According to your birth certificate you are Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, heir to Uzushiogakure and the living legacy of the formerly last Namikaze," Takeshi stated, "The conclusion you should have actually reached was 'You knew my parents?', since I actually did know them, they were regular customers who asked that I help you should you ever stumble upon my shop."

"So..you knew them? My parents I mean," Naruto said, his brain finished with its rebooting process.

"I already told you that I knew them, and that they asked that I help you, their son, should you ever stumble upon my shop, which you so conveniently have," Takeshi said, "So prepare to be helped young jinchuuriki."

"How do you know about that?" Naruto asked, hoping that the man didn't mean him any harm.

"I don't see the beast you hold within," Takeshi assured the blonde genin, "I see the son of two friends who died in the defense of the village. You should be proud to have been chosen to hold the burden of the Kyuubi, not that many are given the chance to perform the same duties as one's parents."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, he hadn't left his spot by the door and the man hadn't left his spot behind the counter since they started their conversation, "What duty?"

"The duty to protect the world from anyone that would wish to use the power of the Kyuubi for ill gains," Takeshi replied, "You are not the first jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. You are in fact the third one. The other two before you were your mother and her great grand aunt. So I have no qualms about you being the third one to wield this burden. You are the last defense against the Kyuubi and anyone will ill intentions regarding it."

"Aren't you not supposed to talk about the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, hoping that this person that knew his parents wouldn't suddenly he arrested for breaking the law.

"I'm not a citizen of Konoha," Takeshi said, "In fact, you aren't even in that village while being in my shop. The shop has many entrances and exits all over the known world. But the shop itself is found somewhere else, in a realm outside of the dimension you know about. It is why I couldn't simply leave to look for you after hearing of the fall of the Yondaime Hokage after defeating the Kyuubi in his own way and empowering his own son with the power to change the world."

"Are you saying that I'm the son of the Yondaime and the previous Kyuubi jinchuuriki?" Naruto said.

"Hai, that is exactly what I am saying," Takeshi said, "Now how about I start helping you, you who have been hiding your real self from most of the rest of the world for a very long time."

"So..ah..could I ask about my parents?" Naruto asked.

"Sure," Takeshi said, "Just not now, maybe after your next mission, I can promise you that it'll be more than what you're used to, you won't even need to beg for one too."

"How do you know?" Naruto asked.

"I just know these kinds of things," Takeshi said, "I know many things actually, and I'm going to help you reach the top of the food chain...on a side note please refrain from informing anyone about your heritage, you don't have the proof that people would look for to back up such a claim. I may have the official copies of your birth certificate and your parents' marriage certificate, but I don't think that now would be such a good time yet to reveal the extent of just who you are. Would you rather be known for your own achievements or for the things your parents did back when they were still alive?"

"I want to be known for myself," Naruto stated, "So I guess I can wait."

"Good," Takeshi said, then motioned the genin over to the counter, "Now come here, I'm going to prove you with the supplies, I'm also going to resupply and outfit you for the challenges to come. Time might flow differently in this shop, but that doesn't mean that we have all the time in the world."

"So..what now?" Naruto asked as he stood just in front of the country that was devoid of anything that looked useful.

"Hand out please, I need to create a bottomless bag for you to carry all of your stuff, though activated of course," Takeshi said and grabbed hold of Naruto's presented hand and with his other hand began drawing runes and seals on Naruto's palm, when he was done the had that had been held was briefly covered in crisscrossing lines of emerald and white light before dying back down to a tanned colored, "I have connected your left hand to a pocket dimension of my own creation, one which I have already filled with many things that you may or may not need. I have also included an inventory or manual or list of all the things you now have access to from simple screws to training materials to large vessels. To access the items in the pocket dimension or bottomless bag or to place things in it, all you have to do is channel chakra in the hand or more specifically into the seemingly invisible crisscrossing lines that cover the hand while thinking of the object or item you wished unsealed or sealed as well as what you wish to do. Take or retrieve an item or more."

"That's quite a mouthful to take in," Naruto said, "So...are we done?"

"Not at all," Takeshi said enthusiastically, "Far from it. Far far from it. This is when I tell you that your Kage Bushin no Jutsu is a blessing to you, you can use it as a training tool. Whatever a clone learns you learn. So when next you train bring out lots of them and have groups of them practice different things. Be sure to remember to dispel them either one at a time or in manageable groups, since having tehm all explode at the same time might give you a really bad headache."

"I see," Naruto said, "Thanks for the tip."

"To help you with building up your strength and speed," Takeshi said before vaulting over his counter and scripting through several rune and seal sets over Naruto's form with such speed that Naruto couldn't even think to push the zipping hands away from himself until Takeshi was actually already done with whatever he was doing.

"What did you do to me?" Naruto asked concerned for his personal health.

"Your healing factor might have already helped you upgrade your body several times, increasing your strength and speed already," Takeshi said, "We're going to use that healing factor of yours to further upgrade your faster. I've enhanced the rate your body heals, revives, or recreates, or creates new and improved cells. By the time the matrix I've unleashed on your body is removed, you'll be able to match some of the fastest people in your village on raw speed alone, or the strongest ones on raw strength too. This is advanced weight training that only you can perform at this time."

"Ok..but I don't feel heavier or anything related to added weights," Naruto said.

"Oh I made it so, so that you'll still be able to move around and function the same," Takeshi said, "But I will remove the matrix sometime before you have a real shot at becoming chunin."

"Ok...so now what else?" Naruto said, he was growing a little bit more impatient as he wanted to know more about his parents.

"What else...hmm let's see," Takeshi said then adopted a thinking pose before snapping his fingers as he finally remembered what else he was going to give the blonde to help him on his way to greatness like the hat had told him would or could have happened had he not fought with it to be placed elsewhere.

"What? What is it?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"A taijutsu-ninjutsu style of fighting," Takeshi said, "One perfect for your use, though it will take a lot of hard work on your part since it involves shape manipulation and nature manipulation of chakra as well as mastering the elements, the more the better too. You've already mastered the Kage Bushin which is a prerequisite of learning the style."

"So what do I have to do? What do I have to work on? What do I have to learn?" Naruto asked in rapid fire succession.

"Chakra control will not be an issue with this style, though better control would be a big help," Takeshi said, "The style is called Kage Bushin no Ken or Tajuu Kage Bushin no Ken. What it basically consists of is fighting using clones which are created without handseals, the mastery of the ninjutsu involved must be so great that you will not even need to really think about the creation of the clone you will be needing," he then laid out some scrolls on the counter before Naruto, "These are the scrolls of each of the thing you will need to work on and eventually master. Master this style as it is something that a very select few have been able to master. It would be a boon to be counted among them."

"Hai," Naruto said, "If its training, I'll do it. If anyone asks where I got the style from, what do I say?"

"Just say you got it at a shop," Takeshi said, "Your sensei won't really ask any questions, and your teammates won't really care much about it."

Naruto then moved his left hand over one of the scrolls..

"So I just think of pocketing the thing, think of the thing, and send chakra to my hand or the seals found there," Naruto semi-asked as he performed the steps, "And its supposed to pop into the bottomless bag?" which was exactly what happened after he asked his question, "Whoa..that's so cool. Can I suck I living things too?"

"Well you could try," Takeshi said, "When it comes to living things, it will be a battle of wills. So strength of will is what will determine the pocketing of the living thing."

"I get it," Naruto said, "So will you tell me about my parents now?"

"Sure, but I'll only answer two questions about your parents for now.." Takeshi said then answered Naruto's questions which numbered more than two since they were very simple and he knew that they meant a lot to the blonde. The blonde left his shop, promising to return at a later date to continue their conversation after Takeshi told the blonde that he was about to be late to his team meeting.

"You're LATE!" Haruno Sakura shouted at Naruto once he arrived at their team's meeting place while thinking that it was her sensei that arrived since she hadn't noticed his arrival until he greeted them with a 'Yo!'.

"How can I be late? Kakashi-sensei isn't even here yet," Naruto stated matter-o-factly as he stood in the middle of the road waiting for a retort from the smartest kunoichi in their class.

"You still didn't arrive on time," Sakura said and prepared to deliver her daily dose of violence on her personal punching bag, something which Naruto could now act like a masochist as it would help him build up his stats such as speed and strength, thanks to the seal and rune matrix that covered his entire form.

"Whatever Sakura," Naruto said and sat down and leaned against one side of the bridge a few feet away from the Uchiha on his team, the two other members of the team entered a kind of state of shock upon hearing that Naruto had decided to drop the -chan honorific from Sakura's name. It was a first and Sasuke actually checked to see if the world was ending.

"Are you alright dobe?" Sasuke reluctantly asked the blonde that had pulled out a scroll on meditation and began to read it, they didn't know where the scroll had come from but the issue of his dropping the -chan honorific took precedence.

"I'm fine, why?" Naruto asked, he hadn't noticed that he had let his mask slip a little bit.

"Well..you didn't call Sakura..-chan, and you're not professing your undying love for her for another," Sasuke listed off, "You're also reading...actually willing to keep silent to learn something...something must be wrong."

"I'm fine," Naruto reiterated and went back to his reading before sensing Kakashi's approach, which was when he sucked the scroll back into his bottomless bag and stood up while preparing his lungs to proclaim his disappointment at the un-professionalism of their jounin sensei.

"**YOU'RE LATE!**" was the combined beratement from himself and his female comrade to their consistently late sensei. The combined shout was so loud that the whole village was made aware that Kakashi was still chronically late when it came to his duties.

"Err...let's just go," Kakashi told his students who followed him as he leaped up and onto the rooftops and made their way to the administration building and mission office to get their next mission as a team.

While the Hokage listed off the kinds of missions he had available for them, Naruto's lack of outburst impressed the Hokage a bit since he had expected the blonde to have exploded about adventure by this time. But he didn't, he just kept his relative cool as if waiting for something.

"Is there a problem Naruto-kun?" the Hokage asked the blonde genin.

"Nothing's wrong Hokage-sama," Naruto replied, unconsciously showing respect to the Hokage something which he would not normally do, it was way beyond weird and strange.

"Naruto..are you alright?" the Hokage asked again, actually concerned this time since Naruto had never ever called him Hokage-sama, with the honorific. Even the rest of Team 7 and the rest of the people in the mission office noticed that something was different when it came to Naruto. Everyone's attention was zeroed in on Naruto and his accidental calling of the Hokage '-sama'.

"Oh..I'm fine Hokage-jiji!" Naruto said as he finally noticed that he was not acting the way everyone else knew him as, he had to pull out as much false enthusiasm as he could as well as as much playfulness as he could to fool all those people, but the Hokage being very perceptive noticed the falseness of it but chose not to comment on it, but he would be speaking to Naruto in the future about the secrets that the blonde was apparently keeping from the rest of the village, "I found out I ran out of ramen at home 'is all. Nothing to worry about."

"Alright.." the Hokage said, a bit reluctantly, "Well..then..so Kakashi, what will your team be taking?"

"I believe my team is ready for a C-class mision, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, "They need to be exposed to the real world."

"I see," the Hokage said, then rummaged around the scroll he had with him, and pulled out one scroll and tossed it to the jounin, "C-class as you requested. I trust your judgment Kakashi," then towards the hidden Anbu, "Send in Tazuna."

In walked an old man who held a sake bottle in one hand and was clearly close to being tispy, he also smelled like a regular drunk that needed to visit the local AA.

"So these runts are the ones goin ta protect me?" Tazuna asked the assembled ninja, "They don't look like much, especially the the short blonde kid."

Little did anyone know that Naruto actually constantly held up one of his transformation techniques which made him the shortest person in his class, it made others underestimate him more. It also had the side effect of a lot of short jokes coupled with the regular or run-o-the-mill blonde jokes.

The bridge builder as the Hokage introduced him to the team had actually failed to elicit a reaction out of the blonde, it was a bit unnerving but the people assembled there chalked it up to Naruto probably having some form or level of ADD and he was even staring off in space.

When the introduction was over and done with and the objectives of the mission were shared with the ones to go on the mission, Tazuna was told that he would have to wait for the next day for the mission to begin. The old man didn't mind at all so long as they brought him to his home safely and that they protected him as he finished his bridge.

It was after that time that the Hokage requested that Naruto follow him up to his office while Iruka was left I charge of the mission office. Once there, Naruto was told to sit.

"Naruto..while the others might not have notied it, I did," the Hokage said seriously, "Why have you been hiding yourself? Behind a mask of happiness? What do you have to hide?"

Naruto decided then and there to let his mask drop, just for the Hokage's benefit, and probably the hidden Anbu in each corner of the room.

"A lot of things," Naruto replied, the Hokage could not detect a lie in Naruto's voice or via his body language, "I also have many reasons to hide. This village views me as its pariah, its punching bag, the one who they can blame anything and everything bad that happens in their lives on. I chose to hide behind the mask of perpetual happiness since it infuriates many, and negates the pain and suffering I feel and endure everyday living the life that I live."

"What else have you been hiding aside from your true personality?" the Hokage asked, concerned that one of his own precious people had been hiding or had managed to hide so much from him, "What else that you have shown has been false all along?"

"Many things," Naruto said, "Save for my grades I guess...I really didn't take the academy all that seriously just as how the instructors, cept for Iruka-sensei, didn't take me seriously and or sabotaged my education."

"I was not aware of that," the Hokage said, and made a mental note to investigate the claim.

"You aren't aware of many things," Naruto stated, "There are a lot of things going on in this village that are below or under your radar, unseen due to how busy you are and how focused you are on the military aspect of the village. I may not be as good as my peers in taijutsu, or have the control necessary for genjutsu. I am a chakra monster in my own right, even without th Kyuubi I would have been such I believe. I am a ninjutsu specialist. I am also a master of many other things, a jack-of-all-trades. I have been forced to learn and master many things over the years just to survive."

"Like what?" the Hokage asked as he pulled out a sheet of paper to write down what things he would have to add to Naruto's file as list of skills ad abilities.

"I don't think that adding such things to my file would be a good idea," Naruto said, "I don't know how those that don't already like me will react should they stumble upon what I am capable of."

"I insist, Naruto," the Hokage said, "It would help your future mission assignments if all your skills and abilities were known to the village or at least placed in your file. I could make viewing your file require a certain level of security clearance, most of your file is classified anyway."

"Oh," Naruto said as he didn't know that little bit of information, "Alright then.."

Naruto then listed down all the things that he believed, based on results, he had already mastered. Things that he believed he could get either masteries in or become licensed as. The Hokage decided that once Naruto returned to the village from his C-class mission he would be made to take all of the exams needed to obtain a license in all those things. It was quite a long list, and the Hokage decided that he would be the one conducting the test for the Fuinjutsu mastery or license since Naruto had listed off some knowledge in that art. He believed that Naruto was trying to downplay his abilities and skills in some respects.

It was an impressive list and after hearing Naruto admit to all the applications of his skills as well as the admittance to being the culprit to several of the village's biggest mysteries and relatively harmless security breaches. The Hokage decided to have turn some of Naruto's exploits into B-class missions as they had exposed holes in the village's security which had been looked into once Naruto was done exposing them. For a kid to have found them in a village of professionals, it was something worth giving credit to.

Once all the writing and jotting down was over and done with, the Hokage requested that Naruto display the skills that he could display within the office, like his advanced Henge, specialized Kawarimi mastery, and other assortment of skills based off on the basics.

The Hokage decided to label some of Naruto's abilities as Kinjutsu skills, since some of them like his acting coupled with his advanced Henge could be used together to destroy the village. It was a good thing that Naruto had such a kind heart under his false exterior and true interior which was more human actually, since Naruto could have ruined a lot of lives with his self made or discovered abilities.

Naruto had even perfectly impersonated the Yondaime Hokage basing everything that he did on the things that Takeshi had told him about his father. Takeshi wasn't aware that Naruto was fishing for more than just information on his parents but also things to use for impersonation.

The resemblance between father and son was glaringly obvious once Naruto transformed into his father physically and acted in the same manner as the Yondaime had in life. The implications of what Naruto could accomplish were astounding since if the genin could master the Hiraishin he could put the fear in Iwa if he so wanted to.

When the Hokage was through with Naruto, Naruto asked the Hokage some questions of his own, like how to set up a business within the village for extra income and other such business related things from permits to other such requirements. The talk further surprised the Hokage and made him a feel a bit disappointed in himself for not knowing as much as he should about the legacy of his successor turned predecessor as well.

Even the Anbu were surprised at Naruto's mind and plans for the future, the boy was already planning for his future. They were also interested in his business plans which ranged from low cost services to insurance to delving into gambling, legalized gambling. Naruto could actually open up a a hotel if he wanted to based on the plans that he had come up with and compiled over the years.

His favorite among his potential business ventures was going into the furniture business.

The Anbu knew of one among their ranks that might be interested in such a venture but had never really thought of it before thinking that a ninja had no business delving into such things. The man had been brought up as a ninja from birth after all, he had been born and bred for such a profession thus his thinking.

"I'll look into which of your proposals are or is the most viable," the Hokage said, "We can talk more on this once you get back from your trip."

"Alright old man," Naruto said, "I look forward to that meeting. An actual meeting with you too, and maybe with that one Anbu of yours that can use Mokuton."

"You know about him?" the Hokage was truly surprised, he didn't think that Naruto had infiltrated the whole of the village to such an extent.

"I got bored and read everything in the archive when I was seven," Naruto said.

"I see..looks like I'll have to upgrade security over there as well," the Hokage said, "Thank you for another mission well done. You have helped this village more than you'll ever really know or be able to comprehend due to the sheer gravity of all the things you have done in your short life."

"Whatever you say old man," Naruto said as he got up from his designated chair and replaced himself with a piece of fluff strategically located in his bedroom.

The early the next day, Naruto woke up bright and early and prepared for his mission, he sucked into his left palm, which served as the gateway that connected the world to his pocket dimension, all the things that he thought or believed he would need for the mission. That included food, though not just instant noodles, but real food. He also brought some money with him, in case he found something of interest to him or he found some way to make more of it during the mission.

He met with his team at the main village gate where for once Kakashi was already waiting, Naruto had a feeling that the Hokage must have threatened Kakashi with something sinister to get him to arrive at the time that he had told his team to meet.

"Where are your things Naruto?" Kakashi asked the only person without baggage.

"The wonders of seals," was Naruto's reply, he figured that the Hokage would inform Kakashi on some of or most of Naruto's actual skill set.

"I see," Kakashi said while thinking, '_Why didn't I think of that?_'

No questions were asked, they signed out with the semi-permanent gate duty personnel and walked out of the village to write history.

They walked for a few hours before settling in for the night in a random clearing, Kakashi set up a night watch schedule, but Naruto decided that when it was his turn he wouldn't wake anyone up for a next shift. He'd take the night and would govern it with his clone army. He made groups of a hundred each study the bushin scrolls that Takeshi had provided, and more groups for chakra control, and even more for shape manipulation and nature manipulation. He wanted to have a trump card by the time they encountered any foes. He had noticed that something was wrong with the way Tazuna was acting, the old man knew that bandits were no match for trained ninja especially when considering Kakashi's resume. But the old man was always uneasy while they walked or even while at camp. He even needed to get drunk to fall asleep without any worries. The man was a good actor, but not enough to fool Naruto's trained eyes.

When next they were on the move, Kakashi questioned his blonde student on his choice of keeping watch all night, and was rewarded by Naruto simply shrugging and claiming that he had been so engrossed in his guard duty that sleep was just not on his priority list.

He didn't want to tell his sensei that he had been training all night long, and a great number of his clones continued to train, one dispelling when one thing was mastered, leaving the others to continue training with the added information, what one clone learned the others did the same way the original Naruto did.

The walked by a puddle located at the side of the road even though it hadn't rained in days, only Kakashi and Naruto had noticed it, but as soon as Kakashi tensed up Sasuke was clued in to the fact as well. Sakura remained clueless.

As soon as the group walked passed the puddle the two ninja within the nin-gen jutsu hybrid jumped out and didn't hesitate in their attack, before any of his teammates could move Naruto sprung into actions surprising his traveling companions by initiating contact from their side of the fight.

He threw shuriken at the attacking nuke-nin, an observation made thanks to the slash marks on their forehead protectors, he moved faster than any of his teammates had ever seen him move. He deployed his throwing distraction tools one by one in quick succession summoning them from his expansive and extensive shuriken stores which he would be asking Takeshi about how much it all costs since it seemed to be rather unfair to the man to have parted with so many goods just for a family friend.

The nuke-nin weren't prepared for the attack by what had at first looked like a greenhorn, but had somehow proved better than the more professional looking duck-butt. Underestimation had cost them their freedom since Naruto had managed to capture them as soon as he deployed shuriken and ninja wires at the chain-joined pair.

"What in the world.." Sasuke said as his brain could not compute what Naruto had done, it all happened so fast which caused him to think that perhaps their attackers weren't worth much and that the group's attackers were nothing more than the trash that their hidden village had decided to simply throw out.

"Well done team," Kakashi said, his team then wondered why he didn't do anything, "It looks like you're all ready for real missions like this.." he then faced Tazuna who was backing away slightly, "And as for you, you lied to Konoha my team now has enough reason to return to the village and let you fend for yourself. Not being very truthful can get Konoha ninja killed, and for the village that is a very bad thing for the client."

"I had no choice!" the old drunk said as he instantly turned into pathetic old man groveling before Kakashi and spilling out his life story up to the point of where they were, "...and here we are..so please help me...I'll pay back your village when Nami (Wave) finally has the funds that my bridge is sure to bring in.."

"I'll let my genin decide the fate of the mission," Kakashi said, deciding to leave the decision up to chance, "Well?"

"I'd like to continue the mission," Sasuke decided, he believed that a mission outside the village would be a better way to improve himself and possibly test himself against stronger foes. He didn't bother providing an explanation.

"..I want to move forward too," Sakura said following Sasuke's lead. Her motivation was easier than pie to figure out.

"And you?" Kakashi said facing Naruto, "What do you choose Naruto?"

"Well my teammates want to continue the mission, so who am I to begrudge them what they want this time," Naruto said, "But I would like to make a request or two, if I may."

"Oh?" Kakashi said, then decided to humor the genin, "What requests would these be?"

"Just that I be able to wander around when we're not all needed for the protection of the client," Naruto said, "I've never been out of the village before, unlike my two fellow genin. I'd like to see as much of the world beyond the village walls as I can while I have the chance, even if its a rather small view of it."

"Eh, that's all?" Kakashi said, "Go ahead," he didn't see anything wrong with that, "Just make sure to leave a clone with us when I let you go on your forays into the rest of the world."

"Hai sensei," Naruto said respectfully, he even bowed which was another surprise to Kakashi who wasn't sure if the blonde was being serious or not.

"Well Tazuna, it looks like you still have us," Kakashi said, "I'll be informing the Hokage about this development, so while waiting for a reply we shall accompany you."

The jounin pulled out a scroll and unsealed its content which was a special kind of puppet, it was a messenger bird which he used to send a short update of the mission via attaching a small piece of paper with the update on it to the bird. After letting the bird do its job, Kakashi motioned for Tazune to lead on while also ordering his team to be on the lookout for bigger foes. They left the Demon Brothers, as they were called, to the tender mercies of Naruto's clones, Kakashi had somehow forgotten that they existed.

The clones had access to the pocket dimension since they were exact copies of the original thus enabling them to do the things Naruto could do. They confronted the Demon Brothers who were tied up and such by Naruto to a tree on the side of the road. The knots were super tight and the rope super thick.

A group of them broke of from the main group of training clones having received some mental orders from their master and creator who had a mental connection with them as well as a chakra one, he discovered in that night that he had created them all and it was the basis from which he concluded that that was how memories from the clones were transferred to the original as was the chakra return to the original, whatever was left of the chakra that is.

"So Oni Kyoudai," clone 1 said, "Our master would like to extend a helping hand to the both of you, he offers employment, a place to stay, security from the oi-nin of Kiri, and of course his friendship, all in exchange for your loyalty and service. The other option that you are being given is a chance to die, though we can't promise it to be a quick and painful one as we're not that good at those kinds of killing methods yet. Though we have killed in the past, or at least our master has, it wasn't something clean as what we believe honorable warriors would wish to die."

"So make your choice," clone 2 said as it pulled out a massive cleaver which he could actually wield with ease, "I'm running out of practice moves with this thing."

"Can't you just let us go?" Gouzu asked the clones, knowing that they were screwed even if the clones were of a genin, that still didn't change the fact that said genin had gotten them tied to the tree and the clones also had numbers on their side.

"No can do," clone 1 said, "Its either serve the same master we serve or die. We can't allow such people as yourself to freely roam around the world, what if you end up killing some innocent baby or something, we'd feel guilty for life. So we can't just let you go, you understand."

"Brother let's just agree," Meizu said, then whispered thinking that the clones could not hear him, "_We could just escape from them or their creator later on and regroup with Zabuza-sama_."

"Fine, we agree to serve your master," Gouzu said listening to his brother's logic, they should have known not to underestimate Naruto after already doing so a first time. One must learn from their mistakes, it appeared that the Oni Kyoudai needed a refresher course in that aspect of life.

"Right then," clone 1 said, "Since you have agreed to our terms, we are in agreement. Should you renege on your end of things, there will be dire consequences. Betray our master and you'll have more than just a few oi-nin and bounty hunters after your lives."

"What do you mean?" Meizu asked after he and his twin brother had been let down from their tied-up-ness, "What could he do aside from hiring some other ninja to come after us?"

"Let us show you," clone 3 said, and motioned for the two nuke-nin to follow it.

They walked several meters away from the road until they came upon a sight that sent shivers running up and down the Demon Brothers' spines more than a thousand clones were training among the trees and in whatever clearings they could find. It was a sea of orange clad ninja, while there were a few that were in other colored body suits.

The more than a thousand clones put the fear of Naruto in the two nuke-nin. They had been chunin in rank when had defected and remained so, they might be more powerful than the average regular every day genin, but they both knew that they would be of no match against a genin that could create so many solid clones. They were better off with the genin that could create so many clones than out in the world fending for themselves and waiting for Momochi Zabuza to finally get rid of them.

"We're in this for life aren't we," Gouzu said a little bit worried at seeing the army of clones.

"Welcome to the army Oni Kyoudai," clone 1 said before walking off to rejoin its training group its companions doing the same while a Mizukage Bushin (MK clone) walked up to the brothers, it was one of the differently colored clones, it was the more advanced version of the Mizu Bushin but was limited to normal attacks and Suiton jutsu which its group was training in. Takeshi had provided quite the number of scrolls.

"You two major in water and minor in poison," the MK clone said, "Correct?"

"Hai," the twins replied, "Why?"

"You will be joining us Mizukage Bushin in our training and honing of our skills," the clone said and led the two brothers who had no choice but to follow to the group hundreds of clones that were training in water related things, "Select a group to join for training, we help each other, don't worry if a clone dispels. Taishou does not want to have weak soldiers, so you will train with us. As taishou grows stronger, so shall his subordinates."

"Hai taicho!" the brothers said and went their separate ways to find a group that they wanted to work with for the time being, although they did disengage their chain-link first.

With Team 7 and their client Tazuna, things were going as well as expected from a bunch of semi-paranoid ninja and one even more paranoid client. They were keeping watch with all of their senses, Kakashi and Naruto were keeping more on the lookout for things that were not supposed to be around them or found around them. Like out of place animals with white fur coats, but unfortunately the discovery came too late as their enemy was already upon them, and had been more or less from the beginning. Being there from the relative start of the mission made discerning whether something was out of place or not.

A dense mist began to roll in and over the group as they walked, they had just stepped out of a rowboat to cross into Nami, and already trouble had decided to strike a second time. Momochi Zabuza's voice rang throughout the dense chakra saturated mist. Kakashi was unable to sense him, but it was his quick reflexes and experience that saved him from being disemboweled. The genin were ordered into the background of the fight, to protect the bridge builder.

But Naruto had other plans, he noticed that there was something odd about the setup, Zabuza might be strong, but he was sure to have some accomplice somewhere around ready to step in if things got hairier than his forehead.

Naruto knew that someone must be watching the proceedings and so discreetly sent out several kage bushins out into the surrounding forest to sniff out or simply surround the hidden foe. He had gained much from all the clones that he still had training and were siphoning off chakra from him to be able to continue training past their orignal chakra stores could afford. This way Naruto's chakra grew in quantity faster.

Through his clones he had already mastered Kage Bushin summoning or creation to the extent needed for the more or less opening form of the taijutsu style he was learning. He could spam or shout out Kage Bushin without needing to think about it, he could also create them while doing other things, they could either materialize with or without accompanying smoke or phase out of his body.

"_What are you doing dobe?_" Sasuke asked Naruto as he noticed that Naruto was using his made up version of sign language to communicate more clearly with his clones, it was also done so that he had something to occupy his body with.

"_I sent out some clones..just in case,_" Naruto whispered back as he continued to coordinate the movements of his clones.

"_You got any bright ideas?_" Sasuke asked as he couldn't think up a plan of action for what was going on around them, or in front of them relatively speaking.

"_Well we could make a run for it with the client, but I think that would be like abandoning a teammate,_" Naruto said, "_Kakashi-sensei might or might not be happy about that. So its either wait here and continue to guard, or try out some teamwork with sensei_."

"_I vote for leaving with the client,_" Sasuke whispered, "_Sensei can take care of himself, he'd expect us genin to do something like running anyway._"

"_I agree with Sasuke-kun,_" Sakura whispered joining the convresation.

"_Fine then,_" Naruto said, "_We'll run..or at least you two and the client are gonna run._"

"_Why?_" Sakura asked.

"_Since they're preoccupied, I'll have three of my clones take your places, while you make a run for it using the long way to where the client lives," _Naruto said, "_Sensei and Zabuza won't be paying much attention to us anyway so they shouldn't be able to tell the difference._"

"_Alright,_" Sasuke said, he liked the idea that it would be up to him when it came to defending the client, he'd get some glory for himself when the mission report was submitted for his actions during this mission.

Naruto created his clones the normal way and had them henge, his kind of henge, into his two teammates and the client just as said people ran back the way they had come and took the long way to where Tazuna lived.

Naruto was left with a squad of clones while his other clones were out taking pot shots at the false oi-nin in hiding in the branches of the trees. He sent out some more clones to help the ones already engaged with the hidden enemy, then refocused his attention on the fight playing out before him between the two major threats to his life should either of them decide to engage him in battle.

All enemies were engaged, all bases were relatively covered, so Naruto decided to do what he did best, or one of them anyway. He pulled out his prank supplies and got to work setting up some traps around himself and the false squad. It was tedious work, but having so much experience with doing such things, against Anbu no less, made everything relatively easier and things moved smoother.

Then Kakashi had to slip up and get caught in Zabuza's Suiro no Jutsu.

"Hand over the client, and I'll let your sensei go," Zabuza demanded, it was a hostage situation now.

"No way brow-less!" Naruto retorted, "I ain't abandoning a teammate!"

"Yeah!" Sakura clone shouted.

"Hn," Sasuke clone said and simply got into a fighting stance while Sakura moved in between Tazuna clone and Zabuza, while Naruto took stood at the front with the Sasuke clone.

"Get out of here! Forget about me! The mission is more important!" Kakashi shouted at his team, it was amazing that he could still talk while in a water prison like he was.

"No way!" Naruto shouted and prepared to charge Zabuza who had conveniently created some clones to block the way.

"Hai sensei!" Sakura shouted and began to lead away the Tazuna clone, while the Sasuke clone remained and pulled out several demon windmill shurikens and prepared them for throwing at the nuke-nin.

"Sasuke chose!" Kakashi shouted, "I'm trapped, are you going to save me or protect Sakura and the client?"

"Fine.." Sasuke clone grumbled but threw his shuriken anyway before high tailing it out of there after his clone teammate and clone client.

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted, "Get going!"

"No way!" Naruto shouted, "Its not like you can do anything about my remaining here!"

"Such a foolish genin, you think you can take me on?" Zabuza taunted, "I don't think so, I don't even need to attack you directly, I have clones for that," it was then that something in him told him that that was a bad thing to say, he could even feel his prisoner tense.

Something about the blonde genin unerved the two of them, they both mentally agreed with one another when the sight of Naruto's manic grin was seared into their memory banks. It was so wild, so feral, so insane, yet so simple. It was the simplicity of it that scared the two grown men. There was also this glint in the blonde's eyes that made both men want to back away slowly before running like hell. But they were both prideful men, having survived so many things, they didn't dare show their fear to one so young and, to them, green.

"Rush him!" Zabuza ordered his clones and they did not questioning his orders, his fear did not show in his voice, "Take him apart! Then go after the client!"

Kakashi said nothing as he didn't have anything to fear..more or less...He knew that his student was about to do something very or highly unpredictable, something that even he had not been counting on. He didn't know the exact extent of Naruto's abilities after all, and he didn't know just how many clones the blonde could create.

"_Tajuu_ Kage**Bushin no Jutsu!**" the blonde shouted out as his fingers formed that cross-shaped handseal and unleashed hell upon the battlefield.

As far as the eye could see was a sea of orange and blonde, it was a blinding sight, and no matter how experienced a ninja was, such experience would could never had prepared the jounin for the sight that lay before their eyes. It was blinding, even the Mizu bushin were forced into halting in their attack. The sheer number of kage bushin was more than simply overwhelming.

There were so many of them, equally distanced from one another. It was hell due to the manic grins they all sported and the promise of untold pain they held in their eyes.

"_Did you know he could do this?_" Zabuza asked his prisoner and hostage.

"_Nope.._" was Kakashi's disappointing reply, "_I knew he could make a lot..but this is just ridiculous._"

"_I see..._" Zabuza said, then contemplated what his next action would or could be, he noticed that his fellow jounin was already very tired and close to actual exhaustion so wouldn't be a problem should he release him and make a run for it..

He had been thinking, really thinking about running away for now, but that train of thought ended when his tool was thrown out of the forest and landed in the middle of the path in torn clothes, broken mask, and generally in no condition to do anything save for moan in slight agony. He had forgotten about his accomplice altogether. He also just realized that any real chance at escape had left him the moment he mentioned his clones.

"Correction," Naruto stated seriously, "**I **have clones for that. So care to try again?"

"Err...that's a lot of clones...they can't have that much chakra each," but he had a feeling that even if they didn't have the chakra to do much individually, there were enough of them to deal some really bad damage, plus his tool had already been beaten, "Can we..uh...reschedule this? I don't think..its safe right now.."

"You're right," Naruto said, "It isn't, for you that is. Now release my sensei, or do you want me to do it for you?"

"This world is kill or be killed," Zabuza retorted, "I'm not about to admit defeat to a kid, even though said kid can make so many clones! So come at me with all you've got! I'm the Demon of the Mist! I'll take you all on!"

If he was going to go, he might as well go out with a real bang, in a fight too.

"Demon huh," Naruto said somewhat softly as if recalling some long forgotten memory.

"_I don't think I know my student all that well now..._" Kakashi whispered, not really caring if Zabuza heard him.

"_What do you mean by that?_" Zabuza asked.

"_Well...I'm starting to think that my blonde student is certifiably insane,_" Kakashi replied.

"_What made you say that?_" Zabuza said, "_Was it the shitload of clones? Or that fucking grin of his? Or that glint in his eyes?_"

"_Well, they are part of it...but the thing that really gave it away was or will be what he could possibly do to challenge your titile as a demon,_" Kakashi said.

"I don't see a demon," Naruto stated, what he was now doing could land him in the loony bin if he wasn't a ninja, "I just see some little boy hiding behind a water bubble. But if you want to see a demon...well...who am I to begrudge you your wish?"

"_Oh..shit.._" Kakashi said, not really believing that his student was about to unleash the Kyuubi on the Demon of the Mist, "_We are so screwed..let me go already!_"

"_What more could the brat do?_" Zabuza wondered and said due to what Kakashi had said.

"_Well...we're about to find out,_" Kakashi said gazing at his student.

The clones all suddenly vanished.

**ALL** the clones.

Then Naruto vanished from view. The view was actually obscured by a cloud of smoke that could have been mistaken for a dense fog, one so dense that it could have been cut with a knife.

"**Up here,**" came a booming voice, the two jounin averted their gazes from the ground and looked up. They wished they hadn't.

"Well shit..." both jounin said at the same time.

"It was nice knowing you," Kakashi told Zabuza after the nuke-nin dropped the prison jutsu letting the Konoha-nin go.

"Yeah..it was nice knowing me too," Zabuza said, "Had I known I was fighing a jinchuuriki I would have quit this job."

"Well...it looks like we're both going to die now," Kakashi said, "That's clearly the Kyuubi up there."

"You think he could create clones while in that state?" Zabuza asked his companion on the lake, both of them still gazing up at the chakra monster that looked hungrily down at them, well down at Zabuza, but it was hard to tell with such large eyes.

"Do you want to find out?" Kakashi asked, he also wondered if anyone else could see the Kyuubi out and about like they could while hoping that no one was looking in the general direction of the monstrosity.

"**Hehe..I heard you**," Naruto said, "**Kage Bushin no Jutsu!**"

The booming shout was followed up by eight clones materializing around the lake all of which were already transformed into the form of one of the monsters that were supposedly sealed in someone.

"You just had to tempt fate didn't you," Kakashi said blaming Zabuza for their misfortune, both of them had already pissed and crapped their pants long before the other eight monsters appeared.

"I didn't know he could do that!" Zabuza shouted, he knew there was no way his special blade, Kubikiri Honcho, would be actually be able to make a difference against a Bijuu. He didn't really know how much chakra his foe had at the moment, but he knew that to achieve such a form required a hell of a lot of chakra.

"So...now what? I could just kill you to end your suffering before it begins...but I don't want to earn the wrath of a possibly possessed genin," Kakashi said, "Decisions decisions decisions."

"Can't you hypnotize that genin? With that freaky eye you're so famous for?" Zabuza asked.

"I don't have enough chakra for that thing," Kakashi admitted, "If I did, I would have by now. But **someone**had to keep me in a chakra draining prison."

"We were fighting at the time, what else was I supposed to do? Or going to do for that matter?" Zabuza argued, while Naruto watched. His transformation was true after all, he really did transform into the Kyuubi, while his clones really did transform into the other eight bijuu.

"**I'm bored,**_**" **_the Ichibi clone stated, then reached over with a sandy arm and grabbed hold of Zabuza, the man didn't have what it took to get out of the way in time as he was still far too freaked out with the situation he had gotten himself in. It sounded so simple. Kill bridge builder. Get money. Go away. But no, he had to go taunt some jinchuuriki, and the Kyuubi's jinchuurik at that. There was also the matter of his defective tool to deal with.

"Can't we talk this over?" Zabuza asked the Ichibi clone.

"**Maybe later," **Ichibi clone said, the man didn't really bother with will, so he was swallowed up into the bottomless bag in a preserved or stasis state, it looked like the Ichibi had eaten Zabuza. Naruto had made switched around the parts of his clone that transformed making the hand that had access to the pocket the head of the bijuu.

"**So..sensei..we gonna head on over to Nami now?**" Naruto asked as he dispelled his Bijuu clones.

"Uh..." Kakashi said before fainting from exhaustion and of course from the surreality of the experience.

Naruto reverted back to his default form and walked on over to his sensei, created some clones to help in carrying the man, then created all those thousands of clones again for training, he had made sure to leave the Mizukage Bushins intact so as not to freak out the Oni Kyoudai.

The next time that Kakashi woke up he was being carried by Naruto's clones. He was laying in a futon that was most likely on a horse drawn cart. He had a nurse, one that couldn't have possibly been the one that he actually had a crush on from the Konoha hospital, with him tending to his exhaustion. He clearly heard a horse somewhere, pulling the wagon he must have been on.

He just didn't or couldn't figure out where his student was. Then the wagon stopped moving.

"So Kakashi-sensei, how ya feeling?" Naruto asked, his mop of blonde hair peeking over the end of the wagon before the rest of him made its appearance as he climbed up, "Oh yeah, we're also just outside of the client's house."

"How long have I been out?" Kakashi asked the blonde, thinking that the nurse, complete in Konoha nurse uniform, was a figment of his exhausted self.

"A few hours," Naruto said, "I wasn't sure if rushing would have been a good thing," Naruto said, "I'm not qualified to assess your state of being, but I do know that rushing and panicking would have gotten me nowhere."

"Good call," Kakashi said, "Though I do have to ask, is the nurse beside me real or a figment of my imagination?"

"As real as you and me," Naruto replied, even though technically it was a transformed clone, "Just not the same person you think it is."

"Oh," Kakashi said, "So..you gonna bring your injured sensei into the house or not?"

"Hold your horses," Naruto said, "Just enjoy the nurse while I go get the tools ready, I'm still consulting my references on what to do at time like this."

Naruto then dropped down from the wagon and resumed what he must have been doing before checking up on his sensei, leaving his sensei along with the nurse clone.

"So..what exactly or who exactly are you?" Kakashi asked the nurse clone.

"According to your hospital records this nurse form's owner is the one you request the most whenever you stay at the hospital," nurse clone said, "One that resembles your still missing female teammate Inuzuka Rin, sister of Inuzuka Tsume, alpha of the Inuzuka clan. It was either this form or Maito Gai, which would you prefer?"

"So..you would be a clone then," Kakashi noted, "Very good henge, I actually fell for it."

"Advanced Henge actually," nurse clone stated, "Actual transformation down to the cells in some cases, depending on taishou's knowledge. But enough about me Hatake-san, you need to get back to resting so that you will be able to lead your team and stand up to any stronger foes that you might face now that Momochi-san has been...dealt with."

"I know this might sound weird..but..would it be possible to go out on a date with you when all this is over?" Kakashi asked, it would be the closest he'd ever get to going on a date with that one nurse he actually had a crush on.

"You are aware that while I might be flesh, blood, and bone," nurse clone said, "I'm still just a clone of taishou..with impressive acting skills according to Hokage-sama."

"You're hiding things aren't you?" Kakashi said, already knowing the answer.

"I am Kakashi-sensei," Naruto replied as he returned to his sensei having finished whatever it was that he had been doing, "I'm a natural at acting and impersonation."

"Those were clones with you weren't they," Kakashi said realizing that the team he had seen had to be clones since Naruto was so confident in showing off.

"Hai," Naruto admitted, "If I spend enough time around a person or gather enough information on a person I am able to become them."

"That's very useful," Kakashi said, "Why are you sharing this information with me."

"For one thing, Hokage-jiji is bound to inform you about my true skill set," Naruto said, "And for another thing, you're my sensei."

"I see," Kakashi said, "So how do you plan on getting me into the house without my having to stress myself?"

"I built a wheelchair," Naruto said, "Sort of anyway. Everything you see and are using like the futon and the wagon, and even the horses are transformed clones. Advanced Kage Bushin and Advanced Henge. The Kage Bushin upgrade isn't my creation, I got the instructions for it from a shop."

"I see," Kakashi said, "Well, let's go meet with the rest of the team now."

"Alright," Naruto said and summoned up a pair of clones to help him move his sensei to the wheelchair, treating him like a pampered old man in the process, the nurse clone remained and would remain as long as Kakashi needed medical aid or treatment of any sort.

The sight that greeted Sasuke as he opened the door of the house, hours after waiting for his sensei and other teammate to get there, was his sensei in a wheelchair being pushed by a Konoha nurse. His first thought was that reinforcements had arrived. But why only one nurse, he didn't see anyone else aside from his blonde teammate and a bunch of clones.

"You're late," was the first thing that came to mind so he said it.

"I lost consciousness," Kakashi said, "But no need to worry about Zabuza or any of his flunkies.."

"No more talking Hatake-san," nurse clone said, "You need to regain your strength and chakra, you used up quite a lot of energy in the battle, and I'm not even including what it took you to stand up to the chakra monsters."

"Chakra monsters?" Sasuke asked Naruto as nurse clone wheeled Kakashi into the house and asked Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, where she could set up with the jounin.

"Let's just say that Zabuza is no longer a threat," Naruto said, "And leave it at that. Your mind isn't experienced enough to handle what was there."

"Hn," Sasuke said and let his teammate into the house, the clones remained outside and formed a perimeter around the house in case of any attack, the thousands of training clones had gone out in different directions around Nami to continue with their assigned tasks.

One such task being the care of Zabuza's former tool. Another being convincing the Demon of the Mist to become one of Naruto's loyal soldiers. He was a hard man to break, but after being told the same things that the Demon Brothers had been told, the man eventually cracked, he still had things he wanted and needed to do, and thus requested that his new master at least help him with the things he still needed to do or was duty bound to do.

The former tool of the Demon of the Mist, named Haku, was a bit mentally weird in the sense that she viewed herself as an object, a tool for her master to use, and since Zabuza no longer had need of her, Naruto took her on as one of his own. She didn't believe that she was a person, and so would serve him in any way that he wished until she was of no use to him.

Naruto didn't really like it, so he decided to work on her humanity and self-worth during his free time or using one or more of his clones, henge'd or not.

Naruto's had short term and long term goals and plans, ones that he had been coming up with ever since he started to understand the world. One of those plans was to become recognized for who he was, while another was to have a steady and reliable flow of income, another still was to do his part in forging a world of peace. A world where no one else needed to suffer needlessly as much as he could help it. Utopia was far from reach, but he would try his hand at getting as much of the world as he could close to that dream of heaven on earth. He was building an army worth of peace, or at least that was one of the lofty reasons.

Kakashi instructed his students from a wheelchair being pushed by nurse clone when he decided that they needed to train. Naruto's clones were enough for when it came to protecting the bridge builder, his family, and the bridge. The first lesson he decided to teach them was tree climbing, the kind that didn't need hands. Having nurse clone around made training easier since he had a feeling that Naruto knew more than just the tree climbing exercise now, which the blonde did due to all the reading and training and whatever his clones continued to do. He was demon of hard work and training.

Nurse clone was the one who performed the demonstration, and Naruto decided to just go along with the training since he'd never personally tried it before.

Team 7 trained when there was time to train and protected the bridge builder when there was a need. But when the team and their client were just at the client's house, which was usually late in the afternoon and of course at night, Naruto finally got his time off where he would just walk around the poor port town and look for something to do or some form of business opportunity. One night he actually found a gambling den, somewhere where no one cared that he was just a kid and let him play.

The people there, all from with seedy backgrounds, taught him how to play their games, ones with cards, tiles, sticks, and whatever else they had. Naruto memorized all the rules and also realized that one of the unwritten rules was that one could cheat, the thing about cheating was that one just shouldn't be caught. But before Naruto could even devise a way to cheat he realized or found out that he didn't need to since every time he played he kept doing what a little voice in his head (probably instinct or something) was telling him to do. He had the luck of the gods, or better even. He won every game, this was the first time that betting against him was proven to be a bad thing.

He won each and every pot that there was in the gambling den. Some men decided to spread the word that there was a blonde kid that had the devil's, god's, demon's, luck. Some rumors began to sprout and spread about Naruto being able to win against the god of death if he so wished, though the reality of that was debatable.


	60. Untitled 05

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you,_" Naruto heard a voice in his head say, he wasn't sure if he was going crazy or not, but he distinctly noticed that someone was speaking to him directly in his head, he didn't know why he didn't jump to the conclusion that someone was speaking to him in the clearing that he was training in, but he just knew that someone was telepathically speaking to him.

'_Who're you? How'd you get in my head?_' Naruto mentally said.

"_I come and go as I please, though who I am doesn't really matter...or it shouldn't, but since you asked, I'll tell you,_" the voice said, "_My name is Toukou Kyonshi, one of __**Those Five**__. To those that know of us know not to mess with us or tempt us to come for them. I know of your burden, and I also know that training to exhaustion will get you nowhere._"

'_What do you mean it will get me nowhere? If I train, I get stronger, better, don't I?_' Naruto asked, unsure of his beliefs since the Being he was talking to seemed to really know what he was talking about.

"_Oh, I know quite a bit about you, I know a lot of things actually,"_ Kyonshi said, "_One of my former students, who went by the name of Rosuto Juushu, was just like you. He learned in time how to become strong the right way. Although he is no longer active and remains as lost as the land in which he resides. The Land of the Lost, Rosuto no Kuni. Do you want to become stronger?_"

'_Who in their right mind wouldn't want to become stronger? You gonna help me like this student of yours that I'm so like?_' Naruto asked.


	61. Untitled 06

He didn't really realize how lucky he was when he met his sensei for the very first time. It was a chance meeting at best, the man was about to leave the village and the world altogether, but the blonde had stepped in and stopped him from doing what he had been planning on doing for some time then.

The man found it amusing that such a young one knew and understood the preciousness of life, how it was important, and why it should be cherished and treasured. It took a child staying his hand from opening up the gate that would have taken him home, while to others looked like he was about to commit himself to eternal damnation.

His sensei told him to call him Tariki-sensei, it was a fake or false name but he didn't care at the time and still didn't care to know the name of the man that decided to take him under his wing. He had learned and gained many things but in order to gain such gifts had come at a high price. He had lost his ticket into being taken seriously from the start when it came to his joining of the ninja forces of the village, which he was told that it would be in his best interest if he didn't join, if he relinquished his false dream of becoming Hokage - for the wrong reasons.

Crime was a normal thing in any and every society, as was sin. In Konoha it was common and unsupervised as the police force turned a blind eye to most such activities only stepping in when it suited them, would benefit them, or was truly something that the Hokage would give them heat over if they didn't do anything about it. The Underworld, the Criminal world, was ruled by its own, just as the Hokage ruled over the ninja of his or her village, or the Daimyo over his or her country, so did the crime lords rule over their own territories.

Tariki-sensei taught him how to move around in such a world, how to go about unnoticed and how to reach the top, how to overthrow those that have stayed far too long at the very top, and how to keep subordinates loyal. Tariki-sensei saw in the blonde quite a lot of potential, one that if not tapped into would surely go to waste.

The blonde was indoctrinated with virtues and sins, he was of both worlds, he was of heaven and of hell. He was also taught how to use his natural charisma to his advantage. He could out fox a fox now as well, or any of those other comparative animals.

He was also taught how to fight, while also how to use his gifts on and off the battlefield, the different fields of battle for that matter. He was put through his paces when it came to surviving in the business world, and the rest of the world for that matter.

Here was a blonde with almost all of the basics covered, he had what it took to make it to the top, but with the way that the crime lords held onto their power, getting in was the problem. There was still also the problem of subordinates, a business to begin his empire, and a reputation, to name a few of his obstacles.

To think that he was only twelve years old when he was left by his sensei. The blonde had allowed his sensei to walk away from his life, but not before extracting a promise from the old man to come visit him once he's made a big enough name for himself in any of the worlds. The old man left by walking off into the darkness and not looking back.

The blonde was left with a fortune from the old man to start the rest of his life, it was expected to swell proportionally if the blonde did things right. He had also been left with one subordinate, the kind which could level mountains with a simple flick of an appendage. To make sure that the blonde could no longer use chakra, as was part of the deal, he had to have the biggest chakra battery at his disposal removed. The once feared and still feared Kyuubi had been unsealed and forever bound in servitude to its former container.

What was one blonde tween to do while the rest of the world had barely seen hide nor hair of him for the past seven years. He hadn't even attended the ninja academy which put a dent in many important people's plans for him. He was actually told at one point that Kami herself was raising up a storm in her heavenly palace due to the intervention of the old man. The blonde was a centerpiece of many a plan, and they all needed to be revised thanks to the old man. Tariki-sensei truly was trouble.

The blonde had been forcibly removed from Fate's and Destiny's combined titanic grip by the intervention of he who the blonde referred to as Tariki-sensei. There were just some things far more fearsome than the Shinigami and Kami, there were those that rarely reared their heads or interferred with things they would not normally interfere with. Tariki-sesei was one of those rare sightings.

The blonde also had an apartment complex, which was comprised of four separate buildings, it was purchased under his name by his sensei for him to use for some additional and initial income. Tenants paying rent of course. The residents were of the lower class of society or those that were unwanted or rejected from anywhere and everywhere else. The rent was low, for the time being, and not all the rooms apartments were occupied, some were used for other purposes such as storage.

The blonde ran the place, and if one were to think that it was quite the task for such a young blonde, one would be sorely mistaken. The blonde had help, one of his helpers was the kitsune that was still very much feared by the villagers, while the others were extensions of himself, puppets in a sense while at the same time could also be considered as clones. They were physical constructs that were connected to the blonde through unseen threads that connected all those crafted and created bodies to the soul of the blonde. It was like having the Rin'negan, the ability to inhabit and control multiple bodies at the exact same time.

They were crafted using samples from the blonde's own blood and tissue, replicated, cloned through science, and connected to the blonde's very soul by his sensei, the Being that rarely interfered with matters that were beyond his set scope of duties and responsibilities.

At the moment, the blonde had a small army of them performing the various duties that would have burnt him out long before his sensei had left him to grow on his own. Each one was connected to the original, who served as a father and brother at the same time. Each one was assigned to a separate and distinct task. With Uzumaki Naruto as the leader, the Boss, there were his subordinates who were simply copies of himself in a sense even though their physical appearances were anything but.

There was a head of security, practically the only security the complex had to offer, but it was enough what with all the security features that Naruto had installed over the years. He had been told to stay away from pranks and use his wide imagination to come up with ways to protect his home, which was what he did.

The complex were riddled with things that had caused a few interlopers to think twice about trespassing or even breaking into any of the apartments. Some of them even applied for a place to stay and were surprised that such good security came at such a cheap price and the signing of a legally binding agreement.

Aside from the head of security, there was also a plumber that made sure that the plumbing of the whole complex was up to the village's standards. A carpenter for any furniture fixing needs, a chef to man the cafeteria, a janitor in charge of cleaning the more public areas of the complex, a gardener in charge of the plants, a pest control specialist, a doctor, a nurse, a surgeon, and a dentist, and a whole slew of others.


	62. Untitled 07

"What's a Hyuuga doing in a place like this?" Naruto asked as walked back behind the counter where he had decided would be his main workspace within his apartment complex, it was than any stuffy office and he got to talk with people.

"I'm..looking for an apartment to rent.." the Hyuuga said, it was Hyuuga Hinata the clan heir of the Hyuuga clan, or so that's what everyone outside of said clan believed.

"Aren't you a bit too young to be looking for a place for yourself?" Naruto asked, not that he was any older than the girl.

"I'm a genin...so no," she replied, she didn't seem to lack the confidence that she was also known to lack it seemed.

"Any particular reason why you've chosen this particular complex?" he asked her, curious since there were many other places she could seek residence at, ones with a better overall reputation than this one.

"It was recommended to me.." she said.

"Oh? By whom, if I may ask," he queried.

"Hyuuga Yudai," she replied, "Before his disappearance..."

"I see," Naruto said, and began writing some things down and pulling out some documents, pamphlets, and other papers from the drawers beneath and behind the counters, as well as looking over a logbook, "Well if that's the case, I guess you're welcome to rent a room after all," he then handed her all the documents that he had gathered, "I expect you to at least read over the whole contract even the fine print, before signing," he then pressed a button, on the keyboard of his computer which caused several windows to pop up on screen, then he clicked something there, "I've called Ishigami Yudai down to help you with things."

"Who's that?" she asked him.

"Oh, your missing friend," Naruto replied, just as Yudai walked out of a door that led to the stairwell.

"H-Hinata-sama," Yudai said, he didn't look anything like any Hyuuga that Hinata had ever encountered. For one thing his eyes were not pale, and for another thing he was dressed in common work clothes unbecoming of a ninja of the Hyuuga clan, "What are you doing here?"

"You..recommended that if I ever have to find a place to get away, I should come here," she replied.

"I see.." the switched his attention to Naruto, "Naruto-sama..why have I been called down?"

"You recommended her," Naruto replied with a bland look spread across his face, "I'm leaving you in charge of keeping her out of trouble here, as well as be her guide. She only gets a key once the documents have all been signed."

"I understand," Yudai said, then turned back to Hinata, "I am still the Yudai you know, just with a pair of brown eyes and a simple tattoo on my forehead," which was conveniently covered by a bandana, "I am now Ishigami Yudai an adopted son of the Ishigami Family of the Masayoshi clan."

He then led her away from the complex's lobby while Naruto went back to resuming his work which ranged from welcoming people home to monitoring the security of the complex along with his other establishments.

He may only be twelve, but his outlook on life and maturity as well as his personality were that of someone around twice his age or more. It was due to how he grew up as well as being taught by someone that considered the Kami as insects. The Kyuubi wasn't it as it had been released back into the world by the very same Being that served as Naruto's teacher starting from when he was three to just the end of the previous year.

The man had taught Naruto many things, but at a price. His ninja career. Naruto had no chakra from the day he started learning from the Being. His teacher insisted that he be referred to as Tariki-sensei, and from that moment on Naruto entered an existence which was balanced at the center of the many worlds.

He gained powers and abilities never before seen in this present world or existence for that matter, he gained knowledge that he would otherwise have been ignorant to. He gained wisdom that he would otherwise not come to understand or realize. He gained many things, and all it took was for him to stop a random old man from committing '_suicide_' and coming under the tutelage of Tariki-sensei a Being that even the kami feared to piss off.

One of the many things he had gained from being under Tariki-sensei's wing was money, lots and lots of it. Coupled with his overwhelming luck Naruto was able to more than triple what he had been given by his teacher the first time he played poker. If there was a Legendary Sucker running around dodging debt collectors and bounty hunters, this blonde had gained the nickname Death God of Gamblers. He had always been a recognized adult in the village, all his papers proved that he was allowed to gamble legally. Only the bravest of the brave of gamblers or the stupider ones dared to challenge him once he entered a gambling den, parlor, or casino.

He had actually gained many a favor from both legitimate businesses and illegitimate ones through his gambling, those businessmen choosing to simply owe Naruto in favors, on their honor, than pay him the overwhelmingly large amount of money that they did at the end of the day battling against him at any game. No one dared bet against him for he always somehow managed to win.

At the tender age of ten, he had become known throughout the business world as a prodigy, able to make the impossible possible when it came to any business venture. Anything he put his mind to, he was able to accomplish. It was astounding the things he had already done in his country alone.

Even though the majority of the village in which he lived in didn't really like him due to something that he had no control over, they actually relied on him when it came to their economy and reputation. All he needed to do to render his home village relatively helpless on the civilian business side of things was to say the word.

His main business within the village was housing, he owned a four interconnected apartment building complex. He had a hand or a thumb in many other businesses, but the ones he actually had visible establishments within the village was a grocery, storage in the form of two large warehouses, a smith shop, a spa, a tea house, and of course a bar. He was also a partner in some of the village's more or most well-known non-ninja clan establishments.

He was one of the business moguls of Fire Country (Land of Fire, Hi no Kuni, etc) and he wanted to expand his territory. He was the head of a legitimate clan, the Masayoshi clan, its members were made up mainly of himself, then there were the adopted sons of himself. Himself being all his many puppet-like clones running around the world. It one of the thing that he had learned from his teacher.

In a sense it was like the Kage Bushin no Jutsu that he would have been known for had he not met his teacher. But instead of tying clones to their creator via chakra, his puppet-like-clones were connected to their original and creator via the soul. They were all his bodies, he was them all, much like the Paths of a Rin'negan user but without the limit on the number.

He was all of them, and they were many. Like Legion. They were all the heads of the many families that made up the Masayoshi clan. Their jobs or occupations ranged from simple waste disposal engineer to the boss of one of the businesses under Naruto's name.

His teacher had made him take to heart three simple phrases, 'to think is to create', 'anything is possible', and 'never break a promise'. These three phrases also served as the basic source of Naruto's powers and abilities. The only limitation and stipulation of being able to actually bring two of these phrases to life was his having absolute zero chakra in him, but that didn't mean that the stuff couldn't affect him.

One of the most important things he had learned from his teacher was how to really and truly multitask, it had been very confusing, mind boggling, and headache the size of the world giving, but in the end he had managed to master it, had he not then he would have proven to have been a waste of time to his teacher, and having luck that even some gods envied and a determination to match, he managed the task within the span of a year and a half. It was how he could control so many bodies at one time fluidly, sometimes he even forgot that he was controlling so many as he interacted with some or all of them as he would any other person.

"Excuse me," a new voice interrupted Naruto from his work as he looked up.

"Yes? How can I help you Hyuuga-san," Naruto said not showing any other emotion than impassiveness on his face, but internally he was surprised to find Hyuuga Hiashi himself standing within the lobby of his apartments, he wondered what such a man could possibly want then remembered that the man's daughter had chosen to live there.

"I know that my missing clansmen live here," Hiashi stated, "I've known for quite some time..which is why I have come to request that you make my daughter vanish from my clan as well. I wish not the fate that the clan's internal village council has planned for her, regardless of her being placed in temporary exile due to her performance or lack thereof as of late."

"I was expecting a lot of things," Naruto stated, "But I wasn't expecting that at all. I can do what you are requesting of me, I guess I could do it...but at a fee of course."

"I anticipated such a thing," Hiashi said, "I am willing to pay any price to see that my daughter is kept safe from the political machinations of my own clan. I have continuously failed my family, I wish to not add another failure."

"Well I wouldn't say that you've been a total failure," Naruto consoled in a way, "You didn't fail your brother. By permitting him to sacrifice himself that you may live and that war would not start, you actually saved him."

"How did I save him? He's dead," the clan head said, "I watched him die with my own eyes."

"The eyes of a Hyuuga can be tricked just like any other man," Naruto said, "My predecessor and teacher and adopted father, taught me that after he bargained with your brother A life for a life was the agreement. Your brother's life as a Hyuuga in exchange for becoming one of the first members of the Masayoshi clan. Why your brother or nephew haven't come clean with the truth of that incident I don't know, but your brother is very much alive and still continues to keep watch over his precious older brother."

Before anything else could be said, the doors into complex slid aside to permit someone from outside entry. The man that entered could never pass for a Hyuuga as he was wearing a leather jumpsuit with lots of straps with tools hanging off of them. His long loosely tied hair was a mess, and he had dirt and grime all over his skin and clothes. The man could never be associated with the Hyuuga clan, not with the way he dressed and his personality. Freedom from slavery really changed a man.

"Speak of the devil," Naruto said, and got back to work as Hiashi whirled around to face the new arrival, something in him told him that the dead do walk.

"Eh..the jig is up huh aniki," Hizashi said and just stood there wondering what would happen next.

"You...why..how..." Hiashi was at a loss for words, his long thought dead younger twin brother was still alive, he had always hoped as he still felt somewhat complete, but never thought that his inner feeling wasn't just a fluke, "Its good to see you, and I apologize for all the time I had to show the face that the main family wanted to see of me," he bowed low to his younger brother to show his sincerity.

"Stop doing that," Hizashi said, "I forgave you long ago. I'd love to give you a hug, but as you can see," he motioned to his clothes, "But I think I'll just have to invite you up to my apartment."

"Might as well lie to anyone that asks me where I was later," Hiashi said and followed his brother to his apartment.

'_What's with all the Hyuuga today.._' Naruto thought to himself, as he continued looking over reports, complaints, requests, and the like, and it was only morning.

But he knew that his morning wasn't over yet, there was still the matter of that genin team he had hired to clean some of the rooom in Building 4. There were four buildings with ten floors each, the roof serving as a garden, along with a basement. Each floor of each building was assigned to a family. The Ishigami family had the tenth floor, while Naruto, his core self, lived on the top floor of the office building opposite from Building 1 of the complex, the office building was owned by him and had been transformed from just another derelict apartment building. It was where his businesses' headquarters were located, most of them anyway.

The doors to the lobby slid open once more and before a word was even said he expertly flung a stress ball into the mouth of the green clad jounin Maito Gai, they were the only team available at the time. Following the man were his three cute students Rock Lee, Tenten, and Hyuuga Neji. Their sensei was prone to announcing their presence in the village with a loud outside voice that grated on many a client's nerves. But not Naruto as he knew how to shut up the man, clog up his mouth and threaten him with a complaint.

"I would appreciate it if you would not shout while within my property," Naruto stated blandly, "The cleaning team of Building 4 is already there and just waiting for you in order for work to begin. I expect, that since you are ninja, that there will be nothing that would otherwise disturb the residents of the occupied apartments of Building 4 or the other three buildings."

"Understood Masayoshi-sama," Neji decided to take charge before Naruto could find a reason to complain about the poor ninja service, even he knew the importance of pleasing such a man, one who was on good terms with the Hokage, for different reasons from the rest of the village's thoughts, "On a side note, is _He_ here?"

"He has a guest now," Naruto replied not looking up from the work he had returned to, "Once your mission has been completed you may visit him, not that anyone's stopping you from doing such."

"Hai," Neji said and led his team to where they would be working since he had been in the complex countless times before, visiting his father and step-mother since his biological mother had died on a mission a year or so after he was born.

When Team Gai reached the ground floor of the building they were to clean up some rooms of, they were met with the sight of several men and women dressed in construction worker attire instead of the get up that some cleaners got into when performing their jobs. The genin team was also handed a uniform to wear, and Neji was the first one to don his which actually surprised his teammates as they thought that he would be a bit unprofessional about it and insist that Hyuuga do not wear such drab and garish things.

"Alright, everyone's finally here!" Masayoshi Tsukumogami, or Tsuko for short, shouted so that everyone could hear him, "We've got until sun down to get all the unoccupied rooms cleaned up and ready for occupation! Everyone that arrived on time already knows their assignments! For the late comers, you're all assigned to the top floor! Ishigami Souzen will be in charge of that floor! Any questions?"

Neji raised his hand before his team could even think of a question.

"Ah..Neji-san, a question have you?" Tsuko asked as he motioned for Neji to speak up, his team was at the back of the gathering.

"Where are the cleaning supplies?" Neji asked in mild shout, he already pulled down his goggles and didn't look like a Hyuuga and yet Tsuko knew it was him, "How'd you know it was me?"

"To answer your first question supplies will be found by the stairs of the floor you have been assigned on!" Tsuko shouted, "As for your second question... You're the only one that bothers raising his hand whenever we have these kinds of functions!"

"Yeah!" a group of Ishigami family members shouted.

"Neji," Gai said as they were walking up the stairs in line with the others climbing the stairs in front of them, "How do I say this...hmm...how are you so familiar with this place?"

"Yeah," Tenten said, "I mean, you're not even acting like your usual self..you're not all high and mighty like usual.."

"..." Lee couldn't speak as he had been gagged by his own sensei as his self control still wasn't that great.

"I have...friends here...don't tell anyone outside of the people that live here that I act this way, that I have this side of me, and that what the village knows of the Hyuuga disappearances is a lie," Neji said, then gave his team a look before facing forwards and walking.

The rest of the team shrugged and continued walking in silence. Once they reached the top floor Neji was one of the first to grab his gear and move to one of the unoccupied rooms, they were the ones with their doors already opened, while occupied rooms were locked. He moved as if he had done it before, which he had, he just wasn't paid for it the last time he did it.

The rooms were devoid of furniture, there was only trash, dirt, and other such things that needed cleaning or removing. There was another group or team that was in charge of filling in the rooms with furniture. The whole operation was in progress in preparation for opening up the place for non-clan or family members to live in the complex. There would be no need for a recommendation from one of the ones already living in the complex before permitted to rent an apartment.

As the complex was still found in the poorer district of the village the rent was still lower than the ones found in other districts, it was sure to get a lot of applicants for the remaining rooms. Not only would potential renters be attracted by the low rent, but they would also be attracted to the facilities, utilities, and of course security since so far Anbu were still having a hard time breaking into the complex, sure they make it into the halls or the garden or even the basement, but not into the apartments themselves.

Naruto was actually thinking of investing in the construction of a mall, but was still thinking about it. There was also the idea of opening up some shops in the complex but he also thought that the residents might not approve of it.

It might look like he was bored looking over reports and whatnot all day long, only leaving for a meal, when in truth he was all of the people that were of the main family of the Masayoshi clan as well as the heads of the families of the clan. He was an all-in-one-man or teen as the case presently was.

At the end of the day he watched as Hiashi snuck out with his nephew as they both returned to the Hyuuga clan compound, he also greeted the people coming home from their various jobs, including his other bodies. When he was sure that the day had finally ended he began fixing up his workspace and prepared to hand over the manning of the lobby to one of the Ishigami members, as that family were the ones that were mostly in charge of security as well as manned the local branches of his underworld territory.

"Ano..excuse me..Masayoshi-sama," Hinata said as she reentered the lobby from the door leading to the stairwell, most people used the stairwell as opposed to the fully functional elevator, it was a ninja and mercenary thing.

"Huh? Oh, Hinata, something you need?" he asked while he continued to pack up the different papers and other things around his station.

"I signed the documents and Yudai-san said he'd foot the advancement for me," she handed over the documents in question.

"Ah, yes, yes," Naruto said, "Almost forgot, almost," he rummaged around one of the many drawers until he pulled out a key and handed it over to her, it was attached to a keyring with a number as well, "Room number's attached, just have that relative of yours lead you to it. Its in Building 4 or B4. Now good night," he walked past her and left the complex.

She actually thought that he lived in the complex just like everyone else that she had met within the complex did. Apparently she was wrong, as her gaze followed him as he crossed the threshold of the lobby doors she noticed that he just crossed the street and entered the opposite building.

Once she was back with Yudai she asked him about it.

"Oh, that's the headquarters of many of the clan's businesses," Yudai replied, "The top floor's where Naruto-sama lives, it was supposed to be where his office was located, but he turned it into a kind of penthouse."

#

"You summoned me Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked as he entered the Hokage's office accompanied by some guards of his own, Yudai and the Family Head of the Ishigami - Masayoshi Ishigami Shiromizu.

"I did," the Hokage said, "Why don't you have a seat."

"Alright," Naruto said as he sat on the offered seat, while his two guards positioned themselves at the unoccupied and recently vacated corners of the room and copied the Anbu guard of the Hokage by vanishing from all senses, of course Shiromizu's method was different from the genjutsu Yudai used, "Now what business do you have with me?"

"Team Kakashi, as you should be aware of by now is in Wave Country (Nami no Kuni, Land of Waves) as we speak," the Hokage said.

"I am aware of their visit to that country," Naruto confirmed, he had a spy network set up to match Jiraiya's own, "I am also aware of the country's plight and of the business mogul that has been the root cause of said country's problems."

"As a nation with economic interests with Wave, and being the part of the military of said country, I would like to hire the services of the Masayoshi clan," the Hokage formally and seriously said, it was all business from there, "I can't simply send out my ninja to reinforce Team Kakashi, but I, as a representative of the village, am prepared to hire some of your soldiers to reinforce the Team there, I would also like to request that you invest in that country as well, help boost their economy so that they may be of better use to Fire Country as a whole as a center or hub for commerce."

"Interesting business proposal," Naruto said, "But instead of monetary payment I would like the village to owe me three favors instead. How's that sound?"

"I am agreeable to it," the Hokage said, "Now onto other non-business related matters.."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"How have you been doing? I hear that you've adopted yet another outcast into your motley band of well mischief makers," the Hokage inquired.

"I'm doing fine, better than most I'm sure, but fine none the less," Naruto said, "It was quite a surprising turn of events, and I have just the way to piss of certain undesireables within that white eyed clan."

"Such as..?" the Hokage fished for information.

"Now that would be telling," Naruto said.

The two of them talked about the sun moon and stars for a bit longer, just so that the old man could get away from paperwork, most leadership positioned people's greatest enemy. Not Naruto as it actually gave him something else to do, it was a small fry compared to being in multiple places in multiple bodies at one time. It was nothing compared to actually having something like multiple personalities, each personality having a physical body to inhabit and manifest in.

He was one truly crazy twelve year old, but a very powerful one at that. Which was why he had no problem walking into the Hyuuga clan compound seeking an audience, which was quickly granted, with Hiashi to discuss his eldest daughter. It was a crazy plan that Naruto had concocted, but something which the clan elders really didn't and wouldn't be able to have a say in.


	63. Untitled 08

His life ended before he even got a chance to live. In most similar cases it would have been a waste, but when one of _Those Five_ decided that their lives were getting boring, well, waste wouldn't be a word to describe such an unfortunate event.

On a whim Toukou Kyonshi could summon up an unfortunate soul and promote a simple mortal's soul into one worthy of godhood, or simply put elevate the soul's status to godhood. It was a simple process, to some it would seem rather difficult and an arduous task, but to one of _Those Five_ it was less than child's play. Not even a snap of the fingers or a blink of an eye was required. All it took was a whim or a wish or a want.

One moment the unfortunate soul was floating, wandering about in the lobby of the Halls of Judgment and the next thing it knew was that it was floating before the desk of Toukou Kyonshi, the Guardian, Ruler, Lord, Master, whatever, of the Eastern Crossworld or Eastern Worlds of Imagination. It was an awe inspiring experience, one that most souls couldn't even fathom of ever happening to any of them. But to those lucky few that were chosen as the temporary form or source of entertainment for one of the five masters, rulers, bosses, whatever, of Imagination.

It was an honor, a blessing, and of course a curse, at the exact same time. It was a can of worms waiting to happen. Lots of souls wished they were chosen, while an equal number wished that they were not seen as worthy of one of _Those Five_'s attention.

Here floated a single soul that had caught the divided attention of Toukou Kyonshi, as the Being had to deal with everything that had to do with the East at the exact same time. Multitasking, what a wonderful discovery and skill.

"Aren't I dead? I know I died, I felt my life fade, and watched the living world vanish from before my very eyes," one very confused and unfortunate soul said, somehow the ball of light was able to speak, but being a soul anything was possible.

"You're very much dead, alright, deader than a deadite," Kyonshi said, not bothering to look up from his work, "Do you know who or what **I** am?"

"I haven't a clue," the soul replied, "Who are you?" it was only then that it took notice of the fact that it was some kind of ball of energy, "What the heck happened to me? What am I? What did you do to me?"

"I did nothing but bring you here," Kyonshi replied as he wrote something down with one hand and pressed a few keys on his computer's keyboard, "I am Toukou Kyonshi, a name you should never forget, as for what happened to you..well aside from dying, you are now a soul. Plain and simple as that."

"So...I'm dead, this glowing ball of whatever that I am is the form my soul has taken, and I'm floating before the desk of a god," the soul listed of, "Did I get everything right?"

"For the most part," Kyonshi replied, "I'm not a god, per se, I create them..or at least I can if I want to, which is part of the reason why I summoned you here. I'm bored, and as far as entertainment goes, you are it."

"I"m just a soul! What can I do?" the soul asked, a bit of panic in its voice along with a bit of fear, "Why'd you single me out? I'm sure there's gotta be hundreds of other souls waiting in that lobby like place that you could use for your own amusement!"

"Too bad for you, I chose you," Kyonshi said looking up from his work, the look in his eyes, the very windows to his own more complex soul scared the soul to the depths of its very Being making it regret even raising its voice above a whisper. The voice was clearly much colder than ice, it was so cold that it felt like spring never existed.

"I understand," the soul squeaked, then remained silent as Kyonshi's gaze returned to his paperwork.

"Good," Kyonshi responded before speaking in a much more even and emotionless voice, "You are one of the fated Chosen Ones that failed in their role long before they could even begin to walk down their destined path. Yours was a stained and strained path, one which was made impossibly hard for such a limited soul such as yours to traverse. Your life was ended well before it really began, and any chance of saving the existence your soul was born from and into could be acted upon. Your world is dead, your former existence a mere vanished dream.."

"What did I do wrong in my last life for my world to have suffered such an unjust fate?" the soul asked.

"Nothing," Kyonshi replied, "You did absolutely nothing. There were external forces in your former existence that decided that you should be given an impossible task, they hardened the hearts of people so much that the darkness had been overwhelming and the balance was irrevocably damaged."

"Then what you want from me is to give you a second chance?" the soul asked in a voice only slightly higher than a whisper.

"Of course not," Kyonshi replied, "I need no second chances. I am going to give you a second chance at life. A life that you shall learn the basics of before even living it. I will imbue you with all the knowledge I think you will need and want and more, before your departure, as well as some added benefits to your physical body once you get to your next _life_. You shall be my entertainment. Your new life will be the drama that I watch to keep things from getting boring. You are my new project."

"So what will I be?" the soul asked, "If I was once some savior, a would be hero. What am I to become now?"

"Whatever you want to become, you shall become," Kyonshi said, "Upon your rebirth, the chains of fate and destiny shall be unwound and their grip forever to never again be felt by you. Your fate and your destiny will be yours to shape and change. The world will be yours to play with or destroy, just don't destroy it too soon if that is the path you chose for yourself.."

"So what am I going to be exactly?" the soul asked.

"Whatever you want to become," Kyonshi said, "The basics being that you shall be immortal, in the sense that nothing will be able to kill you, only Death himself may take your life. Power-wise..well you will be as strong as you want to be or as weak as you want others to believe. The only limit to what you will be able to do in this next life will only be limited to what you yourself chose not to be able to do. The only limitation you will have on yourself are the limitations you yourself chose to have."

"So..I'll be able to do anything?" the soul asked, it was getting a bit excited.

"Well anything within reason as well," Kyonshi said, "Not all things are for yourself only to control. There are things that others have more control in, so in those cases it will be a battle of wills. Like death, magic, time, and other such things. If those in charge of those things, or those things themselves do not want something related to them to happen, you will have to fight for it in some form or way."

"So..if I were to want to bring someone back from the cusp of death, I would have to have a battle of wills against Death himself?" the soul asked for clarification.

"Precisely," Kyonshi said.

"I see," the soul said, then came to a realization that it should have noticed at the start of the job interview, "I just realized that I sound smart and am much smarter than I was in my first life."

"Side effect of dying," Kyonshi said waving it off, "Its normal for that to happen."

"So what happens now?" the soul asked, a bit impatiently as it wanted to get things over and done with.

"Now..well.." Kyonshi stood up and moved from behind his desk to beside the floating soul, "I've decided to add something different to your next life. Stir things up a bit. It was tried in _Screw It_, but things haven't worked out very well with that experiment. We'll try again."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," the soul said as it willed itself to move away from Kyonshi as the Being gained something akin to a foxy grin, his eyes showing just how insane he could become.

"Well..whatever," Kyonshi said as he forcefully grabbed hold of the soul and decided to painfully mold it into the form and life that it would now live, when he was done shaping the very basic make-up of the soul he summoned up a slime green and pinkish portal from out of the blue and hurled the soul through it while shouting, "Do me proud! Uchiha Sasuke!"

#

A portal opened up ripping through space and time and spitting out a soul, an older and blonder soul. The gods of the world were powerless to stop its descent as it made its way to what would have been a stillborn child to Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. It was the opposite of the sealing of the Kyuubi into what could pass off as a twin soul to the soul of the new and improved Uchiha Sasuke, they simply chose not to do anything about the creation of the child of destiny as the Toad Sage had foretold.

For the first few years of his new life, the former blonde soul's memories as a soul floating almost helplessly in the office of Toukou Kyonshi had been suppressed by Kyonshi himself as the time for chaos had not yet arrived, had not yet come. The time for the unleashing of the suppressed memories came when the Uchiha began to plot against the village they had long ago sworn to defend and protect and serve.

This former blonde soul had been given the chance to feel the love of a family that had been absent in his last and former life. But now that they began to plot against the village, he saw them change, their souls were altered, as if they had died and been replaced by demons. He lost his family just as they began to lose themselves. He wanted to keep them, but knew that their time in the world had already been spent. He would mourn their passing, but would not brood like the former classmate that he had in his previous life allowed the darkness to take over.

It was on the scheduled night of the massacre that Sasuke decided to come out with a bang. He had sent off a solid clone of himself, indistinguishable from himself to go and train in some random training ground as to not arouse and suspicion about his whereabouts. He then waited for the opportune moment to strike at his, in this life, older brother. A man that he had grown to admire and aspire to become just as famous or as infamous as.

He was going to get his chance to test himself against a threat, one that was no real or actual threat to his life, but was a threat to all that remained of what he held dear. He just hoped that he could find a way to get his brother redeemed in the eyes of the village or for the truth about the massacre to become known to the village so that the man could return to the village he loved more than he loved his family, save for Sasuke his little _innocent_ brother.

Itachi wanted Sasuke to grow strong and hate him and then be the one to end his suffering, be his punishment for committing the unspeakable act of killing off the around 98% of his family, of his blood. But as he was instilling a key point of the hate, a reason to hate him, the Sasuke that was before him exploded. Blood and guts flew everywhere, leaving Itachi stunned at the turn of events and unprepared to defend himself against a nine headed fire dragon attack from the back.

Backstabbing was the way of the assassin, and that was the manner by which Sasuke decided to attack his brother. The initiation sequence had been started way before, and he hadn't yet disengaged his connection to what he knew to be the Seals of the World, the most complex network of seals and runes and whatnot, that covered or could be found connected to almost everything in the entirety of Imagination. It was literally having the power to shape and change the world at one's fingertips.

Itachi was thrown off of his feet and into a pole, his back aching up a storm he stood and turned to face the thing that had hit him in the back. Something which he should have been on the lookout for. Instead of finding some experienced Anbu member, he found his little brother bathed in the black fires of Amaterasu.

'_Eternal_ _Mangenkyo Sharingan enabled,_' was the thought that ran through Sasuke's mind before he shrouded himself in the black flames of Amaterasu turning the flames into an impenetrable shield.

'_What in the world?_,' Itachi couldn't help but wonder at the transformation that his brother had seemingly undergone right before his very eyes. He got into a fighting stance but at the same time prepared to make a run for it, he had a secondary mission one which he couldn't fail else the village could fall due to him.

From the shield of black flames erupts the eight heads of a dark purple Yamata no Orochi, followed by a samurai of dark blue wielding a rounded mirror-like shield, a gourd on its back, and a katana hilt in the hand not holding the shield.

'_Susanoo enabled,_' Sasuke thought as the warrior materialized before him as added offense and defense against his brother. The samurai was colored a mixture of blue and red, just like the fan symbol of the Uchiha clan.

'_How is he doing this.._' Itachi wondered as he unsheathed his blade and prepared to engage his younger brother.

It was a miracle that the rest of the village was oblivious to the happenings within the Uchiha district, since the serpentine heads were rather large, like one of the larger snake summons that the nuke-nin Orochimaru could call upon to aid him in battle.

"Sasuke?" Itachi had to ask, to make sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.

"Hai, oni-san?" Sasuke stated more than asked as before vanishing right before his brother's very sharingan eyes and reappearing right beside him already delivering a punch to the older Uchiha's face, but missed due to his brother having real battle experience.

"You are better than I gave you credit for," Itachi said, "Already you have what it takes to kill me, but I shall not fall this day," he added dismissively, not that Sasuke was really paying attention to his brother's taunting words, he was more focused on his task at hand. Which was to see just how far he could go in a fight using his more mental connection to the Seals of the World, though he did need one hand to operate the thing's interface much like how a puppet master controlled his or her puppets.

Itachi not wanting to be outdone by his younger brother began to attack with kicks and punches which he would later learn were not very good ideas as all he managed to actually hit was the shield of black flames that protected his younger brother's actual body from harm. It was when he decided to use some Katon jutsu that both sides reached level of equality, somewhat anyway.

Itachi's mastery of fire and Sasuke's sudden unpredictability were equally matched. Neither could actually land a clean hit on the other. One was inherently fast and quick to spew some flames, while the other was able to utilize a space-time jutsu to teleport himself out of harm's way and also had Susanoo to keep Itachi occupied. Sasuke was also able to make illusions into reality and reality into an illusion for short periods of time.

He had activated all the abilities and powers of the Sharingan and added some modifications of his own to them. He had the power at his fingertips, and he wasn't about to give up his advantage anytime soon.

Sasuke didn't know what his brother had planned for him, but he knew to be wary of his brother especially of his eyes. But even wary as he was, he was still caught unawares when his older brother suddenly appeared where he did after avoiding several simple fireballs and was caught in his brother's world of Tsukiyomi.

"For the next 72 hours, you are at my mercy for real this time," Itachi intoned and began to show Sasuke everything that he had done to the clan while also performing all sorts of physical-mental torture on Sasuke.

The younger Uchiha tried to fight his brother's illusionary world with his will, but his brother proved to be too strong for him. It was his doubt in his own power and abilities which made him weak. He was left amongst the dead in a kind of coma-like state and found that way. He vowed to not hesitate the next time he came face to face with his brother.

From what was supposed to just be a test of his ability, turned into a near exact incident to what had happened to his previous life's best friend. He now sought to defeat his brother, while not really kill his brother, but he sought to defeat his brother, no matter the cost to himself. It was different yet the same at the same time.

Confusing.

He spent the rest of the week in a secured room in the hospital, always protected by some Anbu guards assigned to him by the Hokage. While he was out of commission in the physical world, he was busy bettering himself from within his mindscape. The Seals of the World had nearly no boundaries and were also present in his very mind. Had he been a cruel one, he would or could have killed his brother on a whim through the seals, but he wasn't such a person.

There was also the fact that there was no fun in such a simple thing as that.

The village was made aware of what had happened that night, the night of the massacre, though no one was told about how Sasuke had fought his brother and lost, just that Itachi had put him into a coma, one which doctors were not all that sure he would wake from. That was until he actually did wake up and decided to simply state that he would defeat his brother one day. The grim determination in his eyes was enough to give some of the hardened veterans protecting him at that time some pause.

What made it quite the fearsome sight was that his Eien no Mangenkyo Sharingan were visible in both his eyes as he made his solemn vow. It wasn't unheard of for an Uchiha to possess the sharingan while being so young, but the unknown level and quality was something which made the village collectively dubbed Sasuke as a true genius Uchiha, just like his brother.

Great and terrible things were expected of Sasuke now, and some people were already plotting out his future without his permission. Whatever plans those greedy bastards had for him, would not see completion since if Sasuke didn't want something to happen, he'd find a way to make sure it didn't happen.

While some thought that Sasuke would become some kind of brooding bastards or emo or something like that, he became a kind of recluse. He was rarely seen by anyone outside of class, but when someone managed to catch a glimpse of him, they wished they didn't but were also glad that they did.

They wish they didn't as they were exposed some really psychedelic shit, but were glad since they caught a glimpse of his genius. It was supposedly normal for the strong to have some weird quirks to their personality, though Sasuke seemed to take the cake when it came to insane quirks.

While Naruto tried his best to get as much attention, negative or positive, directed at himself, Sasuke tried to make it so that he received the least attention directed at himself. Naruto managed to get a lot of negative attention, while Sasuke managed to attract even more attention by his not wanting to attract attention. His keeping to himself attitude led to the formation of numerous fan clubs in his honor and name. They girls that joined, and some boys, were attracted to his dark and mysterious personality. It was troublesome to say the least.

There was nothing legally keeping him within the village, which was why he manipulated his official records and documents making it possible for him to leave the village whenever he wanted. He wasn't tied down to the village by anything, and never would be. He made it so that he could never be labeled as a nuke-nin even if he decided to kill the Fire Daimyo.

There was much of the world to see. During his spare time, which was usually during the weekends, he would go on vacations to numerous parts of the world. He would make sure that the Uchiha clan was kept as a relatively known clan, even though it was down to three members, he knew about Madara thanks to whatever it was that Kyonshi did to him.

He traveled the world in his still viewed as youth, he wasn't a shinobi yet, so he considered that time of his life as his youth. He visited the country's capital, and various towns and cities, as well as venturing out into the rest of the continent, and beginning his own network, spy or business, he needed a back up when it came to where his money would be coming from in case being a ninja didn't work out for him, he also didn't want to just rely on his clan's funds as that would eventually run out. He wanted to leave whatever children he would have in the future the means to live even as just civilians, if they so chose to live as such.

He used the clan's fortune, that was available to him, to invest in local and foreign businesses, new and old, and a bunch of other ventures that had the potential to bring him money and lose him money. He may still be young, but he knew quite a lot and already had quite a lot of power.

Whenever he went out of the village during his weekend vacations, he summoned up his samurai bodyguard of flames, and gave it a more human physical body instead of just the chakra flames that it was made out of. It served several purposes, one was to gain some added income, another was to make a name for itself, and of course there was also its role as being Sasuke's primary protection aside from himself.

Susanoo made a name for itself performing mercenarial jobs for a number of clients at the same time. It took names and heads which it wasn't protecting its creator. It was also very much like a Kage Bushin in that whenever it was dismissed and its energies reabsorbed by Sasuke, all of its memories were transferred to its master.

Since Sasuke knew of the hardships that his past life's counterpart went through during these formative years, he sought to help his kind of other self, the Naruto of this life, financially in the form of anonymous investments in the blonde's name for the blonde's future. The blonde was informed of the investments before their joint academy graduation exam by another of Sasuke's creations and puppets, the female creation known as Izanami, who served as his housekeeper and chef. Izanami was Sasuke's time-space teleportation technique granted by his eyes given physical form, it resembled him mother quite a bit save for having a pair of red eyes instead of the plain black ones of the Uchiha clan.

Both Susanoo and Izanami were registered in the village as Sasuke's tools and servants at the same time, and were classified as ninja tools rather than people, though only a few people, the Hokage one of them, knew why.

So long as it was Sasuke doing it, it wasn't slavery to anyone's eyes. Most of those not in the know were blinded by the Uchiha's former glory. He could kill some high stationed people, and very few people would care.

He passed the graduation exam with flying colors, he cheated most of the way though. He didn't really need to study, what with having centuries and centuries worth of knowledge crammed into his head by Kyonshi, as well as power, lots and lots of it, depending on his belief in himself. Chakra was not a factor when it came to his power after all.

No one really knew the extent of his power, and no one would ever really manage to find out. But Hatake Kakashi wanted to try his hand at gauging Sasuke's power for himself.

Sasuke was put on Team 7, along with the top kunoichi of their class Haruno Sakura, one his biggest and most annoying fangirls, and of course the class clown Naruto, whom Sasuke didn't have any problems with and was actually on friendly terms with, but by no means had a rivalry with.

"...Your turn pinky," Kakashi said and motioned for his pink-haired student to begin her introduction, which she did and proved that she wasn't all that serious at all at this point in time when it came to her career choice, "Alright blondie, you next."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto began, "I like ramen, training, my precious people. I dislike the three minutes I have to wait for my ramen to be ready, I also don't like people who take things at face value. My dream is to one day become strong enough to be Hokage so that I can better protect my precious people!"

"Admirable," Kakashi decided to state, "Duck butt you next."

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke introduced himself, "I have likes and dislikes. I will defeat a certain man."

"Do you want to add anything else?" Kakashi asked Sasuke, hoping that there was more.

"Hn," was the sound that Sasuke made, Naruto recognized it as a negative and so informed Kakashi about it, who wondered if Sasuke had a special vocabulary of language only he could use and very few could decipher.

Kakashi then proceeded to inform them about the real Genin exam, as well as the dismal passing rate, as well as some advice for the test, where it was going to be held, and also goodbye before leaving the genin on their own.

Sasuke declined a date with Sakura a bit more harshly than he had intended to, while Naruto got bashed in the head by the pink-haired girl, and Sakura went home planning how she was going to impress Sasuke during the test. She needed to get ahead of Ino who actually had a family background in the business.

Naruto spent the remainder of the day preparing for the exam, _secretly_ visiting the Uchiha district's main house, where Sasuke lived, to get some advice from Izanami who he liked in a weird non-romantic way. It was also his first time actually seeing Susanoo looking bored the hell out of doing nothing.

Sasuke eventually formed a kind of Rin'negan user like split personality that took on the forms of his sharingan granted powers.

Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, Susanoo, Izanami, Izanagi, to name a few, though he had a few more personalities that he had given physical form to through the years since his awakening. They were all milling about in the main house, which was at the very center of the compound which had in the past house the first family of the Uchiha clan, the clan head's family.

"Naruto, next time don't sneak into my house," Sasuke said as he entered the kitchen where Izanami, one of his female selves, was preparing dinner, "I'm assuming you'll be staying for dinner?"

"Nah, sorry Sasuke," Naruto said, "I promised the Ichirakus that I'd be eating at their place tonight."

"Hn," Sasuke said before leaving the kitchen, Susanoo tagging along as he left the village and visited his casino in Tanzaku Gai for the remainder of the afternoon.

"*"


	64. Untitled 09

It was times like this that _Those Five _chose to meet in the conference room of situated just beyond the double doors leading to the corridor which held the very heart of Imagination itself. The Gate of Entrance, which former chairman of _Those Five_ Shadow Shaijo was the guardian of, had sealed itself disallowing any new ideas or new existences from entering Imagination proper. With the Gate of Entrance closed and no new things entering, no new additions to the already extensive omniverse and universe of Imagination, stagnation and boredom was starting to rear their lovely heads.

Should Stagnation and Boredom enter into the picture entirely then all of Imagination would ground to a screeching halt and it would be quite the mess for _Those Five_ to fix. They required a solution post haste in order to prevent such a disastrous situation from truly cropping up.

So they called a meeting and held it near the heart of that which they served and governed. They invited some of their minions as well, those that could be considered to be on par with them in importance, but at the same time not equal to them in rank. These were the components that had their own set of responsibilities and duties that didn't have their own personal stories, their own interesting background stories to back up their creation.

There was the Archivist, the one who manned the library and archives of Imagination and kept track of all of the events that happened within Imagination. The Archivist was the one in charge of collecting and collating all manner of information, some of which is collected from individual sources by either the Researcher or by the Reporter.

The Researcher was in charge of gathering information about specific topics that have to do with one of the actively under scrutiny or entertainment purposed existences. The Researcher was the master at its craft, Researcher was the one that surfed the internets of all existences, the one that perused all the books in the libraries of all existences, and all other sources of information that was not a living source of information for whatever information was needed or required at the time.

The Reporter, also referred to as the Journalist, was the one in charge of documenting important events in Imagination's history. He was one of the few of these assistants to _Those Five_ that actually had a concrete identity, a name, a face, and a set of clothes that he preferred to be seen in. His name was FM, and he also served as a spy of sorts, he served as eyes and ears for another.

There was also the Conductor and his partner the Engineer, they both manned the train that traveled across existences through the railway that could be found between the gaps of realities as well as across the In-Between. The In-Between being the empty spaces in Imagination that had yet to find purpose or be filled in with something, part of it serves as Purgatory.

There were others like the Binder, the Accountant, the Librarian (who worked with the Archivist), and others more. Aside from these assistants and others there were also the Primordial Elements, they had creation back stories of origin stories to call their own and they were specifically in-charge of certain elements that made up Imagination such as Death, Magic, Time, Order, and the more to come.

All of these along with a few gods, demi-gods, deities, and such, were summoned to the conference room where _Those Five_ decided to hold their meeting. It was much like _The Gathering_ which served as the New Year's Eve and Christmas Party for the characters of Imagination.

"I call this meeting to order!" Crius Crossworld, chairman of _Those Five_, and Master and Guardian of Imagination proclaimed for all in attendance to hear.

There was still quite the cacophony of noise that filled the room, it actually grew in volume after Crius said his opening and starting statement. He didn't want to mind the noise, but it was inevitable that he notice it since they were in a meeting of sorts after all, even though he knew that most of them did it just to annoy him and keep things from becoming far too serious.

"Order! I call for order!" Crius called out, to get those present for the meeting to settle down.

"Present!" Thanos Potter, Order himself, shouted from somewhere among the crowd gathered in the room.

"Not you!" Crius shouted and sent a bolt of lightning Thanos' way sending him tumbling into the nearest wall, which caused pandemonium to break out within the room. The chaos was brought back to order when blue-purple lightning shot out of the double doors leading to the corridor where the heart of Imagination was located in, causing all of the Beings in the room to go silent and sit behaved like children.

"Thank you," Crius said after waiting to see if there was anything else going to pop out of the double doors, "If there are no more distractions or anything else like that, we can now begin with the more serious stuff."

"Specifically what stuff?" Contristo Acerbus, Death himself, asked on behalf of the gathered Beings.

"Specifically the premature sealing of the Gate of Entrance," Shadow spoke up, taking the floor and relieving Crius of the burden of dealing with the assembled miscreants, "The Gate of Exit continues to siphon the forgotten and ignored elements of Imagination such as old ideas, stories, existences, and other such things found in Imagination. We are in need of bringing something new into the fold, there is a need for the Gate of Entrance to be reopened."

"How about forcefully prying the Gate open? Can't we simply do that?" Ryoku, Avatar of Time and ignorant primordial element of power, asked on behalf of the ignorant or clueless gathered.

"Forcefully prying open the Gate will solve nothing," Shadow informed the crowd, "Ideas, imaginings, wishes, dreams, and all that flows through the Gate of Entrance into Imagination must go through freely, without force. Enticing the Gate open is a possibility and is the reason why we are gathered here today."

"Sounds like we're having a really weird wedding ceremony here instead of a meeting," the Merchant, sometimes known as Rosuto Juushu of the _Lost_ existence, voiced his observation. He had a world separate from his homeworld where he kept all manner of object or item and provided items or varying value to the Beings of Imagination on occasion.

"Shush you," Toukou Kyonshi, another of _Those Five_ and Master and Guardian of the Eastern Worlds, said with fingers to his lips to emphasize his point, "What we're having here is a serious discussion seeking potential solutions to our present problem."

"I was just stating an opinion," Juushu stated dismissively.

"Whatever," Kyonshi said.

"Getting back to business," Shadow said, "Forcing the Gate open will solve nothing and has the potential of giving us even more headaches than we already have when dealing with all of you. We need a solution before Stagnation and Boredom decide to invade Imagination and we have wars the likes of which haven't been seen in _Years_."

"Discarded worlds, forgotten stories, lost time, boredom," the Archivist listed off, "I remember those days, back before there was what we have now. Hundreds of characters stopped progressing, no new ideas were being brought into the picture. Worlds erased, fun depleted, entertainment degenerated. Lifeless shells we were, until _That_ time, until the reformation and revival of sorts that Imagination went through that lead to us to the way we are now."

"Stick to your job Archivist," the Librarian scolded, "Storytelling should be left to the Storyteller and not to you. She'll be out of a job should you once again do hers in her place."

"I was just giving an overview to days long past, to forgotten friends and comrades," the Archivist said, "Those numerous characters that filled the Imagination with their countless worlds. Those numerous that now sleep soundlessly in the Halls of Myths, those halls of ended journeys."

"So now you're stealing narration from the Narrator?" the Librarian accused, "Mayhaps ye be the one that has caused our primary existence to be in the state that is is presently found in."

"No bickering," Shadow chastised, "The fault lies not in any of us. None of us are at fault. It is the lack of Inspiration that is partially the cause for the state of things that we have found ourselves in for the moment."

"So we have established who the blame for the present problem whose solution succeeds in eluding us," the child-like voice of the child-like member of _Those Five, _Nul Nusquam, filled the room with it's lifelessness, "What say we seek out the solution that we are in need of before it becomes a 'desperately in need of'. the End and the Void is out patrolling the border between Imagination and the Real World as well as the border between Imagination and the Unknown or the Nothing, watching for signs of the forces of Stagnation and Boredom. We have a conflict that needs avoiding."

"But isn't this thing that we are doing already considered as a formation of a new idea?" the Reporter, FM, asked the assembled characters, "Isn't this meeting we are currently having already a means by which ideas are already flowing. Based on previous observations that I have made on my rounds of the worlds and the rest of primary Imagination, this is more or less what we can already consider as being a prelude to a new active existence being born."

"Are you saying that we don't need to have let comments, suggestions, request, ideas, opinions, and the like, fly around the room and bounce of not only each other but also the walls, to forge a new main character?" the Conductor asked, "Cause if that is what you are implying, then I'm all for it!"

"I have felt no shifts or changes in the In-Between," the Devil himself stated, his eyes had glazed over momentarily as he checked his realms for any changes, nothing to do with the war of course, "I sense no changes, then there can be no progress in our talks."

"I felt nothing of myself flowing off into a new nook or cranny," Aetas, Time himself and Supreme Being of Aetas of _Found_, stated his observation of himself, "Nothing new could have been born, yet."

"While nothing new may have been brought to life, yet," FM said, "That does not mean that nothing new is being already formed beyond the Gate of Entrance. There must be something going on, for this meeting would not have even been thought of being held, had there not even been a glimmer of hope of a new beginning."

There was a moment of silence after the statement was made, all members of the gathered mob delved deep within themselves thinking on the statement, and seeking the possible invalidity of it, yet finding none.

"What do you propose we do then?" Shadow asked, "My Gate is still shut to me."

"What do you know that we do not, Reporter?" Nul asked in a way that the question mark was barely heard, "Is there something you know that we do not?"

"Theories, opinions, and the like," FM said, "Along with some things which I am not permitted, by my profession, to share with any within this room...save for the former chairman."

"I see," Shadow said, realization dawning upon his unseen eyes as he was like a shadow given human form to the extent that he seemed like a faceless Being, "I think we have wasted enough time here. No amount of scrying will be able to pull out something new and unused. I believe it is time to return to our roots."

"You finally have something in mind Boss?" Crius said, 'Boss' a familiar term that used to be used when speaking to or with Shadow back when he was chairman it was also a title given to him by the heart of Imagination itself, back before _Those Five _even collectively existed, back during the days when Imagination was not yet the organized mess that it is today.

_Those Five _grew somewhat excited, the _Other Four_ knew something was up. _They_ knew that Shadow must have had a realization, that he must have found a way to open his Gate. So they waited for his words.

"While I may not have found or realized or located a manner by which we can cause the Gate of Entrance to open," Shadow said, "It seems that things are already in motion. That some things never change, that a new beginning has been found. It looks to be that...a spark of light, an ember in the darkness has re-lit itself, and that the encroaching darkness is being pushed away by this nearly forgotten light. It is this light that pushes away the darkness, it is this light that we, that I shall look to for the solution of the problem that we all now face.."

"Then you've sensed a sliver of it as well," FM said, not asked or stated but simply said, "You felt the life being born beyond the Gate, preparing to enter our crossing over story, this journey we all collectively are undertaking?"

"I sense something is brewing beyond the Gate," Shadow said, "And even though I am unsure as to what it is. I await its birth or rebirth."

"Then this meeting is adjourned," Crius said as he stood once more from his seat and left the conference room via lime green and neon pink whirling vortex that he conjured as his means of leaving the room, as he decided to return to his duties while keeping an eye on the borders of Imagination and preparing Imagination's armies for potential war with Stagnation and Boredom, as well as facing the possibility of facing off against an agent of the Real World.

"We are all living in a dream world it seems..one that is even more real than the _Other World.._when compared with this one which we view as our own," Nul said before stepping into nothingness, it was as if a curtain had been drawn over where the child-like member of _Those Five_ had been.

"My _Brothers_ have it right," Alexandre Westwurld, Master and Guardian of the Western Worlds, said, "I bid you adieu for now as I have business in my set of worlds.." he then walked off to a wall, pulled out a rusty bronze key and with it summoned a door, unlocked the wooden thing and walked through. The door closed with a mighty roar, and as soon as it was firmly shut it turned back into a part of the wall.

Kyonshi did not bother saying anything and simply burst into flames like a witch being burned at the stake, the flames made his form seem to shimmer before he vanished as if he hadn't occupied the space or even been at the meeting to begin with.

The other attendees followed suit, leaving in their own ways. Death sliced open a tear in space and time which led directly to his domain. Magic teleported to his purple glade with a thunderous crack leaving a small pile of bluish dust that was blown away by a non-existent wind. Order followed the Conductor and Engineer to their train as it was the fastest way he could think of to get home to his wife Chaos herself. Aetas didn't bother leaving in a spectacular show of his own power, he just left, heading back to school even though he didn't really need to study.

Everyone that attended the meeting had a means to leave the conference room. None of them bothering to use the doors or windows as they were only painted on the walls since the actual room existed outside of _Everything _and outside of _Nothing_. It was located somewhere in between those two things. It was outside the realms of fantasy and make believe, it was an individual state, as well as one of the protections of the heart of Imagination. It simply existed.


	65. Untitled 10

They had left the village without any problems, they didn't bother with saying any goodbyes, just see-you-laters then vanishing from the village altogether. The only reason why they had not been labeled as criminals was that it was a sanctioned training trip, one approved by the leader of the village. They had a minimum of two years and a maximum of six years to be away from the village, and they would use that time to get better at what they did.

Better at teaching, better at learning, better at fighting, better at living. They both would get better on this journey that they both jointly decided to undertake. Both striving to grow stronger for the good of themselves and the better protection of those that they considered as precious.

They would both grow to be better. They would both grow.

They both thought that they would be together for the duration of the whole experience, but as the powers that be would have it. It was not meant to be. Fate and Destiny were kicked out of the picture, their powers restricted by one whom even they wished not to aggravate at all.

The two companions were unaware of the change in their fates, in just how much their decision to not say fare thee well for the next couple of years had on the paths they had decided to tread upon. They had decided to spend some time near water to better the blonde student's combat ability on water or simple uneven and constantly changing surfaces. The location of the first real part of training was by the Land of Wave, Nami no Kuni.

It was while Naruto was training on the wave filled waters of Wave that he was forcefully separated from his super perverted sensei. The Toad Sage was powerless to stop the current that had suddenly risen up from underneath the wave filled waters and dragged the blonde off to parts unknown. It was entirely unexpected that the waters would pull the blonde away.

The Toad Sage did his best to retrieve his student, summoning his toad allies to help in the rescue of his most recent blonde student. He and the toads later found themselves unable to do anything to get the blonde back from the current and undercurrent. He was whisked off by the waves near Wave, brought out to see. It was an unsettling thing, as Jiraiya had never thought that nature would be against him in such a way. Kidnapping his student right from within his reach.

The blonde himself knew of the danger he was potentially in and fought with all his might against that which was taking him away from his sensei. Sure the Toad Sage wasn't much of a teacher yet, not giving into his requests for better techniques or ways to get stronger. But the man was still a teacher, his teacher. He saw the toads come to the white haired legend's aid, but also saw the futility of their attempts to get to his as he was moved farther and farther away.

He tried propelling himself away from the water's surface and the water entirely but found out that even the winds were against him, as they helped in his being taken farther and further away from shore and from his super perverted sensei. There was nothing he could do, not even when he encountered the sharks that formed some kind of escort and honor guard around him, or the eagles that flew overhead providing some sort of aerial support.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the look of failure in his sensei's eyes, he may have been quite a distance away by then, but he still managed to see it. His sensei had given up well before anything else could happen. It had been so shocking that it allowed whatever force that was controlling things to knock him out.

The Toad Sage felt like a failure the moment that he entered Sage Mode, he knew without a doubt that he had to give up trying to take his student back. He had to let go of his guilt and selfishness. There was no way he was going to get the blonde now. There was no way that he was going to help make his student's son stronger, strong enough to be the savior of the world, the bringer of peace that was expected of him to become.

He had felt it, the call of nature itself, the call of everything to take the blonde haired boy away, away from the humans that sought to use him for their own means and ends. The whole of the natural world had been given the task to taking the blonde away from everything he knew, from the supposed world order. He was taken from the path that he thought to be the right one, and brought to where he would get the training he deserves and not only the training that he needed.

The Toad Sage, Jiraiya knew that some otherworldly power was at work which was why he had already given up on his student's son even before trying to get him back. He was just another boy, replaceable, and it would be better for the world in general if the blonde was lost to it. The organization he was supposed to get strong enough to defeat was hunting him and if they could not get him, then all the better for the world.

What is one blonde genin in comparison to the thousands, the hundreds of thousands that must have made up the world. The Toad Sage had to chose between his godson and the world, since he had found it so easy to leave his responsibility to the child be, he chose the world.

The blonde had seen the failure in his sensei's eyes, he noted that he seemed to have been able to process his sensei's own thoughts, as well as the willful and personal decision of giving up on him. The rescue attempts were just for show, they had no meaning behind them. He was being thrown away, with the hope that he would never return. The Toad Sage would probably tell some tale that would make him be viewed as just another hero, one of the ones that could easily be forgotten and not remembered as anything more than some kid that bit off more than he could chew.

The blonde later, after waking, found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. He found himself laying on what could have been the ground had he been able to feel something beneath him. Looking around all he could see was an expansive and what could have been some kind of eternal darkness.

He would have begun questioning his sanity at being able to see so clearly in what was just nothing, but he refrained from doing that for some reason unknown to him. He was the only thing that seemed to exist within this, as there was no other thing to call it, void. He tried to take some sort of step, but couldn't tell if he had moved, only that everything stayed the same to all of his senses.

Then just as he was about to scream to see if it would echo around him, he heard a voice speak plainly from all around.

"**In the beginning there was the void**," the voice spoke reverberating all around the darkness, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, "**There was nothing in the void but the void. Not even shadow existed..**"

'_What in the world..?_' the blonde couldn't help but wonder, he didn't know why he wasn't panicking as much as anyone else in his position would.

"**Then there was a spark, a forgotten remnant from before there was the void**," the voice continued, and the blonde noticed that he could see light, a light that outlined his body, he was the light in the void, the small spark that had been lit, "**The light from this spark grew and grew and grew. From it came a thousand and more sparks in the darkness that was the void..**"

Naruto then looked around him and found that he hadn't moved from where he had been in the first place, or the start of the experience. He looked around himself and found the light that came from him expanded and grew and grew, and parts of it branched off and out forming other sparks in the former void. The masses and splotches of light filled what once had been a mere void, some expanding and some remaining as simple sparks, while others would grow to be larger than any sun.

The void had been changed, evolved, from some emptiness into something that held a myriad of things, ranging in color from white light to misted gray to dark nothingness. It was a mix of three things, the formed, the forming, and the formless.

Naruto couldn't help but look around himself and try to see what lay within the other lights or lives or souls that they could be. When the thought of them possibly being souls, like the one he possessed or actually was, he remembered that there was supposed to be something tied to his very own soul, the Kyuubi was supposed to be tied to his own souls. But he couldn't figure out why he couldn't sense even its presence in this former void.

"**Each of the lights in the darkness were souls in their own right...they filled the void..they made it into something,**" the voice spoke as if continuing on from Naruto's own thoughts, "**These souls..what were they..they were the souls of the countless lives that began to suddenly appear and populate the former void. Spontaneously erupting into life or lives..starting from nothing into eternity..**"

It was then that Naruto noticed that he could see all around him, that he could see into the lives of those lights of those other souls. He could see them all, he saw similarities and differences, he could see worlds and lives that were different and similar to his very own. He could see so much, and they were all happening around him.

He then caught a glimpse of what he believed looked oh so familiar, they were lives very much similar to his own. He saw what his life was like, playing out before his very eyes from different angles. Different perspectives, and some went even beyond what he himself could recall. Some had events and experiences that he could only dream of or imagine, while others were things that he himself had seen and done.

"**So many different lives were being lived at the exact same time...so many..so..oh..I see..so that's what happened to you..**" Naruto heard the voice say, it spoke as if noticing something in the story that was being told for the very first time, "**So that's where you've been hiding all this time...a fluke I'm sure...well...I guess this means I better get you out of there before anything else happens that shouldn't happen..**"

Naruto wondered why the voice had said what it had said, and he also wondered why it seemed like the things happening around him had not stopped even though the voice had stopped speaking. He then felt something take hold of his very soul, and felt the tug on it coming from somewhere beyond where he had been effortlessly floating in.

He felt one strangling grasp, and one final tug before he found himself sprawled on the floor of a room as if he had just fallen from a hole in the sky or something like that. He quickly picked himself up and off of the ground, only to find that he was in the presence of someone else.

"Uh..not to be rude or anything but who and what are you?" Naruto asked, "And where the heck am I?"

The room he had found himself in was one unlike any that he had ever seen before in his whole short life. It was even more opulent than any room that he believed even the royalty of the lands he had hailed from could have lived in. It was so much more than what he had ever dreamed possible and yet it was all so simple. It was a room, it had a bed, a small bedside table, a desk in one corner with a chair to sit on and to work at the desk from. There was a closet, and a bunch of other things found normally in one's bedroom.

He looked at the desk and found there to be quite a lot of papers on it, some of which looked to have only recently been written on, and one page in particular looked to be the freshest of the lot, there was even a sentence that had yet to find completion.

"I am known as Shadow Shaijo," the man in the room with Naruto said introducing himself to the blonde, "I know who you are so no need for you to introduce yourself. I am not human just so you know. You are currently standing in my room in my home away from home, which is located in one o the farthest northern reaches of Imagination itself, the collective existence of all imaginings, wishes, dreams, nightmares, and the like."

"I...see...I tihnk.." Naruto said, then asked, "So what am I doing here then..Shadow-san?"

"I forgot that for you it is clan name first before name," Shadow said, "In any case feel free to call me master, which would be one of the equivalents of sensei for you. Master Shadow I am sometimes called. So to you, I should have introduced myself as Shaijo Shadow."

"Uh..Master Shadow then," Naruto said, "Err...I still haven't a clue as to where we are, where I am..and why is it that I have this feeling like I'm no where near where I was before I blacked out," he paused for a moment as a thought had entered his previously seldom truly used brain, "I also have another question...what do you want with me? What am I here for? Also..were you that voice I heard earlier?"

"I was that voice you heard," Shadow replied, then said, "In your resting state, your soul accidentally slipped into my imaginings..I was picturing the beginning of Imagination as I was in the middle of writing the introduction of the history of the entirety of all things as they are now."

"So I was floating around in your mind?" Naruto asked.

"No..far from it," Shadow explained, "You were in one of my daydreams, the kind where I envision what I am writing. I would not have noticed your presence there had it not been for the fact that you tugged on some experiences and given them more importance over the others that populated my daydreamscape."

"Oh," Naruto said, "Ok...so you still haven't answered the rest of my questions..you know."

"I am well aware of that," Shadow said, "Since you are awake I guess you are ready to see the rest of my home away from home, where you will be staying for an indefinite amount of time."

"Why?" Naruto asked, "Why will I be staying here?"

"I'm going to be training you of course," Shadow replied, "I saw your personal potential and the possible futures you could have had had I left you with that sensei of yours. He would have seen your potential wasted, he would have made you strong, sure, but at the same time the strength you would have gained would have been one tampered with."

"What do you mean my potential would have been wasted with Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked.

"He failed you once already," Shadow stated, "Who's to say that he would not fail you a second time, or a third is you let him."

"Failed me? How?" Naruto asked.

"He was named your godfather by your parents," Shadow responded, "The man was named by your parents as one of the two people that were to look after you if anything happened to them. Your parents trusted that man and another person to take care of you as you grew up. But what did he do? He left you to rot in your village with only a scant few individuals who barely had enough time on their hands to properly take care of you."

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked, "Who are my parents? Please tell me."

"Walk with me," Shadow requested, "I'll tell you on the way, since I believe you deserve to know, unlike how others seem to think you are unable to understand why keeping their identities a secret is necessary."

"So...the old man and the council knew who my parents were? Ero-sennin knew my parents and hasn't bothered to tell me? What other secrets have been kept from me?" Naruto asked as he followed Shadow out of the room and through the hallways that made the home away from home of the black clad man whose face could not be seen even if a flashlight were shone on the face.

"Third Hokage, the village council otherwise known as his advisers, your godfather and godmother, and several other people, knew who your parents were and decided you didn't deserve to know who your parents were, they believe that you would have brought down the wrath of your parents' enemies on yourself and on the village had you been told of their identities," Shadow said, "Your parents are none other than the Fourth Hokage, the man that sealed the Kyuubi into you as a means to make you stronger and to protect the village he protected and lead, while your mother was the Kyuubi's second container who helped your father seal the massive beast of rage, pain, hate, and chakra into you. Your father was Namikaze Minato and your mother was Uzumaki Kushina."

"Thank you for telling me," Naruto said, he was happy that he finally knew the answer to one of his life's mysteries, "So who's my godmother?"

"Senju Tsunade," Shadow stated, "Though I suppose she could be fogiven as she had been grieving still...though I guess that wouldn't be a really good excuse considering how she _grieved_."

"I can't believe they lied and left me to my fate," Naruto said, for someone whose world was coming crashing down around him, he seemed to be taking it quite well, "Why am I so calm about all this?"

"I'm dampening your emotions a little bit," Shadow admitted, "So that you will be better able to process everything I'm telling you. As well as so that you will not turn into some sort of emo or something similar to that. Do you have any more questions for me?"

"What are you? You still haven't answered that question," Naruto said as they walked.

"I am Shadow Shaijo, as I said before in the room," Shadow said, "I am the former chairman of the group of individuals that are collectively referred to as _Those Five_, of the five I am the one that holds the responsibility of being the master and guardian of the Gate of Entrance or Gate of the Entrance through which new ideas flow through and into Imagination."

"Oh..you know..I have no idea what any of that is about..." Naruto said as they reached the outside, he would have said more had his eyes not seen the sight before his eyes, it was simply breathtaking.

He had been expecting to see a blue sky with a few clouds, the sun, and either a village, a sprawling city, or wilderness. What he got instead was a look at the cosmos from a floating black diamond rock with lines of molten rock crisscrossing the ground beneath his feet as he walked alongside Shadow. The house wasn't anything special on the outside looking like some woodland cottage, but it was the thing that stood several meters away from it that truly took his breath away.

Seeing the cosmos, stars, galaxies, planets, and a lot of other things was one thing, but the Gate of Entrance was something else entirely. It was a massive gate with doors held wide open and every now and then a ball of what could have been light flew through from the void that lay beyond it. Something about the Gate caused some deep seeded feeling of awe to well up from within the core of his very being to come rushing to fore, causing him to tremble in its presence.

"You feel it, don't you," Shadow spoke as soon as the two of them found themselves at the very base of the massive thing, it was far more gargantuan than anything that Naruto had ever since in his lifetime, even larger than Gamabunta was or the Kyuubi, "The sense of awe, of wonder well up from within your very being. Unexplainable is this feeling, but you think that you have and never will see anything as wondrous as this Gate."

".._Yeah.._" Naruto said as he continued to gaze at the Gate of Entrance, entranced by whatever it was that held him captivated with it.

"This is where you shall be staying during your training under me," Shadow said as he held his hands out to his sides indicating everything around them, the whole floating rock in cosmic void of Imagination, "What do you think?"

"I think I could learn to like it here," Naruto absentmindedly said, he was caught up in the spell of the black background with the floating neon lights that filled up the cosmos that surrounded him and the place he would be calling home for the next two to five years.

"So are there any other secrets you have for me?" Naruto asked as he finally fell out of the trance seeing everything outside of the house had put him in.

"Your godfather had resigned himself to get you at the level needed to keep yourself safe, while at the same time grow to rely on the power of the beast that had been sealed within you," Shadow stated, "He wanted you to become strong, but not as yourself, but thanks to the power that you have been cursed and blessed wit at birth. He planned on making you reliant on external forces. Your father had intended for the Kyuubi to be as supporting source of energy and strength, not your primary one."

"I see.." Naruto said, "So he didn't believe in my own strength.."

"Unfortunately," Shadow said.

"How do you know all this?" Naruto asked, curious as to how his newest teacher knew so much while he apparently didn't know anything at all. He was being too naïve.

"I know all this as it is part of my job to know such things," Shadow replied, "As you saw when you first awoke after being transported by your own world to my home away from home, that I was there at the very beginning of All of this," he gestured to everything, "You saw it, the formation of all this, didn't you?"

"If you were there at the very beginning," Naruto said, "Then there was something in the void."

"There was nothing in the void," Shadow said, "For that creation story was more symbolic at the beginning than literal. I was a part of the one that shifted the void into what it has now become. But since there is no need to get into that, we shall halt the discussion on the beginning of Imagination. Suffice to say I am even greater in power than what you know as Kami, and leave it at that."

"Greater than Kami?" Naruto said, "Whoa...so why me?"

"I already told you," Shadow said, "I've also grown a little bit jealous of my fellow _Five_ members, as they have each had at least one apprentice to call their own, or at least one Being that they have helped cultivate."

"Oh. Ok," Naruto said, "Well, since you chose me, I'll be sure to make you proud of me! I'll work so hard, you'll be proud to call me your student!"

"I like this determination of yours that's for sure," Shadow said, "Very well then. Since you seem so pumped up, and have already accepted yourself as my student, we shall commence your training post haste."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It means your training starts now," Shadow said, and so did the blonde's training begin.

But before the actual training could begin, Shadow had to show Naruto where he would be staying, gave him some new things ranging from clothes to weapons to regular tools for some crafts or arts he would be learning. Naruto was given a new uniform to wear during his apprenticeship under Shadow, he was given a black bodysuit, black boots, black gloves, and a black hooded tranchcloak.

"The first thing I'm going to teach you is the power of belief, will, and of course, imagination," Shadow told his blonde student as the two of them Indian sat in front of the Gate, sitting there served as training Naruto's ability to function even if something was interfering with his concentration.

"But I already have an active imagination," Naruto insisted, "You should know that I was a prankster before I became a genin."

"You were a prankster," Shadow said, "You may also claim to be quite unpredictable, but you stopped being a prankster. You stopped relying on your imagination and your former dominant ability to think outside of the box once you became a genin. You've been focusing on the concepts of possible and impossible, when in your world, your existence, in your reality, there is a very fine line between the two, that in some cases or many cases _impossible_ is impossible in and of itself."

"Err...so how am I going to train my imagination?" Naruto asked, "And what does belief and will have to do with it?"

"With imagination you will think of something, then you must believe that it can happen, and will that thing to happen," Shadow explained, "For your first exercise I want you to make yourself float while sitting in the position that you are seated in at the moment."

"Err..ok..I'll try," Naruto said.

"It is not try," Shadow said, "It is do. Where is the overwhelming confidence and determination that you possessed before coming under my tutelage? Where has it gone?"

"Its still here," Naruto stated, with renewed vigor, and if his teacher said anything was possible, then anything was possible, "I'll master this before dinner," it was not even breakfast time too.

He had to force himself to discard his doubts in the impossible.

"Don't just believe that it is possible," Shadow decided to say, he began to rise upward before his student's very eyes, "Know that it is," Shadow was well aware of the concept of seeing is believing and decided to use it to his advantage, "The power you are drawing upon to perform this exercise is something that can be found in all things...but we decided to call it something universal..._Power_. It is an unexplainable force, it is also a combination of the three things you are now training in. Master this exercise in order for the rest of your training to begin."

"I'll give it my best shot," Naruto said as he refrained from moving from his position as he willed himself to float up into the air.

"I don't want you to give it your best shot," Shadow sternly said, "I want you to just do it."

"Fine," Naruto said, a bit aggravated and just like that, he found himself floating at the same height that his teacher was floating at, "I'll...whoa. This is so cool."

"Well, that didn't take too long," Shadow said, "And it isn't even breakfast. Now onto your next lesson. Now that you know that anything is possible, there are still limitations to such things, such as affecting others. Each person or Being has a thin unseen layer of _Power_ around them. It shields them from being freely manipulated into doing things. To affect another person, you would require to have a stronger, belief, stronger will, but not necessarily a stronger imagination."

"I don't get it," Naruto admitted.

"What I mean is..well.." Shadow said, "You try making me drop to the ground."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"You seem to be the kind of person that learns best by experience," Shadow said, "So just do it!"

Naruto's face scrunched up in concentration, beads of sweat began to flow down from his brow. Two hours passed and still Shadow floated before him. He was forced to admit defeat and give up.

"Is that all you've got?" Shadow asked, somewhat mockingly just to check the sincerity of his student's admission to failure, to which Naruto just nodded in due to growing quite tired but still remained floating, "Good. Do you understand now?"

"Not really, but sort of," Naruto said, "Its pitting my will and belief against another's, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," Shadow replied, "That's more or less exactly it. While it is possible to manipulate or influence another, but it will be harder than doing so to an inanimate object."

For the next month or so, Naruto was made to train this skill until he reached the point where he didn't have to really think about something for it to happen. He trained until it was instinctual for him to believe anything and everything was possible.

At the end of the first leg of his training he was able to vanish completely from view, unlike the Kakuremino no Jutsu which was not even a genjutsu as it was just the ninja hiding behind something that would cause others to not notice that someone thing or someone was out of place somewhere. He actually vanished, and there was no cloak of invisibility that he needed to wear to do it too.

He could walk on air if he so wished, or water with no need for chakra to do it too. He could walk through walls, make it so that only certain people could see him. Though to practice that last one he had to be brought to different parts of Imagination to put his skill to the test, until he reached the closest he could get to perfection, something he did when it came to certain aspects of this ability.

He could sit in a room and cause things to appear and disappear, most of his training time focused on the ability's application in fighting or simply his chosen career path.

"The next thing you shall be training in," Shadow said, "Is the training or enhancing of your mind. Something which had been neglected for most of your life, by ignorance or intention. For the time being, until such as a time that I deem you knowledgeable enough, you shall study. But in order for things to move more smoothly, you shall not be studying alone. I want you to make as many Kage Bushin as you can using chakra and not using belief. For this mode of training to work you will need to use chakra."

"Why? What good are my clones going to be when it comes to studying?" Naruto asked as no one had bothered to explain to him the actual extent of the usefulness of his signature technique.

"Your clones," Shadow said, "Are labeled as kinjutsu not only for their chakra requirement being so high, but also because of their use when it comes to gathering information."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Create one clone," Shadow said, "Even with your dismal chakra control, you should be able to do that I believe."

"What for?" Naruto asked.

"You'll see," Shadow said, and so Naruto created the single clone. It was ordered by Shadow to walk through a portal that Shadow called up and told to dispel once it reached the otherside.

When the clone did dispel Naruto was blown back by the biggest eruption of blood from his nostrils ever. Shadow had after all dumped the clone in the a nude beach filled to the brim with naked beauties that would have sent Jiraiya to his death in seconds, and the super pervert's book sales through the roof.

"What the heck? How could I have missed that?" Naruto asked once the true usefulness of his signature technique dawned on him.

"You usually create so many of them that their memories overlap," Shadow said, "There's also the fact that whatever you have your clones do, you more or less also do at the same time, fooling your mind into thinking that you were the one who performed all the things that you and your clones did before they were dispelled."

"So..why didn't anyone tell me?" Naruto asked.

"Probably thought that you would abuse the technique and die using it to train," Shadow said, "But most people forget that the usual set of rules doesn't always apply to you, and not only because you are a jinchuuriki too. So do as I said, and create as many clones as you can with chakra. You have a lot of studying to do."

"But your library doesn't look like it holds that many books," Naruto pointed out.

"Oh we aren't going to be making use of the library here," Shadow said, "We'll be making use of the library in Central Imagination. You'll be studying in the library of Crius Crossworld, the present chairman of _Those Five_."

Naruto knew a lot about _Those Five_ by this time as Shadow had made it a point to inform his student about the importance of the group that he himself belonged to and would occasionally leave the floating rock that served as the Gate of Entrance's base to participate in a meeting with, regarding a plethora of things and topics ranging from ice cream flavors to the end of worlds and the like.

It was Naruto's first time using belief to follow after his master through the endless space that made up Imagination. He flew through space and breathed in what should have been a vacuum. Shadow said that in Imagination proper things weren't always the way things were generally perceived or believed to be. They even passed by a herd of pink and lime green elephants to cement the point.

"Does anyone actually hunt those things?" Naruto asked on their journey to the present capital of Imagination.

"Some existences use their hides for the pink and green skittles," Shadow answered as he continued to lead the way, "Some use their tusks as pocky sticks."

Naruto didn't know what to say after that and simply kept his mouth shut as they continued their flight to the world of Crius Crossworld.

The Being waited patiently for them, sipping some jasmine tea from a cup that never ended as he waited by the front door of his impressive castle-type fortress of a home one one side of a mountain that was higher than a hundred Everests. He led Naruto to his library with nary a question asked and locked him within and walked off to join Shadow in another meeting.

"Someone will come with food when you are hungry and someone else will come to show you somewhere you can rest and bathe in," Shadow said before leaving with Crius.

Naruto went to work immediately, a large part of him wanting to please his teacher still as well as this man who his teacher held in high regard. He created an army's worth of clones more than five thousand of them burst into existence only for the whole lot of them to be destroyed by a man who appeared beside the blonde. The man looked really pissed off about something too.

"How can you be so thoughtless?" the man demanded, "How can you think that you'd be the only one in this library! Your fog of smoke blinded several other readers in this extensive room of learning!"

"Dude, how can you shout in a library?" Naruto asked his own question regarding the rules of the library, "I was told by my teacher, Master Shadow, to create as many clones as I could and have them help in my studies."

"You...learning under Master Shadow? Tch, yeah right," the man said, "If you were, you would already know how to keep from bothering others, especially in a library."

"Hey, how come you can shout at me in a library huh? Isn't the volume of your voice a disturbance to the other pursuers of knowledge?" Naruto returned fire.

"My voice would be considered as a problem, if I didn't make it so that only you can hear my shouting!" the man shouted once again to get the point across.

"Oh," Naruto said, "You're using belief aren't you?"

"Yes I am," the man said, "And before you go and do something stupid again, you had better use it too! Sheesh! Your fog interrupted my studies you dimwit. So use your coconut better next time."

"I already know I'm an idiot," Naruto said, "That's why I was told to study in here. I was also instructed to only use chakra."

"Chakra?" the man said, then his eyes grew wide as if just realizing something very important, "So you're the one I was supposed to be waiting for! Sorry about blowing up at you like that! I thought you were one of the really ignorant people that sometimes come to use the library! My apologies! I am the Assistant Librarian, you can call me Al. I was assigned as your temporary tutor while your teacher was away, assigned to you by Master Crius himself."

"Err nice to meet you too," Naruto said, "I'm..Uzumaki Naruto.."

"I had a feeling, but wasn't sure," Al said, "Nice to meet you too. Sorry about exploding on you like that. I'm sure you understand now whey I did anyway.."

"Yeah, it was a bit careless on my part," Naruto said, "I didn't think about the smoke my clones generate could possibly bother people."

"Well, no real harm done," Al said, "I was the only one affected. That's just how big this library is. By the time I'm through with you and your next batch of five thousand or more clones, you be able to out fox ten hundred foxes!"

"Isn't it a thousand foxes?" Naruto asked.

"See! You're getting smarter already!" Al said and then ordered Naruto to summon up more than five thousand more clones, and directed each of them to pick out a different book from a different shelf and begin reading, while he took the original Naruto away to some other place for some other training. The clones were also told to dispel after it was done reading an entire book from cover to cover.

Naruto was brought out of the library by Al and led outside of the Crius's mountain home and then thrown off of a cliff.

"What the heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeell!" Naruto shouted as he fell from such a great height.

"Come back up stronger than before! Put the knowledge your clones give you to the test!" Al shouted in reply, "You now know where the library is, so whenever you learn something new, send up a clone to take the dispelled clone's place! Don't worry, you'll survive this fall, and whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

While he didn't like the sound of that, that didn't mean that he could get out his predicament, there was something in the world he was in that prevented him from actually just floating or flying down. There was a _power _far greater that his own at work as he fell, and he firmly believed that Al wasn't your average ordinary everyday assistant librarian.

He fell straight down the cliff, and landed in far worse shape than an egg falling from that height. By that time he had created a grand total of fifty thousand clones, fifteen thousands were used to try and slow down his descent and or figure out how to get back up and avoid going splat on the ground. All attempts failed, the rest of the clones had been sent up to the library to continue training his mind so that the rest of him could benefit.

The rest of his stay in Crius' world was like a few chapters out of another piece of fan fiction. He put to the test what he learned and became better due to the application of his knowledge even though he was using what he learned on himself and clones that he created. Of course he did everything after he had reformed and been revived by something that was not the Kyuubi after he finally hit pay dirt and was forcefully splattered around the base of the mountain. It was the most painful experience he had ever been forced to endure in his life. He spent the first week of his recovery as an insane lunatic and attacked anything and everything that he came across as he searched for his sanity.

Al cackled madly as he watched the young man do his insane thing while informing his superiors of the antics of the temporarily deranged blonde at the base of the mountain who waged a war against all the larger than life bugs that populated that part of the dense jungle that surrounded the base of the mountain.

Unfortunately for the blonde his sanity wanted nothing to do with him as it was far too scared of his insanity, the sheer insanity that the blonde underwent or became was just too powerful for his sanity to compete with and so it journeyed beyond the jungle avoiding all manner of monster and creature other than the plant life that wanted to consume it until it reached what could only be the biggest desert that it had ever encountered in its miserable life as one half of Naruto the Insane.

Naruto the Insane was busy committing what he believed to be genocide on the giant bugs, but unknown to him there would be an everlasting supply of the things and further aggravating the things would cause even more and more of them to pop out of the woodwork and attack him and his equally insane yet still competent clones. He was on autopilot when it came to creating clones. He didn't even bother thinking about the chakra cost creating the things had since his reserves just grew and grew with every thousand or more he created.

While Naruto the Insane went about delivering war against the bug empire, Naruto the Sane on the other hand went about applying the other half, the more peaceful half of the things that the library duty clones learned and sent back to all of them. Insane applied all things that had to do with combat, all things that he learned regarding the subject, the art. Sane did things like knitting, sewing, painting, sculpting, cooking, gardening, and other things. Both halves shared a few things like construction, harvesting, and the like, things that could be used during wartime and peacetime.

Both had thousands of clones at each of their command and beck and call. Naruto the Insane had red hair and green eyes, while Naruto the Sane had blonde hair and blue eyes. Since they were both halves of the same whole it would stand to reason that each half would take on characteristics of each of the whole's parents.

Naruto the Sane constructed a fleet of wooden ships that were light weight enough to be moved by use of wind across the desert sands. The ships were plenty enough to be used for war atop the desert sands, but Sane wasn't one for violence, it just went out in search of adventure as it wanted to see what the desert had to offer. The jungle proved to have quite a lot of riches, it stood to reason that the desert would be equally as rich. But it proved to be like a never ending sea or ocean, and just like the deep blue the riches could only be found under the ground deep beneath the sands that were occasionally blown by the wind.

Sane had his fleets of clones dive into the sands to seek out what riches could be found below, and it was with this initial trespassing that Sane found that there were some things that were unavoidable. That sometimes there was no other option but to fight. The sands were calm at the beginning, like the calm before the storm, but as soon as something in that calm was disturbed like the surface of the sand, sandstorms and all sorts of creatures from the sandy deep began to come out.

The fleet was forced to retreat back to the safety of the edge of the jungle where an outpost had been constructed, a base of operations where Sane could return to and escape any dangers that presented itself. Sane docked but had less than a fourth of the original number of clones that it had brought with it, along with even fewer ships in comparison with the number that Sane had sailed out with.

He had to delve into the things that Insane excelled at, constructing siege weapons, preparing weapons of all sorts, sending clones into the jungle to find metal deposits and whatever Sane would need to bolster its defenses and be able to go back out into the desert to claim the treasures that the sandy ocean held within.

Sane didn't really care to know how long it had taken for its clone army to be finished with defensive and offensive preparations, all that mattered was that the ocean of sandy brown was conquered to the extent that its riches could be claimed under the name of Naruto the Sane.

The fleet rebuilt, the number of clones bolstered, the forces of Naruto the Sane sailed off once again to do battle against the forces who lived mostly beneath the sandy dunes. As soon as they were yards away from the outpost at the edge of the jungle, Naruto the Sane's fleet encountered a sand serpent, cousin of the sea serpent, so large that it could coil around the world seventeen times, it was that huge and it wanted to crush Naruto the Sane and its fleet. It was a good thing that Naruto the Insane had managed to figure out how to compact and throw the Rasengan.

Rasengan after rasengan was used in the place of cannon balls, they were fired out of cannons with great results as each hit managed to deal quite a lot of damage to the serpent and its arriving comrades. The clones that were assigned to salvage what could be salvaged from the deep golden brown donned their diving gear and dived into the sands below their ships. Some others of the soldier caste were deployed on the sands as well to provide cover fire.

One clone then decided that it would be a good idea to turn the sand into glass, breathing out a Gokakyu it turned several sand surfaces into glass which served as a basis for the soon to rise outpost in the sand. With a hot enough flame, produced by several clones that joined the first one, the some of the sands were turned into molten slag and using some Doton jutsu were carried away to be used to form the walls of the platform that would eventually rise above the sands as a fortress made primarily out of glass, but some searching of the depths later would provide more materials.

The majority of the clones took care to distract the desert forces while the minority of the clones and Naruto the Sane took care of harvesting the sands and continuing construction on the fortress. It would be the first of several that would dot the sandy sea, eventually also be connected by bridges made out of glass and other materials.

The sand serpent and its comrades were plenty in number, but even then they were unable to break through the blockade of clones or go underneath the line of ships as there were explosives that had been buried deep beneath those ships as a precaution. So long as the ships took the brunt of the attacks the construction could continue, and it did, culminating in the completion of the first desert outpost.

From there on out, the war between Sane and Sand became rather one sided as with a base to fall back to, Sane managed to turn the tide of war in its favor and continually pushed back the forces of the Sands eventually reaching the other side of the desert after a good long while.

The other side of the desert was just a dense forested area, Sane sent out scouting parties to see if there was anything of note in it or should there be anything worth worrying over. All the clones returned intact and reported that the only thing amiss in the place was the lack of anything larger than life other than the trees, there were regular sized bugs and birds, but nothing more than that. So Sane began construction on yet another outpost.

Al watched clones dispel and appear, clones read and learn, clones that bugged him about where they could find other books, and clones that wondered when all the gathering of knowledge and power was going to end. There was also the question of some clones regarding the split down the middle predicament of their whole master and creator. When would Naruto the Blonde return to being both Sane and Insane in one body and in one mind.

Al didn't have any answer to that last question, he wasn't all that sure of the possibility of reunification himself since he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Sane was frightfully fearful of Insane, and Insane didn't really care much for its other half.

He also wondered when the two halves of the blonde or any of the clones for that matter would notice that their burden, the Kyuubi, was no longer with them. In truth the thing had been extracted rather forcefully as the thing feared for its very existence once it sensed that its host was in the presence of not one, but two of _Those Five_. It was the most terrifying experience that it had been ever subjected to, even during its time as a part of the whole that was the Juubi, it subconsciously and instinctively knew to fear _Those Five_.

"Where is It now?" Crius asked Shadow as the two of them played some chess on one of the balconies of the chairman's home.

"It is in the care of Rage-sama," Shadow said, the honorific was a part of _It_'s name. Rage-sama was the name of the first ever Kyuubi no Bijuu to exist in Imagination after Imagination first encountered the existence that was Naruto, it was the first and decidedly the most powerful as it was the one that had orignally been the closest of its inspiration for its creation in Imagination.

If the Kyuubi was said to have the ability to cause tidal waves with but a wave of one of its tails, Rage-sama was about to destroy existences and realities with but a twitch of a tail, not even a wave. Kitsune are said to gain power the older one gets, and Rage-sama was the oldest of them all in Imagination, and thus the most powerful.

"What's _it _doing with that particular monster?" Crius asked.

"Training for its next life," Shadow said, "Or so I was told when I handed _It_ over to Rage-sama. It will not be joining my student upon his return, or at least its consciousness will not be returning with my pupil."

"I see," Crius said, then asked, "So what of your student's continued training? Will you leave him to his splintered state, or force a reunification so that you might take him back to your home away from home and return to the more personal approach to teaching?"

"I'll leave him to his present fate," Shadow said, "I want him to become whole on his own accord."

"But what if it takes too long?" Crius said, "He has already been out there for a good year and eleven months. You only have so long with him. Is it wise to leave things the way they are, even though you yourself know that he still has a lot to learn from you."

"I have confidence in my student," Shadow said.

"Well, whatever," Crius said, "What concern is your student to me. He is not one of my toys, he is yours. Do as you please old chairman."

"Are you ever going to change out of that lab coat?" Shadow asked out of the blue.

"Maybe," Crius replied, looking and sounding like some crazy old man, "Maybe not. It all depends on how I feel about change, but for the time being, no."

"I see," Shadow said as he resumed the game they were playing, they were gambling at the same time and the stakes were nothing but a bunch of souls that had tried to bite off more than they could chew and tried to gain immortality through cheating _Those Five_.

Naruto the Sane and Naruto the Insane were eventually forced to work together by some machination of fate and destiny being pissed off about one of _Those Five_ interfering in their work and so decided to interfere in the self appointed training of the halved parts of the whole while their collective teacher was not around. They saw the growth of the student moving too fast and thus wished to end things, end the freedom the two halves had as they were separated.

So they tricked the most hated of all hounds to hunt down the two halves of the whole that was Naruto the Blonde. That hound being none other _than the End and the Void _the one beast, one monster, that was not to be messed with or tampered with. Controlling it could only be done by two Beings, two members of that collective council of five. Nul Nusquam, the Guardian and Master of the Gate of the Exit or Gate of Exit, and of course Shadow himself. Where Shadow created, Nul nullified, the End and the Void completed eradicated or destroyed.

It had lunged from out of the seemingly peaceful forest, and tried to take a bit out of Sane, but was temporarily stopped in its tracks by a combined effort of all the clones that Sane had with it. It then did the only thing it could, admit defeat, and return to the base of the mountain where it could potentially seek aid from Insane.

Sane ran as fast as its chakra enhanced legs could carry it, it followed the set path that its multi-connected fortresses had available to it, all the fortresses and outposts worth of clones trying to stall the horse sized wolf like creature as it barreled its way after Sane. It totally eradicated a whole pod of sand serpent as they crossed its path. It did not stop and simply obliterated them with just a snarl. It was a force to be reckoned with.

There was nothing in the world that could actually keep it away from its meal, save for the two aforementioned Beings. Not even the chairman, Crius, had what it took to stop the End and the Void. It had obliterated a pod of sand serpents and it wasn't even using its full power, not even a percent of it. That was the raw power of the destructive force that was the End and the Void. Nothing really managed to stand in its way as it chased after Sane, it destroyed everything it touched, turning all things into nothing.

"Shit!" Shadow and Crius both cursed as they sensed the End and the Void as it went on its rampage heading for the base of the mountain that rivaled Everest in all things that mattered, they vanished their chess game and appeared at the cliff that overlooked where Naruto the Insane was still doing battle with the bugs. They looked further and farther and saw the black mass of shadow and darkness, the End and the Void was coming like a hound of Ragnarok. Judgment Day was coming for the clones.

"I'm going to kill them," Shadow stated as he sensed the source of the chaos down below, "Should my apprentice fall, I shall des**troy** **them and all their worlds!**"

The very fabric of Imagination shook upon Shadow's declaration, his fury was felt throughout all the existences, all the worlds, all the realities, his rage swept across all things living, dead, animated, and otherwise. Nothing was safe from the reality shattering declaration and the power held behind the promise.

Even Crius shook a little in fear at the possibility of Shadow unleashing his full power on all the worlds. It was the most nightmarish thing he had ever been unfortunate enough to think of.

The Fate and Destiny in charge of Naruto the Blonde's homeworld both shook and cowered in abject fear and terror upon their forced realization of what they had just done and what they might have unleashed upon the worlds. They hadn't really thought their plan through and now only had hope left, hope that the target of their revenge would not fall to the maw of the End and the Void.

Sane met up with Insane and forced the lunatic to see reason after all of Insane's clones were wiped out by a mere snarl. Even insanity recognized its limitations, and knew when to quit. So the two halves joined forces for what they believed would be their final battle.

Chaos and order merged into one as the two halves formed a single rasengan in each of their outstretched palms, the energy that was being gathered was unlike anything that Naruto the Blonde's Fate and Destiny ever thought possible. Chaos and order melded together, it was creation at its finest. It was the bane of the End and the Void, but at the same time something which it enjoyed.

The spiraling sphere that was formed had grown to be the size of a sun, it was that huge and the power and gravity that it produced was something to worry about. It was when it began to be compacted, when it was forced to compress into itself that even Shadow paused in his rage to gaze down at the thing. He hoped that his student knew what he was doing.

Light and Dark, Calm and Chaos, Peace and War, Love and Hate, all of both halves merged into one as they unleashed the marble sized sphere of condensed energy on the End and the Void. The attack was not only formed with the use of chakra, but also of belief. It succeeded in shredding the End and the Void to pieces as a light so bright that even Shadow had to shield his eyes erupted from the epicenter that was Naruto the Blonde.

When the light finally cleared, what was revealed sent Crius to tears as a third of his homeworld had been turned to nothing more than dust in the wind. While it would take nothing more than a snap of his fingers to restore what had been destroyed, it was still a lamentable sight to behold.

Shadow gazed at the sight before his eyes, it was something that he would expect from someone that studied under him, to create something so dangerous and destructive out of the blue. It was something that he had expected, but for his student to do in on a whim and on accident, was truly surprising.

Naruto for his part stood on the very edge of forever and of eternity, should he take just one step forward he would find himself in the Void, parts of the wolf-like beast floated before him, large and small chunks of the beast that had hounded his two parts clouded his vision of the beautiful sight that had filled his vision the first time he had been shown Imagination in all its splendor.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing and rubbed the stardust out of his eyes just to make sure that what he was seeing and what he had done was actually real, and not just something his wild imagination had cooked up. He had obliterated something which he knew was far more powerful than it let on, along with a third of a world that was exponentially larger than his own homeworld.

It was once he accepted what he had accomplished did he finally feel all the adrenaline that had been flowing through his system dissipate and he found himself kneeling on the ground and trying to catch his breath that was already miles ahead of him. He didn't think he had it in him to do what he had done, but the evidence was clear as day before his very eyes.

He had used chakra at the beginning, his god-like stores fueling the creation of the thing, while he pumped out a bit of his reality shaping and manipulating belief to add some more power to the mix of things. The result was what lay before him, he had destroyed something that according to some of the books his clones had read was not supposed to be destroyable.

There was a crunch of boots to his left, and so he looked up to find his teacher standing there, having dropped down from the castle to help his student to his feet. Both of them continued to gaze out at the floating mass that was the End and the Void.

It was rather a surprising thing when he felt the equivalent of a dog licking his face. He had thought that he had completely destroyed the wolf-like thing, but in reality had only momentarily stunned it. Destruction was its domain as was obliteration, so it was safe to say that the pet of Nul Nusquam, that child-like Being, was not dead and should be buried, but alive and well and had only been momentarily stunned.

"The time for reading books is over," Shadow announced, "We head for home now, the End and the Void can come visit whenever it feels like it. Good job on gaining experience from this experience. Just promise me that you won't destroy my home when we start sparring or your own world when I send you back to your own home."

"I promise," Naruto said, "I only did that to make sure that I survived."

"Good," Shadow said, "Now watch as Crius restores his home from this void that you unintentionally created, there is a reason why your own reality manipulation couldn't affect many things in this world."

Naruto now had seen quite a lot of things, but all of them did not prepare him for the reconstruction of what he had destroyed, including the reformation of the End and the Void that decided to sit on its haunches on his right side while Shadow took up the space on his left. The world reconstructed itself one particle at a time, while the process seemed to take forever, it had all happened within the blink of an eye.

"How did you do that?" Naruto asked Crius as the man in a doctor's lab coat walked up to the group of three.

"My world," Crius said, "My rules."

"I'll teach you how to do that eventually," Shadow told his student, "But on a much smaller scale, we'll be focusing on healing, something which you can't just learn by reading books and practicing on clones."

"Ok sensei," Naruto said, reverting to his original terms, but Shadow didn't overlook it and whacked the blonde on the head with an anvil the size of the moon.

"Ow!" Naruto exclaimed, "What was that for Master Shadow?"

"I don't need to answer that as you already know what it was for," Shadow said, "Now dispel what clones of yours remain and we shall begin our journey home."

The journey back to the floating rock upon which a house and the Gate of Entrance could be found on was a rather slow one as Crius decided to hurl massive amounts of rocks, moons, planets, stars, and cows, at Naruto as a form of vengeance for his partially wreaked home. Naruto minded quite a lot, while Shadow didn't give a hoot and thought that it made good dodging practice. Evading and using belief to redirect the large things was good practice and it made Naruto use his higher brain functions more and more. His concentration skyrocketed as well as his ability to hyperfocus and multitask.

He had to maneuver himself around and whatever other direction to not get hit. He had to move faster than the heavenly bodies that were being used as projectiles, having to blow up some at a moment's notice. It was training that got his reflexes even better than before, he knew when to move and when not to move, as well as how to move. He even figured out how to manipulate his surroundings, to the extent that he could not be blamed for some of the things being hurled his way to hit his teacher instead of him.

Due to him being the only one that would actually dare to do something like that to Shadow, Naruto was forced to deal with not only the attacks from Crius but a number of serpentine dragons of all manner of elements flying at him courtesy of Shadow, the most numerous of the draconic things were shadow dragons.

They were strange things these dragons of all manner of element, they were formed by movements of the body in a manner similar to taijutsu and meditation, they were like jutsu but on a whole other level to what Naruto was used to. He tried to copy what his teacher was doing to send the things his way, which he actually had to focus on defeating lest he be turned to stone, burnt to a crisp, shredded into dust, and other such fates that awaited him. It was hard training, but he eventually found that the water and wind dragons were the easiest to bring to life and fight for him.

It was a tiring and taxing experience, the first thing he did once he touched down on the rock and sent a meteor zooming back from whence it came was to drop dead and sleep on the hard black rock only for Shadow to teleport his body to his bed. Shadow then resumed his duties of monitoring the Gate, the Being needed no sleep after all and found it as a passing hobby.

When Naruto awoke for the first time in his room after a long time of being away from it he found himself being dragged off for a bath, followed by breakfast, then some light sparring against Shadow where he found himself literally being force fed molten lava. He was then lead to the base of the Gate where his training in control of his chakra was taken up a notch and he also began his training in harnessing, manipulating, and controlling the elements themselves.

He was also taught about some of the many laws that were in place and in play when it came to the things he learned, like the fact that when it came to anything to do directly with the elements and using belief, he, and he alone, could do such feats, while his clones were restricted to chakra based things and physical things.

It ws also during this time that he was told about the fate of the Kyuubi, how its consciousness had been stripped from its power, and that was all that remained within Naruto, the Kyuubi was no longer tied to his soul, its power was just there. Naruto was told that he could use it if he wished, but that it was not something that should be relied upon. Naruto understood this, and vowed to only use the Kyuubi's power as a last resort, especially since he now had quite a lot of other tricks up his sleeves.

After a year, which made his training thing already at three and a half years as it took him and Shadow a solid six months to get back home, Naruto could use his imagination to do things that others would only ever dream of doing, his chakra control was so fine that if he worked at it for a bit more with maybe a hundred thousand more clones he'd have perfect control, he could force the elements to do his bidding, his mind was quite the vault of knowledge, he could perform multiple tasks at the exact same time in more than one place at the exact same time. He could do many things. The only thing he couldn't do was beat Shadow at anything, be it pranking, cooking, lying, eating, or fighting to name a few of the things he had tried to beat his teacher at.

But he was able to beat his teacher's grandson in several things which included fighting, and since his teacher's grandson was at a level of power and skill that he had been deemed worthy of taking up the mantle of Master of Shadow's School as its Headmaster, a position that could be challenged, and Shadow's grandson had held the position of Headmaster for far longer than Crius had been chairman, so that was saying something. Of course Shadow's grandson was quite de-powered during the fights since Naruto was still very much mortal, but was the equivalent of Superman to most ordinary mortals.

It took him three and a half years to get to the point where he had to constantly wear seals to contain his vast power, as well as seem like he was just some random bystander. The seals and runes that had been painted on his body were there to contain his power and hide it from any method of viewing it. Shadow had made sure that his student would be underestimated by any of his foes until it was either too late or someone decided to clue them in on his real power level and skill and ability.

That was three years and a half using thousands upon thousands of clones, which was like living thousands upon thousands of lives and having the memories to back up any claims he could ever make about living so long through many lives should anyone bother to check out his mind and find the memories after asking him for his age, as there were many kinds of ages, like physical, mental, spiritual, and the like.

"You only have one and a half years of training left," Shadow said, "I took you when you were but a short thirteen year old with nary any knowledge about the way the world works. And here you now stand before me, ready to start making a name for yourself. Eighteen years old and ready to face the world on your own two feet and take it or destroy it with your own two hands. Are you ready to return to your world and live out the rest of your now in-control life?"

"Sure thing sensei!" Naruto excitedly said, only to receive a bump on the head courtesy of Shadow who dropped a kitchen sink on his student's head, "Err...I meant...Sure thing Master Shadow!"

"Good," Shadow said, "So go pack up and find your own way home," the Being then left his student to his own devices as he returned to his mountains of paperwork which he had neglected as he concentrated on his student, he knew he could have simply willed the paperwork to simply finish themselves, but he chose to see to their finishing of them himself.

Naruto thought that he'd at least get some sort of certificate or go through some form of graduation ceremony, but he should have seen the lack of fanfare coming. His teacher wasn't one for such things after all, the man didn't really care to conform to the rest of existence. So Naruto gathered up his belongings, all the things that he had made himself and the things that he had been given by his teacher, and decided that all those things and more were his rewards and gifts from his teacher.

While he was packing up and getting ready to vacate the premises, he found a wrapped bundle laying on his bed. He unwrapped the thing and found himself with a new set of clothing. It looked like a shinobi shouzoku but was colored dark blue instead of black. There was also light body armor similar to the ones that Konoha Anbu wore over their clothes for mild or slight protection. There was a blank mask that had seals etched into it to allow for the wearer to see in different modes with only having to think of changing the viewing mode.

That was just the clothing, as apparently Shadow had prepared a weapon for his student. Naruto looked it over, it was a simple silver rod which was shorter than his forearm. He didn't know what to make of it, as it just appeared as if it was just some rod.

"I forgot to leave instructions for that thing," Shadow said as he stood just beyond the door to the room, "I doubt you'd be able to figure out how to use it anyway, so I came to tell you."

"Thanks for the duds Master Shadow," Naruto said, "And the rod, and for coming here to tell me what its for."

"Like a chakra fang or any chakra blade, that thing runs on imagination, belief, and will," Shadow explained, "I call it Animator, don't bother trying to find out why I call it that. Anyway, it can turn into absolutely anything you want it to become, so long as the thing is a tool and can be held by one or both hands, so no turning it into an impromptu house or tent."

"I see," Naruto said, "Thanks."

"Only you will be able to use it," Shadow said, "I made it that way, and it will always answer your call, no matter how far apart the two of you are."

"Thanks Master Shadow," Naruto said sincerely, "So..do I still have to find my own way home?"

"No," Shadow said, "As there is no need for you to find anything."

"What do you mean, Master?" Naruto asked.

"I teach you, train you, spar with you," Shadow said a bit exasperated, "And yet you still need to be reminded of some of the things you, yourself, are capable of...jeebus boy...think!"

Naruto decided that pissing off his teacher was not a good idea, especially since he was more or less told that he had graduated from the man's teachings. He delved deep into his mind, ignoring his happiness of finally being free from the Being that called torture most foul training, and sought out a solution to his problem of getting home. Then realized that getting home had been taught to him on he very first day, it didn't affect anything other than himself, directly anyway.

"Whoops," Naruto sheepishly said while scratching the back of his neck, "Heh heh. Forgot about that.."

"Enough knowledge to drown a simple librarian and you forget something so simple as that," Shadow said, then walked away waving away Naruto's apologies for forgetting something so simple, "Begone my student. Begone. You have a life to live, a world to see, and a people to protect. Hop to it, bunny rabbit. Hop. Hop. **HOP!**"

Naruto jumped out his bedroom window, it would forever be his or so his teacher told him, and slammed a hand on the ground as soon as he landed on the charred ground.

"Secret Technique: Entrance to Wonderland!" Naruto called out as he pushed a mix of chakra and _power_ into the ground to activate his technique. Entrance to Wonderland was the creation of a rabbit hole that could fit any number or size of person and transport the victim to anywhere that the creator wished, though there was something that Naruto forgot to do, that was to set the time of his arrival. Like most that used these random forms of transportation, one usually ended up in a time that was not planned at all. Or a place unplanned for that matter.

Like several thousand feet in the air above the constantly in motion Island Turtle of Kumo.

He didn't bother with screaming, but he did give himself a pair of angel wings to fly down instead of just fall down from such a great height. He didn't know what age, year, or simply time it was in relation to his own life and timeline, he didn't really care at this point in time, so long as he wasn't in the future. So he glided on the winds of the world before landing gracefully and folding away his black crow-like wings.

Upon landing on a spire like protrusion that jutted out from the island, or turtle's shell, Naruto had his Animator rod turn into a shakujou. He had decided to be a karasu tengu as he wore dark material, had crow-like wings sprouting from his back, and decided to have crow features grow in his black mask. He still held a part of the massive fox that formerly resided entirely within him by his love for transformation and tricks, somethings he shared with the tengu.

No one would dare bother him in such a form, no one would dare bother him again if they bothered him and he used his abilities on them or on their surroundings. He flew down to the ground to explore his surroundings as he needed to know when he was in the ever changing timeline of the world.

He found a few giant animals, something which he had already grown used to due to encountering and even battling a few or a number of them during his time spent on Crius' Crossworld. They shied away from him, some ancient memory in them telling them that the Being before them was not to be trusted. So they kept away from him as he walked on the ground or fly on occasion.

'_When am I?_' he wondered as he continued to make his way to the edge of the shell so that he could say hello and goodbye to the giant turtle.

He flew off from the edge of the shell from the tip of one of the spires and flew to the head of the turtle and recognized what or who it was.

"Greeting Genbu-sama," Naruto said as he hovered in mid-air before the turtle and guardian of one of the cardinal directions, "How are you today?"

"Oh.." Genbu slowly said, as he had not spoken to anyone in the last three thousand years, "How nice it is for someone to know of me..who are you little tengu?"

"I am Naruto," the hidden blonde introduced himself, "Though to be honest, I am not really a tengu. I am a human, a ninja."

"Oh?" Genbu said inclining its head slightly in interest, "Then why pretend to be one?"

"To hide who I am from any that might recognize me," Naruto said, "Until such a time that I am sure of when I am in time."

"Oh..that sounds rather interesting," Genbu said, "Lost in time are you...interesting. Very interesting. From when are you then, little kitsune."

"So you know what I, in a way, still am?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I sense the power of one of the nine parts of that once powerful whole," Genbu said, "I know you have the largest fraction of that monstrous being that once roamed the world after having been born from the escaped darkness that could be and can be found in man's hearts."

"Juubi," Naruto said, then asked, "So tell me, Genbu-sama, do you know when in time I find myself in?"

"You are in the present," the giant turtle replied.

"I know that," Naruto said, then thought about his next question as the turtle had answered him honestly, "But in who's present? And don't answer yours of mine."

"I see, I see," the turtle said, "I have been around for a long long time. I have had very few visitors that had gone so far as to speak with me. So tell me something interesting and I shall tell you when you are."

"I have met and fought with the _Hound of Destruction_," Naruto shared, then grinned madly at the expression that the giant turtle showed in surprise, "I managed to stop him in his tracks too."

"Interesting," the turtle said as it finally shook itself out of its surprised state, "Very interesting indeed. Now I am honor bound to tell you when in time you are, in relation to yourself, or in relation to whose time it now is. Yes?"

"Yes," Naruto said as he patiently waited for the turtle's information.

"It is as if you had never left," the turtle said, "But at the same time it is also the time when you have yet to be born."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I'm sure someone as unique as yourself can figure it out," Genbu said then blinked once before going to sleep.

"Well thanks for the information then," Naruto said to the now sleeping giant and flew off in the direction he knew he would eventually find Kumogakure, he had memorized the map of his world thanks to the many clones that had looked over the extensive thing over and over again until he was sure that he knew where he was at all times.

He flew over mountains and trees until he reached what he knew to be Kumo, and it was indeed hidden in the clouds, with a blue building atop the highest mountain and served as the Raikage Tower and Residence. He landed atop the antenna of one of the taller buildings in the military run village. He surveyed it, as it was his first time in another hidden village, even though he already knew quite a lot about it.

He was searching for the answer to the riddle that the giant turtle had left him with before it went back to its slumbering state of being just another giant in the world and not some supernatural entity that served as one of the pillars of creation in the world.

He refrained from masking his presence as it was safer to not draw any unwanted attention to himself by not hiding himself from unwanted attention. Hiding in plain sight as it were. He did nothing to conceal his presence, the presence of a foreigner in a village which he held no allegiance with, not yet at least.

His presence was later noticed by one of the academy students of the village, the child had simply gazed up from the street and saw him, immediately pointing him out to his parents who were quick to get into battle stances in preparation for anything, one of them of course taking the child away to a safer place. After all, children were the future and needed to be protected or at least taught how to protect themselves.

"Who are you?" the ninja on the street demanded of him, "Answer me!"

"Hn," Naruto did not deign the man worthy of an answer nor had he one which he could actually give at the moment, he believed that he needed to keep his real name a secret from people for the time being. He ignored the man and simply continued to survey the village, looking for something that could help him solve the riddle of his place in time.

"Raiton: Homing Missiles!" the ninja called out after his hands finished flashing through the necessary handseals for the jutsu. They were arrows made out of electricity which shot out of the user's body and were flung in the direction of a single unique and individual chakra signature, in this case Naruto's.

The kumo-nin thought that he had been successful in his attack, he thought that he had adequately defended his family and his home. He thought wrong.

Naruto continued to stand atop the pole, his back straight, but this time his wings had covered his body and shielded him from the attack. The wings had acted as shields and had taken all of the electricity sent his way and turned them into two balls of lightning and sent them up to the heavens where they scattered and raced across the clouds in an impressive display of artistic prowess.

"What..?" the man said as he simply gazed in fear as Naruto unfurled his wings and stretched them out on either side of him. Naruto then had his staff split into two pieces, half remained a staff while the other became a sword. He leapt off of the pole and in one fluid motion had his sword at the man's throat while the staff was a mere inch off of the ground. The lightning danced overhead, helping lead other kumo-nin to the location of the intruder and defending comrade.

"I mean this village no harm," Naruto spoke in a dark and throaty voice, "But seeing as I now have you at my mercy, I would trade your life for an answer to a simple question."

"W-what?" the man stammered.

"_Where is the Kyuubi?_" Naruto whispered darkly into the man's ear, the beak of his mask moving accordingly.

"I don't know," the man replied only for Naruto to push his blade which began to spark closer to the man's neck, "I swear! I don't know! No one does!"

Naruto had failed to notice that during his flight, night had passed for but a moment and it was day again. Someone should have known that the Kyuubi had been sealed, unless he was in the past, which was a time when most weren't aware of where the mightiest of the tailed beasts was located. In Konoha.

But now he knew when he was in, and figured out the riddle. He just had to divine how long he would stay in the past before resuming his place in his proper time, which was now a part of the ever changing future.

"I see," Naruto said before returning to the air, sheathing his sword back into the staff, "You may keep your life. Next time do not act so irrationally."

"I will," the man said as he tried to get his bearings back which was just as his allies began to appear all around the two of them, his wife among the arrivals and immediately went to his side to see if he was unhurt.

"See that you do," Naruto said as he returned to his perch atop the antenna.

"Who are you?" the Sandaime Raikage at the time demanded as he appeared from among his ranks.

"Hn," Naruto decided to simply say, in a way, and continued gazing at the village from his lofty perch, his wings folded against his back and his staff held lightly in his right hand at his side.

"Don't try my patience," the Raikage said threateningly, but not doing anything to provoke an unwanted attack from the unknown figure that was Naruto, "Now tell me who you are, and what are your intentions toward my village."

"I have no ill intentions for your village," Naruto truthfully said, the sensor ninja could not pick up even a trace of his chakra which they found rather odd, "As for my name. You have not earned the right to know it just yet."

"Oh really now," the Raikage said, "If that is how you feel, then I guess I'll have to beat it out of you."

"You can try, old man," Naruto said challengingly before retracting his wings and removing his mask. The face that was revealed was not one anyone would recognize. He looked like how he would have turned out if he had inherited his looks from his mother rather than from his father. Red hair and green eyes. But with a few streaks of black in his hair along with a few crow feathers sticking out of the mop. He sported no whisker marks on his face as he chose to hide those markings that he had since birth and not since the Kyuubi was placed within him.

He stowed the mask in his own personal pocket dimension, something which he had been given by his teacher, Shadow, as a means to keep all his possessions with him at all times should he wish them to be with him at all times and so easily within reach. When he was done he waited on the pole for the Raikage to make the first move. He knew the value of patience.

He didn't have to wait long as he was forced to block a direct lightning enhanced punch courtesy of the Raikage's outstretched closed fist. He had his staff transform into chakra absorbing gloves, which negated the lightning enhancement, while his base strength took the rest of the force of the attack. He then pushed the Raikage away sending the old man into the ground at the feet of his own forces. It was something that the forces of Kumo were not expecting to happen, their gazes then shifted back to Naruto who was literally still in the air.

"You'd have a greater chance beating me if you had the Hachibi on your side," Naruto decided to state a bit flippantly, before returning to his perch on the pole, "Now leave me be."

"But we do have the Hachibi on our side," the Raikage said and snapped his fingers, which led to the sudden appearance of the Hachibi recently released from its last jinchuuriki, "I was planning on sealing it away, but it seems that we'll let you tire it out for us first."

"If I defeat this monster which you have unleashed," Naruto said, "Will you stop bothering me?"

"If you can beat it on your own I'll name you my successor!" the Raikage declared, since in Kumo strength was one of the most important things to have in a leader.

"If you say so," Naruto said, he then released his wings and donned his mask, before shooting up into the sky.

When he was several hundred feet above the top of the pole he had deemed as his perch, he stretched out a hand, and pointed at the beast. The collective citizens of Kumo watched in growing fear and awe as Naruto willed the beast to rise from the ground and joining him in the air.

"Secret Technique: Ordered Mind!" Naruto called out as he pulled the bijuu closer to him. There had been a crazed look in the bijuu's eyes, one that spoke of much chaotic madness from being housed and aggravated so many times, like how a simple botched seal could cause the already on the brink of insanity Ichibi to go completely mad. But with this one technique, of his own on the spot creation, Naruto had returned some semblance of sanity to the beast, for the time being.

"Yield Hachibi," Naruto said, then decided on a name, "I, Fushigi Kasei, command it."

"Why should I obey you?" the Hachibi ground out as it was continually bound in mid-air by unseen ropes, but found that the will that was being imposed on it was far greater than its own, it was a will that had managed to suppress for many years the power and influence of the most powerful of its lot, "What are you doing to me?"

"I am making it possible for those down below," their words could not be heard by the onlookers, though the inability of the Hachibi to move was something that made them know just how powerful the Being they had previously tried to intimidate was, "To stop harassing me."

"And how are you going to do that?" the Hachibi asked as it continued to try and get out of its invisible bonds.

"By, in their eyes, beating you," Kasei said.

"Oh really?" the Hachibi said, "All I can see you doing, is temporarily binding me."

"You underestimate me," Kasei said.

"There is no need for me to underestimate you," the Hachibi said, "This is just some technique that I will eventually overpower. You don't have any real power, puny insignificant tengu. You are nothing compared to a bijuu."

"On the contrary," Kasei said, as he unleashed the power of the bijuu that he held within him, which would be partially passed onto his descendants. It came out as a dark reddish-orange mixture, more solid than any form of energy should be. Since it was a very distinct energy and color, as not to be confused with that time's Kyuubi, Kasei had the energy change color. He shifted the color of the energy to dark blue, the same color as his shinobi shouzoku. His clothes, like anything else, was manipulable and could be changed into something else, within some restrictions and limitations of course.

When the energy was unleashed upon the world, the Kumo-nin couldn't help but cower a bit in its presence, it was just like something that the village had encountered in the past. It was like the Kyuubi, but at the same time not. Then there was also the color of the energy to consider, even though it started out like the Kyuubi's chakra it soon became something else, distinct in its own way.

"Impossible!" Hachibi exclaimed, and felt his bindings grow exponentially stronger. Kasei began to squeeze the consciousness out of the bijuu and his squeezing was working.

A few minutes later, Kasei's outstretched hand closed into a fist. All those that had been watching felt the shockwave that exploded out of where the bijuu was, then they all watched as Kasei let go of the beast. It fell on a deserted portion of the village, unconscious for once in its long and terrible existence.

Kasei flew back to his perch and sat atop the pole as his wings retracted into his body, and he removed his mask once more. He waited for whatever was to come.

"I'm a man of my word," the Raikage said, "When I step down, he," he then pointed at Kasei, "Shall be the Yondaime Raikage!"

Cheers erupted from the Kumo-nin, they had witnessed Kasei's power, and were enthralled by it. There sat a man, or whatever he was, that could single-handedly and without much apparent effort take on the eight tailed ushi-oni. They thought they had him entirely on their side, since being considered Raikage was a great honor, and being selected by the present Raikage was an even greater one.

"I think I'll pass on that," Kasei said, to the disappointment and suddenly growing anger of the Kumo-nin, "I have other things to do, and I have other dreams to pursue. Being Raikage is not one of them. Choose someone else Sandaime-san."

After speaking, he took off to the sky and burst into a murder of crows, all of which flew in the same general direction, which was in the direction of the Land of Earth, specifically to Iwagakure. Some of Kumo's elite were sent to follow him, while others were sent out to be informed that the chosen Yondaime Raikage needed convincing to take on the mantle. This was Kumo's honor at stake, or so the Sandaime said.

He flew and flew and flew, mindful of how much time actually passed, as well as keeping watch for any sudden change in the time he was in. It would not do to be caught unawares by a shift in time. He was lost enough as it was.

He stopped for the night precisely one month since his arrival in this time in his present's past. He left a small reminder, a marker of where he was on the wall, just in case time changed on him when he slept. If it were relatively in the same condition as it was when he went to sleep when he awoke, then that would mean that time had not changed. If it were worn, then he would know that he was in his present time. But if it were not there, then he knew he would definitely be even more screwed.

By the time that he woke from his slumber, he noticed that mark he had left for himself to tell the day and age with looked so worn, to the point that some change in the weather could make it even more worse for wear. He knew without a doubt that he was back in his own time. It was morning, and he had a feeling that the only way that he would be able to tell if he was in his time would be if he were to ask Genbu when was the last time they had seen each other.

His second option was to leave a clone behind, one that would create more clones and would build him a kind of outpost or base of operations in the country he had decided to sleep in. This semi-base of operation was in Kusa no Kuni or the Land of Grass or Grass Country.

He left the cave he had found and went walking around the countryside, deciding to change his form yet again, instead of a tengu he would be a hyakume or a demon with a hundred eyes. It was wise to have eyes behind one's back, but to have forty-nine spare pairs was sure to be helpful, he just had to figure out how to use them all at the same time. It took him several thousand pairs of eyes worth of clone aided practice to get it down. But in the end, he got it done and could use those hundred eyes, even when they were not attached to his body.

He made his way to the relatively peaceful Kusagakure, if in the past he took to looking like his mother, with him being in the present he took to looking the way he was meant to look, but taller than he originally had been since he wasn't meant to be short forever.

Getting into the village had been easy as it was just like any other village or town that he had visited in the past. It had only some minor defenses, and really was exactly what it appeared to be, a relatively weak village in comparison with the Great Hidden Villages like Kumo and Konoha. Though that didn't mean that it didn't have its own share of elites.

He just so happened to meet one of them, one that went by the name of Go Ginji. He was a rather heavyset middle aged man, and had plenty of scars as proof that he had managed to survive many battles. By looks alone the man looked like a real brute.

"Who are you?" Ginji asked the blonde haired Kasei, "Don't you know this is a shinobi only area?"

"I have two names or four," Kasei said, "One set of names I refuse to give you. But the second set is Fushigi Kasei. Nice to meet you. I wasn't aware that this area was for shinobi only as there were no signs that made it obviously such."

"My mistake," the man said, "I meant that this area is for Kusa-nin only. You are obviously a trespasser. So tell me Kasei-san, what are your intentions toward this village?"

"Peaceful at best and at worst," Kasei honestly said, "So what happens now Ginji-san?"

"How do you know my name?" Ginji asked, "Only those carrying a Bingo Book know of my name as compared to the other hidden villages, I am a relatively unknown. This makes you even more suspicious in my eyes."

"Ah, but I don't own a Bingo Book," Kasei said, "I know your name, because I heard one of your fellow Kusa-nin call you by that name. As I said, I have no ill intentions toward this village and its people. I was actually wondering if your village would allow me to work for it," he had only come up with that plan on the spot, "for a time. I would be a temporary Kusa-nin, and you wouldn't have to share any secrets with me."

"I see," Ginji said then beckoned Kasei to follow him, "I'll take you to the village Shinobi Council, you'll have to speak to them about this."

"Why are you so trusting now, Ginji-san?" Kasei asked as he followed the big man.

"If you are telling the truth in that you mean no harm to the village or its people then I should be able to trust you," Ginji said as he continued to walk, but kept all his senses on high alert just in case Kasei did something.

It was a good thing that the village shinobi council was having a meeting as it made Kasei being able to meet with them all that much easier. Ginji remained as a guard for both parties as he was one of the strongest the village had at the moment, the other strong ones were out on mission proving the village's worth to the clients that expected or only wanted the best of the best for their tasks.

"I am Fushigi Kasei," Kasei introduced himself and bowed a little to the councilmen, veteran shinobi all of them, "I arrived in Kusa no Kuni a short while ago, and decided that finding mercenarial work is quite difficult even though pay is lower, but shinobi villages are more trusted when it comes to quality. SO here I am, wishing to temporarily join your village. While small, I can already tell that if you just had the numbers and the funding, you would be able to match the might of the Great Villages."

"Kasei-san," one of the elders said, "Your attempts at flattery will not work here. We do not allow temporary employment within our ranks. It is either join or do not join permanently. We do not trust you enough for such a thing to be possible."

"Tell us your ulterior motive for wanting to be a part of Kusa," one elder said, knowing that there must be some other reason than financial gain for Kasei to want to join their village.

"I want to make a name for myself," Kasei admitted, "I want to become known, well known, or even infamous. Does that suffice for an ulterior motive?"

"No," the elder said, "For you could have tried this thing of yours with another more respected village. Why Kusa? Why us? What do you truly have to gain from what you wish to happen?"

"For one thing," Kasei said, "I gain a place to stay for the time being. Another thing is that I will get to work with people other than just my clones, handy as they are, they still remain as extensions of myself."

"Social interaction," an elder said, "But as stated before, you could gain that from other villages. Why this one?"

"I was in the neighborhood," Kasei admitted, shrugging a little, "I don't think I have a reason that would convince you to let me join temporarily."

"How temporal are you wanting to join this village anyway?" one of the elders voiced a question that had yet to be asked.

"I was thinking around a year or so," Kasei replied.

"And you believe that you could make a name for yourself in such a short period of time?" the elder asked.

"It is possible," Kasei said, "Its been done before after all."

"But those times and individuals were unique," the elder said, "The circumstances were mostly during wartime as well."

"All it would take would be one mission, one circumstance," Kasei said, "I can make it happen, and if you permit me to join, Kusa's standing in the world will rise along with mine."

"But when you leave us, we will lose some of the standing that we would have gained with having you," the elder argued.

"But you would be able to claim that if it were not for Kusa, I would not have gotten so far," Kasei argued as well, "This village would be forever associated with my name, and this face you see before you now."

"What do you mean by 'this face'," the elder asked.

"I noticed that one among your number has been in deep thought," Kasei said as he noticed that upon his introduction one of the elders, one of the councilmen, delved into his memories, "Care to share what has you thinking so hard?"

"Your name," the elder said, "I've either heard of it or read it somewhere before..but I can't seem to recall where."

"Oh?" Kasei said, then suggested "Maybe I'm already in a Bingo Book, as a relatively unknown shinobi?"

"Not in the present one," Ginji said, as he flipped through his own copy, he then questioned Kasei, "How old are you by the way?"'

"Not that old," Kasei said, "Though I do have a tendency to age different than most."

"I have a question," one of the elders said, "Why not join Kumo or Konoha?"

"I'd rather not join Kumo at this time," Kasei said, then shuddered, "I don't fancy what they might have me still do over in that cloudy peak of theirs."

"Aha!" the elder that had been deep in thought exclaimed having remembered why he remembered Kasei's name, "Impossible! You can't be the same one!"

"Oh, so you remembered?" Kasei said.

"Back when I was a genin, I chanced upon a Kumo-nin that was not looking for a fight," the elder told, "He was looking for a Fushigi Kasei at the time, but that was over thirty years ago..you can't possibly be the same guy."

"Someone asked a while ago about my comment about my face as well as my age," Kasei said, "I age differently, and my face doesn't always stay the same. I shall with you a secret, for now, I am that Kasei from over thirty years ago. Though back in those days, to Kumo, I was a red head with green eyes."

"Then you don't need our village to make a name for yourself," the same elder said.

"Oh, but I do," Kasei said, "I was also thinking of sharing some things with your village for allowing me to temporarily join. Those days of yore are long gone, my name forgotten, buried beneath the sands of time."

"I'm sure you are known in other places," the elder said, "I have a feeling that you are more well known than even you yourself know."

"The old generation might know of me, but few of your generation do," Kasei said, "The new generation knows even less of the past. So how about it? You temporarily gain an asset in me, and possibly even a bargaining chip against Kumo with information in the future about me."

"What are you willing to share with us then," an elder asked, "Since you are very old, you might have some things that would be worth learning."

"I am willing to take on one genin of your choosing," Kasei said, "One genin that I will teach something that could be considered as a clan technique, something which is taught to very few, but whose application in battle is quite great."

"Would you be willing to demonstrate for us?" one elder asked.

"But of course," Kasei said, "But I think it would be safer if the demonstration were taken outside."

"Ginji, lead him to a training field," an elder ordered.

They all met back up at a supposedly empty training field, supposedly empty because around its perimeter were a majority of the Kusa-nin present in the village. There were quite a number of them, but not enough of them to be considered as a Great Hidden Village.

"Show us this technique of yours," an elder said, and motioned for Ginji to step on to the field, "Ginji will spar with you."

"Alright!" Kasei excitedly said, "I haven't had a good fight in a while, hope your better than that Bijuu I beat!"

"Bijuu?" Gniji asked.

"Kumo's condition for not attacking me," Kasei shared, "I had to beat their Hachibi, and I did."

"I'll believe you if you can beat me, no matter how old you think you may be," Ginji said, "Actions speak louder than words."

"Alright," one elder that decided to serve as referee said, "Are both of you ready?"

"Hai," both said at the same time, Ginji flexing his muscles, while Kasei simply pulled out his mask and wore it. The face that was shown was of a single eye at the center of the mask.

"Begin!" the referee said and jumped away before Ginji rushed Kasei intent on delivering a tackle attack.

Kasei no longer needed handseals for his jutsu, he just needed to mix chakra with _power_ to do any of his techniques, the self made and the ones he learned from Crius' library.

A grin formed on the mask he wore, a Cheshire grin that is. He then slammed a palm to the ground as he ducked underneath Ginji's tackle which sent the man off balance a bit.

"Secret Technique: Hyakume," Kasei spoke, he didn't really need to say it, but he was supposed to be showing off here. For Kusa he would be the demon with a hundred eyes, and this technique made use of his many other unseen eyes. They spread out from where his palm impacted the ground. The field was suddenly filled with ninety-nine eyes.

"What the..?" Ginji said as he looked around and even below him, there were so many eyes of different shapes and sizes, but all of them were unmistakably eyes, "What is this supposed to do?"

"It allows me to keep track of you," Kasei said, "No matter what you do, no matter where you go. I'll always have an eye on you. Try and hide from my hundred eyes."

"Whatever!" Ginji said and pulled out a pair of kunai and began trying to stab the eyes, but found only Kasei grinning at him from the other side of the field.

The eyes didn't even look bothered at all, nor did their wielder, they just continued to populate the training field, but with a creepier vibe than they originally did. They moved about, some blinked some didn't, some even _crawled_ onto the kunai that were being used to attack them, while others crawled onto Ginji himself. Ginji noted that the eyes felt like actual eyes, which they were.

"How do you like my eyes?" Kasei asked from across the field, "They're great for spying wouldn't you agree? But they don't only see...they hear too.."

"Pretty handy technique," Ginji said, "Bit creepy too...can you attack with them?"

"I could," Kasei said, "Wanna find out how?"

"This is an exhibition match," Ginji said, "So why not...though I've got to ask..will it hurt?"

"Maybe," Kasei creepily said as he picked up one of his eyes, which turned into a small eyeball, and threw it at Ginji, "Hyakume Exploding Eyeball!"

"What?!" Ginji said jumped out of the way of the eyeball, which exploded upon impact with the ground where Ginji had been previously standing on, "Damn..that was quick a shock," the explosion was like an explosive tag.

"But this isn't the one I was talking about," Kasei said, "The mind is a terrible thing...Kusanagi!"

As soon as he said the name of his next technique, the Kusa-nin grew a bit tense, it was the same name as one of their village's treasures that had been taken from them in the past during the founding of the village. A sword known to be used and coveted by Orochimaru.

Instead of Kasei pulling out a sword, he kicked the grass around his feet, sending several blades of grass flying in Ginji's direction. The man knew not to underestimate anything, even grass or paper since paper could cut. He dodged as best as he could, weaving his way and cutting blades of grass as he moved through the rain of green.

"Kusanagi no tsurugi!" Kasei called out as he performed a cartwheel and gathered blades of grass as he quickly made his way to Ginji's position. The gathered blades of grass were fused together, and by the time that Kasei was finished with his cartwheel, he arrived at Ginji's position with a literal sword made of grass in his hand and pointed directly at Ginji's right eye.

"Shit!" Ginji swore, he hadn't been expecting that to happen, he was far too mesmerized by Kasei's cartwheeling skills, he thought that it was going to be some sort of taijutsu move, but he was wrong. It was ninjutsu, and if it were a real fight he could have been killed, or at least lost an eye.

He moved backwards as best as he could while at the same time pushing Kasei away with a palm thrust, the blade was also knocked out of Kasei's hands, and landed on the ground returning to grass.

_'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!_' Ginji thought in his mind as he fired off a fireball the size of a large boulder in Kasei's direction, he had gone easy on the unknown in rank ninja, he let Kasei show some of his moves. It was an exhibition match after all, but now it was his reputation on the line. He needed to show that he was worthy of being placed in a Bingo Book.

"Grass Wall!" Kasei called out as he threw several blades of grass in front of him, right into the path of the fireball. Surprisingly the the blades of grass formed into a wall, growing in mid-air rapidly and were able to keep the fire at bay and away from Kasei.

"How the hell?" Ginji said dumbly, grass was supposed to burn not stay as green as if they were still alive.

"Boot to the head!" Kasei shouted just as a boot flew through the wall of grass and hit Ginji in the head knocking him forcefully back, until he slammed into a tree.

_'Moving Earth Wall!_' Ginji immediately thought as he flashed through a short set of seals and began to run in the direction he knew Kasei to be in. The wall of earth that he created moved in the direction one of his hands was facing.

'_Impossible Spears of Earth!_' when he was close enough he slammed his other hand on the wall. Spikes jutted out of it and flew at Kasei, who was forced to recreate his grass wall. Kasei was then forced into dodging several more earth based attacks.

"Jatai!" Kasei called out as he pulled out a long piece of cloth that could be used as an obi, and threw it into the grass, "Heels!"

The cloth swan through the grass like a snake would move through such things, it made its way to Ginji and the end closest to his heels turned into a snake head which opened wide and clamped onto the unsuspecting Kusa-nin. With a cloth trailing behind the nin, Kasei replaced his body with the eye closest to Ginji.

His mask now sported two eyes. He grabbed hold of the trailing cloth and before anyone could warn Ginji of an attack from the rear, Kasei whipped the cloth and somehow managed to end up wrapping it around Ginji.

No matter how much chakra that man sent to his arms, he could not force himself free. He was stuck, and he also noticed that his chakra seemed to be leaving him and somehow entered the cloth making its grip on his tighter.

"Stop!" the referee shouted, "We've seen enough."

"Alright," Kasei said, and let go of the cloth that he used to wrap Ginji with, "Good spar. It was definitely better than my battle with that Bijuu."

"Hanf..hanf.." Ginji panted, he was quite tired, and nearly chakra exhausted from that last attack he had been subjecte to, "Thanks."  
"So what will you be willing to teach one of our genin?" the referee asked.

"My grass techniques," Kasei said, "As well as my Hyakume technique."

"Alright," the elder that had played the part of referee said, "We'll let you join up for the span of one year. The genin you will be teaching is an orphan, her parents died in the defense of the village on the day she was born. We'll send her to wherever you are staying for the time being in the morning."

"Alright," Kasei said, "So..do I get a cool headband?"

"She'll bring one for you to use," the elder said, "She'll also bring your first mission scroll."

"Sounds good to me," Kasei said as he gathered all of his eyes to his body and helped Ginji up from the ground, "So where's the hospital?"

"Follow my directions," Ginji said, "Why do you need to go there?"

"You need to see a medic," Kasei said.

"For what?" Ginji asked, "I'm just tired I don't need a doctor."

"You failed to dodge all of my blades of grass," Kasei said, "I can tell you're pretty cut up in certain places."

"So? They'll heal over I'm sure, small as they are," Ginji said, then felt a sudden spike of pain in all sorts of parts of his body, "Shit...what the heck!"

"So..where's the hospital?" Kasei asked.

"I'll lead the way," another jounin said and began to lead the way, "Is he in any mortal danger?"

"No," Kasei said, "Just a lot of pain, and will continue to be for at least three days without a doctor to heal his wounds."

Once at the hospital, doctors found that Ginji had suffered from very many miniscule cuts, all of them containing a small amount of foreign chakra which was what was causing the pain as the chakra was battling with his own. The two energies were literally quarreling and it was stopping any healing from happening. The doctors managed to heal the wounds after they removed the foreign chakra, but told Ginji that he would need to rest as he had a lot of chakra to recover as well as strength since his body had just undergone something new.

Kasei stayed just outside of the walls of the village, he had a camp all set up in the long grass that surrounded the outside of the village. It was at his campsite that his genin found him, sitting on a log and eating some cup ramen.

"Hello...ah..um..Kasei-sensei?" the girl asked, she was around twelve years old, had short brown hair, green eyes that would have matched Kasei's own in his red headed form, and a round face. She wore dark brown shorts, black ninja sandals, and a dark green shirt. Her headband was tied around her neck.

"I am Kasei," he replied, "Why don't you join me for breakfast?" he motioned for a log that popped out of the ground.

"Err...alright," she said, "I'm Mirka by the way..no last name though since no one's sure who my parents were."'

"Well from the looks of things I might know from what clan one of your parents came from," Kasei said, "I'll try to look into your lineage sometime too, as I know how it feels not to know who your parents are and if they loved you or not."

"How do you know?" she asked, "We just met.."

"Your eyes are very familiar eyes," Kasei said, "They're definitely the eyes of an Uzumaki, though I guess your hair would be from your father."

"Uzumaki?" she said, she had never heard of such a clan before.

"Its a long forgotten clan," Kasei said, "But in the past, it was very powerful, and allies of Konoha too. Just as Kusa is at the moment. They were a clan known for their ability and mastery of the art of seals. For an Uzumaki seals were child's play after some training or exposure to them. So I guess, I'll train you in some basic seals to get you started. One never stops learning new things when it comes to seals."

"A-are you sure, sensei?" she asked, not able to believe that someone she had just met was willing to teach her such an obscure art, and was willing to go digging into history for who her parents had been.

"Have some ramen," he told her and handed her a bowl with the steaming things, "We'll begin your training after we eat and after I've read the mission scroll you've forgotten to hand over."

"Sorry sir," Mirka said and dug into her hip pouch for the small scroll and handed it over to him.

He looked over the contents of the scroll before burning it with but a snap of his fingers, he wasn't really thinking about his actions, but such a simple move to produce such a result caught the interest of the genin. She wondered if she'd get to learn what he had done from him during her time as his student.

"Before we get to the mission," Kasei said, "Tell a bit about yourself, your likes, dislikes, and dream, just one mind you. I'll start... My name is Fushigi Kasei. I like ramen, training, my precious people, my teacher. I dilike the three minutes I have to wait to eat cup ramen and people that judge books by their covers. My dream..well...hmm," he went into a thinking pose of sorts, rubbing his chin with a finger and thumb, "My dream I guess, would be to have a family. Yes..A family would do just nicely. Now your turn Mirka."

"My name is Mirka," she said, "I like meeting new people and sewing, I dislike being alone, and my dream is to have a family of my own too."

"Good," Kasei said, "Now that we know a little bit more about each other, I would like to know a little bit more about you. What skills do you know, jutsu, and the like. I'd have you spar with me, but I have a tendency to go overboard sometimes."

"Uhm..well..I know the three basics and can perform each of them," she said, "I know the tree climbing and water walking exercises. I know how to make a mud clone, just one at a time though...I also know Katon: Light Me...though I only learned that one by accident..I scored somewhere in the middle during my academy days in all aspects."

"Alright," Kasei said, "Since I'm now your sensei I will be expanding your ninjutsu arsenal, as well as well as your specialized skill set."

"What do you mean by my specialized skill set?" she asked.

"I'm going to turn you into an infiltration, search and rescue, and reconnaissance, specialist," Kasei stated, "Grass Jutsu or Grass Release, or whatever you may want to call them are techniques that can be used with grass or any kind of plants if you have no grass at hand."

"Ok..so where do we start?" Mirka said excitedly.

"We start by having you make yourself float or levitate off of the ground," Kasei said, then did his levitation thing in front of her, then motioned for her to see if he was being held up by strings or anything.

"How..how are you doing that?" she asked him.

"I am able to do this by believing that it is possible," Kasei said, "and willing it to happen. This is one of the things that you will be learning how to do to be able to fully use the techniques that I will be teaching you."

"Is there an easier way or smaller things to learn first?" she asked him.

"Well you could try lifting a rock I guess," he said thinking it over as he zoomed over to a bunch of small once and had them all float and move around him, "Yeah. I think you could try."

"How are you doing that? It can't be as simple as you claim, sensei," she said.

"Here's some simple ground rules," Kasei said as he stood from his sitting position in the air, his feet touching ground, "Anything is possible. To think is to create," he then pulled out quite a lot of kunai out of his pocket dimension, "Finally...just do it or these pointy things start flying!"

"Eep," she eeped and thought with all her might about floating or even flying as he prepared to let things loose, '_He did it. I even checked if he was using chakra to do it, but there was nothing and we're taught how to detect the use of chakra and doing something like that should cost a lot of chakra...I gotta fly or something if I'm to not get turned into a pin cushion.._'

"Ready or not here they come!" Kasei said, his campsite vanished leaving only himself, his student, and his usual things. He flung the assortment of kunai at his student who simply got of the way. Not the regular was which was right, back, left, and down. No, she went up, and it wasn't a jump.

So long as his manipulations of reality affected himself directly, he could do anything. So with that in mind, he began turning dust particles into kunai and had them fly from out of his sleeves after he ran out of kunai to throw. It was evasion training, as well as flying without concentrating on it.

Mirka didn't know what she was doing, all she focused on was needing to move and do as her sensei wanted her to. She dared not fail the first stranger that wanted to genuinely help her beyond what he was obligated to do. So she found herself evading lots and lot and lots of kunai, to the point where she wondered where he had gotten so many of them only to note that they were flying out of his sleeves.

"Enough," Kasei said, having grown tired of the same routine, "We have a mission to do. Training is done for the day..sort of."

"Finally," Mirka said relieved, it was only then that she consciously realized that she was in the air and doing more than just levitating, "_I'm in the air._..SENSEI! HELP ME!"

"Just get back down here already," Kasei said, "I already told you my rules. So if you don't want to fall from that height from exhaustion, you'd best get down here."

"Err..." she said then suddenly found herself on the ground once the adrenaline that had been running through her system ran out, "Ouch.."

"Well that works," Kasei said, not bothering to sweatdrop, "Our first mission is to hunt down a Taki-nuke-nin by the name of Kakuzu, the village apparently needs the funds such a high bounty nuke-nin has on his head. So do you think you're ready for such a mission?"

"No," she admitted, she wanted to become well known just like any other ninja, but she didn't think that becoming known for dying at the hands of a powerful nuke-nin was the way to go about it, "Can we have another mission sensei?"

"Nah," Kasei said, "This mission will do just fine. It'll give the both of us some form of fame and some added prestige for the village along with the funds from his execution."

"But I'm only a genin," she argued, fearful of her first mission with her sensei, there was a real possibility that she would die.

"Don't worry, I'm your sensei," Kasei said, "I won't let you die. How about I start teaching you how to do Hijutsu: Hyakume? How's that sound?"

"Err...is it hard?" she asked.

"Sort of," Kasei said, "The hard part is seeing out of a hundred eyes, having them move around can be done at a subconscious level if you want or are good enough. Takes a while for the thing to be mastered to be used to the extent that I can use it at. So what do you say? We do this one mission and I teach you my Hyakume."

"Fine," she said, giving up on living longer than one official S-class mission.

"Don't look so glum," Kasei said, "You'll live past this mission and go on many more with me...until my year is up that is, and by that time you'll be chunin or higher! I guarantee it!"

So they went on the mission, leaving the village and the country of Grass. Kasei taught Mirka his Hyakume technique which she practiced on the way while they walked and when they were at camp. He also taught her how to use her new ability of flight and how it was done to perform Grass Jutsu, which was recreating techniques using grass and in some cases to a greater extent.

She could perform his Kusanagi Jutsu and his Grass Wall. They didn't require that much chakra to do which made them easy to learn. There was also the Grass clone, and since grass started out with some chakra of its own, creating some was easier than creating a mud clone. She could make five of them, and each one had a fifth of her overall power.

How Kasei was tracking down the Taki-nuke-nin was anyone not in the know's guess, he did it by trusting his gut and sending out clones to ask the bounty stations about the immortal bountry hunter. Or even mention of zombies, or even locations of high bounty shinobi. They were the best targets from someone that was very difficult to kill.

"So..where is our target?" Mirka asked after a week of traveling, "I mean we've been so many places already..what's the requirement for failure?"

"We die," Kasei said, "Plain and simple as that. But don't worry, we're close."

"Close? How do you know?" she asked him.

"Kakuzu just killed seven of my clones," Kasei said, "He'll be with us in a moment..."

"How short is that moment?" Mirka said as she began to move closer to her sensei who had taught her a lot.

"Use your eyes my little student," Kasei said, the mask he usually wore was not as blank as it usually was, it had one eye on it and that Cheshire grin, "Use them as I have ever since my first clone fell at their hands."

'_Hijutsu: Hyakume,_' she thought as she placed her palm on the ground, her many eyes spreading out from the spot wher her palm lay, though a majority of the eyes closing as she couldn't use them all at the same time yet. There were still enough of them open that should could see all around herself and in some places that wouldn't normally be seen.

She then saw the two of them, their target and his partner. She knew next to nothing about Kakuzu's partner, but Kasei had at least filled her in on Kakuzu's abilities. He had a healing factor or at least something that made him heal like he did have one. He was known for being able to use multiple jutsu at one time, then there was also his moniker of being immortal. The man seemingly had no weaknesses. But everyone had a weakness, Kasei taught her that too.

"Do you know his partner?" she asked him.

"I do," he replied, "But don't worry, I have something up my sleeve that can deal with him."

"I'm putting my life in your hands sensei," she told him, "I don't want to die."

As soon as those words left her lips, Kasei pushed her to the side and grabbed onto a black tendril and gave it a tug. He had actually pulled one of the threads that Kakuzu used as part of the kinjutsu that had been keeping him alive for so long.

"Well well well," Kakuzu said, "What have we here. A pair of Kusa-nin. Who are you, so that I might know if you are worth anything."

"I don't know if you would remember my name," Kasei said, "I am Fushigi Kasei, and my cute student is Mirka. We've been assigned the task of taking your bounty or gaining our village a higher one. Money's really what we're after. So either you die, or you pay us to let you live. With money higher than your own bounty."

"I'd rather not do that when I'm confident that you won't live past this encounter," Kakuzu said, and hushed his partner before he even got to say his peace, "That's my partner Hidan. He's immortal too, I've seen guys cut of his head and he still yapped. So how do you think your chances are now?"

"Still pretty good," Kasei confidently said, "So does my name ring any bells?"

"I've heard that name before," Kakuzu said, "But you can't be that person, I've memorized the Bingo Books through the years, your face matches an entry, but not the name, and the name does not match the face."

"If you say so," Kasei said, "Let me deal with your partner first before we get down to our fight for your life."

"Go right ahead," Kakuzu said, "I doubt you'll kill him anyway."

"I'm not planning on killing him," Kasei said, "I'm planning on putting the fear of kami into him."

"Yeah right! You couldn't put the fear of anything in a piece of toast!" Hidan shouted, and prepared for a short fight, "You're not even worth being sacrificed to Jashin-sama, but your companion might!"

"Leave my student alone Hidan-san," Kasei said as he slammed his palms together as if in prayer, "Mirka distract Kakuzu while I deal with this zombie-man."

"H-hai sensei," she fearfully said, and quickly sent some kunai in Kakuzu's direction, all of which he laughingly deflected before firing off a stream of fire in response to the attack.

"Your student doesn't stand much of a chance against me," Kakuzu said, "Thanks for the treat."

"Mirka, if you die I'll bring you back to life and turn you into a pin cushion!" Kasei said not bothering to look in her direction as he concentrated on what he was doing.

"Hai!" she responded and so opened some of the eyes around and below Kakuzu and had them explode, "Hyakume Exploding Eyeballs!"

It was a move that actually surprised Kakuzu as he was flung by the blast into the air. When he landed he was smoking a bit while his threads began to heal his body, but was unable to heal one of the hearts he kept hidden behind one of the masks that adorned his body.

"..cough...I was not expecting that," Kakuzu said, then complimented his soon to be latest victim, "Impressive for a genin."

"Yeah I know," she said. She didn't bother watching him heal himself and began sending out some more attacks of her own such as the Kusanagi Jutsu, there was grass and leaves a plenty for her to use and send his way. She kept on the offensive while he healed and didn't bother defending himself thinking that what she was doing was stupid, until he began to feel the pain creep in.

"What in the world?" he wondered as he looked over his body, especially at the parts of him that were beginning to feel pain, "What did you do?"

"Not telling," she said, then snapped her fingers causing several more eyeballs to blow up around him, it was then that he noticed that there were quite a few blinking, opening, and closing eyes around his position.

"I see..interesting jutsu," he said, "You caught me off guard twice, so I'll give you that. I'm slightly impressed, but that only makes me want to kill you more."

"Whatever," she said, and mocked him, "My sensei's scarier than you! He even beat Ginji-san! So that makes him stronger too!"

"Oh he beat one of the highest bounties of Kusa, that's good to know, so I won't underestimate him when I fight him once I'm done with you," Kakuzu said, confident in his ability to best a genin, even one with unknown techniques.

"Grass Dome!" she said, a dome of grass and leaves formed around her as she began to float into the air a little so that she was protected from all around. From within she continually added onto her defensive barrier while showering her foe with blades of grass and leaves that had been sharpened as well.

It was a game of cat and mouse, who the mouse was was anyone's guess.

"So are you done praying to your kami yet?" Hidan asked impatiently, he wanted to enjoy killing the pest before him.

"Oh," Kasei said nonchalantly, "I wasn't praying to a kami. I was summoning a friend."

"Well summon your summon already," Hidan said, "I'll sacrifice it too."

"You can try," Kasei said, paused then called out his summoned friend, "**Comrade of Death, Master of Oblivion! Come! **_**the End and the Void!**_"

A ripple in the sky formed over the area where the fighters were all standing, or floating, in. It was a large ripple that soon blew open. A hole in the sky, a black one, then out of it fell something as large as an elephant. It landed on all fours, its smoky form stood beside Kasei's own. There was just something about it that sent shivers up and down the spines that had never met it before.

"Hidan-san," Kasei pleasantly said, "Meet _the End and the Void_."

"Jashin-sama save me!" Hidan squeaked as the power of his god left him, he felt the sheer terror that his deity felt as his power left him.

"What in Kami's name is that?" Kakuzu wondered as his beady eyes landed on _the End and the Void_. While he'd encountered wolf summons or Inuzuka dogs before, he hadn't seen something quite like this thing that Kasei had summoned before. There was something about it that made him want to flee to the end of existence, or anywhere so long as it was as far away from the wolf that was not a wolf. Something was telling him that not even a Bijuu would want to fight this new arrival.

"I have no idea," Mirka said as she had never met her teacher's summoned friend in her life previous to the moment of its arrival.

"Ready to die Hidan?" Kasei calmly asked.

"_No.._" Hidan said softly in a meek voice, he was absolutely petrified by the salivating beast before him. He didn't have a god to fall back on in this fight after all.

"Good," Kasei said, then spoke to his friend, "Please watch Hidan for me, I have business with Kakuzu, the thread-man fighting my student."

the End and the Void simply nodded its head slightly, its eyes not leaving Hidan's body as Kasei walked on over to where Kakuzu and Mirka were no longer battling but were keeping their eyes trained on each other as well as the newest and latest arrival. Kasei motioned for Mirka to return to the ground and drop her barrier, then he addressed Kakuzu again.

"So...you got two choice," Kasei said, "Pay us to leave you alone for the time being, or die. I'm sure Akatsuki could do without you two."

"How do you know about our organization," Kakuzu snarlingly demanded, suddenly turning deathly serious, prepared for attack at a moments notice, but didn't due to a wolf head sprouting from _the End and the Void_'s back with its eyes locked with his form.

"I knew a jinchuuriki or two," Kasei said, "So tell me. Do I kill you where you stand or do you pay us to leave you alone?"

"I love my life more than I love money, since I can make more by killing you in the future," Kakuzu said and dropped all the storage scrolls he had on him at the time on the ground in front of Kasei, bounties equivalent to five times his own bounty, which was quite the liquid sum, "Take them. But be warned, I'll be putting in a bounty for your head, preferably dead. You and your student. Take pride in the fact that you've made up, the Zombie Brothers, admit defeat this day. But we'll have our rematch, and we'll make sure you won't have that...that...that thing to help you."

"Leave," Kasei stated in a deathly tone with equal seriousness, "The tale better be one worthy of my name," Kasei's face briefly transformed to his red haired one, "Got it?"

"H-hai.." Kakuzu said, as he realized that he had been allowed to live by a man that had defeated a bijuu according to an old Kumo Bingo Book that he had read. He left with his partner, a really shaken up Hidan, bu that state of being would be easy to cure as they'd just have to face off against a bandit camp to sate his lust for blood.

"So.." Mirka said, as she glanced at the large wolf that remained in the area they were in, wagging its tail waiting for some playful fun, though in its case playing meant either fetch with a ball the size of the moon or a fight where a third of the world could be destroyed, "What is that thing?"

"That's my friend, _the End and the Void_," Kasei replied, "Why?"

"You never said you had a summon contract," she said.

"I don't," Kasei said, "Well..at least not one that I can use at the moment."

"But isn't he your summon?" she asked, not getting what he meant at all.

"He's not a summon," Kasei said, "_the End and the Void_ is a friend. And I will repeat that he is not a summon. He is...well...Comrade of Death and Master of Oblivion."

"Those are titles aren't they," she said.

"Yes," then noticed that his friend was growing impatient and so created a rock the size of the moon and had it float above him before hurling it through the black hole that still was in the sky, "Fetch," he said to his wolfish friend, and he and his student watched as the large mutt raced on after the moon sized rock.

"Sensei.." she said impatiently as well, "Is our mission complete?"

"Yes," Kasei said, "And no, he is not a summon. He's actually my teacher's friend's pet."

"Who is your teacher? Sensei?" she asked him.

"Someone that no one in this world would know," Kasei evasively said, "Now shall we get going back to Kusagakure?"

"Yes please," she said, "I think I've stayed out of the village for too long, even though I've learned quite a bit from you."

"It shouldn't take us too long to get back to base," Kasei said, picked up the scrolls, kept one, handed over one to his student, and stored the other three into another storage scroll, "Forty sixty. We get forty, while the village gets sixty percent of the money we got."

"Is that really how these kinds of missions work?" Mirka asked.

"Well no," Kasei said, "But its quite a sum considering just how much he handed over. So I'm sure the council won't mind."

"If you say so sensei," Mirka said before they began their mad dash back the their home base of Kusagakure.

They made it back within a week's time, and were allowed to keep the scrolls of money they had taken. But they were not given a break. They were given another mission, this time they were to kidnap the ruler of Demon Country and take her first to Kusa, then to Iwagakure. The reason was on a need to know basis, and Kasei and Mirka need not know.

They set off or Demon country as soon as they were dismissed from the missions office. No time to say hello to friends or associates like Ginji or Mirka's fellow genin. They just left. It was a long trip that lasted another week of travel. By the time they arrived at the fortress where the ruler of Demon Country lived, they found the fortress to be prepared for anything.

"We're not going to kill anyone in this mission," Kasei said, "Though as I understand it you've already killed before. So I won't need to explain how serious our profession is and how things really work in our world."

"Hai sensei," she said, Kasei had taught her a few more things on this journey again, "How do we go about this?"

"First you will use Hyakume to scope out the place," he told her, "When you're done with that feel free to come up with a plan of your own. Your job in this mission is to distract the soldiers while I go in for the actual kidnapping."

"Are you sure sensei?" she asked him, "I mean, sure I went up against a nuke-nin and lived to tell that tale not that we got the chance to actually tell the tale, but you're leaving a large part of the mission in my hands."

"I have that much faith in your abilities," Kasei said, "Now hop to it, else I alert our presence and intentions to our present enemies by flinging a thousand kunai at you."

"I'll get right to it then sensei," she said in a rush as she placed a palm on the ground and tried to use all hundred eyes at the same time. She only succeeded in using about half, and even then she had to keep her main eyes shut in concentration.

While Mirka went about her scouting duties and planning duties, Kasei went about walking into the fortress looking the part of a weary traveler as he made his clothes take on the form of traveler's clothes complete with looking really dirty. Mud was caked on the bottom of his sandals, he even had a staff which he used to walk with not that he looked old at all. He changed his hair and an eye's color. He now sported orange hair and his right eye was green while the other one was blue.

He was allowed entrance into the fort as he sought shelter for the coming night as well as an audience with the priestess. He didn't really have a reason for the visit other than that he was there so he might as well pay her a visit. He was given a room to stay in for the night as well as brought before the priestess who welcomed him.

"Welcome to my home traveler," she greeted him, they were quite close in age, or would be the same age if it weren't for his venture from the future into the past which was his present and the far distant past which was his past and also present. It was a bit confusing, but he managed to figure out how things would work.

The first day of his training journey was the day that he returned to from Central Imagination where of which the Gate of Entrance could be found in. On the night of that first day he was transported into the past where he spent thirty days in, on the night of the thirtieth day he awoke to find himself in the present time where he would stay for thirty days before he would be sent to the past once again, spend thirty days there again, before the cycle would repeat itself.

_the End and the Void _helped him with his theory while it was waiting impatiently with them at the end of the Kakuzu mission, it had sent its thoughts on the matter directly into Kasei's mind.

"Greetings priestess," he greeted her in return, "I'm afraid that I must apologize.."

"Apologize for what?" she asked him from behind her curtain.

"For the troubles that my presence shall bring about this country," he told her with his head bowed, he sent his eyes out and donned his mask as he bowed before her with forehead touching the ground.

His eyes were soon all around the fortress, moving in the shadows opening when he sensed there was no one around that could see him. He knew that the priestess wouldn't know about his eyes as no one would be dying due to them, and he was not about to kill her either, so he was safe from her prophetic gaze.

"Are you a fugitive?" she asked him, she gained no vision about him or anyone's immediate deaths so believed she had nothing to worry about.

"No I am not," he said, still not looking at her.

"Please look at me sir, something is telling me that I should see your face," she said, something that had nothing to do with her powers was telling her that she needed to see his face.

"If that is what you wish priestess," he said and raised his head, just as an explosion shook the fortress. His student had decided to act in classic distraction style.

"What was that?!" the priestess shouted, but no one answered, and it was then that she noticed that the traveler that she had been speaking with was replaced by the blonde haired Kasei and the room they were in was populated with many eyes. Her guards were also knocked unconscious.

"That was my student acting as a distraction that I might successfully kidnap you," he informed her, took a few steps forward, the hefted her over his shoulder and began to leave. He created two clones, one of the red haired tengu and the other in the form of the hybrid in hair and eye color, he had yet to find a mythological creature to pair that form with.

'_Shuten-douji I think...it suits that hybrid's role quite nicely_' he thought to himself as he and his two clones walked through the fighting unseen by the soldiers that were running hither and tither in an attempt to figure out what was going on and who was attacking their fortress. There were even those that tried to search for the priestess, but exploding eyes made sure that they were knocked out and unable to perform their duties.

By the time he was out with his target, the walls of the fortress on one side were completely destroyed thanks to Mirka's use of Hyakume Exploding Eyeballs.

"Good job," he told his student as soon as he was beside her, soundlessly arriving and giving her quite the scare.

"I don't think that's anyway to carry a priestess or princess," she told him after calming down a bit.

"I know," Kasei said, "But we're in a hurry, so pack up whatever you don't want to leave behind, and we've got another week's worth of travel. We'll bypass the village and head straight for our final destination."

"Hai sensei," Mirka said, and began to pack up her things, storing them in scrolls and proving that she was indeed an Uzumaki.

"Let me go," the priestess said, "Return me at once or would you have the entirety of Demon Country as your enemy?"

"A mission's a mission priestess," Kasei said, We were tasked with delivering you to Iwa. So to Iwa you shall go."

"Then I'll pay you double what you're being paid for this mission," she said.

"No thanks," Kasei said, "We need this mission on our record. S-class number two sounds oh so good to me, more than money, since I've already got a lot of that on my head."

"And mine," Mirka said after she was done packing up her stuff, "We're both S-class in the Bingo Books right now, thanks to him," she pointed at her teacher, and accusingly added, "deciding to let another S-class nin get away."

"You don't sound so happy about that.." the priestess noted, as she couldn't really do anything in the situation she was in.

"I'm not! I want to be famous for something good or great!" Mirka claimed, "Not for battling some nuke-nin and not kill him!"

"You've got some big dreams for a shrimp," the priestess said.

"I'm not a shrimp," Mirka grumbled.

"We can talk more later kiddies," Kasei said as he noticed that some of the soldiers were nearing their location, "Mirka we've got company, slow them down," he ordered before leaping away, his student staying behind to stall the advancing rescue forces by sending blades of grass and leaves and some twigs their way with injurious accuracy.

Once she was satisfied with her stalling tactics, she bounded off and after her sensei. They didn't bother covering their tracks, their job was to just kidnap the priestess and whisk her off to Iwa, who cares if someone followed the trail they were leaving behind, Iwa would deal with it. It wasn't really their problem anyway.

Three days after Demon Country's ruler's home was attacked and the ruler of the country kidnapped, Konoha finally received the letter of request for aid from Demon Country's injured forces. They were on friendly terms and so warranted getting some really good help.

Konoha sent a four man team consisting of Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Yuuhi Kurenai, and Sarutobi Asuma, four of the best jounin that Konoha could offer. Konoha could spare them for the mission due to the size of the payment, their respective teams were also on leave so they were free to go on such a mission without an end date.

There was also the fact that they would be dealing with two shinobi that could go into a well defended fortress and kidnap a high profile figure without really being ID'd.

The Konoha-nin were told the general direction that the kidnappers had last been seen heading for. It was possible for the kidnappers to already have handed the priestess over to their client, but at the same time they could still be running toward their client or wherever they were to drop of the package. They were able to find the obvious evidence or trail as it were of the kidnappers. Kakashi somehow figured out that such evidence was being intentionally left behind. It was a challenge of sorts, 'Come find us', or something to that effect.

It was at the end of Kasei's month that he, his captive, and his student, made camp just alongside the border of Earth Country. Camp was easily set up as was making sure that the captive, whose name was Shion, could not escape. Mirka applied some seals that she had been taught in such a short time with her sensei. It was like a ball and chain when it came to seals, for the seals that she applied tied the prisoner to the captor, in this case the prisoner was Shion while the captor was Mirka.

The genin had originally wanted to apply the captor seal on her sensei, but he said things would become very complicated if she did that, especially considering that he would be missing from camp for the whole night and only return in the morning.

"I'll leave a clone to keep you company," Kasei informed his camp-mates, "Though Mirka, you'll have to find it first since it'll be meditating somewhere near this campsite."

"Why do I need to look for it, sensei?" she asked him, she didn't know about his being time displaced at regular intervals. Yet.

"Be careful not to startle it or destroy it," Kasei said, "I'm leaving only one after all, though should you find yourself in trouble while the real me is away, I'm sure that it'll be more than enough by that time to defend you and our charge."

"Where are you going to go anyway?" she asked him.

"I'm going off to find out who your parents are," he replied smiling slightly as day shifted to dusk and his form simply vanished from sight, no puff of smoke, no swirling leaves or whatever other thing signified the use of shunshin, no sound. Nothing. He was just gone from Mirka's time, and transported to the same location, sometime in the past of the present world.

For the first time, he had gone through the transition of times awake and aware of the transition. The world around him became separate from him for but a moment. He watched everything change right before his very eyes, noting the changes and realizing just how fast he was moving through the ages. He watched as some of the rocks of their campsite formed, watched as some of the plant life died and lived and grew from the beginning. He saw so many miraculous things.

And it all happened within the span of less than a blink of an eye. It was that fast, yet at the same time Kasei was still able to see so many things occur before his very eyes. It was humbling and enthralling, but at the same time he could still take it for granted, his training trip was quite a long time considering it would last for something closer to ten years than the original three to five.

The first thing he did once he arrived in the past, whenever in the past it was, was create that clone he promised, he pumped the thing full of chakra, as much chakra as he could, while also using _power_ to make sure that it would last several lifetimes, or until it was mortally wounded unlike most kinds of clones. This clone was a combination of a blood clone and a shadow clone a nature chakra clone.

He knew about Nature chakra from several clones reading up on different kinds of energies and powers. He knew how to gather the stuff and some clones during the war with the bugs had turned into sage clones, so he decided that the clone he would be leaving his genin would be a hybrid clone that would gather chakra for as long as it would be waiting to be woken from its meditative state.

He was sure that whoever would be attacking his student would be in for quite a surprise.

Once he was satisfied with his clone, Kasei changed into his tengu form and shot into the sky and headed for Iwagakure. His first priority was to find out when in time he had landed for he had not been able to keep track of how many dawns and dusks he had witnessed. After that, he was free to go about playing with the way things were and are as he pleased, after all the past, present, and future, was not set in stone.

Once he found himself on the outskirts of the hidden village, one that was surrounded by miniature mountains that were mostly barren of plant life, he shifted his form into a more human one or rather back into his default form which was no longer short thanks to his time with Shadow.

He decided on having black hair and black eyes for this part of his trip. He had his clothes change to those of a warrior monk's garb, colored gray with hints of black. No orange. Underneath the folds of his clothes he hid over a thousand bladed weapons, he decided to borrow the traits of a kurotabou. He walked into the village, relatively unnoticed by the guards and any that were monitoring the village. Walking around the village he noted that most of the buildings looked kind of new, as if the village had just been founded and had only been standing for a few years.

"Excuse me," he spoke to an obvious civilian, "I don't know how to say this...but...how long ago was this village founded?"

"Three years ago..shouldn't you know?" the civilian asked, "The only way you wouldn't would be if you just stumbled upon the village..." the civilian gained a rather surprised look, "...tell me you didn't.."

"I didn't," Kasei replied, "I knew about there being a village here, just not how long ago was it founded."

"But how..and who are you?" the civilian asked, buying some time for the village protectors to take note of the person that was not supposed to be in the village.

"I am Fushigi Kasei," he introduced himself with a slight bow, "I am a traveling warrior, one who has a tendency to lose track of time from time to time."

"So what are you doing in this here village?" the civilian asked him.

"I was just looking for someone who could help me figure out when I was," he replied simply.

"When you were...err..are? What do you mean by that? Are you some sort of time traveler?" the man asked him.

"Something like that,"Kasei said, "Something like that, haha, its hard to explain since it happens in a schedule," he didn't bother hiding his time traveling as it made for a great story, plus he didn't really have much to lose.

"I see," the man asid, "Well I can't really help you unless I accidentally already did Kasei-san. So is that all?"

"Yes," Kasei said, "For the moment really, and don't bother waiting for security to find me. No one other than you know that I'm even in here."

"So you do know about the village," the civilian said, "Then what do we do now? I can't in good conscience just let you wander off, you might tell our enemies where we are since you know so much as it is."

"How about you take me to your leader?" he asked the man, "Maybe my silence could be bought perhaps?"

"Or you could be permanently silenced," the man said, "Fine, I'll take you to them."

"Them?" Kasei asked as he followed the man silently, not making any sound other than the sound of his voice which he managed to mask with an illusion making it sound like a whisper on the wind to anyone else that was listening.

"Well apparently you don't know as much as you seemed to know," the man said, "Our leaders consist of the strongest fighters we have here at present. An actual leader for the village hasn't been chosen yet, no one can seem to figure out who should be proclaimed as the first Earth Shadow, Tsuchikage."

"Oh, well that's nice to know," Kasei said, they continued to walk in silence until they reached a large building that had quite a lot of guards as compared to the boundary of the village itself. They were all probably the elites of the clans of the village, while their clan heads were likely to be the ones that were the considered collective leaders of the village.

"He knew of the location of the village," the civilian that brought him to the collective group of leaders said, "He stopped me on the street and asked me some questions, but nothing that would have me marked as some sort of traitor for whatever his reasons are. He sought an audience with all of you, so here he is. Might I take my leave now sirs?"

"Stay," one of the clan heads said, "We still haven't decided whether or not to have you executed."

"But why?" the civilian asked.

"He might have cast some kind of undetectable genjutsu over you and be some assassin from a rival village sent here to kill us," the clan head said, "If we die, so do you."

"Oh.." the man said and slumped to the ground as he didn't really think things through, he just wanted to get home after all and not be tangled up with any ninja mess, which he seemed to have become unable to avoid, "I really screwed up...I just wanted to get rid of him and go home.."

"So..what business do you have with this village or more precisely," one clan head asked, "With us?"

"I was wondering if you had some open slots for a temporary addition to your village is all," Kasei said, "Just for a month at most."

"A month? Why a month? Are you actually a spy?" one clan head decided to just ask, it never hurt to ask...usually.

"A spy? Me?" Kasei theatrically asked, "Of course not! I just have a deadline as to how long I can stay. Whether I want to or not, I shall be leaving this time for another one."

"Are you some kind of time traveler?" one clan head asked.

"Yeah," Kasei replied, "So what of it?"

"My clan has a legend about a time traveler," the old clan head said, his voice bellying the power he held in check a power that seemed somewhat familiar to Kasei but he couldn't exactly explain why it felt so familiar, "Legend speak of a time travelers that adopted the two founding members of my clan. He trained them to become powerful warriors during a time when ninja were still stuck sneaking in the shadows. It was the time of the samurai still at that time and the Sage of Six Paths had yet to make his appearance on the world stage. He told my ancestor that he would only be able to stay with them for thirty days to thirty years. He was quite powerful the legend tell, as he was able to destroy one our world's old moons, we used to have two of them back in those days."

"What does this legend have to do with this supposed time traveler before us?" one of the younger more inexperienced clan heads asked the older one.

"I want to see this time traveler's power," the old clan head said, "If he is as powerful as he claims to be, according to my clan legend, then we might find some use for him. If not, then he will just have to die."

"I agree with that," the Kamizuru clan head said, "He is an unknown, and if he wants to join up for any amount of time, then what better way to test him, than have him show us his worth."

"I'd love to have a spar with you," Kasei said.

"Who said anything about a spar?" the old clan head said, "A real fight, the victor will decide if the loser lives or dies."

"Acceptable terms," Kasei stated amicably, then asked, "So where will this fight be held and who shall I be fighting?"

"All of us," the old clan head replied, "All of us should be strong enough to take you on, should you be the time traveler the legends speak of."

"Fine by me," Kasei said, "So please lead the way."

The clan heads all stood from their seated positions around the room and filed out of the room, half before and half behind Kasei. Their guards were all alerted of their movement from the building to one of the larger training areas of the village. An area where all of the clan heads would be able to make use of their surroundings or something from there in their attacks.

"I win when you're all unconscious," Kasei said, "You win when I'm dead."

"Acceptable terms," the leaders of the clans o Iwa said.

"Then when shall we begin?" Kasei asked as he entered a taijutsu stance that all the leaders were unfamiliar with, but something about it told them to not underestimate him. It was simple as hell, it was something he had learned from Shadow who had said it was created by a man named Ryoku. It relied a lot on speed and god-like reflexes, as well as intimate knowledge of the body. If Kasei was able to freely manipulate the flow of time he would have been able to use the style to its full potential, but he wasn't able to do that as the Lord of Time or God of Time or Time himself wouldn't allow it.

The Kage-level shinobi all jumped away from their starting positions leaving only the old man that had spoken about a legend remaining behind standing near Kasei.

"I am Tatsumaki Kyoukan," the old man introduced himself, then flashed through several dozen handseals in quick succession, his hands moved so fast that it was hard to believe that he was an old man, "Kekkai Genkai Fuuin..KAI!"

A sudden pressure was released in the training field and the Tatsumaki clansmen all knew what had happened. The final form of their clan's bloodline required the use of a special seal that their clan's founders had been taught, it bound the bloodline's abilities and made their key a string of seals as well as the will of the person.

As suddenly as the pressure was unleashed it vanished, and just like that Kasei felt that the person that was to fight him had just sealed away his chakra or hidden it behind something else. Something that had been somehow infused with his DNA. It was _Power_, that same thing that Kasei used to do some of the things he does. But to what extent this user could use it to would only be seen during the battle ahead, and there was also sure to be some kind of price to its use.

The Tatsumaki clansmen knew that the final form was only or could only be gained by those that had enough confidence in themselves and their ability to go past their usual limitations. Once you recognized that anything was possible, then you could tap into this technique that allowed such a thing to be possible. The lesser levels or forms of their bloodline allowed them to mix chakra with this power they held in their very veins to do simple things that could directly or indirectly affecty their surroundings and if one were strong enough or possessed a strong enough will they could attack their enemies with it.

The one problem with its use was that one needed to speak the things that they wanted to happen or wanted to affect. One could say it in whisper, but the stronger one felt that it was real the more real something became for them. Words and the strength of words had _power_.

"Gravity," Kyoukan spoke evenly, and he felt his body stop being restricted by gravity which would allow him to move faster than he would normally have been able to, within a certain time limit of course since his body was not built for the speeds that he could now move at.

"Interesting use of _it_," Kasei noted as he saw how the clan's bloodline worked, but waited patiently for the old man to actually attack and not just power up.

"Air resistance," the old man spoke once again, he was making himself as fast as he could get, "Diamond body," he also turned his skin to match that precious rock.

"Are you done powering up yet?" Kasei asked boredly, he had to act boredly to look as if he saw them as mere insects.

"I think I'm fine with this setting," Kyoukan said before vanishing from where he had been standing and landed a solid punch to Kasei's gut which sent the warrior monk clothed fighter rocketing backwards and into a boulder that another clan head had pulled up from th earth itself. The thing was solid diamond too which meant that as soon as they heard the resounding BOOM of Kasei slamming into it, back first, that there was little chance that the man was still alive.

"Unfeeling," Kasei's voice rang throughout the training field, his form had been covered in the dust that he had picked up as he flew backward and into the slad of diamond, which when the dust blew away looked cracked and actually shattered like a mirror, "Indestructible."

"H-how..?" Kyoukan stammered as he looked upon the shrouded form of Kasei as he stood without any visible sign of injury, he looked like he hadn't felt anything and there was no other way for diamond to have been shattered like that unless he really was indestructible. His body was impervious to pain and harm.

"I brought that _power_ to this world," Kasei stated calmly, "Now let me show you something you will rarely, if ever, see.."

Kasei was able to take a single step forward when suddenly all of the other clan heads attacked simultaneously. Sending all manner of projectile at him in the hope that he would be killed. One of their best had been rendered powerless to him, they would not stand for such dishonor. They couldn't stand such a blow to their pride. The man was a clan head, and he had been shamed in front of his clansmen.

The Tatsumaki had thought that they were the only ones aside from whoever taught their founders, that could use their unique power. They were sorely mistaken that they were the only ones in this day and age that could do it.

But then a thought struck them as odd, they had never been able to do as Kasei had done and made their body as impervious to damage as his had become. They had a limit, even in the final form, of what they were able to do and also had a time limit in which they could tap into that universal power. But Kasei was not one of them, and surely must be using somethin else or something similar. But some of them remembered some stories of their childhood about the man that had taught the founders of their clan, how he could do even greater things that the first two members of their clan. How he could move mountains without even needing to speak a word, how he could cause the heaven to cry for him, or the sun to shine down on him and him alone.

They also remembered tales about their founders being able to do similar things, but through the years it was suspected that their bloodline had degenerated to the state that it was today. There was also the lack of creativity and imagination of the clan's members to think about, but no one really thought about that problem all that much.

The attacks were all blown back or forced into vanishing altogether. The Kage-level ninja were helpless or thought that they were as they had used all of their most powerful attacks, ones that were sure to have been able to actually even destroy armies if they so wished. Concentrating those attacks' power in one spot should have made them even more powerful, but it seemed to do absolutely nothing to Kasei as he continued to take that one step.

It was just one step, but that one step sealed the fate of the village as well as his own fate.

Forever.

Again.

He took his step, crouched down and from all over his body all manner of bladed weapon shot out and caught each and every one of the clan heads unawares. They were all pinned to one surface or another thanks to the numerous weapons that had shot forth and from out of Kasei's body. The warrior monk's robe that he had been wearing gave way to his dark blue full body suit along with the floor length hooded cloak that he had been given.

As he stood back up the weapons simply turned into smoke and returned to him, flowing underneath his cloak and clothes as they returned to his body as that was what they had originally been. His own cells were what he used to create his unlimited number of weapons. He just made it so that they could still return to his body if he wished, unlike some other times.

"That was unexpected," Kyoukan coughed out as he slumped to the ground, his age finally catching up with him and forcing him to re-engage the seals that were keeping his bloodline at bay, "But we're all still pretty much conscious, so you haven't won yet Kasei-dono."

"Indeed," Kasei said before flashing through handseals of his own, "Earth's Shadow!"

Before people started wondering what the technique did, they felt a deep rumbling of the earth that they stood upon. It was another chakra and _power_ mix that Kasei had come up with. It caused the earth to rise up above all that he was attacking, blocking out the sun's light like an eclipse. The earth them slammed down on the victims, and depending on the force would go from knocking them out to killing them.

Chakra made it happen, while belief and imagination is what made sure that he hit all of his targets.

Only Kyoukan remained conscious. He would be the last to fall.

"I leave you as the last one standing, the last one conscious," Kasei said as he walked over to the tired old man, "You are strong undoubtedly so. Which is why I believe you should be the one to lead these people that have lived for a few years under your council's guidance. I'm sure you've used your abilities to steady the hands that would wish to wage war on other nations. I applaud your silent efforts to bring peace."

"What are you talking about?" the old man asked, he knew deep down in his heart that all he wished for was peace, which was why he had fought so hard during the clan wars, why he had made sure that he was one of the strongest that this new village in which he belonged. He was strong sure, and his clan loved him for it and other things while his enemies actually respected him, and some even invited him over for tea to talk instead of settling their differences in battle.

"I'll be leaving now," Kasei said as he knocked the man out with a simple pinch, then vanished before all the spectator's eyes just as Kyoukan lost consciousness.

Had Kasei stayed he would have known that the Shodaime Tsuchikage in the history books was officially only a temporary one. The successors fo the historical Tsuchikage had all been temporary ones, they had all been waiting and were still waiting for the return of their Shodaime Tsuchikage, the real one. Fushigi Kasei. Much like how Kumo was still searching and waiting for the return of their real Yondaime Raikage.

The vanishing act that he did was merely moving at an accelerated rate and stopping right smack dab where Konoha, his supposed home, was also just forming. Just forming in the sense that there were a few people that had scouted the area already with the possibility in mind of starting some grand village there or base of military operations at the very least.

This was proving to be quite the irritating and annoying adventure.

He didn't know why he had decided to end up there, he wasn't even sure how he had stopped. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks..

Someone else was pulling his strongs, someone else was trying to make his life interesting, which was why the first thing he decided to do was go with the flow and mess with things since not even the flow of time was set in stone and usually eroded stone too. He had a feeling he knew who it was that was making him jump from one time period to another. It was Aetas, another one of his teacher's acquaintances.

He built a small cottage on the land he had landed on, he had a feeling that it was important for some odd reason, he just couldn't figure out what that reason was, but it must have been quite important for him to decide to do it in the very area that would one day become something more like a sprawling city rather than what a village usually was like.

It had taken him a grand total of the rest of the days of the first week he was in this particular time to build his home in the past away from home, that he might eventually not use again unless he was back in the future which was his present.

He didn't get much visitors, but that was to be expected since he didn't really belong in that time zone, he just so happened to be there since someone decided that his life was not fucked up enough and needed some additional fucking with it.

By the end of his second week in the past, most of his days were spent training in mastering or figuring out how to use some made up techniques he decided to do. He also became a potter and more of a gardener so as to keep him doing the things he did.

"Excuse me," a young man's voice broke the eerie silence that usually blanketed Kasei's home away from home.

"Yes?" Kasei said as he stepped out of his self-made furnace in which he heated his pottery and cooked his food at the same time on some occasions, "How may I help you?"

"Do you own this land?" the young man asked, he looked like just about any traveler, but Kasei knew better he could practically sense the chunin level of chakra that the young man possessed and was not bothering to hide since he believed Kasei to be a regular person.

"Technically," Kasei said, "No one owns it. No one can claim to own whatever land they are on. The earth is not just some dead thing you can claim after all. But this land I live on is my own, I guess. Why?"

"My clan wanted to know if it would be alright for us and our allies to start a village here," the young man said, "I am Senju Hashirama by the way. What's your name, sir?"

"I am Fushigi Kasei," he replied, managing to actually keep the surprise and slight awe from showing on his face, standing before him was none other than one half of the founders of the village he was born in after all, "It is nice to meet you Hashirama-san."

"And you as well Kasei-san," Kasei said, "Go ahead and build your village, I don't mind the thought of having neighbors after all."

"Thank you Kasei-san," Hashirama said, then whistled, after waiting a moment a hawk dived down from the sky and perched itself on the young man's outstretched arm. The young man then tied a message to the magnificent specimen's leg, gave it some minor instructions before letting it go back to the skies, to deliver the message to the clan he was the head of.

"I am a bit out of touch with the world Hashirama-san," Kasei admitted, history wasn't really his strong point, or studying for that matter, up until he learned how to train with his clones, "I thought there was some sort of war going on in the world."

"There was," the young man replied, "It ended a few years ago though, and well, some of us wanted a place to stay and belong in, so we decided to start a village but just couldn't find the perfect spot to have it in. I thank you again for allowing us to use your land for our village."

"Err..you're welcome," Kasei said, "Why don't you come inside and have some tea while you wait for whatever it is you are waiting for?"

"Thank you for your kind offer," the young man said, "But I think I'll wait here."

"Then I'll bring you some tea anyway," Kasei said as he entered his house, freshened up, changed out of his pottery gear and into a kimono. Prepared some jasmine tea, then walked back outside with a tray, a pot, two cups, and some crackers.

"You didn't have to do all this," Hashirama said.

"You are a guest," Kasei said, "This is what a host should do."

"Thank you for the tea," Hashirama said, as he showed Kasei first hand Mokuton in action, actual chakra bloodline based Mokuton and not what Kasei himself could do, by creating a wooden table and two chairs, one for each of them.

"Interesting bit of magic you have there," Kasei said, deciding to play the oblivious potter.

"You can stop pretending you know," Hashirama said, "Some of my clansmen managed to catch glimpses of you training."

"It seems you've caught me," Kasei said, "So, have your scouts reported anything of interest to you?"

"The land, this land, and most of the plant life in it, they respond to you," Hashirama said, "They protect you and most of your secrets. Which is why I asked if you own the land, and asked your permission to build our village here. The very land itself, nature here in this place and in many places in this land of fire...they see you as its master for some reason."

"Oh..?" Kasei said, he didn't know that, he hadn't bothered to meditate on it or anything of the sort.

"If it isn't too much to ask," Hashirama said, "Why is that? Can you tell me?"

"I'm afraid I cannot," Kasei replied, honestly as he hadn't a clue.

"Oh, thanks for answering anyway," Hashirama said, "Thanks for the tea though."

"Your welcome," Kasei said, as he sipped from his own cup of tea.

They waited patiently for whatever it was that the future Shodaime Hokage was waiting for, when it arrived, it was something that Kasei had not been expecting. He had expected a messenger or a response via hawk, what he got was the traveling band of semi-nomads that had left their former strongholds to form this hidden village of theirs. All of them had traveled from all over the land of fire, as they called it due to the volcanos that could be found in some places as well as a tree that even just an ember near it would or could cause it to become the match that set the rest of the forest around it on fire.

"Well.." Kasei said, "I wasn't expecting that. I wasn't expecting that at all."

"I was," Hashirama said, "You didn't think I was sending a message asking if the rest of my merry band of warriors and their families would like to live here."

"Fine, fine," Kasei said, "I still wasn't expecting it. I was expecting something more along the lines of a message stating that they were coming. How were you so sure that I would agree to this village idea of yours?"

"I wasn't," Hashirama replied as he stood to greet his fellow clan heads, "I just trusted my instincts."

"I see," Kasei said, "Interesting to know that that's what you do in these kinds of situations. Well I wish you luck in figuring out what you want to do from here on out. I'll be returning to my pottery."

"Thank you for allowing this to become possible," Hashirama said to Kasei before Kasei walked back into his furnace, little did Kasei know that his next trip was going to answer a few questions for him, as well as complicate his life immensely.

For the remainder of his stay in this time period, Kasei spent his time getting to know the different clans that would one day become known as the nobility of the village, as well as legends to its future generations. He even found himself able to get along with the infamous Uchiha Madara, they had a mutual interest in gardening of all things. He even met with Madara's younger brother Izuna, who was rather sickly as compared to his older brother who was the Uchiha's greatest fighter. One that was only matched in strength, power, and experience, by Hashirama himself.

When it was nearing his time to leave, he packed up his meager belongings, and placed them in his pocket dimension, the other things he placed numerous preservation and security seals on, as well as his rather large walled compound, the clans had decided that he deserved the space since they were taking up most of his land in the area anyway. When he was done packing, he tried to leave the village unnoticed, he even left a note on his compoud gate saying that he just went out for a walk.

His plan was foiled when he was ambushed as he was about to leave the still unfinished gate by the Senju brothers, the Uchiha brothers, and a small contingent of ninja consisting of the other clan heads and their closest relative or relatives in some cases. They somehow knew that he was going to leave that day, how he didn't know, but they did and they were there blocking his path.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hashirama asked, as he stepped in front of the group and faced Kasei, "And without saying goodbye to all of us too."

"Out for a walk," Kasei said.

"No one should go out on a walk on their own," Izuna said, "You really should have someone tag along with you, keep you company."

"I'd rather not," Kasei said, "Its just a walk after all, one to be enjoyed in peace."

"You've been planning on leaving the village for quite some time now," Hashirama stated, "We all know you have. In fact, I've known since the very beginning, since the first moment that we met. You never planned on staying, you were actually waiting for someone to come find you and ask about the village."

"Well, you caught me on that last one," Kasei said, "What happens now?"

"We originally wanted to convince you to stay," Madara said, "But I have a feeling that no matter what we try, it will not be enough to get you to stay. Something, my gut I guess, is telling me that you have no choice in the matter either. You wanted to let us think that you just went on some grand adventure..."

"There are still wars in the world to be won, battles and fights to be fought," Kasei decided to say, "You should be off preparing, training, and well doing things about those things, instead of cornering this ageless wonder that you see before you, you know."

"We do," Yamanaka Inoki stated, "But you are a friend to all of us here. We do not want you to leave us. That's all. Is that so hard to believe?"

"At the very least take one or two of us along," Izuna said, "Take me along, everyone in my clan knows that I no longer have a future here. We're all friends, and we all know this. At least if I go with you, I will have more of a purpose before I finally succumb to this sickness that has been plaguing me for so long."

"Izuna!" Madara chastised his brother for revealing something like that when they were around so many not of the clan.

"Fine," Kasei relented, he had a soft spot for the younger Uchiha after all, and it was true that Izuna was just wasting away not being allowed to do anything in the village due to his condition. He was even blind which made him treated as a purposeless person, but at the same time still valued as an Uchiha. He had given his eyes to his brother so that the clan could become what it had indeed become. Powerful and great.

"Then you'll have to take me with you as well!" a younger girl's voice cut through the crowd, which parted to let her through.

"And who might you be?" Kasei asked.

"Kara! What are you doing here?" Hashirama, Tobirama, and Izuna, shouted at the same time in question, the two brothers looked at the Uchiha then to the girl that had made her way to the front of the crowd to join them.

"If you're going, then I'm going," Senju Kara, younger sister of the two Senju present, stated, "I wanna see the world before I pass on! Not stay locked up in my room..."

"You've been hiding her?" someone asked of the two strongest of the Senju.

"She's our youngest sister," Hashirama stated, "The true weakness of the clan...the only one that was permitted to live..during war time.."

"How do you know of her Izuna-san?" Tobirama asked the Uchiha that was going to leave with Kasei.

"I found her one day when I was actually sent to kill one of you, some time ago, back when we were all younger," Izuna admitted, "I managed to sneak into the wrong room..."

"Let me kill him, please," Hashirama had to hold his younger brother back, since he knew Izuna to be an honorable man and one that would never hurt a woman or girl if he could help it.

"Fine," Kasei stated, "I'll take them both," he then thought hard as he still wanted his leaving to go unnoticed he decided that he would be using that _power_, "Memory suppression."

With those two words, the gathered crowd would not be able to speak of the event to anyone that wondered whatever happened to Fushigi Kasei. They would also forget to look into the matter of what or why he was the so-called master of the land.

"What did you do?" Hashirama asked, "What was that technique?"

"I want to keep things fun," Kasei told the soon to be leader, "None of you will be able to tell anyone of my leaving, or of the fate of Izuna and Kara. Live free my friends."

With those parting words, he left with his two companions. They traveled until Kasei called for them to stop and for them to grab hold of his cloak as pulled out the Animator rod, then had it lengthen into a staff. He plunged on end of it into the ground and held on tight as he created a kind of bubble that would keep himself and his companions together through the transition in time.

"Hold on tight you two," Kasei ordered as he shoved a lot of _power_ around the three of them.

They did as he ordered them to instantly, the tone of his voice was quite serious and grave. They shut their eyes too and were unable to see the wonders that he did and appreiciated as he did even though most of his concentration was in making sure that they were not somehow separated in the transition.

"You may open your eyes and let go now," Kasei told them as they finally arrived in whatever time they were in, for the surely were not in the present where Kasei's student should have been waiting for him with their captive priestess.

"Where are we?" Izuna asked as he looked around at his surroundings, it wasn't the same place they had stopped that was for sure, in his mind at least. Kara was thinking the exact same thing as well.

"We never left the place we were standing in," Kasei told them, "This is the reason I left the village the way I did. I didn't want to end up in Konoha when the transition was finally over."

"What are you talking about?" Izuna asked.

"We are most likely further into the past now," Kasei theorized, "So...I would have to say that I'm finally going to find out why the land saw me as its master..."

"What do you mean by that?" Izuna asked him.

"I still have no idea why the land of fire viewed me as its master," Kasei told the two of his companions, "I have a feeling that a lot of questions are about to be answered here. I just hope I like the answers."

"So...where are we exactly?" Kara asked.

"We are in the land of fire," Kasei said, "But the question you should be asking is when."

"What do you mean when?" Kara asked.

"I mean that what you have just experienced was time travel," Kasei explained to them, "By holding onto me, you in a way made yourself connected to me, and the reason why I brought this out," he held out his staff, "Was to make sure that you weren't separated from me. Who knew the Will of a God was so great!"

He half complained that last part though before deciding to go exploring. His two companions were helpless to stop him so they simply followed him as he walked away.

The two that accompanied Kasei were like Romeo and Juliet, but a happier ending or would have a happier ending if they survived living with Kasei and his randomness and luck. There was a fine line between insanity and just plain crazy, Kasei was beyond any measurement on sanity by this point.

They walked around the patch of earth that would one day become known as the land of fire, fire country, and or Hi no Kuni. It wasn't tiring, surprisingly, Kasei's explanation for it was that whatever illnesses they might have contracted sometime in their lives had been rewound as the hands of time had been rewound, and that included injuries and body part sacrifices which made Izuna feel silly for continuing to wear his blindfold.

The three walked on for hours until Kasei decided to set up a camp of sorts on a plain, one that had seen better days, why it looked like it had seen better days was anyone's guess but Kasei had a feeling that his wandering mind was going to make him find out one way or another.

His companions didn't question him as to where he got their supplies since he didn't look like he even had a storage scroll on him, yet he was able to pull out all sorts of things from his magic satchel or whatever it was that he had for a pocket to hold so many things. They had tents, though since it was their real first time away from the strictness of their families Izuna and Kara opted to share a tent and things. Kasei obliged, he wasn't jealous of Izuna for bagging the only babe that he had spent a lengthy amount of time with, Shion and Mirka didn't count. One was a kidnap victim while the other was, by now, too young for him and his student too.

So they spent the night on the plain, Kasei opting to summon up a platoon of clones to defend the camp against would be attackers like bandits, ronin, or even ninja. It was a risky move as he wasn't quite sure if ninjas were out and the open soldiers already or still creatures of darkness and shadow. So he kept made sure that his clones wore his cloak over their forms entirely and wore their hoods up, face coverings and blank mask as well.

He then summoned up Hyakume (whiskerless blonde), Tengu (Red head), Shuten Douji (hair and eye hybrid wearing traveler's clothes), and his latest one Kurotabou (black hair and monk's garb). These clones were different from the rest as they were more like puppets than just regular clones since Kasei could control them as he controlled his own body, though this was his first time really using this hybrid variation of his signature skill, he used his mastery of his Hyakume technique to control multiple bodies in the same way he could see and move about with multiple pairs of eyes.

He had a total of, minus his special clones, thirty clones. Ten were archers and were armed as such, ten close range hand to hand or short sword fighters, and ten assigned as reinforcements to the other two squads. They didn't need torches to see, their masks did all the seeing in the dark for them. Without torches they were able to blend in better with their surroundings which conveniently was just darkness, their dark blue clothes blending in perfectly with the blanket of night.

If anyone dared to attack them, there would be no using any visible ninjutsu. They needed to hide as best as they could for the night, it would not do to startle Izuna and Kara from their long needed rest and time together after all.

Kasei slept under the stars that night, he slept outside of the tent he had prepared for himself since he wanted to be on hand if his clones came up against something that they couldn't handle, like a bijuu or a vast army.

'_I wonder what it would be like to live here for thirty years.._' he thought to himself, then smacked himself upside the head using a clone since his wonderings, wanderings, and even questions had a tendency to happen. A star up in the sky winked at him, and he groaned as he took it as a sign that he would be living for thirty years in this past, messing up the calculations he had entirely.

He slept lightly that night, and it was a good thing that he did since it made waking him up easier for his clones. It was probably just past midnight when he was awoken from his slumber.

With mask donned he could see as clearly in the dark as in the light, and saw clearly why he had been woken. There were two armies marching on the field that he and his _team_ slept in. They were practically in the middle of the battleground. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit.

He then noticed that the two sides appeared to be setting up camp, like they had traveled from afar just to do battle in this particular field.

"Fine out what they're here for," Kasei instructed Tengu, who flew up into the moonless sky and shot off like a rocket in the direction of one of the camps, he then spoke to Hyakume, "Find out what Tengu cannot."

"Hai," Hyakume said and sunk into the ground his hundred eyes scattering across the field and heading out in all directions to gather information.

'_I think I'll be needing more clones.._' Kasei thought to himself as his numbers were far too low to take on the numbers of those on both sides of the field at the moment, even with all that he could do, he was still limited by limitations he had set on himself. He created more clones, and just like his first batch they didn't have that tell tale puff of smoke. It was another platoon worth of clones, and they were divided just as the first batch had been. He had a feeling that he would be creating more of them as time wore on.

A one man army that was what he was. There was no denying it, not that he would try to anyway, he was a one man army. He could storm a castle on his own without actually having to worry about his troops falling battle, just the lives that he and his clones would be taking.

Tengu reported that there were roughly around a thousand or more men on either side of the field, an estimate which was confirmed by Hyakume's eyes. It was quite a number, and a number that would be Kasei's first real challenge since his battle with the bugs.

Sixty clones just weren't gonna cut it, he needed more. So he made more. Beefing up his ranks until they were three hundred clones on the field, a hundred melee, a hundred archers, and a hundred in between. All primed and ready to engage both camps should their intentions be what Kasei believed them to be.

"I listened in on a conversation," Hyakume spoke, "They've come to a stalemate in their war of conquest, one from what will be known as Wind, while the other Earth. This is the battle that will settle to whom this land will go to. It is the only land whose borders have not been claimed."

One of Kasei's clones, one that created a clone of itself to take its place had managed to transform into one of Kasei's special ones. It had accidentally fallen into meditation and gathered nature chakra. It gained the ability to create nature clones, which granted it the name Jinmenju from Kasei. Essentially it was more like a moku bushin, but with a more terrifying kind of wood in mind.

"This lands calls for the bloodshed to cease," Jinmenju stated as he walked up to Kasei.

"And how do you know this?" Kasei asked the clone as he had yet to assimilate the new special clone into himself.

"Accidentally gathered nature chakra that was mixed with ill intent, blood, and the darkness that shrouds the world," the clone replied, "You know what that means."

"Shuten-Douji," Kasei said as he turned to face the traveler looking one, "Rouse our two companions and take them to a safe place far enough from the battle that might take place, but near enough for them to run back here if they are needed or things are resolved."

"Hai," the traveler looking clone said before walking over to the tent of their companions and woke them up by some shaking.

"Uhng.." came out of Izuna's mouth as he was roused from his sleep, he opened his eyes to see a semi-familiar face, "What?" he groggily asked, it was sometime past midnight after all.

"Get up, we're moving," Shuten-Douji said, "Something big is gonna happen, and you two need to move."

"Who are you?" Izuna asked as he woke Kara.

"I am Kasei," Shuten-Douji replied, "A very special clone of Kasei, so I guess you should just call me Shuten-Douji."

"Alright," Izuna said.

"What?" Kara groaned, "Is it morning already?"

"No," Izuna replied, "We're moving, there's trouble, and we haven't seen battle in a while which is most likely why we're being moved."

"Let's go with that," Shuten-Douji mumbled, as he moved the flap of the tent aside for the two to get out from, "Once I'm in my released state, I want you two to jump onto my shoulders and hang on tight."

"What do you mean released state?" Kara asked, she'd never heard of such a thing.

"You'll see in a bit," the clone said, then transformed. His human form gave way to that of an Oni, but kept the traveler's clothes for some reason or whatever, "Get on," he was now a giant of a man, and his distinguishing features now included a pair of horns jutting out of his head and the fangs that jutted out of his mouth.

"Err right," Izuna said and jumped up and onto one shoulder, while Kara did the same on the other one. They held tight like they were taught, with chakra and couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of the wind on their faces as the clone ran off and leapt into the trees once they reached the nearest forest.

Once the trio were safely away, Kasei could focus on more pressing matters. How to stop anymore blood from being shed. He was stuck with just taijutsu and some ninjutsu moves since bladed weapons like short swords and arrows always drew blood.

"Form ranks," he ordered his clones, verbally and mentally, "We're out numbered by quite a lot, more than six to one I believe. A challenge, but we can do it. Of course we can. Knock 'em all out as fast and as efficient as possible, let not one drop of blood land on the earth."

"Hai," the clones said in low voices, then began to march off to battle, one which Izuna and Kara were able to watch thanks to Shuten-Douji's mask, and its specialness.

The clones began at a march, then a job, then a run, then they were gone, vanishing into the night like the shadows that they were. None of the sentries knew what to when near simultaneously their number dwindled into nothing. Their reliefs were also taken down in quick succession. The camps were not aware that a silent-death-like thing was creeping into the camp and taking out each person one by one, even the horses were not spared the fate of being knocked out.

"We'll be sending them out of the borders of the land of fire once they've all been knocked out," Kasei said to no one in particular, he then created platoon after platoon of clones, each platoon was sent to one of the camps to start transporting the bodies to their correct lands of origin, "We'll send these other would be conquerors of this land back from whence they came, then make sure that the other lands know that someone lays claim to this land that has called out for help for aid and for the relentless needless bloodshed of this time to cease."

He was now a one man clone factory, creating platoon after platoon of clones. The majority of the first batches were sent off to the camps to gather those that were to be expelled, while the rest were sent to the borders that Kasei knew so well from his memorization of maps during his training. They were to create a clone wall around the land for the time being, until the other nations' rulers recognized the land as having been claimed.

Izuna and Kara couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was amazing in that their friend and companion could do so much, he was truly a force to be reckoned with. The sheer number of clones that he kept producing grew closer and closer to the population of the Konohagakure that they knew, and continued growing after that mark was reached.

Darkness remained in the camps, all their supplies were left in place for the time being, but all of the humans and animals that the two armies had brought with them were transported, all unconscious, to beyond the borders of the land of fire. Not a single drop of blood had been shed, and not a clone had been lost in the ambush.

Had the clones been aiming to kill, it would have been a slaughter.

"Let us return," Shuten Douji said as he held out a hand for his mask to be returned to him. Once in his grasp he sealed his released state and began running off in the direction of their camp with the two others following him.

When the trio reached camp, they found that there was still quite a number of clones loitering about. Kasei himself was sitting in the middle of them drawing a map on a rather large piece of paper peppered with seals upon seals upon seals.

"What was all that about?" Izuna asked as he and Kara walked up to their seated friend and companion.

"I'm a kind of sage," Kasei said, "One of my clones accidentally tapped into nature and he was told that the earth cried out for aid, its voice was too small compared to the shouts of men to be heard by anyone. So I answered the call of the thousand voices crying out in the darkness."

"I can't sense any chakra from you, but you seem to be able to produce all of these clones," Izuna said, "How is that possible? Are you constantly hiding your chakra? Also, how much do you have?"

"I have a lot," Kasei said, "I could beaat a bijuu with the amount of chakra I have at my fingertips."

"..." his two companions were unable to say anything to that as they were completely blown out of the water. They had not been expecting such an answer from their friend and companions at all, they were expecting something like Kage-level reserves or close to a bijuu's tail, but not more than a bijuu.

"So..what's with the map?" Kara asked.

"I'm making a map of the world as I know it," Kasei said, "The general borders will not change by much over the centuries, so it would be a good idea to have such a map instead of constantly relying on my Alexandrian memory."

"I don't get the reference," Kara said.

"You don't need to," Kasei said, "I was talking about my brain."

"Oh," she said.

"So..what was it all about?" Izuna asked.

"I'm claiming the land of fire for the time being," Kasei replied, before going back to his map making, "No one really knows how the land of fire started as the divvying of borders was done even well before the time of the Sage of Six Paths."

"Oh..so..you really do own Konoha's land," Izuna said.

"Appears so," Kasei said.

"So..what happens now?" Izuna asked, "I mean..doesn't anyone live here, in this land? Do we go seek them out? What do we do?"

"Ninja clans are very few," Kasei said, "So we won't be looking for any of them just yet, or ever in this time. I have a feeling that you two will be deciding to stay in this time.."

"Why's that?" Kara asked.

"Because we'll be staying here for a good thirty years," Kasei said, "Or at least I will be, you'll be staying here longer," he had made up his mind, "When I leave I will leave this land to the two of you to govern and watch over."

"What do you mean exactly?" Izuna asked, "We've no experience leading."

"Well, then you'll have to get some experience," Kasei said, "I can't very well leave the well being of Fire Country in incompetent hands nor can I leave it in the hands of someone that has not gained my explicit trust."

"Oh," Izuna said, "But what about the people that already are living in this land, surely they'll protest your sudden wish to claim the land as your own."

"As I said, the ninja clans are few in this era," Kasei said, "So few that they need not be sought. As for regular folk that live in this land. I'm sure that they've grown dissatisfied with whoever has been in charge of their well being up to this point. We'll show them how much better they will be under our rule, especially with the number of clones that I have already defending the borders."

"Oh," Izuna said, "So how do we proceed from here?"

"We proceed from here by me sending you off as Shuten-Douji's assistant," Kasei said, "Shuten-Douji will know what to do, you just need to assist him. We'll be forming a more local army and moving the people deeper into the heart of Fire Country, I'll pick a spot and start construction on a castle as soon as possible, followed by homes for the people and compounds if possible."

"You really do plan to establish yourself as the first Daimyo of the Land of Fire, don't you," Kara said, rather than asked, it was more of an observation, really anyway.

"Looks like it," Kasei said, "But I'll most likely leave the land in your hands since I'll remain unmarried until the day I vanish."

"Well...I guess we best get started," Izuna said, "When do we leave and what does Kara-chan do?"

"Kara," Kasei said, "You'll be traveling with Kurotabou," said clone stepped forward and presented himself, "You'll be doing the same thing that Izuna shall be doing, as well as training since you're no longer as sickly as you once were with back when you were with your clan."

"Oh," Kara said, then asked, "Uhm...since I can't be known as a Senju and Izuna-kun can't be known as an Uchiha, then what are we to be called? What are we now?"

"Since we're so few and I doubt you care so much for ceremonies," Kasei said as he stood and faced the two of them, "I pronounce you as the founding couple of the Funkazan clan. How's that sound?"

"Thanks!" Kara exclaimed and hugged Kasei, Izuna followed suit, they were so happy, and hadn't really thought about making their being together official.

"Your welcome," Kasei said, "Now would you please remove yourselves from my person?"

They disengaged their hug and stood back from him allowing him some breathing room. I expect my name to grow to infamy or something like that, and shall remain a whispered word or something similar even after I've vanished into the time stream again."

"You can bet on it," Izuna said, he was a little high on the fact that he was now married to the girl he loved, and had secretly been seeing even though their two clans had been at war, and he had been blind those times too.

When all the clone armies were all kitted out, there was one company of three hundred for each special clone, Kasei assembled his generals and gave them some last minute orders, concerning troop movement as well as the general area where he would be building his capital single-handedly from the ground up.

As soon as the small armies went their separate ways to gather all the peoples of the land to her heart, Kasei shot off in one direction, the direction of where he knew the capital of Fire would be found on his map. He found the soil to be rich and fertile, even though it was covered in the trees that could light up the whole country in a sea of fire with just one mistake. It was probably the most dangerous area in the whole country, even having an active volcano there ready to set the world ablaze.

Kasei knew what he needed to do. First thing he did was create some clones to clear out the forest, remove all the fire trees and seal them up for future use. Following that, he made his way to the volcano where he created another team of clones to place seals upon seals upon seals all over the volcano to make it safe to actually build a castle on its summit, right smack dab at the center of its mouth, right above where the lava would shoot out if the thing ever erupted.

While his clones were making the place habitable by humans and domesticated animals, he jumped into the volcano like some insane coconut and made himself invulnerable to lava, magma, heat, and flame. He kind of, in a way, became the volcano and made sure that it would never erupt, but would continuously boil. It would continue to be the furnace that it was, one that would power smithies and forges, as well as hot springs.

When he was satisfied with his ground work, he began to get the started on building his castle, as well as the sprawling city that it would overlook. It would become quite a sight, he was sure of it. So he began working, with teams of clones taking shifts, but all more or less worked non-stop, using whatever material was available, and if something else was needed, Kasei simply made it appear or had something else be transmuted into it.

It was laborious, quite taxing, even with his stamina and his god-like to near infinite levels of chakra. He had _power _to spare but that also put a strain on his mind, and imagination for the more complex things. But he pushed on, and on some occasions sent out platoons of clones to reinforce his borders. He was defending his land from any would be conquerors, ones that kept finding themselves on his doorstep and were always pushed away, but the clone numbers still needed adding onto.

It took ten years for all the armies to gather all the people of the land, there weren't that many but they were all scattered out, some ninja clansmen mixed in with the common people to get to see for themselves as representatives of their clans just what sort of man commanded such a formidable army as to be able to keep away all that would dare enter his borders.

Those that had been living all of their lives in this time of the land of fire grew wary once they were brought onto the path that led to one of the most dangerous places in all of the land. They knew all about the dangers that they should be facing, they hoped that these bringers of hope to them would be able to protect them from the dangers they were supposed to face.

Even the ninja were more than wary, they wondered if it was possible that it had all been a lie, that they were all being herded to their deaths. But such thoughts flew away as soon as they reached the massive gate made out of an unknown wood that glowed as if it had embers or molten rock embedded into it.

They found archers on the wall, a few meters apart, along with some patrolmen walking to and fro. It was a fortress if they ever saw one, not that many had, but the ninja knew what it could possibly be from the outside.

The ten years were not only filled with military and construction activity, but with the bringing in of new life into the lives of the people, more specifically with Izuna and Kara. They had two children by this point in time, they met up every now and then and eventually conceived one girl and one boy, the boy being the elder of the two.

They were well respected military officers, even though they weren't of the highest of ranks in the army, they were still very much respected by the common people and even the ninjas, some had caught the couple sparring, and were enthralled by their ability.

"Open up! We're here as ordered some ten years ago!" Izuna's distinctive voice was heard by all that followed him and his superiors, of course the shout was not needed, but it was the theatrics of it all that mattered at this time.

There was no verbal response, but the massive doors of the main gate parted outward forcing some of the travelers to move away lest they be pushed or shoved away by the doors. The sight that met all of the travelers was that of an already built city ready to be populated, and a majestic castle overlooking it all. Gone were the fire trees that the civilians all feared to pass, and the volcano while still billowing some smoke stood calm, but at the same time still ready for some action. There were construction workers, all clones, still moving about the streets making last minute checks that all was ready for their new occupants.

"Its been so long old friend," Izuna greeted as Kasei simply jumped from atop the wall to the ground landing in a crouch, wearing his dark blue shinobi shouzoku, cloak, and other accessories. He stood and removed his mask along with his face coverings to reveal the face that would be linked to the Yondaime Hokage and Uzumaki Naruto in the future.

"Ten years isn't long," Kasei said, "Welcome back. I take it your journey was fruitful?"

"It was," Izuna said and motioned for another rider and mount to walk up beside him, riding on the horse was an eight year old boy and a six year old girl, "My children, Kasei-sama. Named Shikamaru and Temari."

"Eh?" Kasei said, then began to chuckle a bit, not because the names were funny but because of the other people he knew who shared those names, "I apologize if I offended you, but I know two others who share those names. Interesting choice Izuna."

"Thank you sir," Izuna said, they were acting more formal since they were in public.

"Well, you best get inside and settled in," Kasei said, "I still need to see to the preparations for those annoyed other rulers beyond my borders. They're gearing up to take **me** on."

"We've gathered some soldiers of our own," Izuna said and motioned to the columns of uniformed men and a few women, "We'd like to join you in the defense."

"Welcome aboard," Kasei said, "But I insist that everyone get inside and settle in. There is still much work to be done."

"Your will be done Kasei-sama," Izuna said, but before moving back to inform his superiors as protocol dictated, even though they were mere extensions of Kasei (sort of sometimes anyway), he spoke to his children, "He is your uncle Kasei, the man I told you two about. So go on in and explore, your mother or I shall come find you later. Ok?"

"Hai," two ridiculously cute replied met his ears, and he smiled before riding back to the others.

"Where's your mother?" Kasei asked the two children who were still on the horse in front of him.

"At the back," young Shikamaru replied while little Temari pointed to the way back and far away at the end of the train of people.

"I see," Kasei said, "Well, go on in, and listen to the workers if they tell you not to go somewhere."

"Hai," the older of the two children said, as he took responsibility of his little sister as an older brother should, and they rode off into the city to go exploring.

Kasei jumped back onto the gate and began issuing orders to all the clones stationed there. When he was done he leaned on the wall of the walkway above the gate and watched the people enter tentatively into the city. There was awe and they couldn't help but feel a sense of security within the wall, even the volcano made them feel safe for some reason.

It was all thanks to a number of seals and things that Kasei had placed throughout the village, most were protections, while others were meant to enhance positive thinking.

When last of the citizens had finally entered, and guards were posted by the gate, Kasei descended back to the street then leisurely walked to his castle, or second home away from home, once there he met with Kara finally.

"The years have been kind to you," he told her as he entered the room she was in, it was the master bedroom, one where she and Izuna were told that they would be staying as Kasei preferred less lavish settings for himself, his room was high up in a tower where only a ninja would be able to gain access to, one that knew how to mold and manipulate chakra.

He spoke with her briefly before switching to commander mode and informing her that as of the next day, she and her husband would be in charge of the people that they co-led with the other generals until either he returned or they were permitted to come join him at the front lines of the brewing war.

A majority of the people that the new citizens had seen on their first day vanished in the night. Some had thought that it was an attack, but it was revealed in a public announcement by Shuten-Douji in his released form, a sight that many had grown used to, that their Lord, the ruler of the Land of Fire, the Daimyo, had gone off to the front lines to defend the country.

None of the people had ever seen him before, but he was off to war to defend them even though he was still new to them. They didn't know what to think. Shuten-Douji went on to claim that Izuna would be their leader while their Lord was out fighting, and would continue to watch over them and govern them until their Lord either returned or he was summoned to the front lines.

While there were some protesters, the general populace decided that it would be a good idea to just start living this new life of theirs, and so did just that. Some opted to join the army, while others opted to continue the professions they were already practicing. Since their nation was only recently unified there were no nobles yet, but that would change Izuna told the people, promotions in the pecking order would come after their country was stabilized as well as through service to the Land.

Meaning noble status depended on military promotion.

Men are the more violent of the human species, which was why military recruitment wasn't so hard, the government never really ran out of volunteers, they even had to turn some people away, like those not fit enough to serve in the military.

Volunteers were trained and turned into soldiers, and from the crop of soldiers specialists were born. No chakra techniques were taught to anyone, not even the ninja that occasionally reared their heads. None of the three chakra wielders wanted to bring about the chakra revolution. That was for someone else to do.

It took five years for the Land of Fire to gain an army worthy to call its own. It had officers that had gained rank from their performance while in training as well as through exams and trials and tests. The generals, those special clones, had given up their positions of power to Izuna and his trusted captains before they went off to join their creator on the front lines keeping the would-be conquerors at bay.

The clone army was nearly wiped out, but held strong still, and to think that Kasei had yet to actually rest after all that time. He was running on his bijuu chakra, not stopping in his pursuit to protect the people that were now more his than ever before. Izuna's arrival came just in time as he was running on the last of his energy. The enemy knew that and grew bolder in their actions and attacks.

"You have good timing," Kasei told Izuna as he met his general and friend, "I'm almost spent," Kasei looked like he had aged physically to match the way he felt, old. He looked like a grizzled old war veteran, which he now was. The officers that had accompanied Izuna saluted him and stood at attention for they knew that they were in the presence of their Lord after all, the master of the land they lived on and the master they ultimately served.

"I can see that," Izuna told his friend, "You look even older than you should."

"Its how old I feel right now," Kasei said, admitting something weird in the process, "When I'm tired, really tired, my powers make me look as old as I feel."

"I see, or at least I see that now," Izuna said, "So why don't you go get some rest? Don't you have a tent lying around here somewhere?"

"I had one," Kasei told him.

"What happened to it?" Izuna asked, dreading the answer.

"Used it in attack that I thought up on the fly," Kasei admitted grinning madly, "It was fun."

"Well go find somewhere to rest then," Izuna more or less ordered his friend, "I'll have someone prepare a tent for you and go look for you once they're done."

"No need," Kasei said as he decided to Indian sit on the ground where he had been standing, propped up on his Animator rod in staff form, "I think I'll stay right here."

"I don't think any other Daimyo in existence acts like you do," Izuna told him, tried to chastise him, and failed, "Do what you want Kasei-sama. I'll still have someone prepare a tent for you and carry you to it if they have to."

"Whatever you say Izuna, whatever you say," Kasei said and easily slipped into a meditative and restive trance.

"Will he be alright there?" one of Izuna's trusted officers asked him.

"He should be," Izuna told his trusted man, "He's been holding out against two armies here for the past five years on his own and those troops that he took with him that day you all arrived at the capital."

"He's been holding back the ocean for that long? Why weren't we told about that? I'm sure we could have..." the officer's rant was cut short when Shuten-Douji and the rest of the former generals suddenly appeared near them.

"This is the weakest of all the fronts," Shuten-Douji informed Izuna, "The terrain is too flat for our forces to properly defend without resulting in using _that_. We've come to warn you that the other fronts are safe, the enemy will be focusing all of their firepower here. The other defenders are unable to reinforce you for the time being. So until Oyadama regains his strength and managed to summon up another army..you're on your own."

"We've got to go again, good luck here," Hyakume said, "My spies have reported that the numbers of our enemies will be like the ocean tide, so numerous that their numbers can be comparable to ants."

"Thank you for that information Hyakume-sama," Izuna said, and bowed to the former generals, his officers doing the same.

As soon as the generals left once again, in reality dispelling as to give back some of their strength to their creator as well as giving him all of what they had learned through the years, Izuna began issuing orders, the five years of ruling in his friend's stead had been good to him and gave him the experience necessary to lead.

He rallied the defenders and placed them evenly among those clones that still remained. Those voiceless warriors were growing fewer and fewer in number. The royal army knew that at one time their numbers matched the armies that attacked from all possible sides, but now they were very few, and some looked like they would fall any second from all the fighting they had been doing.

"How long have you been fighting for our nation?" one soldier asked a masked clone.

"Long," came the monotone voice of the clone, the fighting and concentration on fighting had worn away most of the human traits that they originally inherited from their creator.

"Have you ever thought of resting?" the soldier asked.

"Never," the clone replied, "It is our duty to protect those precious to the master. We shall perform our duty til our dying breath."

Such blind loyalty. The soldier was impressed, and would strive to become just as dedicated to his profession as the old veteran, the clone, was.

"Is that your only reason?" the soldier decided to push the clone for a bit more information.

"Of course not," the clone irritably said, "We fight to protect those that are precious to us, just as the master has been doing non-stop until your timely arrival."

"When was the last time you rested?" the soldier asked.

"Can't remember," the clone admitted wearily, "Doesn't matter. You're here now, you can do all the resting for us. We'll rest when we're _dead,_" the clone chuckled a bit after that, since after all it was just a clone, its will was the will of the creator.

"Don't bug the veterans soldier," Izuna said as he walked up to the soldier that had spoken to the clone manning the wall, "Permit him to continue his duty without distraction. He's been doing this kind of thing for a long time. Like he said, for the defense of the Land of Fire. We'll rest when we're dead."

"Yes sir!" the soldier said and saluted the second most powerful man in the country, second only to the Damiyo himself, he was about to apologize to the veteran but Izuna stopped his supposed action with a look before continuing on with his patrol.

There were some minor skirmishes along the border, everything was reported to both Izuna and Kasei. The enemy was keeping them on their toes while gathering their strength for what could possibly be the final attack or the start of the real war, the true siege.

Then at the end of two years..it happened.

"They're coming!" one of Hyakume's human spies burst into the tent panting hard but still relaying the news. The clones were all but wiped out, leaving mostly humans behind to defend the land they lived in. Most of the clones had perished in the line of duty defending the humans from things that would kill anyone.

"How soon?" Kasei asked, he had detached himself from his special clones in order to focus more on this main part of the border.

"They began mobilizing the other day," the intelligence officer reported, "The information was only confirmed the other day.."

"Alright," Kasei said, "We know that they're finally advancing. What of their numbers?"

One hundred thousands troops," the intel officer reported, "Statisticians say that our chance of holding off their first wave are high, but the succeeding waves..." he trailed off, which meant bad news.

"I see," Kasei said, "Well gentlemen. It looks like its time I take to the field once again."

"But Daimyo-sama!" the officers that didn't know him well enough tried to protest, leaders led but didn't or weren't supposed to actually join the battle, what if he was killed in battle. Morale would drop significantly and they would have a better chance of surviving if they surrendered after that.

"Should I be worried?" Izuna asked his friend, "Most of them men have yet to see what I have seen you know."

"Then they're all in for a treat," Kasei said a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "I've regained my strength, finally. Finally I get to play again."

He wasn't a traditional ruler, he didn't wear anything that would make him stand out too much. He wore what he wore the first time anyone had laid eyes on him. That body suit of his, a cloak, and a mask.

"I have a better idea," Izuna suddenly said stopping Kasei from leaving the command tent.

"Oh? What is this idea you have my friend," Kasei asked curiously.

"Your troops will hold off the first wave," Izuna suggested, "They deserve to meet this battle head on, instead of hide behind their ruler's might. After that you can have your fun. How's that sound?"

"We'll go with your plan," Kasei said, to the relief of the other officers, but added, "But I'll be waiting on the wall."

"Just remember not to kill them all!" Izuna shouted after him, he simply waved away the comment of concern before continuing his brisk pace to the wall.

The first wave of attackers marched onto the battlefield covering them was a volley after volley of arrows, filling the sky with their shadows, nearly blotting out the sun. It was a sight to see and marvel at if one didn't have to shield themselves constantly due to the rain of arrows. Some men were unable to get to cover quickly enough, while others weren't lucky enough to survive.

Those that were near enough to their cloaked Daimyo were the luckiest of the lot as not only did they not need to dive for cover, but they also witnessed a warrior that was obviously not a soldier catch the arrows of destroy them while they were still in the air. He had grown bored after the first volley and had decided to act out a bit and fool around since he had gotten back all of his strength.

"How did you do that?" one soldier asked from behind him as he stood on the wall and flung an arrow with one hand at the advancing army, one man looking through a pair of binoculars witnessed a man at the front of the army fall to the single arrow.

"Wait for the second wave!" Izuna's annoyed voice rang across the wall.

Kasei simply waved away Izuna's words and sat on the wall not trying to defend himself at all. All the arrows that continued to fall just fell before even getting close to him.

When the rain of arrows stopped the advancing army was well within siege range, and they commenced with their siege of the wall. Somehow the defending troops managed to keep them at bay and cause them to regroup and prepare for their next wave, the first wave managed to last against the fresh with energy defenders for a whole week before being forced to retreat.

"I am so going to enjoy this," Kasei said as he leapt off of the wall to the cries of horror of the soldiers who thought he was crazy.

"No one attack the advancing enemy!" Izuna ordered, his officers echoing his orders, but all of them thinking that he had been infected with the crazy.

There were shouts of protest, but just like Kasei, Izuna waved them away and decided to intently observe the battle to take place, or rather the slaughter.

"Are you sure this is wise Izuna-sama?" one of the officers asked, "Shouldn't we be protecting him? He is our Daimyo after all."

And soon word spread like wildfire as if one of the fire trees had been lit in a forest filled with dead wood and dry grass. Soon the whole of the wall, the whole of the border knew that their very Daimyo was the single man that had begun walking and advancing on the army all by himself. They held their positions as they were ordered, but couldn't help but fear for their ruler that had successfully defended them for more than five years.

"Just watch," Izuna said, "He's a crazy bastard that's what he is, but he's crazy strong too."

"What can one man do against an army?" a regular soldier posted near Izuna asked, not bothering with protocol, understandable with the situation.

"With the right training," Izuna said, "Quite a lot actually."

"He just lit a match!" one of the sentries keeping tabs on their Daimyo shouted, as if it bore some significance.

"What could that crazy ass bastard be planning to do with a match?" Izuna wondered out loud.

"I know he's your friend and all that, Izuna-sama, but he's technically our Daimyo, our ruler," an officer said, concernedly, "I don't think you should call him names."

"I've known him a long time," Izuna stated, "He's planning something.."

Just as his allies were wondering what he was planning, so did his enemies. They had stopped their advanced for a moment, but since nothing seemed to be happening, they decided to march on. What was one man anyway against thousands.

"He swallowed the lit flame!" several sentries shouted at the same time.

"Yup," Izuna said, as he walked up to the railing of the wall, "He's planning something insane. Definitely planning something insane."

"What makes you say that?" one soldier that hadn't noticed who he was talking to asked.

"Just watch," Izuna said, slightly excited and wondering how much his wife was going to beat him up once she learned she missed something like this, "You'll see in a moment."

In a moment both sides of the battlefield did indeed see.

They all watched as Kasei burst into a massive ball of fire which was accompanied with quite the roar. Then they watched as the fiery explosion shifted in the air and formed a figure bathed completed or made completely out of fire. Kasei was a Being of fire wearing samurai armor and wielding a katana in each hand.

"_Kugutsuchi.._" Izuna whispered in awe, he knew that his friend had a thing for the supernatural, but not to extent of portraying a kami, he looked to the heavens for any reprisals, finding none, he decided to just think that Kami had no hold over Kasei. Which was actually right on the money.

"Hijutsu: Kugutsuchi!" Kasei roared, but all that was heard was the roar he produced as he turned into the God of Fire.

His allies, his comrades, his soldiers, his army, looked on in awe and a bit of fear. Their Daimyo had done something truly insane, they believed that he channeled the patron god of of their country and had become possessed by him.

"Hijutsu: _**Will of Fire!**_" Kasei shouted and fire erupted from his body and his swords, instead of simply taking a step forward, he ran. The second wave didn't know what hit them, until it was too late. While not dead, the second wave of soldiers had all been knocked out due to the sheer heat of the flame, and the soldiers of the other battalions would have followed suit had Kasei not reverted back to human form.

He then just walked back to the wall at a leisure-like pace, some of the enemy cavalry decided to attack.

"Watch out you asshole!" Izuna shouted, and did something which those around him thought impossible and would continue to do so years after seeing it. He pulled out his sword and threw it like a spear in the direction of his friend. The sentries tracked the thing with their eyes, and watched amazed and relayed what they saw in great detail.

Kasei caught the sword with one hand and whirled around as if he channeled Fujin, and proceeded to dispatch each of the horse riding men that came at him with the intent to kill. It was slash, jump, slash, cut, jump, cleave, and so on and so forth, his feet never touching the ground until there were no longer any more riders that dared to challenge the one man army.

When he was done he had several horses that actually followed him back to the wall. He threw them up for Izuna to catch and put down, the horses were not as surprised by the actions of the two leaders as the soldiers that witnessed the inhuman thing. It was the start of why the people decided to view Daimyo and any that were of his line or choosing as either the chosen of Kami, the children of Kami, or Kami themselves. Deities that had chosen to fall to the Earth and watch over their people directly.

"That was fun," Kasei said as clambered back onto the wall, "You think they'll still attack?"

"Do you want a statistical answer or just my opinion?" Izuna asked him.

"I'd prefer your opinion over the academic answer," Kasei stated.

"There's a slim chance they'll still attack," Izuna said, "They might think it to be some kind of one time thing, you know."

"I know," Kasei said, "Can I do it again?"

"No," Izuna firmly replied, "You'll age faster if you do it again...at least I think you will."

"Whatever," Kasei said, "I'm going to go meditate, wake me when you can no longer handle it."

Kasei then walked off, jumping off of the wall opting to skip the stairs, and finding a nice spot to meditate on. He was joined by some hybrid clones to help in the gathering of nature chakra. He wanted to try a new attack, but would need to be roused from his trance to be able to find a suitable target or targets for its testing and for the mad scientist in him to be satisfied with some form of result.

Some of the soldiers that were off duty visited him while he meditated, they saw smoky forms, six of them, wearing the same attire as he did, surrounding him. Unlike what the Toad Summons of the future would teach their students in the Sage Arts, these clones were the beginnings of a new form for Kasei. Enenra.

The soldiers didn't know what to make of the mysterious figures that surrounded their Daimyo on six sides meditating as he did. They didn't know their significance, and so decided to ask their commanding officer, who asked his, who asked his, until someone voiced the query to Izuna.

"They're kind of part of his clan," Izuna decided to say, for in reality the clones really were. Kasei was a clan of one, an army of one, a family of one. He had a number of forms now, these special clones that were just as real as most people and didn't just dispel when hit, even a mortal blow would not dispel them, chakra exhaustion or self destruction or a command from Kasei would dispel them, but anything else would affect them like it would a regular person. Not that they were in any way normal to begin with.

Finding out that their Daimyo actually had a clan surprised so many, they hadn't thought of it. But why all the secrecy, even the man himself usually had his features hidden unlike Izuna who openly showed his face. They didn't want to force their Daimyo into doing anything if he didn't want to, for what right did they have in ordering around a kami in the flesh, or so they believed. But of course when it came to belief and when it came to Kasei, such a combination could have a number of effects.

Years three more years of fighting passed, the land's enemies grew bolder which each passing skirmish that the the God of Fire did not present itself. They believed it to be a one time trick, something to intimidate or scare them away, which it partially was. So they pressed onward, but the people they were fighting were powerful in their own rights. The did not easily give up, and soon the ranks of the military of fire swelled, as more and more of the hidden citizens came out of hiding from the wars and battles that used to take place on their soil. They joined up in the defense of their homeland, a homeland which had been defended by the now infamous Fushigi clan, whose numbers no one was sure of, but knew many had perished in the defense of the Land of Fire.

The Daimyo was also known for being partially insane, insane in the sense that he had singlehandedly lain waste to an entire battalion on his own, using either some sort of magic trick or was some deity in disguise. None of his subjects were sure, nor did they really care. All they did care about was that he was or had been doing something for them and the land in entirety. There was also their increasingly growing love for him and for the slowly growing Funkazan clan, of whom Izuna was the head of and also just so happened to have been named the one to rule in his stead should anything happen to him or should he somehow vanish without a trace, or nearly without a trace.

It was that last part that had some thinking or believing in the greater possibility of him being a kami.

After twenty years of fighting, it finally happened. Izuna decided that they had been fighting for long enough, for far too long even. He decided that there needed to be a quick solution to end the fighting, that something had to be done. He was going to unleash his friend on their enemies, and hopefully Kasei would take things a little bit more seriously, which he doubted would happen. It was either that or appoint someone to finally take things seriously for him.

Izuna then decided to forget about that last part since it would end up being him doing all the work. He was equally loved by the people sure, but compared to Kasei, he was still just some demi-god. Not that he minded, he had a family that loved him after all.

"What do you want now?" Kasei irritably asked as he was shaken out of his meditative trance and state by Izuna, finally, he asked as he hadn't been paying much attention to the world around him, the earth in this part of the country had long since been dead anyway.

"I'll take up the mantle of regent until your return, whenever the hell that will be," Izuna said, "Or until one of your own blood decides to take up the throne. So long as you finally end this war once and for all."

"I can do that," Kasei said as he stood, his joints cracking from not having moved for years, he hadn't needed to eat as he was part of the world for those years, and had also found a way to subconsciously draw nutrients directly from the world, but it was only something he could do while in that meditative state and trance.

"Can you do it now?" Izuna asked, no one's seen hide nor hair of you since you did your last stunt and walked off to meditate.

"I can," Kasei said, "And I shall. Just give me the signal and you'll see something from out of anyone's greatest combined nightmares."

"Are you sure that would be wise?" Izuna asked before leaving his friend, one that he didn't think he'd ever get to see again, unless Kasei had a way to enter the afterlife without being dead. Something which he could do actually. Heh heh heh.

"I'm defending my country," Kasei said, "I should act pissed about the war anyway, which I partially am. Too many lives have been lost as it stands. I shall no longer permit the loss of more over some pathetic reason such as the former status quo as well as jealousy.

"If you say so," Izuna said, "You know, its been nice knowing you, my friend. Kara-chan would say the same thing."

"I know," Kasei said, and they both made their way closer to the wall, where the defenders weary from the constant fighting, "See you on the otherside somtime, huh."

"Yeah, sure my friend," Izuna said as he went on ahead to announce that their Daimyo was once again going to take center stage in the war effort, and had been gone training and making a plan that would finally end the war. There were cheers from soldiers new and old.

Then the enemy began to charge the border wall once again.

"Kasei-sama! If you've got a plan! Now's the time to implement it!" Izuna shouted for all to hear.

Instead of some verbal affirmation, all the troops on the field of battle felt it. The ground began to quake like an earthquake had decided that it was time to split the world. The advancing enemy thought that it was their patron god deciding to give them a helping hand.

The forces of the Land of Fire then saw something from the distance. The far off tree line of the nearest forest to the border grew darker even though it was still afternoon, the clouds in the sky began to gather and darken. Izuna watched just like the rest of them what was happening. The enemy thought that it was the defenders finally giving in to the futility of it all.

From the darkness they crept out, half illusion half real. The crept out, nightmarish creatures, flights of fancy, the imagination's great creations creeped and crawled out of the woods. Leading them was none other than their Daimyo himself, Fushigi Kasei.

He was followed closely by the generals that had fought on the front lines before the official army had been formed and deployed to the border. Shuten-Douji, Kurotabou, Hyakume, Tengu, joined by Kugustuchi, Enenra, Jinmenju, and a few others. They were all in their released states or forms, displaying just what kind of monster they all were, what supernatural Being they were of.

Even Kasei himself had decided to use his default blonde form, with the whisker-like birthmarks at first but decided to go without those things that were no longer there. Some people in the future thought that Namikaze Minato was the return of their first Daimyo, but he proved not to be as he fell to the Kyuubi, something that they believed to be weaker than their Daimyo. This was the reason why some believed him to be the return of Kasei.

He wore his usual attire, but left his face coverings and mask off, his hood was also down. He finally showed what he looked like, what he really looked like. It was refreshing in a sense for all those involved. He had finally trusted them with his face.

Then he began a charge, the defenders didn't know what was planned, but whatever it was got them cheering, their sudden roar of cheers caused some of the advancing enemy troops to pause for a moment before they were forced to move onward lest they be trampled by their allies.

It was like parade of demons in the night, since the dark clouds gave the illusion of nighttime. It was rather frightening that so many nightmares had come to life. But since they were on the Land of Fire's side, the defenders didn't feel as afraid.

They watched as their Daimyo jumped over the wall followed by his most trusted generals, then by the other monsters, spirist, and beasts. Over the wall and heading straight for the enemy troops. They went over the wall like a collective shadow rising from the abyss. There were so many of them, most of them illusions, but no one really knew that not even Izuna knew about it.

It was like the fears of all the advancing troops had suddenly come to life. Their fears had risen from out of the shadows and decided to defend the Land of Fire. There were no telling what would happen to the troops if they stayed, so they turned tail and ran.

Kasei and his illusionary forces and clones began to drop down to the ground and began to a real charge of their own. Gashadokuro was one of the newest additions to Kasei's forms and powers. He was a giant skeleton, supposedly made up of the restless dead. He was also the first one to actually attack.

He reached out with a massive hand and grabbed hold of as many soldiers as he could then flung them back in the direction of their home country. Kasei made sure that they would not die from the impact, but they would think thrice or more before they decided to attack the Land of Fire again.

Once Gashadokuro started the actual attack, the rest followed. The last one to attack was Kasei himself, the original one. He raised his hands into the air before slamming them down onto the ground with such force that he everyone that remained knew that he was the real source of the quake.

The ground shook once more, then silence set in, before it was rent asunder by such a force that surely the whole of the world felt it. The shockwave was immensely powerful, and all that had not yet been blasted back to their homelands were sent there by the shockwave that swept across the battlefield. The collected energies of nature that Kasei had accumulated seeped into the earth, and all that had long ago lost their life. All that life had returned in a sudden rushed eruption of life.

It was the technique that Kasei had wanted to try, it was an offensive technique while at the same time a haeling one, though the only thing it could really heal was nature and small injuries of the body of anything more complex than a plant.

When all was said and done and the battlefield was returned to what it was back before the wars, the border actually returned to what it had at one time been, leaving only very few passes that were safe for crossing. Safe to say, there was a natural barrier around the country, made entirely out of fire trees. Trees that would in the future either burn or would be cut.

With all the nature back, and after search teams had been sent out to find Kasei, Izuna decided to inform the troops that their Daimyo had temporarily left them, but remined with them as the Will of Fire.

Where Kasei went as anyone's guess, but it was closer to Earth Country, he had to remain in that place due to having to return to where he left his student.

So he trained in that particular area until the night came that he go through the transition of going forward in time. It was pleasant as he felt the world move forward instead of watched it. He stuck to meditating until his shoulder was poked by a surprised Mirka who had been standing a foot away from where he suddenly appeared as if he had been there all along.

It was dawn.

"Sensei? Is that you?" she asked him once he had opened his eyes and was looking at her with humor filled eyes.

"Tis I," Kasei replied happily, then stood up while dusting himself off from his long journey, "How long was I gone?"

"The whole night," she replied, "But I found your clone. Its out on patrol keeping watch for any pursuers that might have come after us."

"I can feel that," Kasei said, then he had the clone dispel, "I want you to deliver the package the rest of the way to Iwa."

"Why?" she asked him.

"I'll stay here and stall the Konoha-nins that have been sent after us and are quite close thanks to some summons they have at their disposal," Kasei stated, "I'll meet you in Iwa once I'm through with our political allies."

"Are you sure?" Mirka asked, he was asking a lot from her and she wasn't sure if she was ready just yet to proceed on such a high ranking mission solo.

"I'm sure," Kasei said, "You'll do fine, and if anything actually goes wrong, I guess it would be safe to say that you're with me. That you are my student, but only use that as a **LAST** resort."

"Why? Do they know you in Iwa?" Mirka asked.

"I have a feeling that they would know my name at the very least, just not my face...I hope," Kasei replied, "Just go. The faster you leave, the sooner I can make sure you are not followed."

"..Hai.." Mirka hesitantly said, saluted, then bounded off to find their package who was actually sitting near where the clone had dispelled, she had been having a conversation with it as if it had been the actual person, and as if the clone knew that it would be dispelled at almost any time.

"We've got to go now priestess," Mirka said, "Sensei's going to hold off your rescuers while I take you the rest of the way to Iwa."

"Alright," Shion said, a bit happily, the genin didn't know why but it was kind of creepy. Shouldn't a hostage or prisoner or victim want to be rescued.

"Are you alright?" Mirka asked the priestess whom she had crouched down for to get on her back, she was a genin and could handle whatever such a slim teen could weigh.

"I am," Shion stated, "Your sensei is quite the interesting fellow. I think I've begun to like him, and if he keeps his promise to me, I'll like him even more."

"What does that mean?" Mirka asked as he began to run in the direction of Iwa, she had remembered to take their mission scroll, the one that was needed for her to get into Iwa unscathed.

"He's strange that sensei of yours," Shion said continuing their conversation as Mirka ran at full chakra enhanced speed, which was quite fast, "He promised to take me back to my country when he was done with his business, whatever that is he didn't share."

"He what?" Mirka asked surprised, though it didn't cause her to stop running as that would be bad for the both of them, "Then what's the use in taking you to Iwa?"

"To finish your mission," Shion said, "Your mission, as he told me, is just to deliver me to Iwa and nothing else. You are free to stay there for a few days before you would leave to go home and report the completion of your mission. Other than that, you are free to do as you please. So he promised to take me home."

"Alright...it must be true that the really strong ones are insane or have crazy personality quirks," Mirka said, then accused her, "You must have used your womanly wiles and charms on him, didn't you. There's no way he would have just promised something like that. It would or could compromise our village's relations with Iwa, which have always been strained."

"I did no such thing," she insisted, "I just demanded to know why you had taken me, what you planned on doing with me. The usual slew of questions that a victim would ask."

"I've never been that kind of victim, so I wouldn't know," Mirka stated blandly as she ran.

When the two girls were a kilometer or more away, the Konoha jounins arrived, landing silently in front of Kasei, covered head to toe in his signature clothes, his features covered by cloth and mask.

"Late as always Kakashi," Kasei stated as the last one to land in front of his prepared for battle was Kakashi himself, late as usual.

"I was lost on the road of life," the man automatically stated, it was part of his usual routine to reply in such a manner no matter who was stating that he was late again. He believed that the habit was so ingrained in his being that he would probably be late for his own funeral and tell the Shinigami some lame ass excuse.

"Kakashi," Kurenai chastised him harshly, supposed to be in a whisper but she had a feeling that their foe before them would hear it anyway, "Shush."

"Habit," Kakashi shrugged, then spoke to their foe, "Where is the priestess. We've been tracking you. You've left quite the obvious trail too."

"Intentionally of course," Kasei said, "I wanted to have a good fight before I finished my mission."

"where is the priestess," Kurenai demanded.

"On her way to Iwa as we speak," Kasei said, then a clone intercepted Gai as he tried to make a break for it and chase after Mirka and Shion, Ah ah ah, you're not getting away from me that easily."

"You do know that a four on one fight isn't going to be easy to win," Asuma decided to say.

"I know," Kasei said, "But it should be fun for me, since you'll be the ones losing, not your lives, I don't do that to allies...or subordinates."

"Are you insinuating something?" Kakashi asked, he felt offended for some reason, something that his comrades were not expecting, until Gai remembered that Kakashi blamed himself for his teammate's death in the last war.

"No, just stating a fact," Kasei said, then got into the most relaxed stance that any of the four had ever seen, "I'm ready when you are."

"Raikiri!" Kakashi immediately acted, dashing with all the speed and acceleration that he could muster, he didn't think that his opponent would be able to dodge such a thing from such a close range. He even moved before Gai could move again, but seeing as he was knocked back by a solid clone it was more than possible.

Kasei moved at the last moment, caught Kakashi's wrist, disengaged the assassination jutsu, then kicked the man where it would really hurt him the most while his other hand took the man's _precious _from his kunai pouch.

"Thanks for lending me.." Kasei said as he held up the book and began opening it to the first page, his intent on opening the book was not hindered by Asuma attacking him with wind natured chakra coated trench knives or by Kurenai performing one of the genjutsu she used to trick perverts.

Kasei weaved in any out of the slashes and lunges that Asuma made, while he weaved an illusion of his own, one where he showed Kurenai images, visions, of her on and off boyfriend sleeping with other women, most of them her close friends, placing a seed of doubt in her trust of both her friends and her boyfriend.

When he decided that the Konoha-nin, minus Gai who was busily battling a clone that had shifted into Shuten-Douji's sealed form, a physically strong form, Kasei shifted into Kurotabou but not the uniform that that form took on. Kakashi had felt the shift, but didn't know what it meant for them, so he raised his guard even more, entering the defensive which saved him from many injuries that his friends suffered from as they were hit by the thousands blades that shot out from Kasei's cloak.

Kurenai was brought out of her illusion caused trance state, a part of her mind had been concentrating on a genjutsu that was no longer running while the rest of her was caught in the illusionary visions of her friends doing the nasty with her boyfriend. Asuma was smashed into a boulder as he tried to dodge the many blades that were sent to impale him on them.

Gai had suffered a blow to his solar plexus, one that would have outright killed any other man, but had just caused him to slide back from sheer force of will while trying to hold back his coughs of blood. He didn't think he'd ever find a person that could hit him so hard. He couldn't help but grinning while wincing as he had finally found another strong opponent, too bad he didn't know that it was Naruto. He'd be crying anime tears if he knew that fact. Although Naruto, the idea, the facade, the mask, the face, the personality, was long gone.

In his place was Fushigi Kasei, the improved version, but still the same person in some respects.

"Had enough yet?" Kasei said, as his clone continued to trade blows with the not yet tired Gai, "Gai-san seems to be doing a whole lot better than his eternal rival."

'_Do I dare?_' Kasei asked himself as he returned to looking bored, '_Do I?_'

He was contemplating his next move. Beat them physically or see if he could mentally scar his former sensei for life or scar him more than he already was, what with having a friend like Gai.

"What are you planning?" Kurenai demanded, though Kasei knew that she was a little shaken up, and not due to the many small cuts and scratches she sported on her body, or the small and slight tears in her clothing.

"Hem hem," Kasei prepared himself for the mental scarring of Hatake Kakashi, "Since your eternal rival seems to be beating you as he still continues to go on, fighting with all his might, and even enjoying himself against my clone...I have this to say to you," he pointed theatrically and dramatically in Kakashi's direction, "THE POWER OF YOUTH HAS DEFEATED YOU AND YOUR POWER OF PORN! MAITO GAI'S FLAMES AND POWERS YOUTH ARE OVERFLOWING WITH GREATNESS! YOUR POWER OF PORN AND COOL IS NOTHING IN COMPARISON WITH THE BURNING FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

He then performed an exaggerated thumbs up pose in honor of Gai, one that was complete with a shining and slightly enlarged thumb, and a kilowatt smile that could be used as a deadly weapon to vampires. Of course the Cheshire grin was only visible on his mask. There was also an illusion of a bright sunrise that accompanied the pose.

Gai had stopped to stare, and was hit in the face by a powerful right hook from the sealed Shuten-Douji, when he heard the words that Kasei had exclaimed. He felt the burning power, which in his intense state had mistaken for the POWER OF YOUTH!, while it was just refined bijuu chakra powering the genjutsu.

When Kasei returned to normal, he found that Gai was finally beaten, the man was too injured to find the strength to move, but the clone had been forcefully dispelled, the strain being too much for it. Kurenai was in a daze, the genjutsu had been too much for her. Asuma was still deciding whether or not he was going to puke or run away in terror or set an appointment with a Yamanaka for a brain wipe.

As for Kakashi...well he was down for the count and in dreamland (or nightmareland) trying his hardest to bring forth the strength to combat the overwhelming _POWER OF YOUTH!_. He was failing, which was why he was still unconscious even after Kasei burned the man's Icha Icha in front of an exposed Sharingan eye. It was cruel, but Kasei viewed it as punishment for showing such blatant favoritism when he was still the man's student.

'_Maybe I overdid it.._' Kasei thought, he didn't really mind what he did as it did serve a purpose, '..._I'll try to avoid doing that again.._'

He then created four clones, and had them transform into white body suit and plain black mask wearing ninjas. All four were given the task of delivering the four jounin back to Konoha where they could get some much needed medical attention. He followed that up by creating a single clone, this one a special one.

It was Kugutsuchi, but instead of being a humanoid mass of flames, it was a humanoid flame trapped in samurai armor. The immediate area around the clone was warm and not scorching hot as was the inside of the armor. The form of god of fire was sent with a mission request for Kasei to retrieve and return Shion to her country, it was signed and sealed with the official seal of the Daimyo of Fire, a unique seal that would be verified by the Fire Court as Izuna had made a way for verification to be possible even without the official seal which was with Kasei, the man taking it after its unique forging.

The seal was unique in that there was only one other of its kind or look and feel in the world. It was an exact copy of the way Kasei's seal which was now more like a tattoo on his belly looked. That spiral design of the prison that had held the Kyuubi. That was the Daimyo's official seal.

He loved the perks of his position. The supposedly immortal and kami-worthy Daimyo of Fire was back in the world, it would be something which the Daimyo-tempore, or regent as the man was, would be informed of. Following him, the decision to make the first daimyo's return would be debated by the regent's court advisors and officials, none of whom were corrupt in any way as they truly viewed their stations as sacred duties due to the nature of their true ruler.

There was also that one corrupt official and his punishment to think about. The man had thought to greedily gain power within the court, but before any of his plans could come to fruition, evidence was presented by one member of the Guardians, the nephew of the regent and head of the branch family of the Funkazan clan, of the man's treachery. When the man's intentions and machinations were brought to light, the volcano which the castle was situated on shook and a tentacle of molten rock shot out and into the court, grabbed hold of the man who screamed with all his might as he was dragged into the lava lake below.

Shadow had warned Kasei about the topic and subject of lousy officials.

The resurfacing of someone from centuries ago was sure to bring some chaos in the capital and the rest of the country once it was found out. But to make sure that no riots were formed or other such activities, the court would be sure to start searching for and spreading the word about the founder and first ruler of the Land of Fire.

He was a powerful ruler, one that spent most of his career as ruler fighting for the people, alongside the people, and it would surface that he was trained in the art of ninjutsu, something which the ninja clans of that time had yet to be taught.

It would be ruled out that the first daimyo was also the Sage of Six Paths since the man had no descendants, while the Sage did in the form of the Senju, Uchiha, and the branch known as the Uzumaki. Though that clan had been somewhat forgotten by the short passage of time.

"I love myself," Kasei said after his clones had all gone to perform their duties. He rested for a bit, regaining some of his lost energy, which wasn't really much of a loss, before he ran for Iwa. It would be a week before student and teacher would see each other again, since the student was slower than the teacher and the teacher had something to do.

Kasei's side mission was locating the jinchuuriki known as Han, a man that was related to the Shodaime Tsuchikage-tempore. He had not been treated well by the people of his village after he had been turned into one of its weapons, and had tried on occasion to run away from the village that hated him. A village that had failed him. He had heard stories of the true Shodaime, and had often wondered what life would have been like if the man had actually stayed to hear of the proclamation.

Kasei managed to find the man, still alive, and in his fifties, he was in the age group of the Sannin of Konoha. He was also just as skilled as that group of legends. He lived in one of the more hot spring populated areas of the Land of Earth, due to his need to keep warm via steam. It was a side effect of being a jinchuuriki. He always needed to feel like he was in a sauna. He was more of a genjutsu specialist, something which the other jinchuuriki couldn't boast about being since most of the other bijuu chakra was could not be used or was far too potent to be used for the delicate art of illusions, something which Kasei bypassed thanks to _power_.

"Hello Han," Kasei greeted the man who had been trying to hide himself using his steam based techniques. He had found for the first time that his genjutsu wasn't fooling this man that was determined to find him.

"Who are you?" Han demanded to know, "What business do you have with me?"

"I know what you are," Kasei told him, "I know what you've been through. I can sympathize with you."

"What are you talking about?" Han decided to be on the defensive, the man knew far too much than he felt comfortable with.

"I am talking about your treatment as a jinchuuriki," Kasei said, "For I was once one too."

"What?!" Han exclaimed in surprise, "But the only way out of becoming a jinchuuriki is death.."

"Unless you never give up and actually manage to find a way to dodge death's grasp," Kasei told him, "I found a way. The sentience of the bijuu is no longer within me, and its power is now my own. I want you to join me, come with me. We both know you've been seeking acceptance and a purpose. So why not come, follow me."

"Why should I? What have you to offer?" Han asked.

"What would it take to get you to return to Iwa?" Kasei asked, it was one of those out of the blue kinds of questions.

"I'd only go back if the true Shodaime was to take up his post," Han admitted, as he didn't really have anything to lose anymore, "I have always wondered how Iwa would have turned out should he have ruled instead of my granduncle, Tatsumaki Kyoukan."

"Well who was appointed before Kyoukan-san?" Kasei asked, dreading the answer but now that he had a taste of what it was like to rule, he wouldn't really mind the responsibility. Especially now that his new dream was to bring peace to the world, one way or another, and not just get himself some respect.

"A man official records say who called himself Fushigi Kasei," Han replied, "He was a man that could command the earth to the extent that one of his jutsu was called Earth's Shadow, which cause the earth to rise up and cast its shadow over all, before ending with his victims unconscious when they could have been killed."

"You know," Kasei said, "You should really let go of all the hate you hold within yourself, like I did. I used to strive to prove those that saw me as a demon wrong."

"Where did that get you?" Han asked.

"I gained some recognition, some friends," Kasei told the jinchuuriki, "It gained me some measure of happiness. Keeping all that hate bottled up inside you is not good for your health you know. Its slowly killing you inside. I've seen what it can do to those that give up entirely."

"So what's your point?" Han asked, "What will doing such a thing get me now? I'm powerful in my own right, I could be respected for it, but instead I am still hated and feared."

"Its a reaction to what you yourself feel for yourself," Kasei said, "At least that's my opinion on the matter. I long ago accepted who I was...I guess this is just me saying that I see the good in you, and you should too. Once you do others will follow, and you will find whatever it is you are looking for."

"Do you have any other reason for me to follow you?" Han asked.

"Well...I was heading for Iwa and was going to have a little fun there," Kasei told him.

"While I might not like what had been done to me, I don't want to see anything bad happen to my home," Han said and prepared for a fight.

"I'm not going to attack that place," Kasei informed him, "I'm just going to retrieve someone from there, as well as talk to the Sandaime Tsuchikage-tempore about some things."

"What are you going to ask of him?" Han asked, curious.

"To revoke your secret nuke-nin status," Kasei stated.

"And how are you going to do that?" it was only then that Han noticed Kasei's forehead protector, "You're a Kusa-nin. What can you realistically do or say to make that old man change my status."

"If you come with me, you'll see," Kasei said, not really giving the answer Han wanted to hear.

"Fine," the jinchuuriki decided, "But if I something bad happens, like they decide to extract my bijuu from me, you'll allow me to kill you."

"Sure," Kasei said, not really minding at all, "So while we're there, I don't want you trying to antagonize anyone, but if they attack you I'll defend you, so don't even bother defending yourself. Trust me, I'll protect you."

"You sound confident that you can take on a whole hidden village," Han noted.

"I am confident," Kasei said, "I may be a Kusa-nin now, but that's only because I wanted to be one. I've got a contract with Kusa allowing my status, there is a time limit to my tenure before I am let go, and I cease to be a Kusa-nin."

"Interesting," Han said, "How'd you go about doing that?"

"I gave them an offer they couldn't refuse," Kasei said as he made his way back to the village proper, Han following close behind.

The two traveled for the remainder of the week to Iwa, stopping only once to make camp just a few miles away from the hidden village. Four hours later Mirka and Shion arrived. How Kasei knew they would be there, was anyone's guess, not that anyone cared to as the man seemed weird enough as it is.

"So how was your fight with the Konoha team?" Mirka asked after Shion got off of her back, the two girls choosing to sit by the fire pit that Kasei had set up, then looked briefly in Han's direction, "And who's he?"

"His name is Han, Tatsumaki Han," Kasei replied, "As for the Konoha team, I've sent them back to their home, mentally scarred."

"But what if they inform their superiors about our involvement?" Mirka asked, their village's political relationship with Konoha was now finally on the line.

"Nothing will happen," Kasei assured her, "I've made sure of it."  
"What do you mean you've made sure of it?" Mirka asked, "All will eventually be revealed, just know that if Konoha tries anything, the Fire Court will not be very happy with that hidden village."

"You have connections in that court?" Han asked in surprise, he had not been expecting that, nor had the two girls.

"In a manner of speaking I do," Kasei said, "I'm waiting for a message from Kusa about it actually."

"What about it?" Mirka asked, then remembered her manner and introduced herself to their new traveling companion, "I'm Mirka by the way."

"She has some manners," Han noted, "You forgot to introduce us," he told Kasei.

"Slipped my mind," Kasei said, then apologize, "My apologies."

"Accepted," all concerned parties said.

It was in the morning when a messenger hawk finally arrived and permitted Mirka to retrieve the message it had been carrying before it flew expertly back to Kusa that might need its services. The message stated that after the priestess was used for whatever purpose she had been kidnapped for, she was to be returned by whatever means necessary to her country and her people. It was who the client for the mission was that surprised those not in the know.

"You know the Fire Daimyo?!" Han physically shook Kasei while his companions stared at him in shock, who knew that such an eccentric and powerful guy knew someone that high up on the food chain, "And you're just a jounin! What the hell man?"

"You...you know the Fire Daimyo?" Mirka asked, she met someone from Fire Country once, when she was little that told her a story about Fire Country's Daimyo. She knew about the man of myth and legend, but didn't know the man's name, else she would have probably done something crazy while in her sensei's presence.

"Y-ye-ye-yes," Kasei replied as he was shaking in Han's grip on him, it wasn't much of a stutter, but how else was he to sound while he was being shaken by such a man. He was dropped on the ground once he replied, and Han had to calm himself down.

"What wrong with knowing him?" Kasei asked, he was slightly amused by their reactions.

"Now I owe the Fire Daimyo a favor..." Shion said, "Do you know what he'll ask of me or my country? I'm honor and duty bound to repay him somehow now.."

"Don't worry so much about it," Kasei said, waving away her concerns, "You don't have to worry about it. Its his fault we kidnapped you anyway."

"What? Why?" Mirka, Shion, and Han asked at the exact same time.

"Jinx!" Han proclaimed smugly, the two girls wouldn't be able to speak until their names were said by Han.

"So childish of you," Kasei said.

"I never really had a childhood, like you," Han said.

"Fair enough," Kasei said and proceeded to prepare their breakfast before they headed out for the last leg of the journey to Iwa.

Kasei had sent ahead word of their arrival, he didn't specifically state who they were only that Kusa had sent them. He also weaved an illusion over Han that would make anyone that saw him forget that they saw him a moment later, before any chaos could be caused.

They were met at the village gate by a squad of jounin who then led them to the Tsuchikage Tower, where Onoki of Both Scales (Ryotenbin no Onoki) waited for them. He was rather surprised that the priestess that he had hired some Kusa-nin to kidnap was not bound or didn't seem to mind being a captive. He wondered what had happened for that to happen, and silently wished someone else was in his position to deal with such things.

"I apologize for having these Kusa-nin take you from your home," Onoki told Shion, "It was the only way I thought that my village's rival would not interfere in my village's plan. I hope that your trip here wasn't as troublesome as it would be for others."

"It was pleasant, to say the least," Shion said, smiling a bit as she spoke, "It wasn't quite like what I thought a kidnapping would be."

"You sound..happy about all this.." Onoki said, he felt a bit concerned, "Why is that? I'd think that you'd be rather..I don't know..depressed."

"May we please skip that, and proceed with why I'm needed here," Shion said, somewhat diplomatically.

"We require your ability when it comes to beings of malevolence," Onoki said, "Once my Anbu have apprehended one of the two runaway Jinchuuriki we would like you to help in the extraction and resealing. We feel that Han and Roshi are lost causes, one cannot be found while the other cannot be reasoned with.."

"What do you plan to do with these new jinchuuriki?" Shion asked, she was not unfamiliar with the term after all, she even knew that the Han that she had traveled for a time with was one, and that he held a being of such power.

"Treat them..differently..for once I wont be fence sitting," Onoki stated, he needed a cooperative priestess on his side which was why he was saying such things, "I'll see to it that the people know to treat them right this time around. We lost two capable shinobi due to mistrust, the village can't afford such a thing to happen anymore."

"I see," Shion said, "What are your true intentions?"

"What do you mean?" Onoki said, hoping that she didn't see through his partial lie.

"I mean what do you intend for these jinchuuriki and their demons?" she asked him, "Why the sudden interest in them, I heard they've been missing for quite some time."

"They have been," Onoki said, "..Fine.." he needed her help after all, "They need to be protected from an organization that has been planning on taking all of the bijuu for themselves. For what purpose I do not know, they might even be after you for all I know. So I would suggest you stay here after everything is over and done with. You'd be well defended here as compared to where you actually do live, seeing as your defenses were breached by Kusa-nin."

"I don't think that will be happening," she said, "Though I have a feeling that by the end of this you will either convince me to stay here or let me go home."

"Confident in that are you," he said, "Why is that?"

"Because I am here," Kasei said, getting the old man's attention focused on himself and his chakra-less self, or at least the old man couldn't get a read on him at all, "I have new orders from Kusa. My team is to see to it that the priestess is returned to her home once she has served her purpose here."

"Now that you've declared your intentions I can't let you leave my village alive," Onoki stated, "Your village won't be able to do anything about your sudden disappearance."

"I would like to speak with you **alone**," Kasei said, adding a bit of _power_ into his words, the old man nodded and motioned for his Anbu to leave the room and take the other people out with him, he didn't even know why he was following such a request, it was actually more like an order and he couldn't help but obey.

Even Han left, but more due to not really wanting to be in the Tsuchikage's office in the first place. But he did feel as if he should know what Kasei had done in there, it was so familiar to him. It was a feeling that often stirred within him on occasion, but just couldn't reach.

Mirka didn't know how to react to her sensei being able to convince the Kage to do something just like that. It was like he held some sort of power over the man, something that she felt somewhat familiar with as well.

Shion didn't know or feel anything about the matter, she trusted Kasei to see her home, she actually failed to notice or realize that a jounin shouldn't have been able to cause a kage to cave into a request of any kind without paying some sort of price.

"Now that we are alone," Kasei said, "I would like to know the real reason you wish for some new jinchuuriki to be created, and why you feel that they should be contained within the village."

"I don't have to answer to you," Onoki said, finally getting a hold of himself, "How do you have that power? I just realized it now, it felt like something one of the Tatsumaki clan can do, but not to the same extent as the Shodaime could, not that you'd know what I'm talking about jounin."

"I do in fact know what you are talking about," Kasei stated, "I also know the man of whom you speak so highly of. I met him actually, not so long ago."

"What nonsense are you prattling on about," Onoki demanded, "You're a jounin, you don't even look old enough to have been alive when he was."

"You are very wrong with your assumption," Kasei said as he shifted his looks to match the description of what he looked like back in those days, back when he had entered Iwa before the Shodaime-tempore was named. Back when he used the power of Kurotabou to defeat the strongest Iwa had to offer at the time.

"_Impossible..._" Onoki said, he couldn't believe his eyes, but the evidence, the proof, was standing right before his very eyes, "_Kasei-sama.._"

"Tis I indeed young Onoki," Kasei stated, "Now we can go about this business two ways. My way, or Han's way."

"You know where Han is?" Onoki shakily asked, he didn't think he liked the gleam in Kasei's eyes as he answered.

"I do," Kasei stated, "He's right outside your door, hidden underneath an illusion of mine, undetectable even by a sensor. I have convinced him to ignore the past, and look toward the future, a better one."

"You are not pleased with how things have turned out..I take it," Onoki said.

"I am not," Kasei said, "Which is why I shall refuse the position that would have been given to me by your the first council."

"But..Iwa has been waiting for you...for such a long time," Onoki said, "Even I have been waiting for the legendary shinobi that you are to lead Iwa to a new era of greatness...of peace..."

"I will give you a second chance," Kasei said, "Waste it and I shall use Earth's Shadow to crush this village, and restore the rocks back to the earth."

"I understand," Onoki said, he knew that Kasei frowned on the treatment of the jinchuuriki, and or those that were different. Onoki was honor and title bound to do what he must to get Kasei to favor the village.

"Find Roshi," Kasei said, "We both know the true reason your older son left the village was not to further understand his powers, but to get away from the treatment he received from his villagers, as well as your view of him and Han as a mere weapon of the village. Convince him to return to the village, either that or have him find and join me."

"I'll do as you say," Onoki said, "I guess they would have been more loyal and willing to serve if they were treated not as the weapons they were meant as, but as people...probably the one thing Konoha has done right since no one hears anything bad about their jinchuuriki."

"Actually," Kasei said, "They lost theirs or will lose theirs, not quite sure about the time frame. They didn't really treat their jinchuuriki the way his parents wanted him to be treated, as a hero."

"How do you know that?" Onoki asked, curiously.

"Easy," Kasei said, and had his features change to what they originally had been, back when he still held the Kyuubi, shock and realization dawned on Onoki and it showed on his face, "I was their jinchuuriki."

".._You..you're the son of..._" Onoki couldn't believe his eyes and ears, the man that the founders of the village had decreed was to rule the village was the son of one of the village's greatest, and yet most respected, enemies.

"Shocking isn't it?" Kasei said nonchalantly, "Of course, it saddens me a bit that I hadn't been able to meet the man myself."

"So...the Tatsumaki have been telling the truth and their legends are true after all," Onoki said, "You really do travel through time...how?"

"A..._friend_ decided to make my life even more interesting," Kasei said, "I have no control of when I appear in the past, though my default time is this one."

"I see," Onoki said, "Well, irregardless of who you once were, you are still Iwa's rightful Tsuchikage. I'll stand by that decision..." then after a short pause, asked, "What do you mean you were their jinchuuriki?"

"I'm no longer a jinchuuriki," Kasei explained, "The man that helped me become the man that I now am removed the sentient malevolence from me, and gave or imbued me with the bijuu's chakra. And no, I am not a nuke-nin, I was kidnapped from my former sensei Jiraiya, not even his toads managed to save me from the waves that worked with my teacher to take me to him."

"How do you know that?" Onoki asked, "That you aren't listed as a nuke-nin for your disappearance."

"I had my status as a ninja revoked," Kasei shared, "And all evidence of my being in the program invalidated, as far as I'm concerned and official documentation, I was never a ninja of the village, and never had any formal training."

"How did you manage to do that? You know someone at the Fire Court?" Onoki asked.

"I do," Kasei said, then pulled out his Official Seal, showing it to his representative in Iwa.

"Oh Kami.." the older looking man said, he didn't know what to say upon such a revelation, even he knew the tales of the Shodaime Fire Daimyo, he didn't have anything better to do on some occasions, and so gathered the history of his _enemies_. It was one of the more surprising things.

Fushigi Kasei was a man with many backgrounds, a man with many titles, and a man with much much power. Onoki decided then and there that he would be reviewing all the information of all the countries that he had managed to get his hands on. He wanted to know just how powerful Kasei was, politically and otherwise.

"I'll be taking my leave now," Kasei said, "And don't forget to list Han as some sort of spec op ninja. He insists on remaining an Iwa-nin, so make him some sort of liaison to me in the way that I'm sure you know that I mean."

"I understand," Onoki said, "To make his standing in the village greater than it had once been, I'll have it known that his disappearance was kept a secret as to protect who he was protecting from any that wished you harm or something like that."

"Just say that I preferred my secrecy," Kasei said, "Make some other reason up, I am not weak, you and I both know that."

"I understand," Onoki said, "Tsuchikage-sama."

"I'll leave that title with you for the time being," Kasei said, before opting to leave the room.

"So it looks like you can just take that priestess with you now if you want," Onoki said before Kasei reached the door.

"I think," Kasei said, "I would want it if my genin had a bit of a challenge."

"Your genin?" Onoki asked, "I thought she was a chunin or something, to be sent on such a high profile mission and all... And what do you mean by your genin having a bit of a challenge?"

"I give you a week to beef up this village's defenses," Kasei said, "After the week is up, I will have my student infiltrate the village and re-kidnap the priestess, let us see how such a powerful village holds up against a chunin-level genin."

"Do not underestimate this village," Onoki said with pride, "We shall pass your test, whatever it is and how strange it is."

"Inform no one of this challenge," Kasei said, "Just beef up security. My genin will have some help though."

"In what form?" Onoki asked.

"In the form of Han," Kasei said to the surprise of Onoki, Kasei left the room with those parting words.

As soon as Kasei left the room he whispered in Shion's ears, using the a breeze that came out of nowhere to carry his words to her.

"_I'll see you in a week,_" he whispered on the cool breeze, "_Please enjoy your stay here, you deserve this week of rest._"

"Huh?" was Shion's reaction, before she could voice a question she saw a mirage of Kasei putting a finger against his lips as if saying 'Shh' to her.

"Mirka," Kasei said, "Let's go."

"But what about Shion-sama?" Mirka asked.

"She's to stay here for the time being," Kasei calmly stated, he nodded in Han's direction to get the man to follow along.

"But I though.." Mirka tried to say.

"We'll talk about that later," Kasei said, and allowed himself and his team to be escorted to the gate of the village and pretended to leave for Kusa.

They ran away from the village for a time, until they reached an odd sight, it was a fortress of stone that had been built in the middle of nowhere. Han and Mirka wondered why they were there until they noticed that the walls were patrolled by a few dark blue clad shinobi.

"What is this place?" Han asked, his illusion had been dispelled once they were far enough away from the village, he'd never noticed its existence before.

"Its a little something I had done some time ago," Kasei replied, "My clones are the ninja you see on the walls," he then called out, "Open a gate that we may enter!"

"Hai!" came a chorus of shouts from inside.

The trio waited, then watched as a hole appeared, a small one at first that gradually grew until a person could fit comfortably through. They entered, Mirka going first, followed by Han, then Kasei who closed the hole.

"Why did you have this thing created?" Han asked once they were in a comfortable room with chairs, a table, and some bunk beds. Han decided to lounge around on one of the top bunks, while Mirka decided to lay down on the bunk below her new companion.

"I thought it might come in handy," Kasei replied, "It sounded like a good idea at the time," he had chosen to sit on a wooden chair and moved it so that he faced the two on the beds, "Now as for why I left Shion in Iwa. I'm going to train you, Mirka, for the rest of the week. At the end of the week you, with the aid of Han, will kidnap Shion and take her here."

"You want to what?" Han said sitting up and banging his head against the cealing, "Are you nuts?"

"Sort of," was Kasei's honest reply, "It'll be fine, no repercussions shall befall Kusa, don't worry. I decided that it will be a training exercise for you, Mirka."

"Why? I'm just a genin!" she exclaimed, "I can't do something as insane as that, even with an experienced jounin helping me. We're talking about one of the world's super powers!"

"You'll do fine," Kasei said, "You're my student after all."

"But even with the stuff that you've taught me, there's no way I'll survive going against Iwa!" she decided.

"Sheesh," Kasei said, "I promise they'll just beat you up a bit if you're caught. They won't kill you."

"How are you so sure?" Han asked.

"The Tsuchikage-tempore guarantees it," Kasei said.

"Why are you telling her something like that?" Han asked as he sat with his legs dangling from the top bunk.

"Cause it'll be fun!" Kasei said, "And if you think you you've run out of options, I'll give you a jutsu scroll, one time use, that you will be able to use. It won't kill anyone, just knock them out."

"What jutsu?" Mirka asked.

"Earth's Shadow," Kasei said, like it wasn't a big deal, but the name of the particular jutsu sent Han crashing to the ground.

"Oohh.." Han ground, his fall had actually hurt, he groaned out as Mirka helped him onto another bunk, "You've..got..to..be..kidding me.."

"I've heard that somewhere," Mirka said.

"Its the legendary jutsu that was used during the fight that determined who the real Shodaime Tsuchikage was to be," Han said after the pain finally ebbed and went away, "The one that was chosen used that particular jutsu, which reminds me...you have yet to actually tell me your name.."

"You forgot to even introduce yourself!?" Mirka reacted, it was rather comical as she used the Hyakume jutsu and had all the eyes, scattered all over the room, open wide in surprise, then rounded on Han, "How can you just blindly follow someone without even knowing their name?"

"It never really crossed my mind," Han said defensively, he dared not admit that the hundred eyes all over the room creeped him out a bit...or a lot, "..ulp...to ask..."

"Well?" Mirka rounded on her sensei, the glare she sent his way actually sent shivers racing up and down his spine, and caused some cloned to dispel because of that.

"My name is Fushigi Kasei," Kasei said, smirking slyly, "You know me as the Shodaime Tsuchikage, Shodaime Daimyo, and, for the time being, Yondaime Raikage, along with former jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi," he bowed to his two companions, a bit mockingly, they knew that but weren't insulted by it. They were suffering in too much shock to actually react. The only option they had available to them was faint.

So, that's what they did.

He placed them in their chosen beds and left them there for the rest of the day, while he went up to the highest point of the fortress, sat down with legs dangling over the edge, and nodded off.

He was woken in the morning by the sound of furniture crashing. Apparently Han was not a morning person, or was not yet used to sleeping in a room with a tween yet. It was also relatively unfamiliar surroundings.

Kasei teleported himself back into the room, using two acme holes to get from the roof to the room.

The sight that met him was of Han and Mirka still sleeping but wrestling with their sheets, it was quite the sight, the two of them acting a lot like children.

"Well..now..I wasn't expecting that," Kasei said upon seeing them, amplifying his shouting power with chakra he shouted, "WAKE UP!"

The duo of ninja's eyes shot open and almost went into defensive stances had they not been tangled up in their sheets.

"A kawarimi could get you out of those you know," was Kasei's off handed statement, they complied and replaced themselves with clones of their own which they then dispelled, "Now wasn't that easy?"

"Where..? What happened?" Han asked as he changed from the get up that Kasei had dressed him in, and while Mirka raced to the bathroom to get ready for the day as well, "And was I dreaming last night or did you say that you were Fushigi Kasei."

"I am indeed Fushigi Kasei," Kasei said, waiting for Han, who fainted, to faint. Again.

"What happened to him?" Mirka asked once she emerged from the bathroom looking all ready for the day of training, wearing a training gi and all that.

"Fainted from learning that I am who I said I am," Kasei said, then created a regular kage bushin to watch over the downed man, "He'll be out for a while. Let's go have some breakfast before I begin your training."

The fortress had a mess hall, and that was where breakfast was being held, even clones had to eat as it extended their time in existence as well as added to their energy reserves, their ability to generate more energy from a meal was just another quirk that Kasei's clones had as they were his creations, and relatively few normal things actually happens to him.

The mess hall was also where Kasei decided to start teaching Mirka something new. She was already passable on the Grass jutsu as well as a good enough mastery over Hyakume jutsu, so Kasei decided to train her in other things starting now. There wasn't always something that could substitute for grass when the green stuff wasn't available, and there wouldn't always be a need or use for that many eyes other than intimidation.

So now he would focus on her taijutsu, something that could be used anytime since all one needed was one's body to do it. There was another set of existences based on a movie (Kung Fu Panda) where the teacher taught the student using food as a motivator. The only thing from there that Kasei borrowed was the getting his student to fight him to be able to eat.

Sure it was breakfast, and one shouldn't realistically play with one's food, but Kasei didn't really follow the norm and began small, catching bits of this and that before his student managed to even get the things near her oral cavity.

A few minutes later, after her patience had run out, Mirka began acting more like the child that in some aspects she still was. She retaliated and tried to out maneuver her sensei, tried to steal some of his own food. It progressed from a simple annoyance to a game then to a real fight.

Learn by experience, that was the way he trained and learned and grew. Kasei expected his student to do the same. The body learned by experience, just as the mind did on some occasions. Whatever didn't kill you, made you stronger.

The sight that met Han as he too entered the mess hall for some grub was of chopsticks being flung, bowls being hurled, and food being exchanged at rapid rates, but with Mirka barely getting any in her. It was a breakfast to remember. Han though that since he hadn't really trained with these people, and since he was going to be working with them then he might as well join in and see about getting himself acquainted with them somehow.

It was through battle that some people got to know others better.

The fight for the food continued, even though it had grown to be two against one, Han and Mirka teaming up against Kasei who didn't bother with clones. The mess hall turned into a taijutsu warzone, no offensive jutsu could be used in the mess hall thanks to some seals that were in place, and no defensive ones were needed since they were fighting for food.

The battle or training session lasted well into the afternoon, something that was supposed to be unhealthy turned out to be more healthy for some reason, it was probably thanks to the clones that had learned healing in their time constructing that had something to do with that. They stopped problems with the three fighters' bodies before things even became a problem.

The only application of chakra in the fight was in keeping the utensils and whatnot clean, as well as helping things stay strong or suddenly become sharp enough to penetrate some of the foods the chef clones presented to them.

It was like a graceful ballet battle for the food, the range of foods were carefully selected by the clones on mental command from their creator on as to what foods were to be prepared and included in the training exercise. It was a good and happy thing, that was until the favorite foods of the team of two were brought out and only one piece of the pastries remained, Kasei having been the one, whose insatiable appetite, had claimed every other of the dishes provided.

The jinchuuriki and the genin saw red and with renewed vigor attacked, it was the only time that Kasei had to use clones in an effort to keep the fight going and reaching new levels. He was bringing out the best in his student as well as the best out of his newest comrade.

Mirka lost soon after the fight was taken up to jounin level speed and moves. She was unable to taste the delectable treat that was one of the last dishes of the brunch meal. She reisgned herself to watching the rest of the fight between the two jounin, or jinchuuriki-level ninja over a simple piece of dessert.

Once the fight was brought out of the fortress Iwa as a whole felt the wave of bijuu power cascade out and over the walls and into the village prompting the village to beef up their defenses even more in preparation for some sort of demon invasion. The fuinjutsu teams were also busily preparing for any hasty sealing they would be required to perform. Even Shion felt it and couldn't help but worry a little.

"I'm going to eat it!" Han roared out as he called upon all of his inner demon's chakra to the fore, the demon's influence actually began to show, and he began to lose himself in the destructiveness of the demon.

It was at this time that Kasei ascended into demi-god-hood and ripped out the bijuu and flung in into a small black hole leading to Rage-sama's lair where the bijuu would be processed. Han returned to his senses, but was about to lose it again once he noticed Kasei was about to plunge his favorite dessert into the jaws of consumption.

"NOOO!" Han roared once more, and the spike of bijuu chakra was once again felt, but this time in all of the now his bijuu chakra. He lunged with five tails swishing and propelling him forward. He vanished in a cloud of steam and appeared just as the tiny morsel was about to enter Kasei's mouth forever, never to be tasted by the newest former jinchuuriki and now could be considered bijuu.

Instead of managing to snatch the morsel from Kasei's claws, he only managed to bat it away, where the two once more lunged at it before it met the ground. What followed was something more like a combination of tennis, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, and soccer (black and white ball).

It was around mid-afternoon that Mirka stopped training in her own way that she decided that she wanted her sensei to pay more attention to her rather than some silly macho-match for the last piece of brunch. So she dashed to the dessert and plucked it from right between the two men's grasps and ate it. She didn't make a whole spectacle out of it, no taunting or teasing. She just ate it, to the fury of Han who decided that he would participate in her training and teach her his art, by the time the week was up she would be prficient enough to call her a student in the art of genjutsu and steam jutsu, while Kasei decided that perhaps a bit more physical conditioning was in order.

For the remainder of the week Mirka was subjected to a form of torture known as training. She was given only enough rest to regain her strength, and even then it was the bare minimum. She was trained in physical combat and infiltration by Kasei, and the art of illusion as well as steam, fire, and water, ninjutusu by Han.

It was hell week for the girl, and she already wanted to die, she had a feeling that Kasei was going to make her strong enough to be promoted to jounin by the end of the year of training. She just had a feeling that he was planning such a thing. While a part of her wanted to give up, another part of her wanted to continue moving forward. She was probably the most advanced of genin in her age group in Kusa.

On the last day of the week she was given six hours before her aided infiltration of Iwa was to begin. She would be the leader of the mission. Han was only there as her support, he was also her intelligence officer as he knew all the ins and outs of the village, the only thing they really had to worry about was getting around the beefed up defenses and locating Shion, bringing her out of the village, and making their way back to Demon Country.

They began the operation once night felll over the land. Kasei watched with a platoon of clones from a far in case the infiltration team of two failed in their mission and were captured. He kept all of his eyes discreetly open, trailing after and preceeding his student and friend. He also had another extraction team ready within the village in case anything went wrong, they were all clones transformed into different kinds of small animals, mostly insects, some even transformed into fleas and ticks and lice.

The genin and her jounin companion made their way into the village as soon as she found no one patrolling where they were to enter, more than half her eyes were open and helping her keep a lookout now as compared to the small number she was able to use before the torturous training she had undergone and set on herself during her supposed free time. Han followed her without a word but kept his senses sharp just in case.

The village was already relatively on high alert, all chunin and above were patroling the village searching for any problems or anomalies. The civilians had all been taken to shelters just in case fighting broke out, and Onoki was to be the last defense against any would be rescuers/kidnappers.

It was easy getting through the districts of the village undetected, the numerous opened eyes were Mirka's most helpful tools as she saw when to stop moving, and when to start again. Patrols paid her eyes no mind as she used minor hypnosis type illusions to shield them from view, using a bit of _power_ to make them even less noticeable.

But that didn't mean that the village wasn't alerted to her infiltration. Some of the Tatsumaki clansmen sensed the use of _power_, but knew that it was not being used in the same manner that they used it. They alerted their leader, for the time being, about it.

For the first few hours it was a game of cat and mouse filled with near misses, then it escalated into a dangerous game of cat and mouse when a team of jounin had spotted Mirka's shadow before she spotted them. They weren't expecting Han to be her accomplice which gave her enough time to use their surprise to her advantage, she knocked them out as quick as she could using a much smaller version of the Earth's Shadow technique. With houses made mostly out of earth and stone, it was easy to find things to manipulate.

After that, even more teams managed to catch traces of their presence and the hunt for the elusive mice in the grain house began. Sensor teams were deployed in the areas where Mirka had been spotted. She couldn't risk Han using his chakra as it was too distinctive in this village not to be notiecd by the sensor teams she knew were out to get her and her partner.

This was probably the craziest thing she had ever done in her life, and it was all thanks to her being chosen as the student of the time traveler that had a love for transforming, clones, and ramen.

Han procured the information about Shion's whereabouts quite easily from a passing Anbu while they were sneaking past the village academy, the Anbu were deployed more as protective detail for the civilians, rather than as the active participants in the chase. Onoki's orders.

Shion was being kept in Onoki's own clan mansion, inside a guest room, she wasn't treated like a prisoner but a princess, the only thing she couldn't do was leave the residential district.

Getting into the district was just as easy as going from district to district, it was moving forward that became hard. The clans had refused to relocate, the ninja parts of them anyway. So there was a lot of trained ninja, chunin and below stationed in the district.

"Han," Mirka whispered as they hid in some bushes, rather pathetic place to hide, but it was the only place that no one actually bothered to check, not even the sensors.

"What?" Han asked, as his senses continued to monitor the people moving around them, the numbers of combatants on the field was growing, the longer they stayed in place.

"I need you to create a diversion," she told him, "Just get the heat off of me once we make our grand entrance."

"You plan on revealing ourselves?" Han asked, "Are you mad child? In this village of all places, you're just as insane as Kasei-sama."

"Well," Mirka said defensively, "I am his student after all. I had to get affected somehow, and you're one to talk, you're just as insane as he is."

"He's more insane than that nut Orochimaru," Han stated, then said, "Fine. I'll distract them, the jounin and up will surely follow me and try to stop me from doing anything. But you'll have to deal with the chunins and genin. You up for it?"

"I'm ready as I'll ever be," she said, "And if worse comes to worse, I still have sensei's backup plan."

"Yeah," Han said, still in awe after watching and trying to replicate the technique even on the scale that Mirka could perform it, "I look forward to that move. But hopefully you won't need to use it. I've already told you how to get to our target's location and the fastest way out. So good luck my student, I'm not done teaching you yet."

"Hai," she said, then took a deep breath in preparation for running for her life.

Han was the first to reveal himself jumping out of the bushes from where they were crouching down in, and attacking a passing jounin, kicking the man in the face, following up his attack by pushing off of the man and leaping in the direction of another jounin. From there he pretended to become a pinball and bounced off a number of ninja before exhaling a cloud of steam to hide himself from their eyes. It was like Kirigakure no Jutsu, but with steam instead of mist.

With that the chase began, the ninja of the village were alerted to the possibility that their jinchuuriki had finally snapped and had been planning on destroying the village for how their lives had turned out. With the majority of the ninja focused on Han and the cackling laugh he belted out as he ran and attacked at the same time, Mirka made her move.

As soon as she too left the bushes she was forced into turning her former hiding spot into a weapon of bladed destruction having all of the leaves fly at those that had stayed to see if she was in the bushes as well.

It was a surprising move on her part, no one thought that she had some skill such as that. She attacked with taijutsu as they were all so near her. She created some clones to help her in her fight, She had the chakra reserves for two shadow clones and a single mud clone.

They attacked as a single unit that would make her sensei proud. Punches, kicks, and slaps, were what she dished out. She of course did get hit in return.

These Iwa-nin sure knew how to hit hard. But she was already at low-jounin level in skill, power, and chakra reserves. She was not going to lose to just a bunch of cunin and genin.

Due to their numbers they were able to send some jutsu her way and use some to add onto their own physical attacks like turning their bodies to stone or empowering their defenses with earth or mud. They didn't bother with clones as there was no need due to just how many of them were present in the district.

"Hyakume!" she shouted as it was easier to focus on a jutsu with saying its name out loud. The jutsu activated, she hugged herself as her clones covered her on three sides. Instead of the eyes spreading out around her, they spread out around on her own dark purple shinobi shouzoku. Han had a red suit that he didn't think would be of any use during this training exercise.

She slipped a plain white mask over her face just as the hundred eyes that she gained from the technique gathered all over her body, none were left checking out her surroundings since she was already caught by their combined sights. Her mask gained a single eye and her sensei's Cheshire grin. It was unnerving indeed, especially since she looked like she had that many eyes.

Once she was ready, she flashed through a quick seal set and her eyes did the rest. The chunin had not been expecting her real body to vanish before their very eyes. There wasn't anything that they could do to dispel this genjutsu other than close their eyes, but she would just use a different eye to get those once they reopened their eyes. It was something like a sharingan genjutsu.

Since they could no longer see her she made a mad dash for the residence that she needed to get to while her clones took care of the crowd of ninja, getting them off of her back for the time being.

She had to hurry since her use of genjutsu used up some chakra, something which the sensors would be able to use to track her down. She was just like any other kunoichi as she didn't particularly like getting dirty, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to use everything that she could find to finish her sensei assigned mission. She used the water from the sewers once she noticed some drains as part of her jutsu.

She flashed through a set of seals before pulling the sewer water from the sewers and made them her battering ram and drill to get the ninja that were in her way out of her way. She also used the water to create clones that could use water prisons on the ninja that got too close. Kasei had taught her how to drain chakra using the prison, the sewage made the technique even more effective.

Once she was finally at Onoki's clan residence, she had to disengage her Hyakume Genjutsu Armor, which is what she decided to call her hypnosis defense. She would be needing all the chakra she had left since she was now surely going to face a Kage-level ninja, but before she would face that man a single jounin appeared to block her path.

"I am Yochi Kurotsuchi," the jounin introduced herself, "So you are the infiltrator Iwa has been preparing for. You don't look like much."

"Since you introduced yourself, I shall do the same," Mirka decided as she revealed her face to her opponent, "I am Mirka, genin of Kusagakure. Nice to meet you," she bowed politely before getting into a fighting stance, a hand held palm facing the jounin while the other closer to her chest, while her legs were spaced evenly.

"I don't see how that old man can feel threatened by a genin," the jounin said before vanishing and attacking with a chakra powered punch, causing a crater to form where Mirka had been standing. She had used kawarimi to get out of range and replaced herself with a statue.

She created a mud clone only for it to be destroyed by a kick from the jounin. She was clearly outclassed, but she too was jounin-level, and so upped her speed and began attacking and evading at the same time. No jutsu was to be used, her chakra was to be saved for the old man waiting for her arrival by the door to Shion's room.

Kurotsuchi didn't think that a genin should have the speed and ability that was being displayed. It was a bit unreal for a genin from such a weak hidden village to be as powerful as Mirka was. The little genin gained her respect, but her ire for daring to attack Iwa.

They exchanged blows, but Mirka shouldn't have allowed her opponent to touch the ground since all of a sudden the ground fell from beneath her, causing her to fall into a hole in the ground. It was a trap justu, one where Kurotsuchi suddenly gained the upper hand in their fight.

"I have orders to not kill you from the old man," the jounin said, "But I don't see why I should let such a pathetic excuse of a genin to live especially after attacking my comrades. I'll blame your death on an accident on your part."

"What makes you so confident in your ability to kill me?" Mirka decided to banter back.

"You're stuck down there," the jounin stated, "Haven't you noticed that you are unable to move? I saturated the earth with my chakra which is keeping you in place. I'm going to bury you in your new grave."

"Do as you like," Mirka said, "I still have my hands."

"What can you hope to accomplice from down there?" the jounin asked, as she was interested in seeing how this powerful genin planned on getting out of the hole.

"This," she said as she placed her hands on the walls of the hole, then whispered "_Earth's Shadow._"

Kurotsuchi managed to catch the mere whisper, she knew the technique's name. It was a legend in the village, something that many tried to replicate or recreate. But no one had yet to succeed. She felt insulted that some outsider thought to pretend to know such a technique.

That was how she felt until a shadow loomed overhead. The earth had risen up behind her, then before she could move it slammed down on her, covering her in its shadow and also knocking her out. Which made her hold on Mirka slacken.

The technique used up quite a lot of the genin's remaining reserves, but she still had enough for a second try, it was her remaining trump card. She made her way into the residence, but upon entering she was met with Onoki himself standing just a few feet in front of her. Standing behind him was Shion all ready to leave for home.

"Good job little genin," Onoki praised, "You managed to beat my granddaughter. I'm impressed. I look forward to the day you become jounin. For the time being I'll let you _kidnap_ Shion-dono, and return her to the country you stole her from."

"Why?" Mirka asked, the adrenaline that had been constantly pumping and coursing through her system for the duration of her infiltration finally leaving her. It was only then that she realized just how tired she was from doing what she had been doing.

"You're tired," the old leader said, "Even I can see that. You are in no shape to take on a kage. I'm a stubborn old man, I've made my decision. So either take Shion-dono out of here, or I can knock you out and you can deal with your sensei. Take your pick, I'm sure he wouldn't like you chosing to bite off more than you can chew."

"Fine," she said, but collapsed after taking one more step. She was dead tired.

"Well..I guess I'll be going home much later," Shion said from behind the old man.

"Don't worry," Onoki said, "I'm sure her sensei will be here to pick you two up shortly."

"How sure are you of that?" she asked the short old man.

"I'm already here," Kasei said as he stepped out of one of the walls, "What do you think?"

"If you'll permit me," Onoki said, "I'd like to promote her to chunin for the level of skill she showed in this exercise. How much of the infiltration's success can be attributed to Han?"

"Just information on the basic layout as well as the distraction of the majority of your stronger forces," Kasei replied, "If you have a spare Iwa flak jacket I'll accept her promotion for her and take our leave."

"I had one prepared," Onoki said, it had on its back stitched in silk of all things the symbol of Kusa, he handed it over to Kasei along with a forehead protector of Iwa, "Keep the protector, you are Tsuchikage after all. Shodaime-sama."

"Hai, hai, hai," Kasei said, giving up slightly on that front, "I'll take it," then addressed Shion, "Let's be off then Shion," they both bowed once to Onoki, thanked him for the hospitality, snatch Han out of the air and simple vanished.

"Tsuchikage-sama!" jounin began to pour into the entry hall of the clan mansion, "Are you alright?"

"Where are the intruders?" another jounin asked.

"Medic!" another called out after finding Kurotsuchi under a pile of rocks from the technique that had knocked her out.

"Calm yourselves," Onoki said, holding out a hand in a placating manner, "All is well. Take the injured to the hospital. See to the exposed breaches in our defense, and add the name Mirka to our Bingo Book."

"Mirka? Tsuchikage-sama?" one Anbu breached protocol and asked.

"A newly promoted chunin," Onoki stated, "One that has managed to trump Iwa's defenses with little help from Han. I think she deserves mentioning in our book."

"Are you alright Tsuchikage-sama?" a medic that arrived asked after hearing his order to add a newly minted chunin to their book of people to watch out for.

"I'm fine," Onoki said, "How many times do I have to say that? Sheesh, I didn't even need to fight."

"Then..what happened?" his son, Kitsuchi, asked, "What was all this about? And where's Shion-sama?"

"And where were you?" Onoki rounded on his son, "Your daughter had the honor of battling a formidable genin at the time, and fell to quite the coveted technique."

"I was out chasing after Han," Kitsuchi said, "I believed him to be more of a threat and deemed my daughter more than capable enough to deal with his accomplice, and she did...you let them go didn't you..I heard you speaking to someone else before everyone else arrived."

"I was indeed speaking with her jounin-sensei," Onoki said, "This was all a test both for our defenses as well as for a genin taught by a legendary ninja."

"Tou-sama," Kitsuchi said, "Kusa doesn't have any lengendary ninja at the moment."

"They have in their employ one legendary ninja," Onoki told the gathered jounin, "I dare not speak his name. Not yet at least."

"Why not Tsuchikage-sama?" another jounin asked.

"It is not yet time for the world to know of his return," Onoki said, "For the mean time, I would like you to all know that even though it is a time of peace I want all of your to train harder. We are Iwagakure no Sato known for our strength and numbers. A formidable rival of Konohagakure no Sato. For a Kusagakure genin to manage to best all of you. I am disappointed, even in myself, but knowing just who it was that trained her, I am also pleased."

"Why?" his son asked again.

"Just train harder," Onoki ordered, "We have a reputation to repair. Show the world that we are still a force to be reckoned with. Prove to this legend that we are worthy of his favor."

"Why not just tell us who it is?" Kitsuchi asked, "What sort of power does this individual hold?"

"I witnessed a fraction of the power of the legendary jutsu Earth's Shadow peformed by his student," Onoki explained, "Do I need to elaborate how important it is to keep the name from being uttered just yet?"

"No genin should have that kind of power," several jounin said upon realization of the implications of what their leader was not saying.

"He witnessed this village at its strongest," Onoki continued, "We must show that such strength is still present today. There is also the matter of locating and reconciling with Roshi, Kitsuchi I'm leaving the task of locating your older brother and bringing him home through peaceful means. Its time to cleanse our Bingo Book of the criminals and bring back those that can still be redeemed. This village is one big family, let us reunite it, and make it once again whole."

"The Hunter Division shall double their efforts sir!" the Hunter Division Chief stated with conviction.

"We'll convince them to return, once evidence has been found of their innocence fo their crimes or their issues with the village resolved," the Anbu Corps Commander stated as well.

"Our village's client will see that we are worthy of their patronage, now more than ever," the Chunin commander stated as he was the one in charge of mission acquisiation and issuing.

More commitments followed. Onoki was pleased with how such a simple exercise was getting them closer to their hidden dream of being led by a man that legends spoke of as a power to be reckoned with as well as a person that could bring about true peace. Onoki knew of the hardships that he must have gone through, and it was his belief that the knowledge of pain that Kasei had gone through and experienced was more than enough for him to be able to bring about peace for the ninja world.

During his time as a distraction for Mirka, Han had finally discovered what that pull from within was while he was battling the majority fo the jounin of the village which consisted of some of his clansmen as well. He realized that it was the bloodline that he had not been taught how to use, and had only observed other use. So he gave it a try and managed to enhance his steam well enough for him to make his way to where he could feel Kasei watching the fight hidden away by the same power. That was how he knew that it was time to head on over to the Yochi residence and prepare for their leaving the Land of Earth in record time.

Their vanishing act was just Kasei using _power _to transport them back to the fortress where the clones were awaitin their return and handed them packs for their journey to Demon Country which was now sure to take at least a week if they pushed themselves. It would not do to leave a country without its ruler for too long.

The journey was swift, and once they reached the rebuilt forces they were attacked but the attackers were quickly knocked out thanks to a sedative in gas jutsu form that Han knew was unleashed on them. It was then Shion's turn to explain what had happened, along with inserting a few white lies into the mix.

"So..what happens now?" Han asked his companions as they were camped out in the forest around the fortress that Shion called home.

"We stay for the night," Kasei said, it was time time again, "Although you two will be the ones doing the staying."

"You're going to vanish for the night again?" Mirka asked.

"Yes," Kasei said, "I won't need to leave a clone behind this time for you to look for..but I think I'll do something to Han before vanishing completely for the night."

"What are you talking about?" Han asked.

"This is about the time that I return to my adventure in the past," Kasei informed him, "I think I can use part of this uncontrollable mode of transportation to de-age you. You didn't have much of a childhood anyway."

"De-age me?" Han asked, "How do you plan to do that? And what will it do in terms of my skills and mind if you manage to succeed?"

"Oh you'll keep all your skills, knowledge, and whatnot," Kasei replied, "The only thing that will de-age is your body. Mirka needs a teammate her own age anyway.." he then grabbed hold of the five tails' collar, "Here's how I'll be doing it.."

Right before Mirka's eyes she watched as Han's body de-aged, his clothes even shrank with him, before her companion was around a year or two in look older than her. That was the time that the hand holding onto the former man let go and vanished entirely.

"What the heck?" Han asked in a just out of the initial stages of puberty voice, "I'm young again!"

"Yes you are," Mirka noted, "But you'll always be older to me."

"I am older than you," Han said, "Now you keep watch over camp while I get reacquainted with this new body! Squee!"

"Squee?" Mirka wondered if she heard right before creating a snigle mud clone to help her with keeping watch over their camp, while Han bounded off into the darkness to discover what it meant to be young again.

Kasei marveled at how painful helping someon de-age was. His arm was covered in numerous burns, ones that would eventually heal, but for the meantime he would have to keep the entire army in a bandaged cast and would be restricted to using only his left arm for whatever he would need an arm for.

"I wonder when I am now," Kasei wondered out loud for anyone to hear, but no one answered his pondering. He looked behind him, not to find a fortress but just more forest. He was definitely in the past, he was sure of it. All he needed to make his life more complicated was to determine a destination. He decided to head on over to Kaze no Kuni, the Land of Wind, for sun sun. He had spent so much time in shaded areas for far too long. He would see how life was in the Sand.

He decided to take to the skies and so shifted into Tengu, since there was a chance of him ending up in a fight, he summoned his special clones, those generals of his that were the monsters of all sorts of odd tales and legends. They all took on a different human form, Kasei decided to stick to being blonde and whiskerless for the time being, until he needed a new face again. His clones took on the sealed forms of their monster forms but kept something that designated them as each monster.

It was a good thing he now had a platoon of his special clones backing him up for as soon as he broke away from the trees he saw that around the forest and even within it there were fights going on. It was defintely something more than a simple civil war or bandits against military. It was war. He could feel it in his bones.

He needed to know which war it was in the history of the elemental continent it was, as that would tell him how far back in the past he was, and what he could and could not do in this time, not that such knowledge would help him.

He zipped over to the nearest battle and took note of the fighters. One side were regular soldiers and a few samurai while their opponents were unmarked ninja, based on their skin color it was easy enough to deduce from what country they hailed from.

Lightning.

He decided to intervene in the fight to find out what was happening in the world. It was his duty as the Yondaime Raikage to help his ninja, even though he didn't really want to accept the title. Hiding away his Kusa protector, as usual, he shifted into his regular guise and fell to the ground stopping a katana from decapitating a female jounin and pushing away the samurai with the skill to do so had no one interferred.

She was the only one of her team that remained alive, she was prepared to die for the mission, but found that her life had been spared by a masked ninja saving her life. She also noticed that there were some crow feathers that fell from above, but no such bird had been present in the are, no animal for that matter that didn't have training would dare go near a battle like this one.

"I wuold appreciate it if you laid off killing this one honorable samurai," Kasei said as he pushed the blade away along with the man holding it.

"Leave with your warriors," Tengu spoke, suddenly appearing above the battle, hovering with wings spread out, "This battle is over."

Gashadokuro was the next one to make his presence known as his released form which was a giant skeleton that towered over all those on the battlefield appeared out of the surrounding trees, he grabbed hold of two soldiers and flung them away from the battlefield, their lives meant nothing to him. Not at this time anyway.

"Retreat!" the samurai ordered and was the first one to run, but not before picking up one of his injured comrades, leaving the field of battle, the kunoichi and the monsters alone.

"Thank you, sir," the kunoichi said, "Why'd you come to my rescue..this obviously has nothing to do with you."

He revealed his face to her, removing the mask that he preferred to wear to hide his identity even further than his face covering did. She didn't recognize his face, but something told her that she should know something about him.

"Which war is this?" he asked her, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"What do you mean?" she asked him, "This is the Second World War, shouldn't you know that?"

"I see," he said, it was probably some time after he met with the Sandaime Raikage, he wasn't all that sure anymore though, "I travel a lot, current events are really not something I enjoy following."

"I see," she said, then asked, "What happens now? And I'm Nii Shiori by the way, thanks for saving me."

"Are all kunoichi this truting, or just you?" he chuckled a bit, then introduced himself as it wouldn't really hurt, "I am Fushigi Kasei, nice to meet you."

She immediately dropped to the ground and kowtowed to him as a show of respect for him, she knew exactly who he was after all. Someone who could beat the Hachibi on his own and in mid-air.

"Yondaime-sama," she said, "I'm unworthy.."

"Don't call me that," Kasei said, "I know that the Sandaime hasn't died just yet."

"He hasn't," she said not looking up at him, "But you are already his named successor. You deserve this respect I show you now, sir."

"Get up and off of the ground," he told her, he had to acutally pull her up to get her to her feet.

"I.." she began to say.

"Don't apologize or say anything more," he said, "We've got company, and it would better if my involvement in your survival remains a secret between the two of us. No one else needs to know. Go it?"

"Hai," she said, and watched as he leapt off into the trees followed by his clones whom she thought were his subordinates, powerful bloodline wielders or something like that.

"Shiori, what happened here? How was the mission?" the jounin that arrived asked her, and waited for her reply.

"We managed to locate the priestess," she said, "But we failed in persuading her on coming back with us to help with the sealing of the great cat. But since our mission was to at least make contact and confirm her location, we succeeded. We were followed, and I only barely managed to survive before your arrival."

"So they just let you go?" the man said, suspiciously, "A likely story," he pulled out a tanto and attempted to kill her, "You traitor!"

She had just survived from one possible death and now she was going to die by her comrade's hand. But before death could claim her, the hand that held the blade was stopped, and all was still in the area.

She found herself saved once again by the same blonde, the Yondaime had intervened when it was clear he wanted to not be revealed yet.

"What gives with you and dying," he said as he threw the jounin away, like he weighed nothing, but with all the muscle that made up most of his weight that should not have been possible, "I leave you alone for a few minutes and here you are in need of saving again."

"W-Who are you and what business do you have here?" another jounin demanded.

"If this is the strength of Kumo, I am left unimpressed," Kasei stated as Tengu hovered and looked down on the jounin.

One of the jounin recognized Tengu, then fell to his knees, as he managed to connect the dots and figured out that Tengu was not the one named Yondaime, but the one that was with Shiori.

"You fools! That's the Yondaime!" he shouted at his companions, who fell to their knees as well.

"M-my apologies Yondaime-sama," the man that had almost impaled Shiori apologized profusely.

"Forgiven," Kasei said, "It is a time of war. I should have seen to it that she would not have been suspected of treachery. What are your orders?"

"We were sent to escort the priestess should their mission have been a greater success," the man replied, "We were sent as reinforcements, sir."

"You will return to the Sandaime and report to him that his successor will be borrowing Shiori-san for a while," Kasei said, "I have business with Kaze no Kuni."

"Understood sir!" the jounin said, saluted then ordered his men to leave, leaving Kasei alone with Shiori.

"I've grown used to traveling with companions," he told her, "You'll have to do. Try to keep up, if I find that you are unable to keep up with my speed, Shuten-douji will carry you. Understood?"

"Hai," she said, then prepared to follow him, '_How fast can he run anyway?_'

She got her answer when Kasei vanished, followed shortly by his clones, then she felt Shuten-douji's arm wrap around her and hoist her onto his shoulder. The world passed by in a blur around her, looking forward was the only way from keeping herself from not getting dizzy and throwing up due to motion sickness. It was definitely faster than any speed the Sandaime could reach even with chakra powering him.

They ran for what seemed like days, which was exactly how long they did run. Eating on the way. It took them a week to reach the sandy borders of Kaze no Kuni, where some battles were taking place even though it was nighttime.

"We're here," Kasei said as he stopped just before taking a single step onto the sand, "We don't have much time. Only three more weeks remain for my mission to be completed."

"What mission would that be Yondaime-sama?" Shiori asked.

"Put the fear of Kami in the Ichibi," Kasei stated emotionlessly as he sent his chakra into the sand, then nodded in Hyakume's direction. The clone melted into the sand, its eyes spreading out into the desert in search of the Ichibi.

"What was that?" Shiori asked.

"That was Hyakume," he told her, "My spy."

"Oh..so he'll seek out the Ichibi?" she asked, "Then what?"

"Then..I haven't thought that far yet. After I'm done with it, we'll head on over to Ame no Kuni," he told her, "This is why we'll camp here for the time being."

"What business do you have in that war torn land?" she asked.

"Konoha's legends in the making are there," he said, and refused to say more.

They waited for three days before Hyakume finally reformed and informed the group that the Ichibi had managed to free itself from its restraints and was heading right for them The Kazekage being elsewhere was unable to stop the beast from raging after the hundred eyes that had taunted it for its weakness out of the nine.

"Yondaime-sama?" Shiori said with fear in her eyes as she locked onto the form of the Ichibi in the distance, quickly closing in on them.

"Be not afraid," Kasei said and stood from his seat by the sandy sea, "I've faced larger and fiercer things in my lifetime. One puny sand rat is nothing compared to a sand serpent of any size, width, and length."

"What's a sand serpent?" she asked him.

"It could swallow that Ichibi whole," he replied as he walked in the direction of th bijuu, then unleashed his chakra upon the world.

Shiori had been expecting him to do something incredible, she didn't expect him to unleash his hidden chakra. An aura formed around him, one which scorched the sands around him turning it into glass. But some of the sands acted differently, they swirled around his form.

"He's making a new one," Shuten-douji said from the side as he too watched along with the other clones, this was Kasei's split personality in action, "Another brother to add onto our already impressive number."

"What are you talking about Shuten-douji-san?" Shiori asked him.

"You think of us as bloodline wielders," Shuten-douji said, "We are not. We are his creations, born from stories, tales, myths, and legends. Creatures of the dark world from which even ninja crawled out from."

"In this battle," Gashadokuro said, "He will fight tanuki against tanuki. Sand against sand."

"Are you sure that none of you should be assisting him?" she asked them, she was forgetting what had gained him the title and post as Yondaime.

"He'll be fine," Jinmenju said, as he ate one of his shrunken heads, th things gained energy from the soil that they were buried in, or any places they were left in to eat things before being picked up by the humanoid plant.

"If he needed our help, you'd be one of the first to know," Kurotabou said.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"One of us would leave camp, and you'd see that one in his place," Kurotabou replied, "We are in a way extensions of his being."

"Oh," she dumbly said as she sat on the ground and watched him walk ever closer to what she believed to be his potential doom.

The sands swirled around him until all that she could see were two sand made behemoths, one was clearly the Ichibi while the other hand nine tails trailing behind it. Kasei had nine tails, nine powerful tails.

"He..he has nine tails.." she said to no one in particular.

"Indeed he does," Hyakume said, "Don't let it bother you too much."

"I'll try," she said, promising not to worry about his actual power level, after all he wouldn't do anything to hurt her after having saved her two times already.

She watched as the Ichibi was turned to glass, and shattered by a very large something. The clones snickered when they realized what that big sack like thing was. When the Ichibi reformed it noticed the number of tails it was facing and decided to back down and memorize the feel of the Being it had decided to confront, so that in the future if it ever encountered the Being again it would know to flee. It didn't fail to notice that the Being traveled with a human, and so decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to be sealed in a jinchuuriki after all, and wouldn't fight the process when a suitable container for its power was found.

"So..how'd you like the show?" Kasei asked as he walked out of the sand followed by a tubby clone, Tanuki, there were rings around his eyes to show that that was what he was.

"It was...short," she said.

"Not all battles are long and drawn out," he told her, "Come, we have four days to get to Ame."

They traveled swiftly and arrived in the battlefield that was an actual country with a day to spare. They found a cave to camp in since the rain was rather bothersome and a camp fire couldn't be lit in the rain, no matter how hot Kugutsuchi's flames could be.

The group remained there, Shiori being filled in on the dangers that the land held. Which got her worried about Kasei whenever he left the safety of the cave alone and went off in search of whatever it was that he was searching for. She didn't know how it happened, but one day she just found herself in love with the strong man. It was probably Kumo's love for strength that brought it about.

It was three days before he was to leave the period and the war for a while. She cornered him outside of the cave just as he was about to leap away in search of whatever it was he was looking for.

"Kasei-kun," she said getting his undivided attention, he created one of his hybrid clones and sent it off to finish the search, it was him so it didn't need to be told what to do, and would continue to exist even after he left the time period.

"What is it Shiori?" he asked as he faced her.

"I.." she began to say trembling a little.

"What is it," he said, "You can tell me..it can't be anything bad."

"I..I love you!" she declared, then clamped her hands over her mouth in embarrassment.

Kasei for his part didn't know what to do in such a situation. He hadn't been expecting that at all. He'd never really experience being the one somone confessed their love for, he was usually on the receiving end of a beating or something similar.

"I.." he bagan to say but she interrupted him with something that sealed his lips, she did it with her own. Things went, not necessarily, downhill from there. They somehow ended up in a tent, in a futon, and weren't bothered by any of the others in the group for the remainder of Kasei's stay.

"Its almost time," Shuten-douji said as his head appeared between the flap of the tent.

"Fine," he said, and got out of bed and began to get dressed, Shiori following his example.

Once they were outside the others were already all there, lined up and awaiting orders or something. Day was turning to Dusk, and his time was almost up in this time period.

"What did he mean by that Kasei-kun?" Shiori asked as she got dressed, she had an enjoyable time, even though she had a feeling that he didn't share her feelings. But at least she got to feel loved by him to some extent.

"I'll be leaving in a short time," he told her, "I wasn't going to tell you originally, but with what has happened between us, I had to. I fear this will be last time I see you as I am."

"What do you mean?" she asked, she was thinking that he was going off to die or something, when it truth the reason he would never get to see her again was because she was the one that was going to die. Years down the line without him there with her.

"I will vanish from this world, from this time, and appear in another," he told her, "But worry not, I'll leave one of my forms behind to keep you company, chose which of these fine monsters shall stay with you."

"Wha?" she said, she didn't expect that, she knew she didn't have a choice and had a feeling that he was no in control of his departure.

"We're running out of time," Kasei said, "Please chose, at this time I do not wish to leave you alone in this war torn world."

"Then...I guess I chose Shuten-douji," she said, choosing the physically strongest of the lot.

"Alright," Kasei said, then touched Shuten-douji and imbued him with a tail's worth of chakra and _power_ to keep him alive for years upon years to come. The special clone was now a hybrid with some aspects of the Blood Clone in it, as it really was a real clone of a human body.

"I will continue to be with you through Shuten-douji," Kasei said, then had the others dispel, Tengu saluting before going up in smoke and crow feathers, "This is goodbye for now."

"Remember that I love you, and always will," Shiori told him, he accepted that fact, then just vanished as if he had never been there in the first place. He had left two clones in that time period, one to seek out that other student of his one time teacher Jiraiya, while the other to keep Shiori company.

"_I will.._" she heard his lingering whisper just as he disappeared, never to be seen by her again, though she still had his special clone with her, one that didn't look anything like him, and could sucker punch a bijuu into submission if she asked it of him.

He reappared in Ame of his present, then did his teleportation trick to get back to his team. It was morning, they were having breakfast, and he still smelled of the actvity which he spent three days getting some experience in.

"Dude! Bathe first!" Han shouted as he caught a whiff of the somewhat familiar scent, "No arguing! Now! Go!"

"Hai hai!" Kasei said and went off in search of a river, once he found one he was joined surprisingly by Shuten-douji who brought along Nii Yugito the continer of the Nibi.

"Well...had I known you were bathing in the river I'dve waited a bit before coming here," Shuten-douji said to his master, Yugito blushing up a storm upon seeing her grandfather.

"Hey Boss!" Shuten-douji shouted, "When I dispel you won't need an introduction!"

He dispelled just as Kasei got his clothes back on, and then received all the memories and whatnot from the clone, and smiled at the not entirely happy life his clone had led alongside Shiori. The Yondaime-tempore had tried to get the clone to take on the hat, but had been refused with the argument that it was not its master. The clone thing was something that needed getting used to. Shuten-douji did not interferre with the machnasions of the village when regard to its military activities, only acting whenever Shiori, their son, or their granddaughter asked him a favor.

"Nice to formally meet you Yugito-chan," he said once she uncovered her face.

"You too jii-san," she said, she had been told about the clone thing by her grandmother and father, only the highest of the higher ups were aware of it, but still some men were always sent out to seek him out to take his rightful place as the ruler of Kumo.

"So what happens now?" he asked her, since he still didn't get why she was there, she was a kunoichi and Shuten-douji wasn't in the know when it concerned the ninja side of the village since he refused to take up the mantle and left things to the temporary leader.

"Ae-jii-san told me to go with Shuten-douji-jii-san and accompany you," she told him, "It would not do for the Yondaime Raikage to be without his escort," she told him, "So like my grandmother, I'm staying with you."

"Ok," Kasei said, "Follow me, I'll introduce you to your teammates."

"Team?" she said, "I didn't know you had a team, just a bunch of clones."

"I've got a team," he told her, "We'll be breaking camp soon and heading to Kusa for a new mission, you'll probably have to wait outside the village or in the public side of the place while my student and I go collect payment and a new mission."

"Its not like I have a choice," she told him, "This is a really new experience for me. I've only ever seen your civilian side after all you know."

"I know," Kasei said, "Just don't get too freaked out about everything that happens or seems to happen to me."

They made their way to the camp that was not looking like a camp at all. Mirka was already preparing herself to start leaping through the trees again, and Han was doing some preliminary stretches.

"Yo," Kasei said as he and Yugito entered the site.

"Well...huh..who's she?" Han asked, "She's hot."

"Nii Yugito," Kasei said, "My granddaught. Yugito, I'd like you to meet Tatsumaki Han and Mirka. Guys, my granddaughter Yugito."

"Yo!" Han said waving at her, while Mirka gave Kasei the evil eye then bowed in her direction.

"Nice to meet you Yugito-nee-san," Mirka greeted her, "Its so weird that I get to work with a Kumo-nin and an Iwa-nin at the same time as a Konoha-nin, and I'm a Kusa-nin. This is all so cool and weird at the same time!"

"Are you done, and what do you mean Konoha-nin?" Yugito asked.

"She means me, sort of," Kasei said pulling out a hitai-ate with the symbol of the leaf on it, "Mirka get your facts straight my being a Konoha-nin has been officially invalidated."

"I know, but still!" Mirka said, "Its like some ninja alliance!"

"I'm the Iwa-nin, just so you know Yugito-chan," Han said pointing to himself.

"Nuke-nin?" Yugito asked.

"Bodyguard to the Tsuchikage," Han said, "Which makes you the granddaughter to the Tsuchikage!"

"He's Yondaime Raikage!" she said, "Get your facts straight!"

"I'm also the Fire Daimyo," Kasei interjected.

"Really?" Yugito asked, she didn't know that.

"Yes," Kasei said, "So here's hoping our next stop is Mizu no Kuni! After Kusa of course."

"Why?" Han asked, then realized why, "I get it, no need to explain."

"I don't get it," Yugito said.

"Can't you see it yet?" Mirka asked, "I mean, I'm working with an Iwa-nin and a Kumo-nin, and you're working with us. Get it?"

"So jii-san," Yugito said, "Do you know anyone over in Mizu?"

"I might," Kasei said, "I might not. Don't know yet."

"So..do I have any other relatives I should know about?" Yugito asked as they prepared to leave.

"None that I am aware of yet," Kasei said, "You could have some that I am as of the time being unaware of."

"I'm done stretching," Han said, he was still not used to the young body.

"I'm good to go," Mirka said.

"I don't really have a choice," Yugito said.

"I hope we get a mission to Kaze no Kuni," Kasei said as he leapt into the tree tops.

"Why's that?" Yugito asked as she leapt off after him followed by the two youngsters.

"I have a bijuu to scare the crap out of!" Kasei shouted in reply as he created his monster clones around them to accompany them since there was a chance that they'd run into trouble. Kasei seemed to have an affinity for trouble and crazy.

It took them a week to get to Kusa, grab a mission and head on over to Suna. It was a diplomatic mission of sorts, just having some ratifications to treaties looked over and signed for documentation purposes. Making their way across the sand dunes and passed some oases, they finally made it to Suna with a day to spare.

Greeting them at the gate were chunins Temari and Kankuro on behalf of their brother Gaara who had just ascended to Kazekage status. It was rather a surprising thing for Kasei as he had not been expecting that at all. He thought it would be a few years before his friend really became something.

"Welcome to Suna," Temari said, but before she let them into the village she noticed the assortment of forehead protectors, "Are you really from Kusa?"

"Yep," Kasei replied, "I'm a contracted jounin of Kusa."

"I'm a chunin of Kusa," Mirka said.

"I'm her teammate," Han said, then motioned to Kasei, "And his bodyguard."

"I'm their teammate," Yugito said, and also motioned to Han, "I'm like him. We're both jounin."

"That's intersting," Temari said, "Kankurou inform the Kazekage of this development," she then turned to Kasei, "Who are you again?"

"Fushigi Kasei," he replied, "Though I think your brother would know me by another name."

"I see," Temari said, "I guess you'll just have to wait here with me Kasei-san."

"That I will," Kasei said then motioned for his clones to get themselves out from under the sand, they didn't need to look like they meant Suna any harm, "My apologies for hiding my other _subordinates_."

Temari gazed at each one, the clones were all in their released states. She couldn't help but take a step back when one of the monsters was a tanuki, one that kept changing in size and actually looked like it was playing with the sand around it, making itself bigger and smaller every now and then.

One of them, Jinmenju, planted himself into the ground and his hanging heads tried to eat random things around him. Then there was the Oni, Shuten-douji, he was larger than any man that she had seen before. Gashadokuro was something else as well, she never thought she'd see a walking skeleton, she thought it was a puppet of some sort until she noticed that it had eyes in its eye sockets that actually took a glance at her.

"You have some interesting subordinates," Temari managed to say, clamping down on the stutter that wanted out.

"I think so too," Kasei said, "Go out into the desert and train!" he told his clones, they obeyed.

"Thank kami.." Temari didn't know she said that out loud.

"Your welcome," Kugutsuchi said before leaving in a whirl of flames and leaving a patch of glass behind.

"Err.." Temari wasn't really trained for such a situation, she didn't need to make conversation until her brother returned with their youngest sibling in tow.

"What did you do that makes Shukaku tremble and whimper in fear at he mere mention of your name," Gaara asked in monotone.

"I kicked its ass," Kasei said, "Though in a better fashion as compared to when I beat you the first time."

"My brother mentioned that I would know you by another name," Gaara said, then asked, "What is this other name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Kasei replied and showed that he still had his foxy grin. He also created a new special clone and wondered why he hadn't thought of it in the past, what with his past. Kitsune.

"You can't be him," Gaara said, "You're too old to be him."

"Here," Kasei said as he unleashed a fraction of his bijuu chakra, "Does this feel more familiar?"

"It..does," Gaara admitted, then tried to wrap his mind around the fact that his first friend was standing before him and looked much older than he should look, "Welcome to Suna Naruto..or should I call you Kasei now?"

"Kasei," the former jinchuuriki said, "Call me Kasei, I've gone by that name for years now..considering that I have a tendency to get thrown around time, which would answer how I was able to scare the crap out of the Ichibi."

"Alright Kasei," Gaara said, then motioned them to follow him, "Follow me to my office that we may get the business side of your visit finished. I would like to..catch up with you, my friend."

The walk to the Kazekage tower was a short one, the change in the village was impressive, but not yet to the point that all the people loved Gaara outright, there were still plenty of those that feared him, and some that wanted him dead. But it was a change from the outright fear from all that there was before.

"Now then," Kasei said as they were all seated within the Kazekage's office, "Let me introduce my teammates," each one raised their hand as he mentioned their name, "Mirka, my student. Han, my bodyguard and subordinate. Yugito, my bodyguard, subordinate, and granddaughter. Your sister saw my other _subordinates, _those were special clones imbued with my _other personalities _and powers and abilities that I've gained through the years."

"Well then," Gaara said, "Now that the pleasantries are over, shall we get down to business?"

"Sure thing, Kazekage-dono," Kasei said as he pulled out the documents that were to be looked over, while making sure that Gaara caught a glimpse of his official seal, the widening of Gaara's eyes did not go unnoticed by his siblings.

"Is something the matter Gaara?" Temari beat Kankurou at asking the question.

Her brother's only reply was his face splitting in a grin, a maniacal one that promised pain, oh so much pain. She didn't know what to think about it since the smile was so uncharacteristic of him, he actually began to release some of Shukaku's energy.

"Hey..um..Kasei..is that..by any chance you?" Han asked.

"Hey Gaara want a tanuki for a pet instead of a prisoner?" Kasei said not answering Han's question.

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked forgetting about the real power he now held in his hand for the time being.

"I mean," Kasei said, "Is that I have a way to get that demon out of you but not kill you and you can keep its power while at the same time keep it as a really powerful pet."

"Do you have proof of the success of this extraction method?" Gaara asked, he knew that extracting the demon resulted in the death of the container.

"Me! Me!" Han happily and hyperactively said, and stood up, "I am the former container of the Gobi. The name's Han, Tatsumaki Han of Iwagakure!"

"You really know of such a method?" Yugito asked, once he nodded she added, "Why didn't you say so before?"

"Only this body can perform it," Kasei said, "Shuten-douji did not have the ability to do it, so I didn't want to get your hopes up or Ae's for that matter."

"Oh," she said.

"I see," Gaara said, "Any side effects of the process?"

"Aside from becoming the new wielder of he bijuu power and being able to pass on a part of it to your descendants?" Kasei said, Gaara nodded, "Then no, not really anyway."

"Then yes, I would like a pet tanuki," Gaara said, his creepy grin back on his face, "It'll give me something else to torment some people with."

"I like the sound of that," Kasei said, walked over to Gaara and shoved an arm into Gaara, pulled out Shukaku, tore out part of its soul. Shoved that into a black hole that led to Rage-sama's home, then put the other half into the body of a conjured golem in the form of a sand tanuki, leaving the power of the bijuu within Gaara for his own use, and granting the former jinchuuriki kage the power to give the former Ichibi some of its old power, as well as adding some servitude seals onto the poor thing.

"Done," Kasei said, and did the same thing for his granddaughter, but since he had a feeling that the hell cat was friendlier, he kept its soul intact as well as its free will, then went back to his seat.

"I'm going out," Temari suddenly said, and left the room followed by her puppeteer of a brother, "Don't wait up for us Gaara, we'll be out late."

"I take it they couldn't handle it," Kasei noted, "So..back to business then?"

"Sure thing," Gaara said, "Daimyo-dono," then spoke to his companions, "Why don't you go around the village while we talk business."

"Ok," Han said.

"Alright sir," Mirka said as well.

"I'll look after these two children," Yugito said, she knew that Han was only a child in body, but he was starting to really act the way he looked, only acting the way he though when time called for it.

As soon as the trio left the office, Yugito allowed Mirka be the one to decide where they would go, while Han just followed the two girls, while trying to think up ways to get girls to notice his immature self. He'd try and go after Yugito...but he didn't think he could see a future with her seeing as who her grandfather was. He also only saw Mirka as a sister of sorts as well as a student, and he wasn't into having a student-teacher relationship.

They received some odd looks as they walked as it wasn't everyday that three ninja from three different villages were seen working together, much less walking around yet another village together. There was also th talking cat that sounded a bit more mature than it looked.

"Do you get the feeling that people don't see things like us happening everyday?" Han asked as he noticed some stares sent their way.

"Well it is rather strange, and we're not even with sensei at this time," Mirka said, "Image what that would look like."

"I don't need to imagine," Han said, "I already know how weird that would look like, now if your sensei wore his old protector, that would be weird."

"Excuse me," Mirka said to one civilian.

"Ah..yes?" the civilian woman said, "Is there something you need?"

"I just wanted to ask a question," Mirka replied, then asked her question, "I noticed that some people looked at Kazekage-sama with fear in their eyes and was wondering about that."

"Ah..that's because he's the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi...and also because of the terrible deeds he performed back when he was younger," the woman told her.

"But he's a changed man now, isn't he? I mean he's this village's main big time protector, isn't he?" she said.

"Well..yes..I guess so," the woman said, now that she thought about it she did notice that he had changed a bit ever since the failed invasion of Konoha a while back.

"He's also not a jinchuuriki anymore," Mirka informed the woman.

"Mirka! Get over here or we're leaving you!" Han called out to her as he noticed that she wasn't following after them anymore, and she was the one that said that they should look for a place to cool off in.

"Ah! Coming!" Mirka shouted back, bowed to the woman and was about to leave but the woman stopped her.

"What do you mean he's no longer a container?" the woman asked.

"Oh, my sensei pulled out the demon and sent it away," she told the woman carelessly, "Kazekage-sama now has this small tanuki for a pet now..well..I've got to go or else my team'll leave me behind," she bowed to the woman and ran after her teammates.

"What was that about?" Yugito asked her.

"Oh, I was just asking that woman why people feared their protector and stuff," Mirka said, before pulling Han to some stall on the side selling some combs of all things, Yugito was forced to forget her line of thought and follow her companions while Nibi contniued to rest on her former continer's shoulder, peacefully.

Gaara's and Kasei's meeting lasted well into the night, just as long as Temari's and Kankurou's drinking session did, and the two groups retired to the Kazekage's clan residence at roughly the same time. Yugito and company were informed by an Anbu about their living arrangements while in the village sometime during the afternoon.

In the morning Gaara and Kasei were the first ones to leave, they had a much needed training session to undergo. Gaara knew that he needed to learn some taijutsu moves and that he wouldn't be able to simply rely on his sand all of the time and so had asked Kasei for some help, seeing as he was so experienced as it was.

They trained for most of the morning, only stopping for some brunch, then resuming their training. Gaara also needed to learn how to get along with, fight alongside, and use his new pet. Kasei was a big help in that regard as the man had a thing for working alongside something similar, meaning his clones.

It was mid-afternoon that Gaara decided to get back to his duties, and Kasei needed to get back to Kusa with the signed documents and retrieve his next mission.

Two weeks later, he found himself in Wave Country, ready to take a boat to Mizu no Kuni. Just as he arrived there he saw the amazing sight of Jiraiya banging his head against a tree and shouting that he was stupid, pathetic, and all sorts of other derogatory things about himself. Kasei also saw that his clothes from when he was younger were on the shore.

'_So..now's when I was abducted by aliens.._' Kasei thought and decided to ease the Sannin's suffering.

"Is that..who I think it is?" Yugito and Han asked, both had a semi-dislike for the super-pervert but for different reasons.

""If you think its Jiraiya, then yes, that is who you think it is," Kasei replied.

"What's so important about that guy?" Mirka asked.

"He's one of Konoha's Sannin," Yugito answered the younger girl, "A legendary ninja...and self-proclaimed super-pervert, bane of all things female, a demi-god to most things male," she then grinned a small Cheshire grin, "Mirka, dear.."

"Hai, Yugito-nee-san?" the chunin said.

"I want you to go over there and kick him in his soft spot," Yugito said evily, the cat perched on her shoulder continued to nap like nothing in the world was wrong at all.

"Why?" Mirka asked.

"Because he's a super-pervert," Yugito reasoned, "He deserves it."

"But what if he decides to attack me? Retaliate," Mirka asked, a bit panicky, her natural anti-pervert instincts were calling out for her to act, "I'm just a chunin."

"That broke into Iwa and beat a jounin," Han noted, then alerted the two girls to their leader suddenly walking toward the pervert while cracking his knuckles as he walked, "Too late...Kasei's heading over to the man."

The trio watched as Kasei shrunk himself down and changed what he was wearing to just his boxers, or what his boxers were when he was taken to Shadow's place by nature. He had his whiskers grow on his face making him unmistakably who the man was feeling so down and out about. The cause of the Sannin's suffering, and pathetic-ness.

Jiraiya was about to slam his head against the tree when he caught movement via his sensitive senses, he turned around and felt as if he could die happy seeing Naruto standing there and glaring at him.

"Naruto! You're alive! You're ok!" the Toad Sennin exclaimed happily, anime tears of joy were flowing down the sides of his face, "How'd you get away?"

"You know Ero-sennin," Kasei said, "I don't like being lied to, and looked down on. I wonder if you've heard the latest on my status within the village."

"What are you talking about, and answer the question brat," Jiraiya demanded, he didn't like these beating around the bush things, though he did wonder why Kasei was bringing such a topic up.

"Oh," Kasei said, "I didn't get away," he then made a show of motioning to himself, "This body you see before you, it isn't real. See..I'm no longer the Naruto you knew me to be. I've changed."

"Brat, you can't change in such a short time, and I don't..sense...anything..." it was only then that Jiraiya realized that he couldn't sense Kasei's chakra at all, "What...happened?"

"I've been around for some time," Kasei said, "I'm far older than even you I believe. I just chose this form to make meeting you a lot easier. But that doesn't mean that I won't be seeking some form of vengeance for the fact that you have been lying to me, that you have been skirting your responsibilities, and for the fact that you were planning on holding me back."

"What are you talking about, I wasn't planning on keeping you from reaching your potential," Jiraiya argued, "I was just taking your training slow, you've got a lot to learn and master you know."

"Then why did you not inform me about the true purpose of the Kage Bushin?" Kasei argued, "Training could have gone a lot smoother with that trick."

"I didn't feel that you were ready for it," Jiraiya said.

"But I was ready to keep the kyuubi a secret," Kasei said, "I could keep that secret, and you thought I was not mature enough or responsible enough to not abuse the Kage Bushin training method?"

"Well..with the way you've been acting, yeah," Jiraiya said.

"See, that's what happens when you underestimate someone," Kasei said, "You may have had some good intentions, but that doesn't mean that you planned on letting me reach my potential on orders from the village council."

"I wasn't going to follow those orders," Jiraiya argued, "I trained the Yondaime Hokage, I was going to make you even greater than him. The student is supposed to surpass the teacher you know. I was planning on doing just that."

"Back when I was still starved for attention and recognition, I might have believed that," Kasei said, then shifted his form to that of his regular, looking like a twin of his dad, form, "But I don't believe that at all. I've had the training to reach my potential, but haven't quite reached it yet since no one stops learning and growing."

"You can drop the henge you know, its not helping your case," Jiraiya said, "As your sensei I order you to stop."

"You weren't much of a sensei you know," Kasei said, "All you taught me was how to summon, use the bijuu chakra within me, water walking, and the Rasengan. Better than Kakashi, but not by much."

"We only just started," Jiraiya said.

"Then explain why you didn't help me come up with a strategy against Neji, and don't say that I still won since that was by my doing and nothing I did in that match actually came from you," Kasei said, "Use of the Kyuubi's chakra was more out of desperation and I didn't like having to rely on it. I frown upon borrowed power, I prefer my own."

"But it is your own," Jiraiya reasoned, "Its within you, therefore it is yours."

"It is mine now," Kasei said, "And I'm not wearing a henge, this is how I look now."

"I was preparing you for the invasion which you gotta admit did help," Jiraiya said.

"I could have done so much more had you actually bothered to teach me during that month's time," Kasei said, "You knew I was going to face off against another like me, and yet all you taught me was how to summon really. That's all. While others were taught other things, their skills refined, they got their upgrades and I got a new skill."

"You wouldn't have defeated Gaara if it weren't for my help," Jiraiya said, "You wouldn't have managed to summon Gamabunta without my help."

"Whatever," Kasei said, "Its in the past now, and you are no longer my sensei. I found a new one to call master. He saw my wasted potential and took me away and trained me. He even told me some of the things I was lied all my life about."

"What are you talking about?" Jiraiya asked, dreading the answer.

"I was told my history and my heritage," Kasei informed the toad sage, "I'm not blind you know, just blind to see the truth at first, even when it was in the mirror everyday and carved on a mountain. I know who my parents are, and I am disappointed in my godparents."

"Naruto..I.." Jiraiya tried to apologize, it was only now that he realized how much he screwed up as well as how much the village had screwed up.

"Save it," Kasei said, "You can go back to your research now or whatever you have deemed more important than your godson. I read your book by the way."

"So you've realized the genius that is me?" Jiraiya asked, trying to get back into the blonde's good graces with a bit of humor, "Which volume was it?"

"Your very first book," Kasei replied as he turned his back on the sennin, "It might have mirrored the man you once were, but shows nothing of the man you have become. Good day Jiraiya of the Sannin, I have places to go, people to say, and a timeline to mess up."

"Timeline..?" Jiraiya wondered, he knew that some forms of time travel was possible, and relatively nothing was impossible in this world of shinobi, "What do you mean?"'

"You were more honorable back in the Second War," Kasei said as he continued walking back to his team, it was only then did Jiraiya notice that two other jinchuuriki were present in Wave, a prime target for Akatsuki, he just had to catch up to Kasei and warn the group about the organization.

"Wait," Jiraiya called out as he ran up to them and received a kick in the 'nads courtesy of Mirka who noticed that her sensei wasn't in a good mood because of the white haired old man, "Ouch..." the man keeled over, not quite dead but in a lot of pain since the kick had been chakra enhanced.

"Atta girl!" Yugito praised the girl, "Good job."

"Ow.." Han said, clutching his crotch protected goods in sympathetic phantom pain, "Please..don't do that again.."

"I could do it to you," Yugito said, "I know how that mind of your works."

"No thanks," Han said, waving the offer away, "I like my eggs good and whole, thanks but no thanks."

"So what got you all worked up sensei?" Mirka asked Kasei.

"Manipulative fools," Kasei stated, and glared down at the white haired man once more before calming down significantly, "I'll be leaving again for the night. Take care of the pervert while I'm away won't you. Don't kill him though, he still has his uses."

"Hai," his team replied, then headed off to the hotel they were staying in, Han being the one to drag the sage along, the man was pulled on via rope, hogtied, and with an apple in his mouth.

Kasei did his vanishing act before the group reached the hotel, and once they got to their room there was an unexpected knock on their door. Upon opening it Mirka found herself standing before a pink haired kunoichi only a little older than herself wearing a Konoha protector.

"Yes Konoha-nin-san, how can this Kusa-nin help you?" Mirka asked the pinky.

"I'm sorry I followed you, but you have Jiraiya-sama with you, don't you?" she asked.

"He's here," Mirka said, "Want me to wake him up for you?"

"No need," pinky said, and walking into the room without invitation and kicked the unconscious, due to nut pain, man in the nuts to wake him up, "Always wanted to do that."

"AHH!" Jiraiya woke with a start, used a water jutsu using water from a water bottle and placed the cold water bottle against his bruised nuts, "What the hell was that for...Sakura? What are you doing here? Something happen in Konoha? Are we being called back? Does Tsunade know I lost Nar...ruto.._I wasn't supposed to say that.._'

"You did what?!" Sakura shouted and kicked the man in the nuts a second time, chakra enhanced in the same style that her own Sannin sensei punches, "How irresponsible can you get! Not only do you peek on women, write those perverted things you dare to call literature, you lose NARUTO! I SHOULD KILL YOU!"

"Girl, I would suggest you keep it down," Yugito intervened, she had a duty to keep the pervert alive for her grandfather after all, "And calm down."

"Yeah, you're beginning to scare me," Mirka said, "Are all Konoha kunoichi as scary as you?"

"Sorry," Sakura said, "I'm Sakura by the way, Haruno Sakura. Hokage-shishou sent me to deliver a message to this worthless sack of undigested materials that Uzumaki Naruto is no longer and has never been a ninja of Konoha, officially speaking. I don't know why, but that's the way things are nowadays. Did you get that you Ero-sennin?" she screamed the last part in his ear.

"On who's orders?" the Sannin was quick to recuperate.

"The Fire Daimyo's," Sakura replied, "Shishou seemed a bit...out of it when she learned of the order. The daimyo rarely meddles in ninja affairs too.." she then addressed the assorted team in the room with her, "Have any of you seen a blonde boy with whiskers on his cheeks?"

"We've seen a blonde," Yugito said, "Aside from myself that is."

"But he's no boy," Mirka added, "He hasn't been for a while now. My sensei's blonde, and through some rigorous training is now no longer a boy."

"Oh," Sakura said, she was hoping to be able to inform her former teammate that his dream of becoming Hokage was now impossible.

"I already know about it," Kasei's younger voice joined in on the conversation.

"Naruto," Sakura said as she whirled around, "I'm sorry about this..Shishou tried to fight the order.."

"Don't try to hug the life out of me please," the Kasei with them said, "I'm a clone, Boss left me just in case the messenger was a familiar face."

"Whoa, so you really are the dude that the bridge was named after, cool!" Mirka said as she bounded up to her sensei's clone, "So which one are you? Clone-sensei?"

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, a bit confused, "Why are you calling him sensei?"

"He's my sensei, or temporary one until his contract with Kusa ends in a few months," Mirka told the pinky, "I'm Mirka by the way. He's one of sensei's special clones."

"Are you...what she's talking about?" Sakura asked the clone.

"I am," the clone said, "I am Kitsune. Refer to me as such. I'll be around for the rest of the night until dawn when Boss returns from his trip into times past."

"Why are you called that?" Sakura asked, "And why is it that I've got this feeling that you know why your records were invalidated."

"Because I do know the reason for the order," Kitsune said, "I also know that the Daimyo you have pictured in your mind is not the right one. You're thinking of the stand in, the ones that have been standing in for the real daimyo awaiting his return."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, "The Daimyo's the Daimyo. I knew you didn't really pay attention to the lectures at the academy, but to not know about the Daimyo...you really are a dobe most of the time."

"Hey! Don't insult sensei!" Mirka said and pulled out a kunai, prepared to defend her sensei's honor or something, "Apologize at once."

"Leave it be, its just something between _friends_," Yugito told the girl, "Its nothing to worry about."

"Fine," the girl said as she hid away her blade and plopped herself on a bed, but didn't take her eyes off of the pinky.

"It doesn't really bother me much," Kitsune said, "I really was at the bottom of the class when it came to the academy, through sabotage and my own faults. So its not really much of an insult when it comes to my academy days, although now that even that has been voided I'm not really much of a deadlast anymore, am I?"

"Technically," Sakura said, "But that's just a technicality."

"But when it comes to the matter of which daimyo I speak about," Kitsune said, "I'm in the right since most, save for official records and a special seal of the court, are unaware of chose to think of some tales are just myths. The Shodaime Fire Daimyo is very real and very much still alive in this day and age."

"How do you know?" Sakura aske, "And what tale are you talking about?"

"He's talking about something that used to be told to children," Jiraiya spoke up, "Its a tale about the founding of the Land of Fire as a unified nation, as well as tells us about how our country was cemented for all time as one of the Great Powers."

"So why haven't I heard of it?" Sakura asked.

"No one really bothers with fairy tales anymore, not when there are seemingly more real things in the world today," Jiraiya said, "Its also easier to think of the line that has governed the country for centuries as the rightful line and not just a bunch of stand-ins for a demi-god of sorts, cursed to get shipped from age to random age, or something like that."

"So you're saying that this guy, the real Daimyo, was revered as a god among men?" Sakura asked.

"Those were the days before the Sage of Six Paths, ninja were creatures of the shadows unlike today where most countries rely on us to for almost everything," Jiraiya said, "Chakra was a foreign concept, but it is believed that the first Fire Daimyo knew how to wield it and even had one of the first kekkai genkai."

"Haha," Han said, "That's a very true tale too!"

"What would you know about our history?" Jiraiya asked Han, who he knew to hold a bijuu but believed him to be older.

"I've met this myth," Han stated, "He's a very likeable fellow."

"I've met him too," Yugito said, "He's very caring."

"I've studied under him," Mirka added her part, "He's very trusting."

"What about you Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Technically," Kitsune said, "I've met him as well. Worked with him too."

"And what do you have to say about him?" Sakura asked.

"He's very old," Kitsune said, since it was technically the truth.

"Bwahaha!" Han laughed heartily and fell off of the bed he had been lounging on.

"Shush, you," Yugito said and flicked a small blue fireball at the steam user. It didn't make him stop laughing, but it did get him to bolt back onto the bed and stifle his giggles.

"We're missing something aren't we?" Jiraiya said more than asked.

"Something like that," Mirka said.

"Say," Yugito said, "Sakura-san, are you a chunin by any chance?"

"I am," she replied, "I was promoted only recently though. Its thanks to my medic training."

"Cool," Kitsune said, "Good for you!"

"Thanks Naruto," Sakura said, "But aren't you even a little bit sad that you won't get to be Hokage anymore?"

"Hokage?" Kitsune said, "It doesn't bother me anymore. I've already got a lot on my plate at the moment."

"What do you mean?" she asked, she looked at the others for answers.

"Not telling," they said shaking their heads slightly, the blue cat on the bed simply yawned and flipped over onto its back.

"Alright," Sakura said, "I'll stop asking anymore about that."

"Thank you," Kitsune said, then entered his released state which was a nine-tailed kitsune and curled up on the floor and fell asleep.

"Err...now what?" Sakura asked, "I've been given some time off to look for these two," they knew who she was talking about now, "And why were you asking if I was a chunin?"

"The jounin exams are coming up," Yugito said, "They're being held in Kumo, my village, I was wondering if you planned on entering, you know, like your first chunin exam."

"Well, not really," Sakura said, "I don't have enough experience yet, plus I'd need shishou's permission to join. Why?"

"Well Mirka's gonna be joining the exam," Yugito said, which her team knew to be true, "She'll need a team though, just like the chunin exams, so I decided to see if I could form a legitimate one for her."

"I wouldn't mind working with you," Mirka said, "I'm a newly minted chunin myself."

"With an entry in the Continental Bingo Book," Han said, snorting slightly, "Hehe."

"What did you do to get into that?" Sakura asked and pulled out a copy she had been given and told to take with her wherever she went. She flipped through the pages and searched for the girl's picture.

"Just go to the Ms," Mirka said, "I'm Mirka by the way."

"Ok..thanks.." Sakura said and flipped pages to that section and found the entry. There was no bounty, just a threat level to any that encountered her. She was labeled as an A-rank threat, and she didn't have a bloodline.

Sakura's eye grew wide upon seeing that.

"I didn't know that that was my ranking," Mirka noted, "Wonder what sensei's ranked as.."

So Sakura absently flipped through the pages looking for Naruto's name, but didn't fine any mention of it in the updated book.

"He's not in here," she told the younger kunoichi.

"Impossible," Mirka said, then took the book from the pinkette's fingers, and flipped through the pages until she reached her sensei's entry. Same as her own, there was no bounty listed, just a threat level, no picture, but a description.

"Well? What's it say?" Han asked as he moved closer to the three girls, Jiraiya doing the same as he was curious about it too.

"Fushigi Kasei," Mirka read aloud, "SS level threat. Usual attire consists of dark blue clothing, a cloak, and a plain white mask. Do not engage unless you are prepared to lose. Age, unknown. Gender, male. Affiliated nations, classified."

"That's a pretty high threat level," Han said after whistling, "You got a mercenary bingo book?"

"No..I don't know where to get one," Sakura said.

"I've got one," Jiraiya said, "I got an updated one last week, who you want to look for?"

"The merc one should have bounties in them," Han said, "I wanna know how much Kasei's worth."

"Wait...he goes by Kasei now?" Jiraiya said, his mind was going through everything he knew about hat name, that single unique name, "I can't believe it," the white haired man fell on his rump as realization set in.

"Don't tell anyone," Mirka warned, her leg already shining with chakra.

"Promise I won't," Jiraiya said, "It would be treason to go against his wishes after all, and he's already mad at me as it is."

"What's the matter Jiraiya-sama?" Sakura asked.

"The blonde we knew as Naruto is no more," Jiraiya told her, since she was more or less in one the secret already, "In his place stands Fushigi Kasei, the Immortal Flame, otherwise known as the First Daimyo of the Land of Fire."

"That can't be possible," Sakura said, trying to deny the fact.

"Space time ninjutsu is possible," Han said, "Why not this? Plus, he made me young again and that was while he was being pulled back into the past."

"Keep this a secret for now ok," Yugito said, "Although it should be common knowledge in the form of that tale about the founding of your country."

"Ok," Sakura said, then turned to Jiraiya, "So..what's he worth?"

"Hold on," the old man said, "Let me check," he pulled out the book, it was a rather thick thing, and looked through the pages until he reached Kasei's entry...

"What? What is it?" they all crowded around the old man and peered at the page in the book.

"...if killed...name your price..." Han read, "..not worth it.."

"That can't be right," Sakura said, "This is crazy for an entry in a bounty book."

"Not really considering the things stories of him claim or say," Jiraiya said to them, "In Iwa there is a jutsu attributed to him known as Earth's Shadow. In Kumo he is known as a man that scared a bijuu. You already know what he is to Hi no Kuni, but you should research that actual events, though you'd need Tsunade-hime's permission to look through the village's archives for that information. There's other events in history linked with his name."

"I'm sending word to Shishou that I'll be taking a while," Sakura said, "I want to see what this new Naruto is like."

"Alright!" Mirka cheered, jumping up and down all excited, "The team grew again!"

"So what're your names?" Sakura asked, "You already know mine, and Jiraiya-sama's."

"I'm Nii Yugito," Yugito said, "Former Jinchuuriki of the Nibi and jounin of Kumogakure, nice to meet you."

"That reminds me," Jiraiya interrupted the introductions, "There's an organization out in the world who plan on taking the bijuu, I was planning on warning you about them since I know you two from my spy network."

"Thanks for the warning," Han said, "But this Akatsuki is already known to us, you forget who our companion is as well as what he also knows, partially thanks to you. I'm Tatsumaki Han, former jinchuuriki of the Gobi, jounin of Iwagakure, and hold no ill will toward Konoha, not anymore at least."

"I'm Mirka," the youngest of the group said, "Chunin, but you already knew that. I'm a Kusa-nin."

"What do you mean by former? Jinchuuriki die when their demons are extracted," Jiraiya pointed out.

"Kasei-jii knows an alternate extraction method," Yugito told the old perv, "The Bijuu will soon be no more, thanks to him, and I have a feeling that this Akatsuki will be halting its plans for the bijuu and the world some time soon."

"What makes you say that?" Jiraiya asked.

"Since Kasei-jii was a jinchuuriki himself and he knows of the existence of this organization," Yugito said, "He should be taking steps to neutralize it."

"I see, I guess that is possible," Jiraiya said, "So what happens now?"

"We wait," Yugito said, then got into the bed Nibi was already sleeping on, and went to sleep. Han followed suit on his bed, and Mirka dragged Sakura to her bed, while Jiraiya was left on the floor with a futon.

Kasei himself had found a way to weave a hole in the space-time continuum to listen in on the conversation of his team, it was really an experiment. Time was relative, and so he left Kitsune behind in the present to be his eyes and ears, the connection was cut once Kitsune went to sleep. But it had worked, so long as the connection was there Kasei found himself stuck transitioning through time.

He appeared in a much smaller town, more like fishing village, in mid-step, whatever position he was in when the thing started was how he would end up when it ended. He had been walking when he had vanished, which was why the people that were in the area ran away in fear when he suddenly appeared. It was like he had taken a single step and appeared there, he could have come from anywhere.

'_Well..this is new.._' Kasei thought as he looked around and noticed that no one was around and that he could swear he heard some screams and shouts upon his arrival. Perhaps it wasn't a good thing that when he arrived it was still dark out and maybe summoning his special clones wasn't such a good idea either.

He walked to where he knew Tazuna's house would one day stand, and so he stood on the shore and looked over the calm waters. There was an unnatural stillness of the water, he attributed it to his arrival.

Beside him stood his clones, they too looked out upon the calm waters. They were all aligned, standing, and gazing out as if longing for something that was missing or gone.

Kasei felt something, as if something was calling out to him. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure that was somewhere out there in the blue waters. So he had Jinmenju sit down and commune with nature to divine what it might be that was calling out to him. The other clones were instructed to stand guard while he, Kasei, walked on the water to see if there was anything more to see.

The open waters didn't reveal much, but he could swear that the farther out he walked, the stronger the feeling became. He wondered what it was, but decided to go against the pull and walk back to shore and see what Jinmenju had found.

"Seals," was Jinmenju's findings, "Lots and lots of them. There were few bloodseals..its like a beacon, calling on all that had a connection to the blood.."

"Its been a while," Kasei said, "Since we've met another Uzumaki."

"Thirty days, ninety days, thirty months, ninety months, thirty years, or ninety years," Hyakume said, "Whatever it may be, it should be worth it."

"Let us be off then," Gashadokuro spoke and rose up from the ground, from human form to skeleton form.

"I'm ready to depart," Tengu said and lifted off of the ground.

"Then we leave," Kasei said and led the way, but deciding to add yet another monster to his number by playing with his Oiroke no Jutsu. That Jutsu that gave him the ability to actually transform into the opposite gender, the beginning technique that permitted him to perform so well when it came to transformations nowadays.

His latest form and special clone was Yuki-Onna, unsurprisingly this one took on the form of Haku, irregardless of his/her true gender, Yuki-Onna was genuinely female.

Yuki-Onna made traveling on water easier as she simply turned the surface into ice, making it easier for her brothers to move more swiftly on top of the sea. They were in no hurry though.

It was a moonlit night with a cloudless sky, Kasei basked in the moon's radiant and soothing light as he followed the beacon that pulled him closer and closer to his destination. Hyakume's eyes were keeping a sharp lookout for anything out of place other than the eerie calm of the waves, while Tengu took to the sky and kept an overhead watch over the waters and the group.

Kasei should have created a more water oriented addition to his forces, it would have helped with reconnaissance more than Yuki-Onna helped with transport as well as water fights. Underneath the calm sea were shinobi laying in wait for any that were foolish enough to answer the call, to follow the beacon for help of the Uzumaki of Uzushiogakure.

These ambush predators wore no forehead protectors and while they could possibly be from different villages, they worked together for the sole purpose of the Land of Whirlpools and it's hidden village's complete and utter destruction. They were there to snare and kill any of the Uzumaki that came to answer the call of their homeland, their motherland.

The reputation, skill, and power, of the seal masters of Uzushiogakure and the rest of the country was too great for any of those countries not allied with it for them to allow it to continue existing. The plan was to wipe it off of the map as much as possible. So before the actual full attack, they would thin the numbers starting with the potential reinforcements.

It was a slight shift in the surface of the water that alerted Kasei to the ambush attack, he instantly became all of his clones, merged with all of their minds through the chakra and _power_ that linked them all to him as his subordinates as well as containers of his powers and abilities. It put quite the strain on his mind to do so with so many, but upon doing so he was able to download new information into the clones quicker than telling them about the new development. It lasted for but a moment, but he was clearly slightly winded from the experience.

These ambush predators shot out of the water after the slight shift, they had a feeling that their prey had been alerted to their intent and so wasted no time in attacking.

Yuki-Onna slammed her hands onto the icy ground she had created and caused the waters to quickly turn to ice, but some of the men and women hidden under the surface managed to escape her icy grip and managed to get air born, while others were still underneath the ice an so broke through, shattering her creation in some places.

Tengu managed to wound some of those that had gotten airborne, he sliced into them as he zipped through the air coating his feathers in wind natured chakra to make them the sharpest of blades. Falling feathers became projectiles of potential death that some ninja were unable to escape from.

The attackers didn't let their surprise stop them from attacking wildly, even at the sight of Gashadokuro and Shuten-Douji, both of whom were in their released forms or states. Two giants over the water and ice battlefield, a giant skeleton and an oni that found with its bare hands rather than a club of a blade.

The two giants grabbed onto whatever attacker was closest to them, while they managed to crush some in their grip some did manage to injure them, Gashadokuro had a few smashed and shattered bones while Shuten-Douji had some wounds to worry about later.

Yuki-Onna and Hyakume were the safest of the group as one shielded herself and Kasei with ice, while the other was all over the place in the form of just eyes and a single mouth filled with razors that tried to devour any that would come near it.

Kurotabou was the busiest as he constantly speared enemies with his thousand blades, while having to evade the long range stuff. His cloak had a few burns on it while he felt some numbness in some joints due to some lightning jutsu that he hadn't managed to dodge due to his constant movement and keeping track of all his blades.

Jinmenju was working with Tanuki. Tanuki used his transformation ability and control of sand to move about the demonic heads that Jinmenju produced to attack their foes. Killing a living demonic head hurt Jinmenju as they were somewhat part of him, while Tanuki had to suffer losing sand to the waters, fire, and lightning.

With water as a major weakness in such quantities as the sea provided and Suiton user, he was only barely holding on while he attacked whatever he could get his katanas close to. He was restricted to his armored flame form due to not really having the same amount of power as Kasei himself, he was still just a clone after all.

"That's it!" Kasei shouted once he regained his strength, the battle was being fought for close to over an hour and a half by the time that he shouted.

While he didn't have access to Kitsune as he left that one in the future, he still had all of his bijuu power at his beck and call. This became one of the times that he decided to pull it out and attack regular foes, ones not really worthy of being subjected to its power. It was an unexpected move since the attacker didn't know that they were dealing with a former jinchuuriki with all of his powers intact and even upgraded.

It was the most frightening thing that any of them had every seen or experienced, and Kasei was going to make it that the last thing they ever did see. Instead of the original nine tails that he held within him, he had ten tails swishing behind his transforming form. Kitsune only had nine tails to it, so Kasei went a bit further with his transformation, he shifted his shape into that of a gray wolf.

It was partially in honor of _the End and the Void_, but partially because of how wolves worked and were about. Pack animals, family was very important, and also because he was an alpha male, a leader.

He unleashed a howl that rent the air, its power felt in all the nations. It was earth shattering in its might, and had just as much _power_ backing it to destroy another third of Crius' homeworld. And to think that it was just an intimidation tactic.

A single tail twitched, "**Kage Bushin no Jutsu**," Kasei spoke in a monstrous voice, which was just to scare the souls nearly out of his foes' bodies into the cold embrace of the Shinigami. One shadow clone appeared, phased into existence in the water and towered over the battlefield and the combatants.

"You have gotta be shittin me," one soon to be nameless corpse said, his voice gruff but rife with fear.

"I did not sign up for this.." another added before his head left his shoulders thanks to Kurotabou slicing through his neck.

The nightmare was no yet about to end, the ambush predators turned prey were not going to be killed instantaneous. No. They were going to be used as test dummies for Kasei's latest experiment.

Twenty tails fanned out and at their tips a small ball of power was formed.

Rasengan.

It was a move unseen yet as its original creator had yet to create it.

The balls were hurled to the space between the two wolves, the second one was dispelled, returning its power to its creator, leaving one ten tailed wolf on the field. Kasei had his tails point toward the mass of balls, all of which he forced to merge together in a spinning whirl until all were one. Then the retreat from his guinea pigs began, their numbers being cut down to size by blade, sand, head, and ice. They didn't want to face what they believed this attack was going to be.

The single ball was then compressed beyond apprehension, until all that could be seen was a ball that could fit in the palm of a child's hand. Kasei ate that ball and jumped into the air just as he let it explode within him while keeping his mouth shut tight to not let any of that compressed energy escape. He spun in the air, and when he was finally facing the field...

His clones dispelled themselves..

silence..

Kasei opened his maw and released the energy he held forcefully within him..

A light so bright that any that were watching were forced to look away. Even from miles away the light could be seen, like judgment from the heavens. It was a singular pillar of light, a tower, the hand of kami reaching down to smother or collect some souls.

Some sentries of Uzu had sensed Kasei's approach and had gone out to meet him, but as soon as they exited their hidey hole, they were forced to dive for cover as they witnessed the fall of the pillar of light, they watched what happened from behind some rocks.

The force of the attack against the waters caused tidal waves to move out in all directions, but that was only with the force that hit the water and the seabed. Not the end of the attack itself. There was still more to come from it.

If the force of the blast didn't kill the victims, what happened next surely would..

It was as if Kasei had concentrated all of the energy into an unstable ball in its point of contact with the seabed. Once all the energy was there, planted like a bomb. He detonated it as he began to fall. The area went nuclear.

The light show produced was even brighter than the one preceding it. It blew an even greater hole in the sea floor causing its depth to grow even more as Kasei was soon to find out. As suddenly as the massive ball of energy that destroyed everything that it touched appeared, it vanished. It didn't disintegrate, it just vanished as it had used up all of what had made it whole.

It had taken up so much space that its vanishing so suddenly caused there to be a vacuum, like a black hole had just appeared in the world. The space tried to fill itself in with something, drawing water and sand into itself. It even tried to suck in Kasei himself, its cause, but could not as he made it an impossibility.

The Uzu-nin were forced to give their chakra sticking power all they had just to hold on for dear life, they were pretty sure that even in lands far away the pulling force could be felt, though surely not as great. This was something that didn't happen very often.

There was a splash as soon as the space was finally filled, it sent smaller waves speeding all around.

"**Fuck its deep!**" the Uzu-nins heard Kasei's complaint as only his muzzle could be seen over the water's surface. As they no longer needed to anchor themselves in place, they stood behind their protective rock and watched as the giant wolf larger than any summon they had ever seen pull itself out of the water before standing on the water's surface like any master of the water walking exercise.

The Uzu-nin watched transfixed as the wolf shrunk rapidly until a human sized dot remained in its place.

'_Jinchuuriki.._' was their first thought, and try as they might they just couldn't think of anything else that he could be but that.

They felt his eyes on them as soon as the transformation ended. There was something in his gaze that frightened them more than being destroyed, mind, body, and soul, ever could and ever did. They might not have been able to see his eyes at that distance, but they could feel them on them, assessing them.

Before they could settle on a decided action they sensed movement around them. It wasn't the water, but something else that caught their attention, taking it away for but a moment from the stranger that had done so much damage against the forces of those that planned on destroying the Uzumaki stronghold.

Once the moment was gone, they could clearly see the cerulean blue that were in Kasei's possession.

"Greetings," Kasei greeted, not taking his eyes off of the two Uzu-nin, "I take it my guinea pigs were not comrades of yours."

"E-enemies," one of the two Uzu-nin stated stammering out his answer.

"Y-you answered the call.." the other said.

"Its nice to meet another that shares my mother's blood," Kasei told them.

"Good to meet you, sir," one of the two said in relief, knowing that he was not an enemy, but couldn't help asking, "What are you?"

"I a-apologize for my companion," the other said, bowing a little, "He didn't mean any disrespect by it. I'm Uzumaki Kouta, and my partner is Uzumaki Li. Welcome to the Land of Whirlpools. We were sent by our sentries to come greet you, traveled as fast as we could too." There was nothing too distinctive of the two, and they both sported the dark red hair of the Uzumaki.

"I am Fushigi Kasei," he told them, and for some odd reason they did not react to his name, which was a good thing for him, "Nice to meet you."

"Our sentries sensed that you had company, and not the kind that you eradicated with your power," Kouta said.

"Yes, we were hoping for more reinforcements for the defense of the country," Li added, "They weren't killed in the fighting were they?"

"No, they were not killed," Kasei assured the man, "But you shouldn't concern yourself with my _subordinates_."

"Why not?" Li asked, "We'd like to meet them.."

"You already have," Kasei stated, "You're just unaware of it."

"How so?" Kouta inquired.

"Hijutsu: Rinji Chishio Kage Bushin no Jutsu," Kasei announced before calling forth his clones, all of them in their human sealed forms, "These were the companions you sensed."

"I've never heard of that type of clone before," remarked Li as he began to study them, thinking that they were reliant on their creator until they began to move on their own accord, he jumped back in surprise.

"What are they? Are they alive?" Li questioned Kasei.

"They can be compared with jinchuuriki," Kasei explained, "They each represent a power I now possess, born of my own imagination and power. Each one also has a personality of its own, which serve as proof of my power."

"What do you mean by that?" Kouta asked, he wasn't really getting it.

"The powerful ones always have some quirk or insanity," Kasei explained, "Mine is having semi-split personalities which take up residence in my special clones," he then ordered his clones, "Introductions please."

"Kurotabou."

"Yuki-Onna."

"Shuten-Douji."

"Tanuki."

"Gashadokuro."

"Tengu."

"Hyakume."

"Kugutsuchi."

"Jinmenju."

"One of them is presently somewhere else attending to other things," Kasei told them, "While there are others that have not completely formed yet."

"Oh.." Kouta said, "Interesting, nice to meet you all."

"Now what happens?" Kasei asked.

"Well..we were going to escort you to the village," Li said, "But..you have other plans, don't you."

"I do," Kasei said, "I also have a message to pass on to your leader."

"We're listening," Kouta said.

"No matter what, Uzu shall fall," he said, he could have continued had Li and Kouta not suddenly attacked him, but were quickly restrained from further injuring him or themselves by Yuki-Onna freezing them in place.

"You bastard! That was all a show! You plan on destroying us all yourself!" Kouta shouted.

"You traitor to your blood!" Li shouted as well.

"I am no traitor, as you seen to have suddenly grown to believe," Kasei said, "It is just a statement of fact. Uzu is only prolonging the inevitable. Uzu's enemies are the majority of nations with an understanding of Uzu's potential power and potential threat to the world at large."

"But there is always a way, and with your power, the world will know without a doubt not to mess with us!" Li shouted, "And Konoha is sure to send its support as soon as they manage to turn the tide of their own battles in their favor."

"They will not make it in time," Kasei said, "And as for my power, well. I don't think Uzu would benefit much from it. I only came as curiosity dictated, and now give you my message. Inform your leader to send out all your civilians, scatter the Uzumaki throughout the nations. It is the only way to keep Uzu alive, in her people. Fight to death if you have to, but only have the warriors fight and not the civilians and children."

We'll pass on the message," Kouta said, then asked, "What will you be doing?"

"Stalling for time," Kasei said, and nodded at his clones, all of whom leapt away in multiple directions, "I shall fill the countryside with my own forces. Once the defenses of your village are ready, send word to any of my forces, and you shall have your glory and your place in history."

"You really don't think we'll win, do you," Kouta said, "Why?"

"I have seen the future of the Uzumaki," Kasei said, "And I have lived it," he turned to leave and motioned for Yuki-Onna to release the two men, "And one more thing."

"Yes?" Kouta said.

"Make sure that Uzumaki Kushina reaches Konoha alive," Kasei said, "The future of not only the Uzumaki, but of the world depends on her survival."

"How do you know?" Li demanded, "Why her out of all of Uzu?"

"I just do," Kasei said, "Just accept it as fact and if I find out that she has been harmed in any way. I promise you that I shall be the one to annihilate Uzu along with the rest of the world."

"...we'll make sure she reaches Konoha unharmed," Kouta swore, he felt and knew the power Kasei had within him, if he unleashed what he did while out at sea on the country, Kouta had no doubt in his mind that nothing would remain after the deed was done.

"You had better make sure of that," Kasei growled, before leaping away followed by Yuki-Onna.

The two men quickly made their way to their village and reported all that had occurred and that they had witnessed. The man had already been planning to send his granddaughter to Konoha for her safety, but to hear of her higher purpose was something he did not expect. Nonetheless he charged some of his best fighters and seal masters to see her safely to Konoha, their ally, before they were to return to the village and aid in the defense.

The civilians were also sent away, scattering to the four corners of the world they knew. The Land and village would fall, but the nation, the people, was sure to live on.

The people that passed through the land, escaping the fighting chanced upon the foces that Kasei had said he would be leaving to stall for time. They witnessed monsters from their very nightmares fighting for their, the people's, survival. They made sure to never forget the name Fushigi Kasei so long as they all lived, and would make sure that all of their descendants knew the name. The name of the man that commanded monsters.

These nightmares defended the travelers whenever they were close by, they decimated scouting parties whenever one got to near. They were the unavoidable death that stalked in the forests and in the plains. They were all over the countryside. There were that many of them, most were nameless, while the generals, those really special clones, they had their names and shared them with any that asked.

Kushina too met some of them, and learned about them and their master. Kasei didn't know what she looked like as a child and so didn't mind sharing things with her and other children that fled the soon to be war torn country. She would in later years, when she was pregnant with he people's protector tell stories to the developing babe about monsters, the honorable ones that had tried to save her country from destruction and protected her people from harm.

Kasei was unaware of it, but that served as one of the bigger influences for his love of monsters, and why he had managed to survive his young life being called one. While he felt insulted on more than one occasion, and wondered why he was called such, he also felt some small sense of pride in being classed among those beings that had defended his mother and her home. Those honorable creatures, the essence of their stories clinging tightly in his very soul, his last connection to his mother, a mother that he hoped to one day meet, be it in this life or in the future.

When the majority of the population of the nation had fled to parts known and unknown, Kasei began to slowly withdraw his forces. The leader of Uzu also sent him word that the defenses were complete and thanked him for his help, though wished that he would stand with them during their final battle.

He decided, after dispelling all of his clones, that he didn't really have anything to lose other than his life. So he shifted into his red headed form, and unmasked himself, but keeping the rest of his garb the same. With hood down, mask and facial coverings off, he looked just like one of the defending Uzumaki and slipped into the ranks of defenders. There were around three hundred of them, three hundred against thousands.

"Who are you, boy?" the Uzumaki clan head and village leader asked. Kasei looked to be sixteen years old, compared to his late twenties to late thirties look.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Kasei replied, "Also known as Namikaze Naruto. I felt that since this will be the end, and few are likely to survive if any, I might as well help."

"I've never heard of you," the Uzu leader said, "But glad to have you aboard."

"I stand and am ready to fight, in place of my mother," he said, his eyes shifting into a pair that had not been seen and would not be seen again for a decade or two, or more even.

The battle soon began, their enemies did number in the thousands, and they came from all corners of the continent to end the threat that the Uzumaki posed.

One of the jounin that was near Kasei decided to burn this new arrival's face and form into his mind and memory, so that if Kasei fell and the jounin lived, at least someone would remember him and his sacrifice. It would be years later, the jounin would survive, that he would hear the teen's name again, and a few more years again that he would once again see the face. The Jounin's name was Uzumaki Sho.

It was the only battle in the history of the world that three hundred ninja fought thousands with only taijutsu and seals. It was a devastating battle, the Uzumaki deciding that if someone was going to destroy their land, it would be them and they used their homeland as one big seal to trap their enemies and attack until there were only a handful of warriors left alive. Explosions, traps, and all sorts of things were used to keep the enemy away, as a few seal masters sealed away their village's greatest treasures, their knowledge away for their futures.

When the battle was over, there was no longer a Land of Whirlpool, just a bunch of rubble surrounded by numerous whirlpools from the sinking of the land.

Kasei was obviously one of the few survivors, he had been there when the leader of the Uzu forces had breathed out his last breath, and had told the old man of his true identity. The old man died knowing that he had a great-grandson, a powerful, just, and all around good one.

Kasei upon realizing that the battle was over and the Konoha forces were beginning to arrive, fled the field hiding himself from view by shrouding himself in the eyes of Hyakume and doing as Mirka had done to sneak to the Yochi residence in Iwa. He couldn't afford to be found by the Konoha forces, it just wouldn't do to mess up the future that badly or that insanely, he might actually create a paradox if he was found there and the way he was, he also couldn't afford to have any of the other survivors mention him, he was sure to stand out while being _alive._

He stuck to the shadows of the remains of the land, creeping silently while hidden under the illusion of invisibility. It was a tiring process and a mentally intense one, since he had to force himself to not involve himself. He had done enough as it was, he had held the enemy off with his clones for as long as history and time would permit him to.

It was over and it was done, he left the land of whirlpools and returned to the land of waves. He wept for all the lives lost, for they were all closer to him than any other set of mortals he had met with before.

Then once he was done, he left that land, with his week and a half remaining. He journeyed forward into the Land of Water, but remembered to leave a pumped up clone behind to relay his message that he was already waiting for his team in on the other side of the sea.

Getting there had been easy, he simply hitched a ride on a turtle that must have been a descendant of the Turtle Island or Island Turtle that was also the alter-ego of Genbu. It could have also been a member of the turtle summon clan that Gai was a summoner of.

They didn't speak on the journey to this Great Nation, the journey was in silence, but a comfortable one. As soon as Kasei hopped off the turtle's shell, it waved a flipper to him as a temporary of permanent farewell then slipped off into the waters of the nearly deep blue.

Kasei made his way to the area just beyond where the port town that his team would arrive in was located, and waited there for his time in this time to be up. He didn't know what was the purpose of the visit, but at least he got to help with the evacuation of his people.

He built a house of stone and hid it under one of his more powerful purely _power_ illusions, so that it could not and would not be stumbled upon by anyone as time moved forward without him there to keep the place clean. During his remaining time in this part of the past, he decided to see how good of a fisherman he could be.

He made his own nets, rods, hooks, and found his own bait. He even built his own boat, one that was kind of like the boats that Sane used to cross the desert sea of Crius' world. Just a bit larger. He put in a few seals that would allow the boat to run on its own, move about on its own, a kind of autopilot of sorts.

On the day that he was to return to present time, he decided that maybe it would be interesting to see just how he could affect the ages if he left another special clone behind. He created Funayuurei, they were a collective of clones that would serve as the crew of his vessel, a medium sized fishing boat or trawler if he wanted it to become one. The Funayuurei were a group of nine sailors, then skin pale or ashen white, while their lips were blue and their skin felt as if they had stayed in the water too long. They were based on the spirits of those that had died at sea.

As for a captain of his vessel, his first mate should he decide to use the boat again or have a need of it, he created Ikiryou, he was the power of possession based on the Yamanaka's clan jutsu. This form and clone had a more ghostly feel to it as compared to the nine victims of drowning.

When his time in that time was up, he simply vanished as if never there and watched as time flew by and watched his boat or ship become known as a ghost ship, hearing snippets of whispered conversations from countless people from year after year after year of time moving forward around him.

When he re-merged with regular time, he found himself really wet and in need of a change of clothing. It was so unexpected that he had not activated some of the self-cleaning or drying features of his costume. It was so unexpected, and of course he hadn't taken into consideration that he was standing on a boat that could possibly not be there when he got there.

It was a good thing that he had spares of clothing, not necessarily of this same suit, but clothes nonetheless that he could use for the time being or until he decided to do his laundry.

After getting changed he summoned his boat to him, it took roughly twenty minutes for it to arrive, and once it did he noticed that the thing had definitely passed the test of time splendidly. It was still intact save for a few places, but those looked to have come from battles that it could have participated in unintentionally. The crew were still there, but looked a lot more weary than when he created them.

He linked his mind to all of theirs to get an update on what had happened to them and with them without having to dispel. It was indeed interesting. They had made great use of the Kirigakure no Jutsu for their appearing and disappearing acts. The damages to the boat had been from long range jutsu used by ninja to see if the boat was real.

'_Interesting.._' he thought, '_At least I don't have any children by them.._'

He ordered them to continue going about their business, but to meet up or sail alongside his team once they set sail. He also instructed them to get a hold of Kitsune and have him join them on board. While his boat set sail on an interception course with whatever ferry the originally team from Kusa, Kasei went about cleaning house before going fishing for food for the remainder of the week as he had a feeling that it would take that long for his team to arrive at the port.

He grew a bit bored of waiting since his days were more or less only filled with fishing, he actually looked and smelled the part of a fisherman by the end of the week. He sold his surplus to the town, and ate only what he needed. He was a businessman for that week. Some people did wonder, of course, where in the world did he come from. Fishermen didn't just pop out of nowhere, they had to come from somewhere. He also had papers that were sealed with the seal of a Daimyo, of that port officials and merchant guild officials were sure.

Some had tried to follow him home, but they were unable to due to the protections and illusions set in place. Some had followed him to where he fished, those were more successful. Some had tried to set up where he fished at, due to the haul that he usually brought into town for sale. But they were not that successful in that regard due to just how dangerous the place was for their boats and nets.

The waters were littered with sharp rocks, and there were a lot of fish there that were not worth the trouble of catching. But still some watched as Kasei fished in that place. He caught fish by the dozen by using only some thread, what the other fishermen didn't know was that he was using chakra to help with his fishing. It could have been considered cheating, but it was just another part of life, an inescapable part of life.

When he fished he left his shirt on land, wearing only rolled up pants and carrying only thread he drew the attention of not only the other fishermen and some merchants, but also some of the younger women and some teenaged girls. He didn't mind the attention as he actually failed to notice that he was being watched every time he went fishing.

At the end of the week after his return to the present he sensed the arrival of Kitsune. Walking out of his house and onto the dock that he had set up for the boat, he found not only his clone but his team as well, along with some new additions from Konoha.

"How was your trip? Cause mine was a bit trippy," Kasei said as he greeted them and helped with the securing of the boat.

"It went well enough, nothing really exciting happened," Yugito reported, "What did you do this time? What kind of adventure were you on?"

"Yeah sensei," Mirka said, "What did you experience this time?"

"I experienced the fall of the Uzumaki," Kasei said, "It was brutal yet majestic, and if I could have done something to change the outcome. I would have."

"But you didn't," Jiraiya noted, "I was there when it happened, or rather when it ended. We arrived too late to aid our allies that one time. We pulled a Kakashi."

"I know," Kasei said, "I slipped away once I sensed all of you nearing."

"But I didn't notice anything amiss," Jiraiya said, "How could you slip by so easily?"

"Hyakume," was Kasei's one word reply.

"I though that it was just a spying jutsu," the sage said.

"Its not," Mirka commented, "The eyes are real, as real as the two on your face. With them you can create sharingan like illusions, eye based illusions like hypnosis."

"I tricked all of your minds into believing that I was not there," Kasei added to Mirka's explanation, then he invited them into his latest home away from home.

It was small and really only had enough room for one person to live comfortably in. He didn't think he'd have to house them there for their time in the place, thinking that they would resort to staying at yet another hotel instead.

"So..what's the mission?" Mirka asked her sensei, "Now that we're here, we deserve to know."

"We're here...to help the rebels win their war," Kasei said, "It was an odd request, but the council decided that it right down our alley."

"So..what kind of help are we giving these rebels," Mirka asked.

Kasei's grin was most frightening that Mirka decided that perhaps asking was not such a good idea after all. Even Sakura tried to back away, but her back was already against a wall.

"Mirka-chan," Kasei sweetly said, the maple syrup was clearly dripping off of every word, "How would you like to advance to jounin sooner than planned?"

"I'm already an A-class threat," she said, "What more do you want from me?" she asked hysterically more due to the grin that adorned her teacher's face than anything else.

"We'll be providing combat support," Kasei informed his team, "The rebels and the loyalist forces are more or less equal in number and in skill. We're part of the force that are going to tip the scale in one side's favor."

"We're gonna get to fight! Yes!" Han excitedly exclaimed, "So when do we meet with our contact?"

"Unfortunately our contact is no longer among the living," Kasei stated, "Killed in action recently, or so I heard from the rumor mill. Yes, I've been listening to rumors, helps with my fishing business."

"So..how do we go about contacting the rebels that Kusa has answered its odd call for aid?" Yugito asked.

"Other villages received this mission request," Kasei said, "I'm not sure how many answered positively, but I do know that most villages saw it as a joke of a sort. The only reason we're on this mission is because the village wants the promised funds if the rebels manage to win."

"So how does this help with my possible early promotion?" Mirka asked, "I'm still just eleven you know!"

"I'm well aware of that," Kasei said, "But you'll get all the experience you need here, and believe me, things won't end in just a month."

"So what's the plan?" Jiraiya asked, "Cause I don't have any spies here."

"The rebels must be getting supplies from somewhere," Kasei said, "We're gonna find out who, and if that channel is not one we can use to get to the rebels, we go to Kiri and petition to join their forces in the next battle."

"Are you serious?" Jiraiya asked, "We're talking about the Bloody Mist here! What's to prevent them from killing us all?"

"They may have the three and six tails," Kasei said, "But we've got the powers of more than that. Plus we've got you and a mini-Tsunade, minus the breasts!"

Kasei was forced to cut his explanation and planning short as he had to dodge an enraged Sakura in a more successful way as compared to Jiraiya and Tsunade. When the pinkette calmed down, the conversation continued.

"I think it would be best if we just head on over to Kiri," Yugito said, "It'll make things faster, and we might get the chance to sabotage the loyalist forces if we go there too."

"Sabotage, I like the sound of that," Han said, "Let's go!"

"We'll put it to a vote," Kasei said, "All in favor of going directly to Kiri?"

Everyone that was not Kasei raised their hand.

"Alright," Kasei said, "You win. Kiri it is. We leave tomorrow."

They easily weaved their way into Kiri and got into the army of the Mizukage rather easily, too easily even. It must have been the promise of spilling much blood that got them accepted so quickly, that and the fact that Kasei weaved some of his illusions over their forms. They were not recognizable.

Somehow the rebels got wind of the latest additions to the Mizukage's army, and grew worried that maybe he had requested aid in return for who knows what from other villages. They grew nervous as the next battle was going to be a major one, a big one. The Mizukage himself wsa going to join in on the fighting.

"What have you found out, Mirka?" Kasei asked his student as they were preparing to leave the village to head for the battlefield, Kasei only had five days before he would leave again. Mirka had been sent to find out as much as she could from the village, she was also instructed to spy on the Mizukage and of course, not get caught.

"So many genjutsu," Mirka reported, "If the eyes I used were my main ones, I'd be blind right now."

"That difficult to get through huh," Kasei said, "Continue."

"Disturbing information," Mirka continued, "Apparently the Mizukage is a puppet leader. He's being manipulated by a clan long since extinct.."

"Which clan?" Kasei asked.

"The Kaguya clan," Mirka stated, "They were not all wiped out, a few of them remained, and they plotted and succeeded in ensnaring the Mizukage in a really powerful illusions. He must have been tormented with stress or something to have been trapped in the genjutsu so easily."

"To think they'd be this bloodthirsty," Kasei observed, "Alright, I've made my decision."

"What decision would that be?" Jiraiya asked as he entered the room they had been assigned and prepared his stuff for the fight ahead.

"We're recruiting another jinchuuriki," Kasei replied, "We'll also be destroying the Kaguya, though I do hope at least one of them can be saved."

"What does a dead clan have to do with this conflict?" Jiraiya asked.

"They started it," Kasei said, "Mirka has found out that the Kaguya sent off their weak minded members to attack and ultimately die by Kiri's hands, get those without bloodlines to distrust those with bloodlines, and end up with a manipulated Mizukage jinchuuriki. The other one is out in hiding most likely, hiding from who I'm not too sure at the moment."

"I see," Jiraiya said, then asked, "Want me to relay this to the others?"

"Go ahead," Kasei said, "We'll be moving out in a while, let's make a show of the battle."

They moved out with the rest of Kiri's loyalist forces and some mercenaries that were added into the mix. They made sure that they were together, impersonating people if they had to. All of them moved as one unit, and when that wasn't possible, well...Kasei had his ways. He also had his special clones hidden among the other groups, they were going to be the ones to cause a distraction for the smooth transition of switching sides during the battle.

This wasn't going to be one of those long drawn out battles. The Loyalist forces were going to be taking lives, while the rebels were forced to do the same. Many lives planned on being lost. Kasei could do nothing about such a loss of life since it was not his war and if he interferred more than he needed to, the rebels would not appreciate it, and it would be a hollow victory for them.

"_Remember the plan,_" Kasei reminded his comrades, "_Drop the illusions once you see the signal._"

The signal being Gashadokuro and Tengu appearing in the middle of the battle and drawing fire from both sides. They would be indiscriminately attacking both sides, injuring both, but not killing anyone. They didn't need to add to the already staggering body count, or would be staggering body count.

The two armies met on the battlefield, one filled with ponds, swamps, lakes, and whatever land locked body of water possible. This was the Land of Water after all, and most battles did occur near places that Kiri-nin would have an advantage.

A few minutes of fighting passed before Gashadokuro and Tengu made their grand entrance, blowing up a chunk of ground and adding several pot holes into the ground.

Kasei shifted his form, returning to being his blonde self then snuck his way past rebel and enemy lines until he was no longer on the battlefield. He was soon joined by the rest of his team. Following the humans were the clones, all of whom snuck past through their own means, by sealing their monster forms and slipping past.

Won or lost, the outcome of the battle was unsure since Kasei had left several explosive tags laying around the battlefield as he made his way over to where they were presently. As soon as they were all present and accounted for, he sent a spike of chakra to all of his tags. The explosion was amazing, worthy of a fireworks competition. Body parts and equipment flew all over the place, though the body parts belonged mostly to the already dead.

Both sides were forced to retreat, and as soon as the rebels were at Kasei's position, he let them know that they were there. It was a rather odd thing to do, he spiked his chakra to get their attention, then waved while smiling. Unpredictable indeed.

"Yo!" Kasei greeted the passers by, even though some had stopped and deemed them as suspicious. He pulled out his team's mission scroll and received several kunai flying in his direction as a reward for his careless and sudden movement, luckily Tanuki and Yuki-Onna were there, ready with their defenses.

"Who are you?" a red head demanded as she was shadowed by a few of her comrades, she was obviously very important among the rebels.

"We're your reinforcements from Kusa," Kasei told her and tossed her the scroll, which she didn't catch or pick up when it hit the ground. She had her comrade examine it first before she picked it up and read the contents.

"Alright," the red head said, "Everything seems to be in order, concerning the Kusa-nin. But that doesn't explain why there are Konoha-nin, a Kumo-nin, and an Iwa-nin, with you. Or these other things with you."

"They're members of my team," Kasei said, "I'm the highest in rank and the officer in charge of this mission."

"What guarantee do you have," the red head cautiously asked, "That you won't double cross us like you did Yagura."

"Hmm," Kasei said and rubbed his chin a bit as if in deep thought.

"Stop fooling around and give her the best one you can think of," Han said impatiently, "Say something already."

"I'm just here for the ride," Jiraiya voiced his opinion on the matter, "Shouldn't you be happy that we're here?"

"I don't trust you," the woman pointedly told Jiraiya, "I doubt there are many women that do."

"Told ya being a self-proclaimed super-pervert was a bad idea," Kasei told the sage before resuming his thinking pose, then decided to answer the woman, "How 'bout I promise that I won't betray you? That good enough?"

"No," the woman said.

"_Time to pull out he big guns.._" Yugito mumbled.

"What did you say girly?" the red head hissed, threatengly.

"Nothing, just mumbling to myself," Yugito replied, unfazed by the threat.

"How 'bout I swear it on my honor?" Kasei suggested, "My honor's gotta count for something."

"Not to me," the woman stated.

"Alright," Kasei said, getting another idea, "How 'bout you hand back that mission scroll and I make this an official mission from the other three villages?"

"Oh, and how are you going to do that, jounin," the woman said, she was getting tired wasting her time on Kasei and his antics.

"Just hand over the scroll lady," Mirka decided to join in on the conversation, "You'll love what sensei can do."

"Fine," the woman said then threw over the scroll, which Kasei deftly caught, opened and pulled out four things. An ink pad, his official seal as Fire Daimyo, his Tsuchikage seal of authority which Onoki had slipped him, and the same for Kumo that Shuten-douji had brought with him and placed with Yugito's things. He inked the scroll with the three seals, then threw it back at the shocked kunoichi who failed in catching the document.

"Better?" he asked her, which prompted her to pick the scroll up and look over the new stamped seals.

"What in the name of Kami are you?" the woman asked, there wasn't anything else she could do in such a situation.

"Tsuchikage," Han answered.

"Raikage," Yugito added.

"My jounin-sensei," Mirka stated, just so she wasn't left out.

"Daimyo," Jiraiya replied. Sakura nodded.

"Creator," the clones all said in their different voices.

"A very unpredictable person," Kasei finished off the replies.

"I don't have a choice but to believe you," the woman said, "I'm Terumi Mei, the leader of these rebels, and you are?"

"Fushigi Kasei," Kasei replied, "Former jinchuuriki of Konoha, temporary jounin of Kusa, Shodaime Tsuchikage, Yondaime Raikage, Shodaime Fire Daimyo. Yeah, I think that's about it for now."

"Tatsumaki Han," the red armored kid introduced himself, "Former jinchuuriki of Iwa, one of two in fact. Jounin of Iwa and the Tsuchikage's bodyguard...of sorts."

"Mirka, just Mirka for now until sensei finds out who my parents were," Mirka said, not even remotely shy, "Chunin of Kusa."

"Nii Yugito," Yugito stated, "Jounin of Kumo, former jinchuuriki of Nibi, and granddaughter of tachou."

"Gama Jiraiya," Jiraiya decided against using his usual introduction, "Gama Sennin. Need I say more?"

"No," Mei stated.

"Haruno Sakura," the pinkette said, "Chunin, medic-nin, and student of Senju Tsunade the Godaime Hokage."

"I'd say it was nice to meet you, but its not," Mei said, "And the rest?"

"Rinji Chishio Kage Bushin," the clones all stated.

"I see," Mei said, "Well, I still can't trust you with our headquarts. So set up camp here and I'll send someone over here to tell you where I need you."

"Fine by me," Kasei said, and began pulling out tents and stuff, as his team and the rebels watched him work. It was like a scene out of some cartoon, the items just popped out of nowhere.

Then to Jiraiya's surprise and amazement, Kasei and his clones surrounded the camp. Slammed drew blood and slammed their palms onto the ground. A spider web of seals spread across the perimeter of the camp protectively. Jiraiya recognized the basic pattern as something only the seal masters of Uzushiogakure would know..

"Where did you learn that?" he asked his one time student.

"In the library of my teacher's friend, as well as from Uzushiogakure itself, back when it was still standing," Kasei said, "Why? Is it that hard to believe that I have mastered the art of seals?"

"Well..not anymore," the sage replied, "So you went to Uzushio?"

"Yep," Kasei said, "Have you been drinking? Cause you seem to have some short term memory loss."

"I have not," the sage stated firmly, "It just slipped my mind is all."

"You're an Uzumaki?" Mei asked, she had recognized the seals herself since she had blood connections to that clan, her grandfather had been one of the survivors of the destruction.

"Sure am," Kasei replied.

"He's actually the great grandson of the last Uzukage," Jiraiya added, "Why?"

"That would make you the Uzumaki clan head, as well as the Uzu Daimyo and Uzukage rolled into one as well," Mei said, "I guess due to your lineage I can trust you after all. But you're still staying here, we've got no space for all of you."

"Fine by me," Kasei said.

He waited for Mei and her people to leave before he spoke once again to his team.

"She'll not be sending us onto the field of battle anymore," Kasei guessed, "We're now just observers, witnesses to what she and her comrades hope to accomplish. But they should know by now that they need our help."

"So what do you plan on doing about it?" Yugito asked him.

"We proceed as planned, "Kasei said, "We'll be working in and from the shadows. We need to locate these cunning Kaguya, as well as find out if anyone else is interested in the conflict. There's also finding out who are the major obstacles in the way of Terumi Mei."

"Originally," Jiraiya said, "According to some ancient texts that I chanced upon in my travels, ninja were creatures of the shadows, never seen or heard. Silent and deadly. They were part of the reason people feared the dark."

"Which is precisely why we'll be doing cover op missions from here on out," Kasei said, "Espionage and assassinations."

"We'll strike from the shadows," Tengu said.

"The rebels will do the open fighting," Kasei said, "While we'll just make sure that the rebels can actually win."

Before the conversation could progress any further, they all heard a twig snap and turned to face the direction of the sound. Only to find a spiralling orange masked Akatsuki member standing there.

Jiraiya was the first to act, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from doing anything, the others tensed as soon as Jiraiya moved.

"How the hell are you still alive?" was Kasei's first question, "And what the heck are you doing wearing that uniform?"

"Would you believe that..well..its complicated," Madara said as he took off his mask, "But anyway, how are you still alive and looking just the way you are?"

"I time travel a lot," Kasei informed him, "Oh, and congratulations, your brother was the first regent of the land of fire."

"So that's how that one royal brat had the sharingan," Madara thought out loud as he remembered his encounter with a prince of the court bearing a familiar set of Uchiha eyes, "So...I'd like to help, and I'm willing to provide information on the organization I started. Looks like I'll get to scrap my plan of world domination, those plans never work anyway."

"You planned on taking over the world?" Jiraiya asked the much older man.

"Yes," Madara said, "My late uncle convinced me of it, after telling me a now obvious lie about my brother dying, blaming the world and you, Kasei-sama, and of course feeding the sour taste in my mouth after my monumental defeat at Hashirama's hands. He thought that the clan would revolt if I incited them to rebellion, but they didn't, and the bastard didn't even bother to back me up. There were some other things that convinced me that the world needed to be controled. All these wars haven't been good for the peace that Hashirama and I once envisioned."

"So why the sudden change of heart?" Kasei asked his friend from long ago.

"Well, you being alive for one thing," Madara said, "The Land of Fire practically bowed to your will. What did you do to get it to do that, by the way?"

"I answered the land's call for help and became the Shodaime Fire Daimyo," Kasei replied.

"Damn, makes me wish I could've gone with you instead of my lil bro," Madara said, then asked, "So can I join you guys? Standing around gets kinda tiring after a while."

"Sure, c'mon over," Kasei waved him over to a log, "So, how are you alive? You still haven't answered that."

"Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan," Madara explained, "Grants me longer than Uzumaki longevity and the only way that I can die is if I'm killed, you know, murder type or fight or battle type kill."

"I got it," Kasei said, "So now that you're no longer hell bent on world domination, what'll happen to your organization?"

"I could keep it around," Madara said, "Its got some good members, and the acting leader just needs some talking to. He believes that to know true peace one needs to know pain...so yeah."

"So who're the other members?" Kasei asked.

"Well...there's Uzumaki Nagato, this chick named Konan, Kakuzu of Taki, Hidan of Hot Springs, Uchiha Itachi," Madara said, "That is one messed up kid. Village before family, sheesh if the Hokage was serious in keeping the peace he should have confronted Fugaku and not act like a coward, the Sandaime didn't have a backbone unlike Hashirama and Tobirama."

"Let's get to him later," Kasei said, "Please continue."

"Hoshigaki Kisame," Madara said, "That guy swore his loyalty to me actually. He may seem like a bloodthirsty killer, but he too just wants all the fighting to end. No one wants all the fighting to end more badly than the soldiers fighting in it."

"Anyone else?" Kasei asked.

"Deidara of Iwa, Akasuna no Sasori of Suna," Madara said, "And this experiment that I created, a son if you will. Zetsu. You can think of me as the sick father and Hashirama as the undead mother. Stole the man's blood for cloning when we made the Valley of the End."

"You just betrayed your organization to us, you know that?" Jiraiya said.

"I know," Madara said, "Isn't it great! More chaos! So what happens now?"

"Now?" Kasei said, "We do our striking from the shadows thing."

"I'll help," Madara said, "I never really liked those Kaguya anyway. I'll admit that I'm the reason they starte their own rebellion back in the day."

"What do you mean by that?" Mirka asked.

"Well, I taunted them a bit in the form of a genjutsu," Madara told them, "I was Shodaime Mizukage after all. I founded a second Konoha, things were alright at the beginning, but then some things happened, like my successor trying to kill me and almost succeeding if it wasn't for all of my experience being one of the top two shinobi in the world during Hashirama's time. The Nidaime was the one that got it into his head that bloodlines were bad news, but he wasn't the one that sent out death squads. No that was the Yondaime, Yagura, the puppet leader courtesy of the Kaguya. Insecure brat with a turtle sealed in him, it just took one moment of weakness and BAM! Bloodline cleansing."

"It really is the Land of the Bloody Mist," Yugito said.

"I wouldn't say that," Madara said, "There were some good times too you know, its a complicated history is all."

"Fine," Yugito said, "So...now what?"

"I'll gather Akatsuki," Madara said, "I'll have Nagato, who calls himself Pein now, to have the organization focus on capturing Yagura and Utakata. I'll hand them over to you once I've gotten a hold of them."

"Good enough for me," Kasei said, "A war on four sides, or three if we join forces."

"I think I'd like that," Madara said, "You were always so interesting back when I was younger."

"Oh," Kasei said, "One more thing before you leave."

"What is it?" Madara asked as he stood up.

"Get Itachi to speak with Sasuke, about the truth," Kasei said, "I still have a promise to keep after all."

"Kasei..you can forget about that," Sakura spoke, "Its not really a promise worth keeping.."

"It is a promise worth keeping," Kasei stated firmly, "He can still be saved from himself. I have a feeling that his brother is the key to that, and Madara make sure your descendants don't kill each other."

"Got it!" Madara said, "We're the last three after all!"

"You have some really weird, strange, crazy, insane, and dangerous friends, sensei," Mirka noted, "Anyone else?"

"I know Nagato," Kasei said, "Met him back when I met Yugito's grandmother, or slightly after that, a clone of mine met him."

"This would be before or after I taught the brat?" Jiraiya asked.

"After," Kasei said, "They told me about you. Their first responsible teacher. I read your book by the way. I think I need to speak with Nagato sometime for him to see the light once again. Enslaving the world in a false peace is not the way things should go. I'll go with the way of the Sage of Six Path's second son."

"You know about him? Did you meet him?" Jiraiya asked, he was oh so very interested in that sage, the founder of the ninja era and the first ninja to be called the God of Shinobi.

"Haven't gotten the chance to meet the man yet," Kasei said, "But now that I think about it, I think I might like to meet this man."

"I think..perhaps..we need to get some reast," Han said, "This civil war isn't going to win itself."

"Of course its not," Kasei said, before just felling backwards, falling asleep before hitting the dirt. It was perhaps the oddest thing he had done so far, for a while at least. It also looked quite uncomfortable, and most of the group wondered what the man would feel in the morning when he woke up from being in such a position for the remainder of his sleep.

Kasei started to dislike even wishful thinking now as it seemed to tap into his _power_ manipulation ability and caused him to pop out of his present time and back into the distant past. Back to the dawn of the era in which he was born in. Mirka had still been awake, as had Sakura, and bore witness to Kasei vanishing from the campsite in that awkward and most likely uncomfortable position. They wondered when he would be returning, as they needed his leadership on the insane mission he had managed to get them all apart of.

For the first time in his life, he appeared with a thunk, there had been no log in place where he ended up in. So it wasn't a surprise when he awoke in pain so suddenly blossoming after he had arrived in this period in time. He quickly surveyed his surroundings, just as he was supposed to, or just as he did every time he arrived in the past. It had become habit, his wanting to know where he had ended up in as well as when he ended up in.

First order of business, since he wasn't quite sure how long he would be staying this time, was to once again head on over to the nearest worldly landmark to figure out what time he was in. No easy feat since the first place that came to mind was Kiri. Once he got there, he didn't find it. Just some bodies of water, swamps, rocks, trees. Simply put, he only found more nature. The village had yet to be founded, and he had a feeling that it would be centuries still before that even became a conscious thought for someone.

He then made good time to where he knew Konoha should be located. It wasn't quite difficult to find the place, what he found was forest, nature once again. This meant that he was really far away from his own time. He did manage to find the capital of Fire Country, which meant that he could be sometime before or after chakra, which meant that it was entirely possible that he was at the very dawn itself.

Walking through the lovely capital which he had built the foundations for, since not all the buildings had remained the same since the foundings, he learned of the many problems and difficulties that plagued the world. A number of them stemmed from tales of demons, and not the kind that were associated with the generals of the founding of Fire Country, those monsters that answered the call of the the First Fire Daimyo.

These were demons of chaos, of mischief, of madness, of all sorts of sins and disturbances. They were said to the be main cause of all the strife that the world was experiencing. Minor wars had been fought, major wars had been brewing for a while now. The Regent Fire Daimyo was preparing to defend his borders in place of the one he was standing in for. It was not a pretty sight, the world that was that is.

Kasei didn't know what to make of things and he was started to doubt his first assessment that he was not the Sage of Six Path. He tried to find rumors of a warrior monk or someone similar traveling the lands, righting wrongs, and fighting for the people, as well as a human able to perform feats so great that he could be worshipped as a god.

He found it one day, while he was being drafted into the army, or at least some people were trying to get him to join the army, when he heard talk of a man that was recruiting soldiers of his own, fighters really. This man had exhibited talents that had not been seen in the world for a very long time. Some court officials could testify to what the man was capable of, but they had also been sent to ascertain if the man was their missing daimyo as Kase had displayed similar talents.

He escaped from the clutches of his own military, most of whom were unaware of just who he was exactly, and made his way to where this new arrival was staying and demonstrating just what it was that he could do. Simple yet extraordinary feats they were, sure, but at the same time they were things that no normal man was able to fathom or perform at that time. Yet, here was this young man performing such feats as if he had been born with the knowledge of how to perform them.

When the man decided tot pack up, as he had failed to get anyone to join his band of one. He noticed Kasei standing where once there had been a crowd, the people of the city believed that if they were going to serve, they would serve their country, and not some traveling circus performer looking for students, fighters, disciples, guards.

"Interesting tricks," Kasei, wearing a dark blue and red combination kimono, told the younger man, "But I've seen them all before."

"Really?" the young man asked, "Where? Who did them? Do you know of any others that can do them?"

The young man actually sounded desperate, he also sounded so alone in the world. It was like a jinchuuriki, but without all the hate and ignorance.

"Why do you want to know?" Kasei asked him, arms folded across his chest.

"I don't know if you'll believe me, sir, but I just don't want to be the only one of my kind in the world," the young man said, "I've been able to do these feats for as long as I can remember. The basics of which I could teach others, that way I wouldn't be alone anymore... What about you, sir, would you like to learn?"

"No," Kasei said, "I am uninterested in what you could teach me when it comes to these arts. But I think I might be interested in journeying with you, see what it is you can truly do, and see if I can help you with this lonliness thing."

"I'm Takeshi by the way," the younger man introduced himself.

"You may call me Kasei," he told the younger man, "Tell me, have you ever met a man named Ryoku?"

"I did," the younger man said, "I met such a man when I was young. He set me down this path, this quest to find others like me."

"I see," Kasei said as he walked with the younger man out of the city.

"Why? Did you know him?" Takeshi asked.

"Personally? No," Kasei said, "But I know of him. He is a transient Being, he was not of this world. To have met him has marked you for life."

"You seem to know quite a lot of things," Takeshi said, "Why is that?"

"I met a man, no, a Being, similar to Ryoku," Kasei said, "I was trained in an art thought impossible by many. I was sent on a quest much like your own, but vastly different."

"Oh," Takeshi said, "So...what happens now? Since you don't want to learn, could you at least tell me where you saw this other person that could do the things that I can do?"

"I'll do something better," Kasei said, making up his mind when it came to the younger man he decided to travel the world with ninety years was a farily long time after all, "Why don't I show you just what I can do? Hmm?"

"What do you mean, what you can do?" Takeshi asked.

"I've seen what you can do," Kasei said, "Its only fair that I show you what I am capable of."

Takeshi could do small things, breathe fire, manipulate water, cause the earth to crack and splinter or slabs of rock to jut out from the ground. Electricity to crackls, metal to move about. He could do many simple things. E to D rank jutsu, basically. Here was the God of Shinobi, the founder of an era, and he was nothing more than an academy student with kage-level chakra control.

They were in a large clearing, with not a fire tree in sight, Takeshi was told to just sit and watch. The younger man expected to be mocked or be shown some impressive martial arts. What he witnessed was something out of the many tales and stories of a missing daimyo, a warrior lord, that had bested invading armies on his own.

Kasei had slammed a palm on the ground, and as he lifted his hand a slab of earth raised up. He followed up that move by molding the slab like it was clay into an egg shaped mass and laid in on the ground at the center of the clearing on a nest of vines that had sprouted from the ground. He tapped the egg of earth once, and Takeshi noticed that that one tap caused the egg shaped mass to crack in some places, then start turning into some kind of burning or molten rock.

Something was hatching from the egg, and Takeshi was excited to find out what it was.

Pieces of the earthen shell fell of at first, followed by more of its kind. Until all that was left in the not even burning nest of vines, was an uncoiling serpentine dragon. There was no mistaking what the thing was.

It grew, and grew, and grew in size, until it devoured its nest, leaving only itself at the center of the clearing. It was a dragon of volcanic properties, and it actually flew up into the air, assessing its surroundings, only then noticing its birth. It roared, and Takeshi had to scamble away lest he call attention upon himself. But Kasei stood his ground, it was his creation after all. It was not sentient, but it was as if the thing had a mind of its own. He was experimenting at this time, it was a bit something new to him and was thinking of adding a dragon to his collection of powers and clones.

"You...you can make a dragon..." Takeshi said in awe at the display.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Kasei said, then motioned for the dragon to continue the exhibition.

It attacked, coiling for a moment, then sprining into action. Diamonds formed along its spine as ridges, then horns, and teeth, and claws. These things it used to physically assault Kasei who simply used a mixture of wind and water to produce a cold mist followed by a tornado that trapped the dragon within it, followed by a concentrated blizzard. Ice and magma, battled it out, while the dragon struggled to break free from the grip of the whirling ice vortex.

"How are you doing this?" Takeshi asked from the sidelines.

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that, why?" Kasei replied as he pulled out a katana and drew the blade, and ran at the dragon, much like how some kind of action hero was supposed to do when it was about to deliver the finishing blow.

"Could you teach me?" Takeshi asked, "I would like to further my skills?"

"I'll teach you all I can," Kasei said, "I expect that you are destined for many a great things!"

He had reached the dragon and had ran up and around the vortex until he was at the dragon's head. It roared and breathed out a combination of fire and lightning. It was more like a beam of plasma or a laser firinig out of the dragon than anything else. Kasei cut through it, his katana going through like a knife through butter.

He jumped off of the in pain elemental construct, then lengthened his blade, the metal actually growing longer, before he threw it up into the air, and Takeshi noticed that Kasei's hands flew through a slew of what looked like handseals to him.

Takeshi then only barely managed to notice that Kasei's lips were moving, and so read, 'Hijutsu: Tajuu Kage Tsurugi no Jutsu'.

The one large and longer than normal katana multiplied. He watched as Kasei, with a single motion of his hands, caused the multiple swords to slam into the dragon. Its form writhed on the ground as its entire body was skewered in place by the multiple swords.

"Don't you think that it has suffered enough?" Takeshi asked, he never thought he would ever get to see a dragon, and here was one, one that was created from the elements themselves, and it lay almost beaten.

"Its not alive, not truly yet," Kasei told the younger man, "I have yet to give it the breath of life. But I can see that you do not want to see anymore of such torture on a non-living thing. Very well."

Kasei withdrew the swords, and had them all vanish, the original going back to where it had come from. He leeched out the fire from within the magma and diamond dragon, causing it to become an obsidian dragon, one with diamond ridges, horns, teeth, and claws. Liquid obsidian since the thing could still move about.

The dragon watched the two humans in the clearing, intelligence could be found in its still glowing eyes, eyes that had become sapphires from the rubies they had once been.

"Could you really breathe the breath of life into it?" Takeshi asked Kasei as he approached the dragon.

"I suppose I could," Kasei said, "But I don't need to when it comes to this dragon."

"Why not?" Takeshi said, then realized that the eyes of the dragons were very similar to a pair that he had only recently come to know, "What did you do to it?"

"I assimilated the dragon that I created," Kasei said, "This dragon, Ryu, is now an extension of myself. It is I, and I am it."

"And can you teach me to do all these things?" Takeshi asked.

"Yes," Kasei replied, "And more. As I said, I expect great things from you. You were born into this world for a reason, what that reason is is for you, and you alone to divine. I'm just a guide, a helper, to lead you on the right path."

"How do you know?" Takeshi asked.

"You met Ryoku," Kasei said, "He left you for someone else like him to find you, and help you. I am that someone else. I will help you become that which you are destined to become."

"Ok," Takeshi said, "So when do we start? And what do you get out of this?"

"I get to help in bringing peace to this troubled world," Kasei said, "I fear that somewhere down the line something or someone will appear and cause even more chaos across the lands, something that man will seek out to stop, but be unable to due to lack of ability. You will be the savior of this world, the harbringer of peace. I want peace. I want to help put an end to the cursed cycle, the cycle of pain and suffering, as best as I can."

"You want the same things I do," Takeshi said after a moment of silence after the declaration, "I have seen death, the death of friends and family, it was only thanks to my gift that I managed to survive. I have seen war and famine. I have seen drought and disease. This world we live in, I don't like it. I want to change it, make it better. These demons that plague the lands, I want them gone. I thought that if I could get some people to journey with me, fighting alongside me, then we could rid the world of these demons. Bring back some form of order, some form of peace. Thank you for this chance, Kasei, I will do you proud."

"Well," Kasei said, "Then let us begin..."

He began to train his newest student in what he knew. Jutsu, chakra manipulation, shape, form, nature. He taught Taijutsu, genjutsu. He taught fuuinjutsu, and whatever else he could think of. He even taught Takeshi how to tap into the universe, to use a fraction of the possibilities of using _that power_.

They trained for roughly thirty years in seclusion, traveling and training in all the lands. Getting used to all sorts of terrain and situations. Some unlucky bands of bandits and marauders had been unlucky enough to fall victim to the teacher-student pair.

At the end of the thirty years of training, Takeshi didn't look a day over twenty-five, becoming a sage and unlocking his potential, the Rin'negan, had kept him youthful through the years. He aged slower than most nowadays, but wasn't like Kasei who could freely age and de-age whenever he wished. His default look was at thirty now.

They were walking in the desert looking for someone that was worth training or something to do. Either choice was fine by the two of them. Student and teacher had grown relatively used to each other's presences. They knew each other quite well, but who wouldn't considering how long they had been training together. They could watch each other's backs in a fight, and could even fight blindfolded together.

They didn't know why they had chosen the desert of all places. The air was dead, it was an arid place to be traveling through.

But it was a good thing that they had chosen that course as they stumbled upon some dried blood on the sand. Something told the two travelers that not only was it uncommon, but it probably was human blood. The desert sands had also grown quite quiet as soon as they made that discovery. Something was watching and waiting for them.

"Its clearly a trap," Takeshi said, "But I can feel something, life...human life...one slipping away, while the other still clinging firmly to this world."

Takeshi was a Sage now, the Sage of Six Paths, though he had yet to be known as such or to create his puppet bodies in the same manner that Kasei could create those special clones of his. Thanks to the Rin'negan, he didn't need to stay still to gather the energies of the world or become one with the world. Kasei had found that he could do that too, along with a whole host of things that Takeshi could do.

It had been five years ago that Takeshi had noticed that his teacher sometimes had a similar pattern of rings in his eyes, and had decided to see if they did indeed have the same special eyes. Some sneaking around and trying to get those eyes to show themselves later got Kasei to see the light as it were. He was a holder of those eyes as well.

"It doesn't matter," Kasei said, his doujutsu usually turned off unlike Takeshi who usually kept them active to be able to walk around in a semi-permanent sage mode, "We'd still go after them even if it wasn't a trap."

Takeshi knew that Kasei had thing thing about beating the concept of peace into someone that was not willing to listen to the words that Takeshi spoke. Bandits didn't really like listening after all.

Takeshi led the way, while Kase followed. They followed the trail of blood to a small cave, where they eventually found the two human lives, one was irrevocably unsalvageable, while the other could still be saved. Blood loss was going to be the cause of death of the woman, for that was indeed what one of the two people was, the other was a toddler.

With the woman's dying breath she entrusted the child to Takeshi. Kasei had managed to perform a short mind walk into the woman's memories and saw what had attacked her. It was a monster the likes of which Kasei had hoped to never encounter again, a sand serpent, but on a much smaller scale, putting it on par with Kyuubi in size though. It appeared out of nowhere, attacking the caravan that the woman and her child had been traveling with, a traveling circus. It devoured all that it could get its maw on, and took a chunk out of the woman who was the only one that shed blood as the others were all swallowed whole.

"Takeshi," Kasei said getting the new father's attention as he looked out of the cave at a raging sandstorm in the distance.

"Yes?" Takeshi said as he fed the toddler some of his energy to keep it healthy since that was how the two sages found nourishment, taking directly from the energies of the world.

"Make for Fire Country," Kasei ordered, "I know what did this...and I am going to put a stop to it. I don't know how it managed to get here, but it is here, and so long as it continues to live no one will ever be safe here."

Why Fire Country?" Takeshi asked, he knew not to try and stop his teacher.

"The path to your destiny is starting to unfold," Kasei said, "Best that you get an early start, rather than a late one. I have a feeling that the beast that inevitably killed that babe's mother was brought into this world as a distraction by whatever force is out to destroy the world, no longer one soul at a time."

"Will I ever see you again?" Takeshi asked as his teacher walked out and into the desert proper, "I mean after you defeat this monster."

"You will," Kasei said, "I promise, and you know that I keep those."

"I do," Takeshi said and smiled, "I'll take this child, and raise him as my own, although I have this feeling nagging at me that he won't be the last one I have."

"I too have a feeling that he won't be," Kasei said, as he created his special brand of clones, all of them. Takeshi had never seen them all at once, and not in their released forms, just their human ones.

That was the last time for a long time that Takeshi saw his teacher. He watched from a distance as the start of his teacher's battle began. It was intense and he didn't think that a creature so large could grow so fast, but it did. It was as if it had been hiding under a genjutsu for the longest time, waiting to unleash its true power on the world.

Takeshi had a feeling that he would, somewhere down the line, be forced into fighting something just as large if not larger. It was something unavoidable he believed, but it would be something that stood in the way of peace. He would face it head on, like his teacher had charged into battle against the massive serpent that towered over the desert with its monstrous size. But for the time being, Takeshi would focus on his first son. A child he had decided to name Sarutobi Sasuke, ancestor to the next God of Shinobi.

It took Kasei fifteen long years and a lot of clones to finally defeat the sand serpent without calling on his wolfish friend to help him as he believed that battling the serpent was something that only he should do. He also didn't want to accidentally blow up the world while he was saving a small part of it.

When he was done, he destroyed the serpent's remains, or at least the parts of the thing that couldn't be used. But for some reason its bones remained intact, so he simply sealed them all into a scroll to figure out how to use the things later. Bones that were infused with the chakra of a growing bijuu, a human, and something not of this world.

He made his way once again into Fire Country, and back to the capital he had built. Once there he met a rather familiar sight, it was of his second student, Takeshi performing his tricks, but aiding him was that former toddler. They were recruiting once again, but this time looked to be even more successful bagging a few teens, mostly orphans whose families had fallen in battle or to bandits, thanks to the recent wars, skirmishes, and battles.

He watched as the recruiting process ended, and Takeshi's small gang of miscreats had grown considerably. He had apparently made quite the name for himself in the past fifteen years, but not one that caused multitudes of men and women to flock to him. It was still too early for that to happen.

"How goes recruitment?" Kasei said as he remained even after the throngs of people had left.

"K-Kasei? That you?" Takeshi asked in surprise, he had almost given up any hope of his teacher returning, even though the man had promised, "Its been fifteen years since that fateful day."

"It has indeed," Kasei said, "Made a name for yourself, I see."

"Yeah," Takeshi said, "Well, but only within Fire Country. I still don't have the numbers or people skilled enough to help me bring the fight to the rest of the world. There's been a lot of major league monsters that have been cropping up in recent years. They're the ones pulling the strings in the other nations, there's even talk from some travelers and refugees of some mighty demon thats been sending out these generals of it's."

"Let's get going to your camp then," Kasei said, "I'll help train your trainees for the time being."

"Alright," Takeshi said, and led the way.

It was like the first thirty years all over again, but this time only lasting fifteen years and with more people growing by the day. The number grew and grew as Takeshi's fame grew. He had six blood clones with him in battle, each one imbued with one of six special powers granted to him by his special eyes. He was beginning to be known as the Sage of Six Paths, and it came to pass that the entire Fire Country, even those sheltered and hidden ninja clans grew to know his name.

All it took for the rest of the lands to take note of him was one battle. That was all it usually took.

A mercenarial army had decided that it would be a good time to attack Fire Country due to all the battles that the army of the land had seen in recent years. It was suffering from being at its weakest for the time being.

Takeshi and his chakra wielding warriors arrived at the battling border, and it was during that battle that a massive shape rose out behind the mercenarial army. A tanuki was what it was, a very large black and tan tanuki.

"Go!" Kasei shouted at his student, this was to be his first major battle against the forces of evil, "I'll help these guys," referring to Takeshi's people, "You go take out that demon!"

Kasei had his animator rod transform into a club and a katana. He held each in one hand and charged into battle. There was a madness in the eyes of the men he fought, and he came to the realization that their wills had all been broken. They were not men, they were souless puppets, their souls devoured or destroyed irrepairably by the demon that Takeshi ran off to fight.

"All that stands between the innocent lives that could be lost in Fire Country and these maddened poor unfortunate souls is us!" Kasei shouted over the sounds of battle, "Do not hesitate! Put them out of their misery! Their souls are all dead already! So let their bodies join them!"

The men and teens with him on the battlefield stop hesitating and began giving the fight their all. They had family and friends waiting for their safe return back within the borders of Fire Country. They were the protectors for the time being, granting some much needed rest to the already close to falling apart defenders of the borders. It was a battle that had not been seen since the founding days of Fire Country.

Some soldiers remembered stories passed down from generation to generation, of their first Daimyo fighting using supernatural means, and was now reminded of such tales. They had watched the leader, the Sage of Six Paths, rush off into the distance to take on that massive shadow there.

Some shook of any tired feelingthey had, redoned their armor. Took up their arms, and rushed to join in on the battle. They were soon joined by Kasei's clones who had been hiding in the trees waiting to see if the Will of Fire still burned in his soldiers.

"For Fire Country!" one soldier shouted as he rushed to join his fellow citizens in battle against this horde of mercenaries, his comrades-in-arms following soon after.

"**So..this is the fabled Will of Fire..**" the tanuki that Takeshi found himself fighting against said thoughtfully, "**No matter...something like this will not stop my Master from finishing what you puny humans started**"

"And what would that be?" Takeshi questioned.

"**Why, the very destruction of this insignificant world!**"

"I can't let you do that," Takeshi said, and renewed his attack, "Have at thee!"

While Takeshi continued to do battle with the monstrous demons, some monsters broke away from the tree line. It was the first time in a long time than anyone other than Kasei or Takeshi had seen any of them in their released states. And even longer since anyone other than the two of them had seen Ryu, the obsidian serpentine dragon.

They tore into the mercenaries in the same manner that a paper shredder shreds paper. Those that believed that legends of the founding of their land, of the daimyo that commanded monsters, found themselves believing that their missing daimyo had returned or at least sent his soldiers or generals to aid in the defense of his home.

"The Daimyo watches!" one officer shouted, "Show him that we are as strong now as we were back then!"

"Yeah!" several soldiers shouted in response.

Ryu lowered his body closer to the ground..

"Get on," Ryu told the soldiers that had yet to actually join the fighting, "The fighters aren't advancing further enough."

"H-Hai," a soldier said and climbed onto the back of the black dragon, followed by his fellow. It was clear that they hadn't regained all of their strength yet, so Ryu helped them by emitting some healing chakra and healing them of their injuries and giving them back some more of their lost energy.

These soldiers were mostly archers and so rained down as much pointed death at their homeland's enemies, they noticed that their arrow supply didn't seem to run out as the dragon continued to take them to where the fighting was not progressing. Ryu was supplying them with arrows charged and sharpened with wind natured charka.

It was an intense battle. One that only ended once all the remaining mercenaries suddenly dropped dead and the Fire Country defenders watched as the shadow in the disctance suddenly toppled over and they tried to keep their balance when the tremor its fall created shook the ground beneath their feet.

Takeshi later shared that it was a regular tanuki that had been possessed by a fragment of a demon, but through battling it he had found out that there were eight more like it, and that he would have to ultimately battle a tenth demon, the one all the nine were from in order to keep the world from being destroyed.

"For now..Fire Country is safe," Takeshi spoke out from atop the head of one of his summons, "But it, along with the rest of the world, might not be forever. There are eight more demons like the one I defeated, with armies just as great as the one you have just protected your homes from! I have decided to go out into the rest of the world, confront these demons, put an end to their reign, and end all the pointless fighting in the world! I now ask you, my followers, students, and friends. Will you come follow me? Will you continue to help me help the helpless? Will you continue to help me defend the defenseless?"

He let them digest what he was saying, while briefly eyeing Kasei who stood with his clones. Kasei nodded for him to continue. Everyone knew Kasei was Takeshi's teacher, but also knew not to bring the man any unwanted attention, he was a private individual, one that believed that they all had the power to bring about an age where they wouldn't always have to be on guard.

"Will you come with me, to the ends of the world if need be," Takeshi spoke with a loud and determined voice, "To end the pain and suffering that we have all felt in our lives in recent memory? These demons that plague the lands were born out of the darkness found in the hearts of man," he paused, then continued once he was sure that everyone's attention was focused solely on him, "It started with man, and it fall to man to end it. End this threat on the continued existence of the world. That last demon revealed to me its Master's plan to destroy the world, something which we have slowly been leading the world to with all of our fighting..all of our wars..all of our hate. Will anyone help me bring peace to the lands? Will anyone join me in uniting the world under the banner of peace? I am but one man.. But I know that it takes just one man to tip the scale and change the outcome of any battle."

Kasei discreetly created a single shadow clone, and had it mingle with the gathered crowd of warriors. It was time, he signaled his clone to begin as Takeshi waited, it was the longest few seconds of his life. He believed that he physically aged a bit with the waiting.

"_That's your father up there you know, aren't you gonna help him?_" the clone whispered into Takeshi's adopted son's ear before it dispelled.

"I will!" Sasuke shouted. He was the first of the many that followed. He was the one that was needed to break the silence. He was the pebble in the pond that were the gathered warriors, his single shout rippled across the group calling for more, and more, and more. And soon a messenger was sent to the capital requesting aid for when the final battle would take place.

'_So it seems that the Shodaime Fire Daimyo has his support.._' the scroll with all the details had been sealed with Takeshi's chosen seal, his one true distinguishing feature, his eyes. Kasei didn't show his special eyes prefering to use his clones for most things. Accompanying the scroll was a short message that had the Daimyo's Official Seal stampted on it.

"Report to the Sage that he has Fire Country's full support," the stand-in Daimyo informed the messenger after looking through the scroll.

With half of Fire Country's army following him, Takeshi left the Land of Fire in search of the other eight demons, finding one every year or so. He gave a similar speech to his first one every time a demon was defeated, and with every speech his army grew. The Daimyos placing their trust in him to end the fighting.

As his numbers grew, so did the numbers of soldiers or puppets of his enemy. They grew stronger too. The final battle was coming closer and closer.

The world powers were putting aside their differences to band together under one banner, under the Sage of Six Paths' banner, under the banner of peace. Unifying the world under the cause of saving it. Men and women from all walks of life followed Takeshi. Many of the hidden ninja clans also came out from hiding to learn from him. He became more than just a hero, a warrior, or a leader. He also became a teacher, one of a multitude.

He eventually lost contact with Kasei due to the sheer number of officers in his army, he also had his love life to nourish, sparing very little time. His last conversation with Kasei had been a mere 'hello', not that the time traveler minded. His name and relation to the Sage was not well known, but he did gain some personal fame of his own as the Demon Slaying Sage.

He gained that nickname from putting down the minor demons, relative small fries, that attacked the followers of the army, those that brought aid to the warriors, the civilians that accompanied the war machine. He was their protector, and it was they who gave him that name. Only the demons knew his name, he told each and every one of them before he slew them.

His fame grew not only with the common people, but among the demons and monsters that truly went about the world. They didn't call him what the humans did. They grew to call him the Master of Monsters. Since for the monsters, to become a master among them was to defeat them in battle. Some had also seen him interact with his clones in secret. Some had fought him in his changing states, as he switched from one monster to another.

He fought fire with fire. He fought as a mosnter sometimes against these monster that at first sought to cause some chaos with the humans or kill a few for food or sport. Then in the later part attacked the rear of the war train just to get a piece of him. They grew stronger and stronger, until Kasei was forced into informing his former student that he had taken out one of the Demonic Generals on accident.

Takeshi didn't mind since it was one less demon to worry about, but he did inform his officers of the turn of events, who had then been introduced to Kasei. Kasei not giving his name or allowing his student to give it to them, as he didn't want to take up the throne of Fire Counrty yet, it wasn't time to do so yet after all.

When the final battle came, it was held not surprisingly where the Valley of the End would one day be formed. Takeshi on one side, the side closest to Fire Country, while the Juubi stood on the other side of where there would one day be a valley. Their respective armies were battling it out aways away from the two giants of the world.

Kasei had run as fast as he could to where he knew his student was fighting probably the strongest thing the world had to offer in terms of foes. When he got there, he had a tree grow out of the ground and he sat on a branch. He would be there when the battle ended, it was not his fight, but he would bear witness to it.

It was truly a clash of titans. Takeshi giving the fight all he had, even losing a number of his summons in the process. He paths took all the hits meant for him as he charged up whatever attack he had in store for the ten tailed beast.

Kasei then realized that he would bear witness to his student become the first ever jinchuuriki in history. He watched as the still younger man's hands charged with charka flew across the air tracing symbols into it. The chakra output was intense, if it were any other man performing this type of sealing it would cost that person their soul.

'_Well...shit...no wonder it takes a soul to summon the Shinigami.._' Kasei thought as he realized what he was seeing. Takeshi was creating, using seals, the summonable Shinigami, and the reason why one needed to sacrifice their soul to use its power was due to the amount of chakra needed to keep one's soul from passing on due to the strain. As for why souls taken by this Shinigami could not be summoned back into the world, it was because of how some of the seals were created using nature charka as well as had some connections to the Rin'negan and its connections to the other side.

While the Shinigami, or other servants of Death himself, couldn't pop into the world themselves, they could imbue things with their power, which was what the real Shinigami did with Takeshi's seal construct.

'_Complicated..._' Kasei thought as he began to analyze the seal.

"Rikudou Sennin Fuuin Hijutsu: Jinchuuriki!" Takeshi shouted out as he stuck his hand through the center of the Juubi's massive body. Behind him floated the Shinigami Kasei had grown to recognize as the one that Hiruzen and his father had summoned to perform some sealings of their own.

Takeshi sucked out the soul of the Juubi and had it get shoved into himself. The body no longer with a soul fell to the ground. The shaking of the earth was even greater than all previous times.

Since Takeshi dared not leave something so mighty laying around, he decided to forever seal the thing away in the sky. Since their battle had actually destroyed the moon that orbited the world he felt that he owed it to the Moon Deity to create a new moon, which was what he did.

New mountains and valleys were formed from the creation of the new moon. As soon as the body was sealed, Takeshi fell to the ground only to be caught by Kasei.

"Easy," Kasei said, "I got you.."

"Sensei...it is done," Takeshi said, before passing out.

Kasei brought the unconscious savior of the world back to where the united army could be found nursing their wounds, healing the injuried, and burying the dead. The first people that saw the two of them thought that Takeshi had not survived, but before they could mourn Kasei had informed them quite loudly that Takeshi was just that tired and just unconscious, in a coma-like state as his body got used to the new energies flowing inside him.

"Shiokaze," Kasei said, after a few day, she was the wife of Takeshi, "Tell him good luck from me. Tell him that I also went home."

"Why can't you tell him yourself? When he wakes up," she asked him, "The medics said he should be out of his coma in a few days at most."

"He'll understand," Kasei said.

It was after he said those words that he began to fade away. He walked through the camp that was just waiting for their hero's recovery. As he walked amongst them, some recognized him while others just sat and watched as he grew transparent with each step that he took. Some believed him to be some sort of spirit, or kami even. Those that believed him to be a kami were mostly from Fire Country.

Belief was a really powerful force, just as much as dreaming and wishing were too.

A spirit or a kami or a deity, had been with them the whole time, and had been watching over their hero. The Sage of Six Paths, had the favor of the spirits, the favor of the gods, and had been taught by a supernatural power. He was truly a man to be respected, followed, honored, and idolized. He was a man that brought peace to the lands through his own blood, sweat, and tears.

When Takeshi finally woke up, there was much rejoicing. His wife had told him that his teacher and friend had gone home, and also told him of all the stories and rumors flying around the camp about his teacher and friend.

"Oh," Takeshi said, "I guess it really couldn't have been helped. He's a very busy man after all.."

"What do you mean?" Shiokaze asked him.

"My sensei, Kasei," Takeshi told her, "He still has his own mission after all. I was just a side quest, an on the side thing to his main mission."

"What is his mission?" she asked.

"Who knows really," Takeshi said, "He never really told me, and I never really asked. He never really liked fame in this time, he said that I was more worthy of it all so he kept to the shadows, like a proper ninja he said. So tell me, what names does he have that we can leave laying around for future generations to find and form their own conclusions of?"

"The only one I know of is Demon Slaying Sage," she told him, "Although on the day of his departure some people have given him some other titles as you already know."

"We'll expand on those ideas I guess," Takeshi said, "This will be payback for his training sessions from hell."

"They couldn't have been that bad," she said.

"He threw me into an active volcano to get me to master my gravity powers," Takeshi deadpanned, "I think he deserves what I have planned for him.."

"I agree," his wife told him, "I think he deserves even more."

That thing about scorned women was going to bite Kasei in the ass in the fame department. He didn't need anymore fame than he already had to his name. He was a Daimyo already, a Kage twice, and a Bijuu by order of his own teacher.

He reappared a few miles away from the Valley of the End. It was still dark, and he had a feeling that his team would not be happy if he was late when it came to his arrival. So he did the one thing he knew would get him there on time. He opened up a slime green and pink portal and hopped on through.

When he jumped out of the dying fire, it scared the crap out of his waking teammates.

"So..what'd you do this time?" Mirka asked her sensei.

"I have a nagging feeling that I'm going to regret saying this," Kasei said, then informed them of just who he had met in the past.

"YOU TRAINED THE SAGE OF SIX PATHS?!" Jiraiya shouted, dramatically pointing a finger at Kasei, his eyes buldging out of their sockets in surprise. He dropped down to the ground and began kowtowing while repeating, "I am not worthy!" over and over again.

"I figured you'd know about that," Kasei said, as calmly as he could, he knew that even if he wished it, he wouldn't be permitted to be brought back to that time to kick the shit out of his student in the past.

"Cool!" Mirka said, then realized something, and in a horrified voice exclaimed, "Wait! That means that I'm destined for something great since you're my sensei too!"

"No..not really," Kasei deadpanned, "I wouldn't really know. But why sound so horrified?"

"You must have had him go through some horrifying hell of a training camp or something to make him make you historically famous," Mirka said, "You don't sound so happy about being so famous for doing something like that. It makes you a bit bigger than the Sage of Six Paths himself in a way...so...I'm doomed aren't I?"

"Not really," Kasei said, "It took him thirty years to get to the point that he could be considered as jounin. Its only taking you something like less than a year. So I'd have to say you don't need that kind of training."

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"No," he dashed those hopes in a manner worthy of Doctor Doom.

He grinned at her in such a way that all the rest of their companions took involuntary steps back in slight terror and the girls moved to stand in front of Mirka, to...protect her in a way from the semi-monster that stood in their midst. Kasei could really scare people if he really wanted to.

"You are not going to be doing anything of the sort," Sakura said, "We'll get her up to where you want her. I was trained by Tsunade-Shishou."

"And I was trained by Killer Bee and you," Yugito said, "I'm also a jounin already. We'll take over her training, and make her a kick-ass kunoichi, you just stick to feeding her jutsu, we'll take care of the rest."

"If you say so," Kasei said, not really minding as it freed up his schedule to do some of the things he would not be able to do with a student in need of his supervision.

"So what happens now?" Jiraiya asked, "We can't just simply stay here, now can we."

"We won't be sticking to just here," Kasei said, "Like I said last night. We'll be doing what shinobi of the past did in times of both war and peace. We'll be sticking to the shadows, performing assassinations, and locating those damnably insane Kaguya. I'll leave information gathering to you Jiraiya," Jiraiya nodded and left the camp to begin his information gathering, "Han I want you to locate the jinchuuriki Utakata, he's got the slug in him, the resistence could use him as an ally. He's been mostly keeping to himself as he wants nothing to do with both sides, hurting people, and generally is rather peace loving as it already stands. A formerly prime target of Akatsuki, but since they're working for me already, we won't have to worry about that group."

"What if I run into members of that organization and they decide to cause me some problems?" Han asked, "I look like a kid you know!"

"I am well aware of your youthful state," Kasei said, "I was responsible for you becoming a kid after all, wasn't I."

"Well yeah," the steam punk said, "So..what am I to do?"

"Anything you want, just don't kill any of them," Kasei said, "Just make sure that you get Utakata to come join us."

"I'm telling you, there's a really good possibility that we're gonna end up walking into Konoha as a shinobi alliance one of these days," Han said, "But ok, fine. I'll do as ordered Tsuchikage-sama," he saluted his kage and left camp.

"So what do you have planned for us?" Yugito asked.

"You girls can go train," Kasei said, "Wait for Jiraiya to return with information on things, and find something to do that will either slow down the Kaguya on their cleansing, hasten the Kaguya into doing something stupid, or something along those two lines."

"I think we can do that jii-chan," Yugito said before she nodded to Sakura and they began to drag Mirka awa for her training for the jounin exams at the end of the year.

"Great!" Kasei said, snapped his fingers which caused his clones to phase into existence.

They lined up, all in their human states, ready to receive their orders.

"Take out as many of the more zealous of the lot," Kasei stated, "You all know what I'm talking about. Leave the ones that could still be of use to Kiri after the rebels win this civil war. Mei could use some good men and women on her side once she does succeed in her hostile take over. I also want as many of the civilians squirreled away so as not to get caught in the inevitable crossfire."

"Hai," they all said, saluted, and vanished into the shadows of the trees, ready and willing to start performing their terror tactics. Leaving Kasei to leave the camp himself with no real destination in mind.

It was time to show the rebels that he didn't like sitting idly by doing nothing when he would do something more productive with his time.

There were several things that he found himself able to do, one of them being infiltrating one of the bases of operations of the Kiri loyalist forces. Getting in was easy, all he had to do was literally sink into a shadow and rise out of one in the inside of the fortified structure. The Kiri-nin were not expecting that someone could and would think to do that. They had expected a direct assault on the fortress since that was the way of the ninja and warriors of the bloody mist. They had forgotten that there were those of the mist that preferred to go in all silent and assassin like.

Kasei chose to honor one of his former foes, an honorable man named Momochi Zabuza. It would be a fitting tribute to the man. It was like pulling the soul of a dead man from the after life and shoving it into a blood clone copy of the man. It was like using the Impure World Resurrection Technique, but without the sacrifice and pissing off any Shinigami.

Zabuza was given one simple order: Deal silent death to the Loyalists.

Haku was also brought back, and it was confirmed by that simply and at the same time rather complex action that Haku was indeed a girl and Kasei had somehow been lucky enough to create Yuki-Onna as an exact copy of the now once again living young woman.

Both of them attacked with reckless abandon. They had both been given their lives back, in such a way that made them have Uzumaki like longevity as well as advanced healing factors. Kasei was clearly insane. Thoguh he did have final say in their actions, they were still puppets in a way, for some reason fate and destiny decided that he had to have that, they wouldn't allow him to do this resurrection thing otherwise.

The two mist demons attacked until all had fallen, until all were laying on the ground in pools of their own blood. The two mist demons only stopped once they were about to decapitate and disembowel each other.

The killing of an entire fortress had been intense, though their rate of success had been aided by some illusions courtesy of Kasei who had remained hidden in the shadows.

"Good work you two," Kasei said as he detached himself from the shadow he had been hidnig in and watching from. The two former deceased people tensed and faced his direction, but found that they were unable to move against him, as if some otherworldly force was impeding them from attacking. There was also this feeling that he was to be obeyed if given an order by him. It was as if they had some sort of compulsion thing placed on them.

"Who are you?" Zabuza demanded from his semi-paralyzed state.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Kasei asked, ignoring the question.

"Killing Gato...I'm sure I was dying...I'm sure I'm supposed to be dead right now," Zabuza replied, his voice betrayed his fight against Kasei's control over him. Kasei had wanted to see if the control that he had at his fingertips could be fought off by someone as mentally powerful and had a powerful will as Zabuza did, but alas his attempt to subvery Fate and Destiny failed. Sure these new servants or puppets of sorts could fight him, but in the end they would lose.

"I remember the feeling of the shinigami taking my soul from my mortal form as well," Haku added, "How am I alive? When I clearly remember willingly entering death's embrace."

"I thought you could use a second chance at life," Kasei said, "But it appears that while my intentions were a little bit neutral, I was unable to fully control the resurrection process. You have been bound to me by Fate and Destiny. I frown upon using people as tools, but it looks like I've been saddled with two. You two specifically. I hope we can work together from this day forth."

"Its not like we have any choice in the matter," Zabuza said, "Its either cooperate with you, or you'll simply turn us into your mindless slaves, and maybe force Haku into being your toy instead of mere tool."

"I wouldn't do that," Kasei said, "Especially not to a friend."

"What friend are you talking about?" Zabuza demanded, or tried to sound demanding but uncertainty could be found in his voice, neither of the two could recognize Kasei since he wore his full uniform, concealing his face and all that, but even had his face been visible they would most likely mistake him for someone else. Unless he smiled that vulpine grin of his.

"Let me introduce myself," Kasei said as he removed his facial coverings, "I am Fushigi Kasei, but you once knew me as Uzumaki Naruto. Remember? Short blonde kid with whisker marks?"

"Impossible!" Haku declared, "You can't be Naruto-kun! You're too old, and you don't feel the same!" she declared, managing relay that she thought him lying through his teeth.

"I assure you, I am him," Kasei said, "Just with a slightly altered look as well as being older by many many years thanks to some _higher power_ deciding that I needed more action in my life."

"Say we believe you," Zabuza said, "What happens now? You just had us kill a fort of Kiri-nin, that kid wouldn't do such a thing."

"Times change," Kasei said, "They would not back down from their beliefs, of that I was sure. Sometimes words are not enough. Mizu no Kuni is still under the state of war, between the Kiri Loyal faction and the rebles intent on taking out the current government and establishing one that the Shodaime Mizukage could probably be proud of."

"Well if you are that brat, all I've got to say is that you've grown from that naïve idiot," Zabuza said, "Taking matters in your own hands and not taking things at face value. So how's life as a nuke-nin?"

"What made you come to the conclusion that I'm a nuke-nin?" Kasei wondered, he wasn't one after all.

"Well, I don't see you wearing a Konoha headband anymore," Zabuza pointed out, which was true since Kasei really didn't take to wearing any of his headbands, he had a Konoha one that didn't really do him much, two special ones that designated him as the true kages of two villages, and the Kiri one that showed the Kiri loyalists whose side he was supposedly on. He also had a Suna headband that Gaara had given him, making an honorary Suna-nin. There was also his Kusa one, but since he didn't wear any of his others, he didn't think that choosing the Kusa one would be that good of an idea.

"I have several, but don't see the need to declare my loyalties," Kasei said, and pulled out all of his headbands and showed his two new servants, "Whatcha think?"

Zabuza whistled, impressed at such a collection.

"Why do you have so many? One from each of the Great Villages to boot," Haku asked.

"Well...hmm..," Kasei said, stalling a bit, building up some form of suspense, "The Konoha one is from when I was a Konoha-nin, though now all records of that being fact have been expunged from being considered as official or legal or whatever. I got the Suna one from a friend, the current Kazekage. The Kiri one from when I infiltrated Kiri to get my team to go over to the rebel side during a battle as to not arouse anymore suspicions. The last two are from villages that I can order around should I wish to."

"What about the Kusa one?" Haku asked.

"I'm a contracted Kusa-nin," Kasei told her, "It was really the only thing that came to mind at the time."

"So what happens now?" Zabuza asked, not wanting to have to call the former brat master or add a -sama to his name.

"What happens now is that you two join up with Terumi Mei," Kasei said, "Who I know for a fact is still single."

"Yes!" Zabuza exclaimed before coughing into his hand, a bit uncharacteristically, "You didn't hear me say that."

"Yes I did Zabuza-sama," Haku said, "Isn't she that nice lady we met when I was little."

"She's the leader of the rebels, of whom you were once a leading member of," Kasei said, "Or so my research has led me to believe."

"I was one of the founding members," Zabuza admitted, "So you want us to join up with Mei and her band of merry men? Is that it?"

"Precisely," Kasei said, "I want you to be a member of her guard, she already has that kid Choujuro as one of her main guard, so why not add a more senior member of the Seven to her list of protectors, a Mizukage's gotta have her seven swordsmen watching her back after all."

"What do you get out of this?" Zabuza asked him.

"I get a mission completed in my mission scroll," Kasei said, and briefly showed him the scroll, before tucking it away again, followed him concealing his identity once again now that they had seen it, "We leave for my base of operations immediately, you need to meet the rest of the team, or at least the ones that are there or should be there or could be there."

He flung his two new subordinates over the wall of the fortress before flying over the wall himself and led them away, going at a speed that the two could travel at as well, when they were a distance enough away his hands entered a single handseal that was unrecognizable. What followed was an explosion and shockwave that must have been felt by the entire country. It caused Haku to almost fall to her second death, had it not been for Kasei's latest monster, Onigumo, appearing and shooting out a net of webbing to catch her before she was half way to the ground.

"That was fun," was all Kasei had to say about the incident as he continued tree hopping with Zabuza trailing close behind him and Haku riding on Onigumo's back.

"What in Kami's name was that?" Zabuza shouted as he raced after Kasei.

"Lots and lots of explosive notes," Kasei said, the glee he felt at excecuting such a powerful explosion rolled off of him in waves, by the time they reached the campsite his female teammates shot him a look then went back to their training.

It took several minutes of Sakura to realize where she had seen the two new additions to their group before. It was with the revelation that she finally fainted upon seeing two supposedly dead people.

When she woke once again, joining the land of the conscious beings, she was reintroduced to Zabuza and Haku, as were the other two girls along with Jiraiya who had returned a few minutes ago along with Han who had successfully located and convinced Utakata to come with him somehow.

So he could travel through time, back and forth, but not at will. He could make friends with absolutely anyone he spoke no without question, more or less, he had so much luck that it wasn't funny, and he could bring the dead back to life but had to have then as bonded servants forced to obey him should he chose to enforce his control over them.

"You are one messed up person," Zabuza said, then took a step back once Gashadokuro and Shuten-douji pushed aside a few trees to get into the campsite, he never thoguht he'd get to see actual monsters in his lifetime. He was the Demon of the Bloody Mist for crying out loud and seeing these two real life monsters gave him more than pause.

"I have a special affinity for monsters," Kasei said, "These two are two of my growing number of alter-egos, my other personalities, as well as holders of my other abilities and powers. I can't recall where I got the idea for them though."

"I..I see," Zabuza said, "How many more of them are there?"

"Well..." Mirka said and began to count while saying each name out loud for the two new additions to hear.

"That kind of reminds me of the Demon Slaying Sage from some old nightmare inducing stories I used to hear as a child," Zabuza told them, "They were quite interesting stories, a human going around making a name for himself around demons by defeating them in combat. He was so fearsome that demons started to revere him as something far greater than human. He was seem as a monster even greater than any of them, the strongest demons rising up in arms just to battle him and see his greatness for themselves."

Kasei facepalmed himself, and sat down and held his head in his hands. He was really not having that good of an experience.

"What's wrong with Kasei-sama?" Haku asked Mirka who smirked.

"He's the Demon Slaying Sage," Mirka said, "He trained a really powerful guy in the past and the guy decided that revenge was in order for the Hellish training that he had undergone for thirty years."

"Oh..that's good to know," Zabuza said, "I based my use of creating a demonic visaege on the demon part of the story since it took one man to be remembered along with the demons. I used to pretend that I was all of those demons, always seeking my idol the one that took on real demons and was remembered throughout history for such deeds."

"Glad to have a fan," Kasei said, "Now, Jiraiya, what news have you?"

"The Kaguya don't trust anyone," the Toad Sage said, "They send out their own members under henge around when they need things, or have Yagura get them for them. No one knows anything about them, and no one seems to have any knowledge of any more than usual suspicious activity within the village."

"How about outside of the village?" Kasei asked.

"I haven't thought to look anywhere outside of the village yet," Jiraiya admitted, "I was hoping to get some intel from the people within the village. I also go word of a fortress falling silent, the village was supposed to receive a report from them, and up til the point that I left the village to return here, well, the security of the place looked a bit more worried than usual," then added as an afterthought, "There was also that explosions that everyone must have felt."

"I had a hand in that," Kasei said, "What was the general belief of the state of the fortress?"

"Delayed report," Jiraiya said, "It was whispered that its happened in the past, the mist and all that. Its said that there are actual demons hiding in the mist, which was where the hidden mist silent killing style originated from. But the supposed demons have been appearing more frequently due to the fighting as well as due to Momochi Zabuza's and Hoshigaki Kisame's nicknames."

"Monster and Demon?" Zabuza said in a questioning manner.

"Its all the blood and fear that this place naturally produces," Kasei said, it was more of a theory but he also read something about it somewhere, damn his library of knowledge from clone studies, "Ever since Kiri became known as the Bloody Mist, the demons and monsters of the world, the bloodthristy or power hungry ones are sure to have begun waking from their slumbers or have surely been coming out from hiding."

"So what does all that have to do with the two nicknames?" Yugito asked.

"They must be interested in these humans that claim to be or want to become a demon," Kasei said, "Its most likely that they're interested in the two fleshbags that have made names for themselves as monsters, while the monsters have yet to see them in action."

"So how do we summon a demon?" Zabuza asked, "I wanna see how I fare against such things, surely they're weaker now than they were back in the day."

"We could head back to that fortress that you spilled so much blood in," Kasei said, "I'm sure you never thought about it. But what do you think happens to bodies of the dead on battlefields? Not all of them can and are retrieved for burial or dissection or burned, you know."

"They're either taken or eaten by demons, aren't they," Zabuza said, interested.

"Not just demons, but monsters of all kinds, depending on the cause of death, circumstances and a bunch of other factors," Kasei said, "So who's interested in a night of monster hunting?"

"I am!" Mirka said, she then hugged her sensei so hard that he began to turn blue, who knew that she could grasp Tsunade's strength techniques so quickly, "I'm so glad you're my sensei! We get to go on so many many adventures!"

"_She finally lost it.._" Han stage whispered to Utakata who was wondering how he got the kid that was not a kid to convince him that meeting Kasei was a good idea, and would also alleviate him of his burden.

"Excuse me," Utakata decided to speak, "Before you all get carried away with your adventuring, Han told me that one of you can do something about the bijuu sealed in me. While myself and it don't really get along, it not really caring much about what happens to me, and myself not really caring much about it. I was wondering if it would be possible to lose the status of being a jinchuuriki? The world doesn't really need nor deserve us as it stands now."

"I can do that," Kasei said.

"Oh, I thought for a moment there that the famed Gallant Jiraiya would be the one performing this unorthodox unsealing method," Utakata said, "Who are you?"

"Fushigi Kasei's the name," Kasei said, "I"m the leader of this merry band of people."

"I see," Utakata said, "Well if you can manage it, I'll follow you to wherever it is that you will take me. Life gets a bit dull when one lives on his own after all."

"_He's a pretty laid back guy_.." Han whispered to Yugito who could clearly see it as being such.

"Ok," Kasei said, shoved a ghost-like hand through the guy's chest then pulled a slug out, "Wanna keep it?"

"Do what you think is best," Utakata said.

Kasei placed the tiny thing, which looked more like one of Slug Summon clan's members than some almost all powerful ten tailed creature on Utakata's shoulder.

"You get to keep the thing as a pet," Kasei said, "Its got some of its old self still in there, but it will follow your every command to the letter should you give it any orders. But for most of the time, it should just stay lazily on you or somethnig."

"Thanks, Kasei-sama," Utakata said, "I shall now keep my end of the bargain and shall follow you to the ends of the world if you need me to."

"Good to hear," Kasei groaned somewhat, "Now then, who's up for changing camp location?"

"We're all going to go whether its a good idea or not, so why bother asking?" Sakura asked.

"Then let's go," Kasei said, they packed up all their supplies and left a camp of Kage Bushin to inform the rebels of the move of location as well as inform the rebels that Zabuza was around once again and wanted in on the action.

They reached the camp in a few hours time, it was still intact and didn't look like it had been disturbed at all. The dead bodies were still where they had been left, but the surrounding area looked as if Kasei had trained his using his rasengan there. There was a trench now aroudn the thing, and if one were to fill it with water, there would be a moat.

"Nice place," Jiraiya said, "So this must be the fortress, right?"

"It should be," Kasei said, "Once we're all inside I want you," he motioned to Zabuza, "To create the densest fog that you can produce. Then we'll see if any demons or monsters decide to pop up and investigate the area."

"Is this safe?" Mirka asked her sensei as they walked into the fortress through the front door like they owned the place.

"Not at all," Kasei said, "This is probably one of the most reckless things we're ever going to do in our lives, minus mine of course."

"I see," Mirka said, "Well, I'm sure that if the worst case scenario happens, you'll find some way to bail us all out of it."

"It won't come to that," Kasei said, "We're all practically at least jounin in power here. We'll be fine."

"So where are we gonna set up? And are we going to do anything about the bodies or the smell?" Sakura asked, she wasn't used to the smell of rotting flesh, flesh that shouldn't even be smelling like it was in the first place.

"Look alive people," Jiraiya said as he got into a fighting stance, "It appears that we've walked into a trap of sorts." He had noticed the states of the bodies and of the blood. Of the general atmosphere of the place as well. There was just something that was clearly off about the place. His instincts and his experience had been telling him that something was definitely wrong with the picture, and they were right. Something was deadly wrong with the place.

"I wish I had my sword with me," Zabuza said.

"Here," Kasei handed him the handle of his blade.

"How'd you get that thing here without anyone noticing?" Zabuza asked as he swung the blade to get a feel for it once again.

"I pulled it out of where we left it last time," Kasei said, pulling something or summoning something from anywhere was easy if one knew specifically where it was and could visualize the thing and place with clarity, "Enjoy."

"I will my master," Zabuza unconsciously said, "I will."

"You had better," Kasei said as he pulled out his animator rod and had it turn into a pair of butterfly swords, he also had his special clones all dispel it wasn't like they were all really busy and it would freak out whoever was about to be killed by them at the time.

"_Hyakume,_" Mirka whispered as the eyes covered all of the flesh of the unseen parts of her body, "Its bombing time."

Sakura got into a fighting stance of her own, Yugito, Han, Utakata, and Haku as well. It was ninja against monsters, with fairly good odds for the ninja. Just ten to one, ten monsters to one ninja, nothing that a bunch of jounin level or higher ninja could handle.

"**Humans...why do you not smell of fear?**" one demon asked as it crept on the ground, its chest to the sky while its back was to the ground, it walked on its hands and feet, but they were bent in such a way that only the most flexible of human females would have been able to move like it did. Its skin was also dark blotchy red.

The bodies of the dead all began to twitch, movement from all of them became all to common, but unlike what Mirka thought zombies could do, these things were anything but the ordinary brains screaming and searching for kind. They were zombified shinobi, and even in undeath they were sure to put up a fair fight. Their stances told the chunin all she needed to worry about when it came to fighting them.

"**The little one smells of hesitation and worry, but not fear...interesting,**" another monster said as it crawled down the wall like a spider with limbs like one too, but having three faces on its one head.

From beneath his mask, Kasei activated his special eyes and entered Sage Mode, the kind that he could remain in it without having to worry about running out of energy. Once he did that, he vanished from all of the senses of the monsters that had surrounded his group from all sides. It would take a high class monster, like a one tailed bijuu to see him now.

"**Hey...weren't there nine of you?**" another demon said as it appeared towering over the wall, it was clearly some form of Oni.

That question caused the human and demi-humans to look around. They counted their number mentally and did notice that Kasei seemed to have vanished. That was what caused some fear to set in. Save for with Jiraiya. He could still catch glimpses of Kasei standing there, ready for battle.

'_Its like he's on a whole different level from us right now.._' the sage thought, then sensed the gathering of a familiar energy around his once pupil, "_Listen up,_" he whispered so only his team could hear him, "_He's still among us, but his power output is so high right now that its as if he's not here but he is. I can barely see him, but I have a feeling that I might vanish from your senses as well,_" he too had begun to enter Sage Mode,what with his standing relatively still and all that, "_Don't worry about the outcome. Everything'll turn out alright...just have fun..since I have a feeling that's part of how Kasei fights._"

"I don't mind waiting," Utakata made sure everyone heard him, "But this stand off is getting kind of boring now that I think about it."

"**Your right it is getting a little boring,**" one of the monsters remarked, "**We're just giving you time to pray to whatever kami you pray to.**"

"Oh yeah!" Han taunted, "Well we're just giving you time to pray to whatever kami you pray to!"

"**Fools!**" a monster shouted, "**We don't need to pray to any kami! The Master of Monsters has not slain one of us in over a thousand years! We have nothing to fear from you pitiful fleshbags! Nothing! You are weak! You're fear! We can taste it in the air now! Hahahaha! Prepare for death, for it shall not be a quick one.**"

"Nice going Han," Mirka elbowed him, "You just had to taunt the thing."

"I've heard about that one," Zabuza shared, "I heard the main tale about it too. A man that rose past the rank of sage and became a monster himself from fighting so many monsters that one day he vanished, not a monster of any power level could find him. So they dubbed him the Master of Monsters, practically worshipped as a god by the things or so the stories say."

"**Who are you to care about such tall tales?**" one monster decided to ask, it was curious why a human fo all creatures would be interested in monster lore.

"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody Mist," Zabuza introduced himself, bowing to the monster as well, "They are of interet to me, they were of interest to me in my quest of growing strong, strong enough to merit meeting the Demon Slaying Sage."

"**At least there's one human that has chosen a worthy role model,**" one monster, a cyclops, said, "**I think it would be a good idea to let this one live. He seems worthy of our mercy, what with following in the footsteps of one that knows how to deal with real monsters as opposed to that weakling the Demon Sealing Sage, while an admirable opponent that human couldn't do what was necessary to reach the heights that his companion was able to reach.**"

"**Of course you'd say that,**" a hari-onna said, "**You who managed to barely escape from the cutting blade of this poorly named Demon Slaying Sage.**"

It was after that brief interaction that Jiraiya too disappeared. He'd dealt with some minor monsters before, sealing was a very versatile art, and he had used what he knew to get rid of those minor monsters for some villagers, townspeople, and the like. But he had a feeling that what they were dealing with were in an entirely different class from what he was used to.

"**Another one's gone..something fishy's going on here,**" one Oni observed and tried to find Jiraiya with its eyes.

"**I say we stop yacking and just kill them before another one gets away, they're all so cautious these days, but all the bodies they leave laying around are so much tastier what with how they died,**" one of the more impatient monsters said and began to inch its way forward. It was a powerful monster, a swamp kappa, but one that wore something on its head to protect the water that gave it its power.

"The first to act is the first to lose in a fight such as this," Kasei stated as he reapped behind the kappa, whose head and limbs fell away from its torso.

"Sensei!" Mirka exclaimed happy that she could see her insane sensei again.

"Mirka," Kasei said somewhat coldly, "Zombies and fire are not a good combination. Have fun blowing the place sky high."

"Hai sensei!" Mirka happily said and began turning her eyes into fire bombs and hurled them at the swiftlty approaching zombies.

"Attack!" Zabuza shouted as he engaged the enemy, swinging his blade with expert ease with just one hand while his other held a kunai. Haku soon followed her former master creating ice needles as thick as kunai and as big as them too and flinging them at the monsters that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. They were like ants erupting out of a disturbed ant hill.

Kasei vanished and reappeared behind or beside monster after monster. It wasn't fair that all of the small fry were the first onces on scene. It wasn't fair at all to those that sought a real challenge. Jiraiya and Kasei easily cut down swathes of monsters as the seconds ticked by.

Han, Utakata, and Yugito stuck to using their ninja skills and refrained from calling forth their bijuu chakra. Rkoubi and Nibi also fought, one by spamming acid while the other spitting fire, literally spitting molten blobs of fire.

It was an intense fight for those below the level of a sage. It was a fun one too. The monsters didn't mind dying, it was part of life for them as it was for anyone else. They fed off fear and death, they lived both aspects of life too. They relished in it sometimes. But sometimes it could get boring.

Some of the stronger ones found that the battle was lasting far too long, and they were losing precious subordinates. They had planned on taking over the Land of Water to rule over as their own land, one where humans would fear them all once more, cower in their presence and offer them sacrifices. They hoped to draw out their god, their master, the Master of Monsters, Master of Evil Spirits, that Demon Slaying Sage that they had all fought at least once so many centuries ago.

They decided that their numbers had gone down too much. It was time to act. The entertainment had served their purpose, and it was now time to end the show, as brutally as possible. The more pieces the better as there were so many of them.

They believed that eating a part of their enemies gave them the strength of that defeated foe. It was true in some cases and for only a select few monsters, not all of them were able to absorb such things as strengths after all.

The monsters' power was gained through the same way that the gods power was gained. Through belief, though for monsters it was more of fear than simple belief. Fear of something gave it power. There were times in the history of the world that monsters were truly powerful, able to challenge humans almost everyday. But there were those times that fear of these creatures waned. It fluctuated.

Wars were the best of times for the monsters, as there was plenty fear, and it didn't really matter who the fear was directed at since during these times everyone could be considered a monster. There was also much food to go around. But for the monsters, that was no longer enough, not after the one that they had all collectively deemed as their god had appeared in the world.

The Master of Monsters, the Demon Slaying Sage. He was the one that united them under one cause, which was originally to defeat him, following that was to find him, seek him out, for him to rule over them. Much like how the humans had their Daimyos, Kages, and the like. They wanted someone like that for themselves.

Sure there were Demon Lords and Dark Lords, but they were only able to control and govern so much until their powers could no longer be felt. But this one Being, this one Entity, had unified their fear and belief in him, focused solely on him, that they all would follow him into hell if he ordered them to.

"**Let's go..this is getting rather tiresome, though there are two strong ones in the group of humans,**" a massive blue dragon said, he was a relative of one of the Cardinal Guardians.

The lesser monsters retreated out of the fortress, baffling those that had been fighting for their lives. It was a rather discerning sight, up until Kasei jumped up to the parapet of the fortress, and motioned for his companions to come up to him.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked as he landed, and was simply told to look ahead. The others followed suit as soon as they got where their leader stood.

"No fucking way," Mirka cursed as she saw the hulking masses of muscle and monster making their way to around half way to the fortress, "There is just no fucking way that we're going to be facing off against those fucking things.."

"Language," Yugito chastised.

"But this is so kami damned fucking ridiculous! I've run out of exploding eyes already! My chakra levels are genin level now, and I'm so kami damed fucking tired! This is crazy! There's even a blue dragon out there!" Mirka cursed some more.

"So you know these mooks?" Han asked from bside Kasei.

"Yeah," Kasei replied, "I kicked all of their asses and let them live since all they wanted was to fight me, though I did try to neuter the tanuki that could pass for the Ichibi's older brother. It had the power of a two tailed bijuu sealed within a host back in those days."

"How do you quantify that?" Utakata asked, "The power level I mean. I don't sense anything from them."

"Tap into your bijuu power," Kasei said, "You'll feel what I'm talking about if you do."

"Alrighty," Utakata said and did as told, so did Han and Yugito, "Shit...that's a lot of compressed power."

"Jii-chan.." Yugito said, "You're holding a lot back too..behind seals behind seals behind seals."

"My powers have had a tendency to grow too much to continously and consciously control," Kasei said, "So I sealed a lot of it away, but still retain some form of access to them. The other method of keeping my power in check is the creation of those special clones of mine."

"Can you teach me that?" Mirka asked, "The seal behind a seal behind a seal bit?"

"Sure thing," Kasei said, "It shouldn't be too hard for you after all."

"So what do we do now?" Jiraiya asked, "I need more time to get back into Sage Mode now that I'm out of it."

"Maybe they'll agree to talking?" Kasei tried.

"I don't think so," Sakura said, "What with the way they're smiling at us, the look in their eyes...its like they see us as slabs of meat."

"I'll try for one more Hyakume," Mirka said and began gathering energy for the jutsu.

"Don't bother," Kasei said, he then began to reveal his face, and also changed his clothes to so that had armor on him. Not enough to look like a samurai wannabe, but enough to make him look like some soldier.

"What are you planning on doing?" Jiraiya asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Am I or am I not that Demon Slaying Sage," Kasei said, he looked at his team and it was then that they noticed that his eyes weren't quite the color that they were used to, his Rin'negan was active.

"Have fun slaying then," Jiraiya said, "I'll still get back to entering Sage Mode."

"If you need any help, we'll come help with our bijuu power," Yugito told her grandfather.

"I'll try for another Hyakume," Mirka added her two ryo.

"Suit yourselves," Kasei said as he leapt from the wall and landed gracefully, like a nekomata or bakeneko, on the blood covered ground. The plant life of the Land of Water lived off of blood, much like how plants in all other places lived off of water.

"**So one of the fleshbags has decided to offer himself up as a first sacrifice,**" the tanuki that could pass for Shukaku's older brother said.

Kasei held out a single hand, and whispered..

"_Glass.._" following that single word that tanuki before him was encased in glass, "_Gas.._" followed by sleeping gas filled the thing on the inside.

"**What the heck did you do?**" one of the monsters demanded an answer, only to find itself trapped in a paper origami crane.

"Such disrespect from such common monsters," Kasei spoke in monotone.

"**C-Common!? Common! I'll show you common!**" a centipede demon roared as it charged Kasei, intent on ripping him to shreds, only to find him standing on its head. It was also only then that they noticed his eyes, eyes that they had all seen only once before in their long lives.

"**You...you're the..**" the dragon began to say. He and his companions were all distracted, and found themselves suddenly surrounded by Kasei's special clones, all of which they too had seen in battles of long ago.

"**You..we've finally found you...**" a turtle with three heads, that was related to Genbu, said, it was clearly happy just not in the maniacal way, "**Our LORD!"**

These strongest monsters were the first ones to drop to the ground to worship him as their god, followed by all the rest. The most prideful of monsters wouldn't just grovel in front of a mere human or even each other, they would only submit to the most powerful entity they of that they believed was even more powerful than the human's kami.

"Why is it that I had a feeling that something like this was going to happen," Kasei grumbled, then spoke to them, "What do you want now, if not to fight me, then for what purpose have you gathered?"

"**We were hoping to find you again...not to fight you...but have you rule us as those humans have their leaders..."** the Tanuki spoke once it was freed from its glassed and gassed prison, "**You are the Master of Monsters, we have ALL acknowledged you as such, and thus you are our rightful leader!**"

'_On the one hand I can just accept it...on the other they might just try to do something to make themselves look more worthy of me...decisions...decisions...decisions..._' he thought to himself, he decided, "Fine. I'll be your leader."

His decisions was met with such loud cheering, roars, and generally happiness from all the monsters present. Messengers were sent out to all the monster and demon lords about the acscension of their god to his rightful place as their ruler. He was now, and for the rest of his immortal days, the God of Monsters, or Monster himself (just as Death, Magic, etc, were what they were), he was also God of Fire, Kugutsuchi (who had formerly just been an Idea).

"Stop with the groveling," Kasei ordered firmly, before turning around and began walking back to his team, "You are all aware of the civil war here in Water, are you not?" he rhetorically asked, "I want the lot of you to find me the Kaguya clansmen responsible for the Yondaime Mizukage's actions."

"**Your will be done,**" the monsters collectively responded and moved with haste to fulfil his command.

When he finally got back to his group, they questioned him on what happened, and he simply sighed and told then that he had once again gained yet another title.

"Its like the whole world is settling on your shoulders," Utakata said, "I'm so glad I'm not in your shoes right now."


	66. Untitled 11

Number 4 Privet Drive had never been the same, especially after that one night. The one night that changed everything for residents of the plain and normal house with the plain and normal family. The Dursley family had not been the same ever since a few years before that one cold November night that little Harry Potter had been left on their doorstep, but compared to _that_ night their lives and home would never be the same _ever_ again.

None of the regular suspects had come forward to take the blame for the event, they were all as baffled as the authorities or any of the realms of the single world. The Dursley family lost a home, and Privet Drive lost a family, along with a few other things.

What had happened had taken the whole Drive and the whole of Surrey by surprise. It was the most unexpected of things. Little Harry Potter, aged five, had been kidnapped. While kidnapping was a rare thing in certain places, it was the reasons for the kidnapping that had shaken up the neighborhood to its very core. Lots of people found themselves quite affected. Another thing that had shaken up the place was the method of the kidnapping.

The little boy, who had been rather small for his age, had not been taken in a conventional manner. No. He had been taken from the very house that he had been forced to call home until the night of his fifth birthday. It was on that night that they came for him.

It was unusually quiet when they arrived on the sidewalk directly in front of Number 4 Privet Drive.

Their arrival was by cloud and moonlight. They wore black bodysuits and body armor, masks, goggles, and an assortment of other things. They clearly meant business. To make it even harder for anyone else to spot them doing their deed, their accomplices shut off of the lights in the night sky, the stars lost their light and and with them went the moon. The cosmos had dimmed.

The only lights in the cosmos were the artificial ones and the natural ones of the many different worlds. When it came to earth, well these kidnappers had accomplices that took care of that too. The power supply to this part of the world had been cut, and no logical reason would be found that would or could be used to explain the loss of power.

There were just two of them. The two of them walked up to the house of their target, and began attaching C4 onto the walls of the house, one side of the house. They stopped once the entire front of the house was covered in the explosives. Instead of stepping back they detonated all of the explosives as they stood there. The explosions were not powerful individually, but collectively they managed to destroy the entire front wall of the house.

As a precaution against possibly waking any of the neighbors up, Mr. Sandman, or Sleep Itself, put all of those that could stumble upon the operation into a deeper sleep.

The two that were assigned to the actual kidnapping walked into the house and pried open the cupboard under the stairs, and pulled out the child that was unconscious within. They assessed his condition and found that if it weren't for certain factors, the child should have been dead several times over already. It was not a good thing.

The one that had arrived by cloud took the child in his arms and went back to where they had come from leaving the one that had arrived by moonlight behind to finish up. While planting evidence in a crime scene was bad, so was child abuse.

There was power in blood, and so Blood itself provided the kidnapper that arrived via moonlight with enough buckets of blood to paint a lot of small places, and objects with the liquid mess. The blood would also match little Harry Potter's should any of it be tested against samples that would be conveniently found in the nearest hospital, courtesy of Healing itself.

The Dursley family slept like the dead, it was an even deeper sleep than anyone else affected by Mr. Sandman's touch and sleep inducing sands were in. They needed to be unaware of the happenings in their house until morning where the whole country or even the whole world would be made aware of the oddities that happened that night.

When the kidnapper that came via moonlight was done planting evidence of child abuse, he collected all of the child's belongings ranging from clothes to everything that his mother had left in her sister's care. When that objective was completed, he returned to his place with all the items in tow and left the world via moonlight, leaving a simple letter taped to the only thing of the front side of the house that remained.

The door.

Police officers were the first ones to read the letter left to the authorities and not the Dursley family, showing that they knew who would be the one in charge of the matter. The Dursley family had called to report an attack on their home, but not about a missing child like the note described.

It wasn't the typical ransom note, it didn't even ask for anything in exchange for the safe return of the kidnapped child. It listed all of the supposed and real abuse that the child had undergone from the day that he had been left in his mother's sister's care. It also listed how the Dursley family had squandered the monthly stipend transferred to the family's bank account for the child's care. It also listed a number of failings when it came to the child's general welfare, as well as the failures of the government on their end of things.

After that day a full investigation was started, looking into the case as well as investigating the Dursley family. The spoilt Dudley Dursley was put into foster care after his Aunt Marge had been deemed ill suited for child care after it was revealed, via investigation, what she had had her dogs do to little Harry Potter. Dudley Dursley would now surely grow up into a more responsible and disciplined individual as compared to what he could have become under his parents' care.

Petunia and her husband were arrested, and taken to separate jail cells as they awaited the end of the investigations as well as their respective trials. The Beings, people, entities, or whatever they could be called, that had set up the Dursley family and taken little Harry Potter really didn't like the Dursley family and had not pulled any of their punches and made sure that the Dursley family was broken up, and Vernon Dursley got at least ten life sentences for all of his crimes against humanity.

Investigators would be able to pin a lot of unsolved crimes on Vernon Dursley thanks to the _power-that-be_, as well as a number of non-existent crimes (not that anyone would ever find out). This was the karma for all of the Vernons in existence, it was justice for all the Harry Potters that had to suffer by the man. It was overkill, but _they_ didn't really give a damn.

Investigators also received snail mail from the most unlikely of people. Religious leaders from all over the globe, they all claimed to have experienced the same thing, visions from their respective higher power or powers about little Harry Potter. All of them told of how this one little boy was tied to the fate of the whole world. All of the visions also claimed that these higher powers had something to do with the kidnapping of the missing child.

There had been no records of one Harry Potter, save for his birth certificate and the documents of the bank transfers. Before any further investigation into the history of Harry Potter could truly commence authorities found that they encountered a dead end of sorts, something or someone was keeping them from finding anything about the child. It was as if he came from an entirely different world from their own. Which in a way was the case, he hailed from the magical part of the world.

Many officials had been sworn to secrecy of this secret part of the world, many politicians, and well, many people. And apparently this other world within the world didn't really care about one of their own, that one of their own had gone missing. The investigators didn't share the letters they received from the religious leaders, they didn't share the exact contents just the gist which was concern over one single little boy.

No one could find the little boy, so investigators and child services (who had failed at their duty) concluded that perhaps the boy was better off wherever he had been taken to. No one in the regular world could find the missing child that had suffered so much in his short little life, while the other world, the world within the world that hailed the boy as a hero cared little for how he really fared.

Number 4 Privet Drive would never be the same ever again.

#

Little Harry Potter had found himself in the one place that was relatively pure white but not Heaven. A hospital room, and just beside his bed was a nurse in her white uniform complete with a hat with a red cross on it. She was checking the numerous machines that surrounded his bed and had things attached to him. It was only when he tried to move that she noticed that he was awake.

"Oh, you're finally awake Mr. Potter," the nurse said, "Don't try to move again, your body is still a little weak from all the things that have been done to it, not to mention the actual much needed healing. I'll be right back," she hung the clipboard she was writing down things and reading things from on its hook on the wall and quietly left the room to fetch whomever she needed to fetch.

While she was away, Harry was left consciously on his own in a room that calmed him down. He didn't even think about the Dursleys while he lay on the most comfortable bed he had ever been on, it was perhaps just as comfortable as sleeping in his mother's arms. The tranquility of the room was not broken even when his room's door was slammed open and four men and a young boy walked in wearing doctor's coats. Four of them were in doctor's coats, the remaining one was in a black coat of the same style.

"Hello Harry," the oldest looking one of the five of them greeted the young boy, he had long white hair and was extra skinny, with all sorts of other things that made him look the oldest of the five, "My name is Crius Crossworld, though technically not a doctor myself I am the one in charge of your well being here. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, sir," the little boy said, "Where am I?"

"You are...hmm..." the old man took to rubbing his chin in thought.

"You are in my home," the man wearing all black said as he stepped forward, he was like a living shadow, "It also serves as a school of sorts, and before you ask, my name is Shadow Shaijo."

"How are you feeling Harry?" one of the other men asked, this one looked to be in his mid forties, had long jet black hair, and a goatee for the time being, "I'm Alex Westwurld by the way, nice to meet you little one."

"I feel fine, sir," the little boy replied, "Why am I here? Not at..well..with my aunt."

"I'm not going to lie to you," Alex said, "We really don't like your aunt, uncle, and cousin. They're not that nice of a bunch of people. We knew how they treated you and decided to act, taking you away from there, from all the hurt and pain, just like you wished upon the falling star on your fourth birthday. We heard you, and came for you on your fifth birthday, of course, we had to look for your first."

"But if you knew what happened to me, why couldn't you find me faster?" the boy asked them.

"Well...it seems that the man that left you with your relatives was rather...powerful and a genius when it came to hiding things or people that he wanted to keep hidden," Alex said, "He bent the _Rules_ in his favor which gave even myself a hard time."

"What do you mean by that last part?" Harry asked Alex.

"Well...for you to understand that part..." Alex said, "You are not on the Earth you knew as your home."

"I'm dead aren't I," the boy said, "So where are my parents?"

"You're not dead," Alex stated, "As for your parents, well..they chose to be with you and keep protecting you even in death..so the only place we can think to look for them is in your heart. They cannot come for you now or for a long time, its part of the _Rules_."

"Oh, ok," Harry said then asked, "Is that why the bed feels like my mom's embrace or something?"

"Possibly," Alex said, "The bed is supposed to make you feel your most comfortable, so I guess your parents wanting to protect you could possibly be why it feels that way."

"Ok," the kid said, "So...what happens now?"

"Well before that," Alex said, "To get back to explaining why I couldn't find you fast enough. I am, as I said, Alex Westwurld, you can think of me as a god, but more powerful. I oversee the Western Worlds of Imagination, Imagination being _everything_, which are the worlds associated with the west, its a rather complicated thing. On each of these many worlds, or existences, there is a single entity which serves as their anchor, individuals like you. Normally it would have been easy to pin point your location, but the old man merged the nigh entirety of your existence to everything else, making you a part of everything to be better hide you. The side effect being that even we had to look into everything that you were a part of to find your core, which is you yourself. Get it?"

"Not really," the child said slightly confused.

"The guy that left you with your aunt and uncle made you a part of everything and everything a part of you," the shortest of the five entities said, "So since a part of you was everywhere, it made finding the you that you know as yourself very hard for us. Get it?"

"Yeah, thanks," the kid told the other _kid_ in the room.

"I'm Nul Nusquam," the other _kid_ in the room said, "And just so we're clear, I may look like a kid, but I'm anything or any other age but that. Got it?"

"Y-yes, sir," the only real little boy in the room said, as he felt the slightly threat in Nul's voice.

"Good," Nul said, and returned to not minding the kid in the bed.

"So why are you guys really interested in me?" the kid asked his hosts, for there should be some other reason.

"Well...truthfully," the only man who didn't give his name yet, who wore a Chinese cheongsam instead of a regular shirt like the others, save for the kid who wore something that sucked in the light under his doctor's coat, said, "We found you quite interesting, and also because you specifically asked for our help. While you didn't use our names, you still called out to us. I'm Tokou Kyonshi or Kyonshi Toukou by the way, I'm Alex's opposite in the way things are governed around here."

"I didn't even know about you until you walked in here," the kid said, "How could I have asked for your help?"

"You wished that _They_ would come and take you away," Kyonshi said, "We are sometimes referred to as _They_, _Those Five_, _Them_, et cetera."

"Which is why we looked for you and took you," Shadow said, "You wished that we take you, since no where could be worse than with your aunt and uncle."

"Oh," the kid said, "So what happens to me now? Do I get adopted?"

"No," Shadow said, "Sadly you can't get adopted, not that its part of the rules, but you don't need to be adopted since you'll be living here with us, or me specifically since I own this school."

"What this school's name?" the kid asked.

"...mmph.." Shadow found his mouth covered by four pairs of hands.

"If anyone asks, just as that you studied or live in _Their _School," Crius said, before letting go of Shadow.

"Its not that lame of a name," Shadow said.

"For an eleven year old maybe," Crius said, "But enough about that. So what do you think kid?"

"Do I have a choice?" the kid asked them.

"Yes, you do actually," Nul said.

"Ok," the kid said then asked, "So..where am I going to stay? What will I study? What's there to do around here? Am I the only kid here? Can I have food?"

He shot of a few more questions before _The Five_ could get a word in edgewise.

"HOLD IT!" Nul was the one that cracked first.

"meep," the kid said, and buried himself underneath his covers, Nul's irritated aura was quite frightful.

"Finally," Nul said, "All will be answered in time. I would suggest you get some more rest, since you aren't fully healed yet." With that said Nul left the room without another word.

"He's scary," little Harry noted.

"We know," the four obvious adults chorused, "We _know_."

"Oh," the kid said.

#

Once he was let out of his hospital room he was given the grand tour of the school and its facilities by a man that looked like your average everyday ordinary magician except that this man had brown chocolate brown hair, and his clothes were a combination of blues and reds. He introduced himself as Presto the school's master of magic, all sorts of magic.

Little Harry was lead on something that could be considered on a wild goose chase around the school but one that had the purpose of familiarizing the newest addition to the student body with the general lay of the land. It was a wild goose chase in that Presto treated the tour of the school like running the gauntlet or running through a maze. They arrived at dead ends, cemeteries, tombs, a vault or seven, a portal into one of the many Hells, a gate to Heaven that was under repair, and a host of other things that had nothing to do with a place of learning.

But other than those extra places and detours, Little Harry was shown the Gymnasium which was dubbed the Hall of Hell, due mostly to the fact that brutal and bloody fights had happened inside in the past and that it was more like a Roman gladiator arena than a gymnasium. The entire thing was more or less colored or covered in dried blood. There were cracks every other place, scorch marks, and whatnot. The place looked like a lot of fighting really had taken place inside it.

He was also shown the Library, or the Central Library, in it, as he was told, every book in existence could be found. That was every single book ever written in the past, written in the future, and was still in the process of being written. Literally every book that one could or would ever think of could be found in the Central Library, even journals and diaries could be found somewhere in it. The Head Librarian were a man and a woman that took shifts and preferred to be collectively called Bookkeeper.

Beside the library, which little Harry wondered how so many books could fit into what looked like a small space on the outside, was the school's printing press or publishing house which was run by a staff of two who preferred to go by the code names Ink and Laser. Little Harry began to see a trend.

The Mess Hall had been their next official stop after that, it was one large hall filled with tables and chairs of all shapes and sizes and found in all positions possible and impossible. Who knew that there were students or teachers that preferred having their meals upside down or hanging by a thread.

The head of the kitchen staff was a woman by the name of Marie, while the rest of her staff were what looked to be spirits, but little Harry wasn't really sure about that and Presto wouldn't say.

After the kitchen, little Harry was shown all of the different classrooms, something that would have taken more than all afternoon to do if it hadn't been for a security room that showed all of the classrooms that the school had along with a literal map of the place. There were a lot of rooms, and they were scattered all over the place. There was even an annex building that was light years away from the main building.

Not all of the classrooms were used all of the time, it depended on the number of students present during the school year. Sometimes there was just one student, and other times there were so many that all the classrooms had to be used. The number of actual teachers also depended on the number of students, but there was always a set number than remained in the school at all times.

Presto being one of them.

The gymnasium was different from the sports complex, within the sports complex could be found every and any terrain, area, room, place, setting, or whatever for every and any game or sport ever conceived. There was even a computer game room that could hold three hundred gamers at any single instance. It was amazing, every kid's dream, or so little Harry liked to think.

He was showed even more places, brought to even more rooms, like the laboratories, the panic rooms, the prison, the jail, the haunted house with real spooks maintaining it. There were so many other places, so many different things in just one school.

There were greenhouses housing an assortment of plants that came from an assortment of different existences. There were towers, fortresses, bunkers, barracks. There were things that little Harry didn't think belonged in a school, like a nuclear test facility and a gas chamber. There was even a temple.

The dorms were a set of buildings arranged in a star of all patterns, they were all interconnected and they were co-ed. They were empty since school wasn't in session yet, not for a few days yet anyway.

Little Harry was told that he was probably one of the youngest students that the school had ever had, but since he was rather special in a sense, he would not be staying in the dorms but with the Master of the School himself, the former Chairperson of _The Five_, the former spokesperson of Imagination, Shadow.

The teachers' residences were houses in a village like setting, all save for Shadow's own home which was practically the whole school itself. Harry was shown and given one of Shadow's many guest rooms or guest suites. This one having a bedroom, bathroom, sitting room, mini-library, office, laboratory, garden, and wildlife sanctuary. It was an interesting room to say the least, and little Harry loved it.

"I've shown you the whole place, minus the places that Boss Shadow doesn't permit most people to enter," Presto said, "You'll get to meet your other teachers later at dinner."

Dinner arrived and little Harry was forced into wearing the school's uniform for new students which was loose black slacks, a white undershirt, a black button down long sleeved shirt with a high collar, black steel toed leather boots, black leather gloves, and a gray scarf.

He was told to sit right beside Shadow himself. The table itself was a large round one, but somehow little Harry was still able to see the faces of the people farthest from him clearly. He knew without a doubt that there was a kind of magic in the air that allowed this to happen.

"I would like to introduce all of you, my former students and creations," Shadow said as he stood getting the attention of all those present in the dining hall, "To Harry James Potter of the Passim Existence, who shall be with us until he turns ten. I have picked out which of your classes, he shall be attending in addition to the lessons that myself and my _Brothers_ shall be imparting to him. Now I turn to Presto for the additional introductions. Presto?"

"Present!" the man in the red and blue clothes said as he stood while Shadow took his seat, "As you all know, and should still remember, I am Presto and I shall be teaching Magic as usual this year..."

Presto then followed his brief introduction by listing all of the other teachers that would be having Harry in his classes.

Shadow would be teaching the young lad how to manipulate and control the shadows, as well as teaching him mathematics and its applications.

Crius would be teaching the young lad how to tap into the power of Imagination coupled with belief, tap into the power of the universe, tap into the powers of existence. Crius created immortals, gods, and primordial elements on a whim, why not teach a child how to reach such heights on his own.


	67. Untitled 12

While many people in the world would have loved to be in his shoes, experience his great adventures, and do everything he could do along with spend his wealth on random useless things. He wanted what everyone else had, which was a normal life. As soon as he was brought into the world that used him as it saw fit, throwing him away when he was not needed and bringing him forcefully back kicking and screaming when there was need of him, he knew he would not like the world and his life in general after that first moment that he was told that he was famous for something that he did not consciously do.

He was Harry Potter, and he was sick of it all. Sick of all the lies, backstabbing, manipulations, dark lords, light lords, and all that rot. He wanted no more part in all of it. Which was why when he found himself in that pearly white train station, he knew what he would do. He flagged down a train that had magically appeared in the station that could have been either in limbo or in his mind and boarded it.

"Where to guv?" the Conductor of the train asked him as soon as he took a seat, a random one at that.

"Anywhere's fine," he told the man, or what he thought was a man, he couldn't really be sure at this point in time, after all he'd just spoken to a dead guy.

"You sure?" the Conductor asked, "There was this other guy I had that I dropped off in an existence of Chaos. Dude's name was Thanos, or at least that what he wanted to be called at the time. How 'bout you? Got a name I can put down in the register?"

"Harry Potter," he told the Being or Entity.

"I've met a lot of those," the Conductor said, "Pick another, that may be your birth name the one your parents gave you, but what I'd like to know is your true name or one of them, some have lots after all."

"That other guy," he said to the Conductor, "What was his name?"

"The last HP that rode on this 'ere train?" the Conductor asked and received a simple nod in return, "I already told ya, Thanos or Order, he's a Greek myth or something. I tend not to follow my passenger's exploits much. So how 'bout that name?"

"Aren't names supposed to serve some sort of higher purpose?" he asked the Being, "You can't just rush a person you know."

"I know," the Conductor said, "Listen, I'll come back some time later to get that name from you. When you have it, I'll know where to have you dropped off."

The Conductor then walked off to gather tickets, destinations, and names for his register. It was all part of his job after all. He was the Conductor of the train that traveled between all existences in Imagination, its route and tracks being found in the cracks that separated one reality or existence from another. He was neither living or dead, he was lifeless and timeless.

Harry Potter was supposed to shed his birth name and don a new one, one of his choosing, one of significance to him and what he wanted to do for the remainder or rest of his natural or unnatural life.

He decided that while he thought up a new name, one to give to that nice old man the Conductor, he would walked around or look around the train. He hadn't really managed to get a good look on the outside of it, but supposed that since he wasn't going to be disembarking from it anytime soon, he might as well get a good look around.

He found that the coach that he was on resembled a subway train rather than the Hogwarts Express. There were a scant few other passengers, but he believed that there must be more. The Beings that he found himself with were mostly human, some of the ones with him in his coach were wearing robes in similar fashion o the ones he was used to seeing worm by those of his world.

He moved onto the next coach or car, and found a few more passengers, but this time not all of them were human. He didn't think that it was healthy for him to be in the same general area as one of them, it wasn't that he feared the kind if creature that it reminded him of, but there was just something about it that made him quite wary.

"_Stop staring.._" he heard the raggedly cloaked thing hiss at him, it sounded sickeningly sweet at the same time soothing, "_Its annoying.._"

"S-Sorry," Harry apologized, "I'm just not used to things in this afterlife yet."

"_You're not dead yet Harry Potter.._" the thing hissed out, "_Trust me..I'm one of the ones that would be the first to know.._"

"But aren't I a soul or something now, now that I've left my body after Voldemort's Killing Curse hit me?" he asked the thing.

"_Come sit by me..and I shall explain a few things.._" the thing said, and so he walked on over to the thing and sat beside it, feeling an icy chill run up and down his spine for but a moment, before it was gone.

"So..what things?" he asked.

"_First and foremost is that you are not dead_," the thing explained, "_You are also no longer alive, in the common sense. You are something less and something more. Quite confusing I know. But hear me out and you might come to understand what you are now._"

"You're right about the confusing part," he said.

"_I know,_" the thing said, "_I am what you might know as a Grim Reaper, though the more correct term of my position and job would be Death Reaper. I am a Dementor of sorts, that you would be correct in assuming to relate me with. But I do not eat souls, no. I collect them and guide them to the Halls of Judgment. Each soul is assigned one of my kind for when their time in the living plane of existence is up. Although there are times when our assistance is not needed. Like in the war between Heaven and Hell._"

"Isn't that mostly a Christian thing?" he asked the Death Reaper.

"_The uniformed, such as yourself, would think so,_" the Death Reaper said, "_But no, it is not just a Christian thing. In this case it is a battle between the ruler of All Hells and the In-Between and the Golden Throne of All Heavens._"

"All Hells? In-Between? All Heavens?" he asked, "What are those places? How does adding the word 'All' make it special?"

"_The 'All' signifies that they are the central nexus of all manner of heaven and hell,_" the Death Reaper explained, "_The Devil that you would normally associate as being the ruler of Hell is no longer the one that governs that horridly heavenly place. That Devil has been dealt with, killed even, in a most anti-climactic way too. That Devil has been replaced with Harry "Devil himself" Potter, a _cousin_ of yours."_

"Thank you for clearing that up...I think..." he said, "So I have a cousin that wages war on the All Heavens' ruler?"

"_Precisely, you sure catch on quick!_" the Death Reaper said.

"Uh..thanks," he said.

"_Moving forward,_" the Death Reaper said, and continued its explanation of things, "_You are neither living nor dead, you are less and more of the two at the exact same time. Your existence if your own. You are no longer tied to your former world. You chose to leave it to is own devices, placing its fate in the ones that remains' hands. Good move by the way, I applaud the way you decided to handle your former world. I never __really liked the prophecy you were saddled with. Never liked it at all. A prophecy is only as powerful as the people that believe in its authenticity._"

"I believe the same thing too, well, now anyway," he said, "Do you happen to know what the power to defeat Voldemort was supposed to be?"

"_If I answer love what will you say?_" the Death Reaper amusedly said.

"I call Bullshit!" he told the Reaper.

"_Well, I called it that too, I was thinking more along the lines of self-sacrifice actually," _the Reaper said, "_Its more fitting with what happened to you during that past life of yours._"

"I think I could agree to that," he said.

"_Good. Now then, I'm sure that you are already quite aware of the fact that there are multiple dimensions, realities, existences and whatnot,_" the Reaper said, "_Of course you do. You would be freaking out that you're talking to me of all things if you weren't aware of this thing. No moving forward again.. There are a multitude of other _worlds_, ones that are similar to your own and others that are vastly different. Beings like you either remain in your homeworld or home-existence and live out some adventure there, get a new world or existence to call your own, or of course go to another preexisting one and have your fun filled adventure there. This new adventure is somewhat like the concept of the next great adventure, but in this case you haven't technically had to die yet. This new adventure ties in with your need to have and use a new name or your true name and not your birth name. It also helped the _Archivist_, along with all the guys that keep tabs on you and your life or lives. Understand?_"

"I think I do," he said, and so asked, "So..what do you think my true name should be or is?"

"_Kid. I'm a Death Reaper, I work for Death himself,_" the Reaper calmly stated, "_Who, by the way, is another one of your _cousins_. His wife's a real death eater._"

"Bad pun, please move on," he said to the Reaper.

"_I have dead humor, I'm sorry," _the Reaper said, "_Back to my point. This is your true name, not mine, it is not for me to chose, but something only you yourself can come up with. It could be Blargh for all I care, it might not mean anything to you now, but it could sometime later. But I wouldn't recommend Blargh if I were you since I'm the one that came up with it._"

"Uh..ok," he said, "Thanks for the help and clarifications though."

"_You're welcome,_" the Reaper said, then got up as the train began to slow down, "_Looks like I'll have to cut this chat short, seeing as my stop is coming up._"

"S'alright," he told the Reaper, "I understand your need to do your job."

"_Yeah, well, it was nice talking to you, gets kind a boring talking to the dead all the time, I enjoyed the change of pace and conversation quality,_" the Reaper said, before disembarking, "_Well, I hope to speak with you again, just not on your death bed not that that's likely to ever happen as far as your life is concerned._"

With the Death Reaper gone, Harry couldn't help but feel a bit alone once again. He had enjoyed the immortal's company. It was an interesting change from all the stiffs around him or the one that cropped up every time he thought of Ginny Weasley. He couldn't relieve himself of that problem at the moment, not with all the witnesses and the lack of red heads to help him with his problem.

He sat in silence, thinking about what name would suit him. What name he wouldn't have a problem going by once he left the train after speaking with the Conductor that was sure to come around once he found his true and new name.

He admitted to himself that he hadn't taken his life very seriously, just like how the people around him didn't take their lives seriously or take things into their own hands, like defending themselves from people that could have been stopped if more people cared or if people just had the guts, balls, or whatever to actually do what was right and not what was easy. He admitted to himself that he lived life passively. He reacted when needed, acted when needed, but other than that, he didn't really do anything to better himself.

He found that he always relied on someone else to do the thinking, to do the talking, to do almost everything. And he was just there, complaining about his life, wanting something more, just like everyone else he knew, except most of them actually did something about it, about their own lives. They were selfish like that. But he found that he liked that about them.

He realized that he had been just a tool, he was more like some kind of pawn in a game of chess. He moved when needed to where needed. He moved via remote, not really taking the initiative, always needing prompting. He was called a leader, but only out of necessity.

He decided then and there, that this time around he would not be lazy or too laid back to really care. He wouldn't complain himself when he could do things to change whatever situation he found himself in. He would ask for help only when he'd exhausted all resources available to him. He didn't want to be a slacker anymore, or someone that just piggybacked on others through life. He would be his own unique individual this time around. All he needed to begin this new life of his was a new name.

"So, got a name yet?" the Conductor asked as he stopped in front of Harry, he knew that this particular passenger finally had a destination in mind, "I don't have all of eternity ya know. You're not the only one riding this train."


	68. Untitled 13

He didn't think it was possible, he didn't think that it was something that could actually happen. He was unable to just ignore the possibility which had led to what had actually happened. One of his _cousins_ had fallen to the side of things that didn't believe in him, in his existence, in his gift, his power, in what he was himself. He was Magic himself, he Magus Iunctio was that unexplainable force in existence, in all existence that children had in great quantity and a few adults tried to grasp once again.

But he had _cousins_, lots of them, and one of them just so happened to be born with his gift as well as come into or awoke the darker side of belief. Belief was a powerful thing, it was one of the greater forces in Imagination, with it one could perform wonders. Of course one had to have a lot of it and a greater connection or access to the universe, in a manner similar to Paolo Coelho's quote from his book The Alchemist "And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it," kind of thing.

The power of belief was connected to the saying "to think is to create". Believe that something is, then will it into existence. A simple yet complex concept.

So it stood to reason that if to think is to create then to think can also be to destroy.

Magus had stumbled upon this _cousin_ as he was looking for yet another side project to take up his time and his mind away from thoughts of his family, whom he could only rarely visit or spend time with. It was punishment for his foolishness for when he did his part for the true greater good.

He found his _cousin_ tapping into the power of the universe, or existence or Imagination itself, in the most rare of ways. His _cousin _was denying him and his existence, denying Magic himself. It was a difficult concept to grasp, but it was something that was indeed happening.

So Magus summoned his other _cousins_, and they all watched it unfold. The undoing of a world of unbalance. The unbalance was so great that the two sides of the coin that was the world were clashing with each other more that leaning against one another. It was a clash that was sure to end with one side vanishing and its empty space being swallowed by the greater side that remained.

"This is an unsettling development," Contristo Acerbus said, holding his sickle before him in preparation to rally his forces to the conquest of souls that could possibly break out before him, an entire existence could possibly be snuffed out thanks to the actions of one and many.

"It is more than unsettling," Magus stated, fearfully a little, "He is denying my existence, challenging me to my right to be what I be. He could turn this entire existence into a void to my vision, a black hole that could spread its influence to all the others."

"We are at our most powerful in our home or core-existences," Aetas said, "Supreme Beings, such as I know this best. Our powers wane slightly when visiting or exerting our power and presence in an existence not our own. It is insignificant in the greater scheme of things. Though this case should be the exception."

"Are you saying that this particular brand of Imagination will not spread to other existences? That it will not one day run rampant? That I shall still continue to be as I am even if he continues down this path of destruction and annihilation?" Magus asked Aetas.

"His influence and great power shall be restricted to this existence," the Devil himself said joining the conversation, allowing a fraction of himself to be with them while the rest of him waged his war with All Heaven, "While, if he were ever to travel as we do, he would still be able to affect things, he would not be able to eradicate whatever he should wish for he would be dealing with others more powerful or on equal footing as him in those other existences. But this power level we see him at is still low compared to what he could become in the future."

"But you think that he is not a threat?" Magus asked, he was scared for himself, and could feel parts of himself slowly dying, even though Contristo would not confirm it.

"He is lashing out against that which has caused him the most problems," Contristo said, "It is becoming clear to me now. He is seeking to live a more normal life, he will accept that he will never be normal in the common sense. He will accept that he will forever be different. But he will do his best to exact revenge on the world that has caused him so much pain and unnecessary suffering."

"So what do you propose that we do?" Magus said, "Should he ever find out about us, he might come after us, come after me. I do not want to have to be at war with family, none of us do."

"Then we will make him understand," the Devil himself stated, "We will make him aware of us before he finds out about us from other means. We will also inform him of the _Rules_, which we will only be slightly breaking thanks to finding out about him."

"Then let us get this over with," Magus said and led the way to where he felt himself at his weakest, where his power waned significantly, and where he had to rely on Imagination itself to keep him from vanishing from his _cousins'_ eyes.

They followed after him, the ones that had precious moments to spare.

They followed him down to the world where their latest_ aware cousin_ lived and existed in and on. The child was young still, but he had already trapped into the connection that everyone possessed, but rarely ever found and or thought of tapping into. He was also only eight years old.

They found him in a park, sitting on a swing all alone, around him not a patch of grass could be found. All the plant life and even animal life was dead. Contristo extended his senses around him to find that the park was saturated with the unmistakable feeling of his own presence.

"Are you here to make fun of me too?" Little Harry Potter asked the new arrivals to his park and playground, he scrutinized them as they walked ever closer to him.

"We are not here for something like that," Contristo said, he wondered for a moment why the child was not afraid of him as he was carrying such a large and sharp scythe, "Why do you not fear me?"

"Why should I be afraid of a farmer? An out of place one by the looks of things," the child replied, his eyes were far too cold for a child's eyes, they were glaciers that the Devil himself could sympathize with somewhat.

"A farmer? A reaper of souls would be more appropriate," Contristo retorted.

"You claim to be death then," the child said, "So reap those deserving of such a fate, or take mine. Life isn't fair after all."

"I would not willingly reap the soul of one so undeserving of such a fate," Contristo said, "You need not worry about my taking your soul onto the next plane."

"Tch," the child said, "Whatever."

"We have come due to the concern of one of us over your ability, your role in the greater scheme of things," Contristo said, ignoring the veiled insult to his self, "Magus Iunctio fears you."

"Who are you talking about? I've never met such a person in my short life," the child said.

"You have not encountered me as a person," Magus said stepping forward, "I am Magus Iunctio, Magic himself.."

It was probably not a really good idea that he had said those words so soon. The child stiffened, then launched himself at the source of all Magic that was Magic himself. He screamed an unholy scream and his eyes lit up in a mismatched silver and gold. His hands took hold of Magus' robe and forcefully shoved the older man into the ground.

"**THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC!**" the child roared, it was the power of will and belief rolled into one. They smashed into one another forming the connection to Imagination that made all things possible and impossible at the same time, the creation of paradoxical things. The _power_ coursed through the child then flowed through his hands and slammed into Magus through their physical connection to one another.

Magus felt as if he was being burned alive from the inside out, he could swear if he were not screaming that his very soul, the core of his very existence was set on fire. It was a pain that had only lasted for but a moment, but in that moment was an eternity's worth of pain.

Contristo managed to wrest the child off of Magus just in the nick of time, since Magus was just about ready to turn into dust or his purer form which was just a state of energy that the child would have had an easier time removing from existence.

"_That is more than enough violence from one such as you!_" Contristo said, his voice echoing in multiple voices and tones merged into one and coming from all around the child, "_Stay thy hand and thy power child. We came in peace, not to harm you. Yet here you be, a hostile. We do not trespass for we are present everywhere, just as you now are or ever since you awoke this ability to negate all things, but seem to have focused entirely on magic itself._"

"We are all family here, _cousins_ if you will," Aetas decided to step in, "We know not the exact details of what has caused you to turn out like this, but we have come nonetheless. We are not here to harm you, but wish to know more, and whether or not you are a danger to one of us. We also wish to provide you with aid, should we find a reason for it. Even Magus is still willing, seeing as he has not yet fled to his grove."

"I only recently came upon this power and the knowledge that came with it," the child said, "I stumbled upon an old tome in the local library. Upon opening it I gained a deeper connection to the source of All Things. Imagination, I believe it is called. To think is to create and to destroy. I also learned of my heritage as well as my history and that of this world and its counter-balance. Both worlds were supposed to progress at the same pace, but somewhere along the line, the counter-balance grew arrogant in their power and waged war with this world we stand in presently. This war has caused much pain and suffering in many, myself included. We have lost loved ones, families, happiness, and a host of other things."

"So where does magic not existing come into play?" Magus wheezed out, as his form changed from being entirely visible to becoming nearly transparent as if the existence they were in was rejecting his reality.

"I was gifted with the power to destroy, to reject an existence, to eradicate, to nullify," the child spoke almost sagely, "I became the anti-thesis of magic, the only reality that there could be, should I believe it, is my own reality. Magic caused the war by being the favored tool or only tool of the ones that started the war. I believe that this world should be cleansed. The old tome gave me this world..and I have every right to see to it that the war of this world is halted, stopped, ceased."

"Then you have no intention of encroaching on other existences?" Magus asked weakly, his self was fading from the existence, "I have no wish to completely be erased from Imagination."

"I do not seek to eradicate it from other worlds," the child said, "Those worlds are not mine. I have nothing to do with them, and should magic continue to prosper in them, who am I to remove such a thing from there. I just wish to cleanse my world, this world. This existence. What other existences chose to do to solve their problems is their choice, not mine."

"Good," Magus said, as he grew as transparent as how most people thought of as how a ghost would look, "I had thought that I would be forced to fight family, something which I am not inclined to do."

"I doubt that I would have been able to eradicate all magic anyway," the child said, "Not after finding myself unable to erase the will of magic himself, as well as since...I do not wish to hurt family as well."

"That's good to know," Contristo said, reverting back to being more human, "Our wills are all equal with regards to our existences. We do not give up easily or at all, for that matter. When dealing with living things or things with souls or greater existences than simple objects, you will have to have a greater will for the full effect of what you wish to be completed. Though there will be some cases that your power will be unable to fully affect things as they shall be bound or protected by the _Rules_. I am certain that you are aware of what those are."

"I know of them," the child said, "So you've helped me some with this talk. What happens now?"

"As you said," the Devil himself said, "This is your world, do with it as you will. It is no concern of ours what you do with it. Just that you do not overstep your bounds."

"I understand," the child said, "I also have a feeling that should I even try to abuse my gift, it shall be taken away from me."

"Most gifts of our nature work that way," Contristo confirmed, "Well, we're willing to help you, but of course we would like to know if you have any requests for the time being, just don't ask Magus to pull his entire self out of this existence since its.."

"Against the _Rules_," the child interrupted, "I am well aware of that. Just keep to your own duties, and let me go about my business. The possibilities are as endless as one makes them to be. I know that, I got that from the old tome."

"Alright then," Contristo said, "Then we shall leave you to perform your wonders and atrocities. Have fun purging this world of its magic, though I do have a feeling that you will be leaving traces."

"I have learned that there must be a balance," the child said, "For had you not stopped me earlier I might have destroyed myself as well."

"Good," Contristo said, "Glad I don't have to explain that part of things to you."

"Thank you for coming," the child said, "But I feel that you have overstayed your welcome."

#

He might have been eight at the time, but he had learned much from the encounter with his extended family, those _cousins_ that had their own dilemmas to deal with, their own problems to solve, their own wrongs to right. He could not fault them in leaving or fault them in watching out for one of their own. He just wished that he could have had the courage to have asked them to stay and aid him in the eradication of magic from his existence.

Magic had prospered and populated far too much of Imagination, the sheer abundance of it and the suffering it directly and indirectly caused had been stifling, so Imagination had allowed for his creation. He would have grown to become some sort of Dark Lord of Magic had it not been for that one tome. But thanks to it, all magic had been purged from his body, it was inaccessible to him, but his _cousin's_ taint still remained in his veins, flowing freely through his system, but its touch forever beyond his reach.

He was magic as far as magic was concerned, the soul-less part of Magus that is that was in-charge of monitoring the daily routine of magic in all things. He knew about it, and knew that he could not do anything about it. It was an inevitable thing that would lead him to greater targets than targeting the childhood innocence, wishes, and dreams, of those younger or close to his age.

His war, this third side that he formed, would take apart the world. Separating fantasy from reality, and making sure that fantasy remained just that, not real. He would allow only himself to be the one that was out of touch with reality, one foot in reality and the other in fantasy, he would be the bridge that connected the two, and he would be the only one that would eventually remain of the minority if he could help it.

By the time he was nine years old, most of the children his age dreamed about things that were far closer to reality than dragons and unicorns. It wasn't taxing at all, all he did was either believe or will it to be that way, influencing his peers when they were at their mentally weakest, when they were asleep dreaming.

He knew of his heritage, and so when he was ten he sought out that other world, the world of fantasy within the world of reality. There were real people, and then there were these war mongers that were trapped in their dream, of magic and superiority. He moved on from forcing his peers into changing their beliefs on fantasy, returning their loss of innocence to the way it has always been. He turned his attention to targeting those that actually lived in the dreamworld of fantasy that had existed for thousands upon thousands of years.

He ventured forth in search of the magical alleyways, or whatever or wherever the dreamworld began and the reality of the real world ended. He found none of the places, as if they were hiding from him, as if his _cousin_ was subconsciously fighting him. It did not matter, it was but a minor setback, one that he would find a way around sometime in the future. He had all the time in the world for the culmination of his plan to come to fruition, it would all come to pass as he wished. A world devoid of magic, where science reigns as magic wanes.

It was after he reached the age of eleven that the solution to his problem of locating an entrance into the dreamworld came to him. It came to him in the mail, his ticket into the world of fantasy that he would be destroying one wand at a time.

His relatives acted in the manner befitting their station in life and their beliefs on the matter of his heritage, an opinion that he secretly shared but did not voice for he knew that they would hardly believe him. There was also his power to consider, not that many outside of himself and a select few other, would believe that his power was not magic but something else entirely.

Their minds were mostly closed to the reality of things, their minds closed to other possibilities. It would take something amazing for them to believe what he would say to be true, but he didn't need them to believe in his words right away. He didn't need them to believe in him at all. They already denied the existence of magic in their own ways, like trying to beat the magic out of him. He forgave them of the beating since their intentions were similar to ones he had for himself and the rest of the world.

Letter upon letter came, via post, via owl, via fireplace, via many other things. Each and every time, Harry did not send a reply even if he had the power to do so. He wanted to know if he was important enough for the school of his birth parents to send someone to personally fetch him. When that person came, he had a feeling that someone would be sent to fetch him, he would finally be able to see if he had what it took to take on the dreamworld of magic.

It was once they were hiding in some shack in the middle of nowhere and a storm raged overhead, the sea that surrounded the shack found on an island


	69. Untitled 14

He had been having some rather weird dreams for several nights now.

He'd been dreaming of humans and demons battling against the forces of the heavens, the struggle looked to possibly be unending. He had chosen to cheer on the forces of Hell for some reason that he could not explain but chalked it up to having something to do with seeing that one green eyed warrior that led the charge.

He had dreamed of ninjas, of all things, waging war against an army of black and white plant-men. He cheered on the ninjas since he found them quite cool and also because he felt something for that one leader that had defended his family, he guessed, from the leader of the enemy of the ninjas.

He dreamed of a lone warrior that traveled across an ancient land on a quest for something or someone. He found this one rather interesting as the warrior or traveler had the ability to transform into something that looked like a horse but was clearly not. The man looked tired from his constant traveling and searching, but even though his body looked tired, his eyes told another story entirely. Giving up was not an option.

He had dreamed about a man who had given up on ever being normal, who had chosen to walk his own path as a unique individual. This one man knew how to enjoy his extended life even though it was riddled with responsibility. He steeled his emotions when it came to his tasks, and completed his objectives no matter what they were, unless there was a better way. He was his own master.

He dreamed of a man that had beaten back the darkness by sacrificing his humanity and his eternal happiness to achieve victory. He fought a long and hard battle his way, and ended it his way. He traveled from dimensions to dimension, from existence to existence, from reality to reality. He kept himself occupied, but always had the goal of finding a more permanent way to keep his happiness close at hand. He lived his dreams, and took care of his own.

He dreamed of a child that grew to be a man, one that had many children. He lived a long long life, and nearly grew bored and so to rid himself of his boredom he found ways to alleviate himself of it. He took to going to school and making another a hero in the eyes of many. He was creative, powerful, and slightly insane. He was a dreamer.

He dreamed of six different individuals, yet all of them seemed the same. He dreamed of them all for six weeks straight, each personality taking up an entire week of continuing dreams. They were dreams that were not dreams. But he loved dreaming them all, watching these men live such interesting lives.

He enjoyed them and sometimes, during the day, wished that he could live their lives or something like them.

They were leaders, warriors, family members, they were happy, most of them anyway. They each had dreams, they each had fun. They each also had some sort of power to them, some sort of thing that was unique to each and every one of them. They had social lives too. They had many of the things that he did not have himself. They were dreams, and therefore wishes his heart had been making through the years.

He wished morning that the dream would not end, but he would eventually be woken from his slumber. He wished during the day that he could live a life similar to at least one of those dreams. He wished and wished and wished, and continued to dream.

And then..he dreamed some more. But his most recent dream, the one he was presently in was unlike all of the others where he had been a mere observer. He was an actual character in the dream, he knew it was a dream from the very beginning since he had never been in the place before. He had appeared moment after closing his eyes, standing in the entrance hall of some large castle or palace wearing his sleep clothes.

He felt a pull, as if something was calling him or telling him to follow the pull. He walked through and out of the hall, in and away from bland yet marble corridors. He walked and walked, and wondered what it was that had such a powerful pull on him. Once he reached an archway blocked by a set of double doors made out of a kind of wood that he didn't know of, had never seen, nor would ever encounter in his life again, the pull that had guided him to the doors ceased.

He was meant to reach the doors, but whether to push them open or not was something that he didn't think he should decide upon. He wondered if he was supposed to wait for someone to bid him enter or push on through.

"_What are you waiting for, young sir?_" a voice whispered near the child's ear, the new comer had broken the silence of the hall corridor they were both in.

The child was surprised, he didn't sense or notice his companion's arrival. Startled by the whisper, he whirled around to face the owner of the new voice.

The person he found standing behind him was a man in his early twenties wearing a red long sleeved shirt with a white weatherproof jacket over it. He wore black slacks, black socks, and sneakers. It was obvious by his black glasses that his eyesight wasn't all that good. He had short black hair, and a clean face.

What really made him stand out in the corridor was not that he wore regular clothes, but that he had an ID lace around his neck complete with ID hanging from it. The name was clearly written on the thing and his 1x1 picture could also be seen on the thing.

"Hi," the child nervously greeted.

"_Hello,_" the stranger greeted in return, "_I would advise you to go on in. They have been waiting for you._"

"Who are they?" the child asked.

"_Why..your wishes and dream of course,_" the stranger said, "_I noticed that you looked a little lost. No need to be wary or nervous around me as I mean you no harm. So on, push those doors aside and wander in for the start of your great adventure._"

The man wasn't very convincing with his intentions of helpfulness. The corridor was empty save for the two of them, and should the man want to try something with the child, there was clearly no one that would intervene for the boy's sake. But before the boy could say another word to the man, he began to simply walk away.

"_I've said my piece, now you can either go in or wait until you wake back up again,_" the stranger said, "_See you whenever your sir, I've still got some work to do,_" the stranger then waved over his shoulder as he walked around a corner and vanished from view.

With the man no longer in the corridor with him, the boy decided to do the only thing that he knew he could do. He pushed the doors, curiosity may have killed the cat but he didn't want to wake up and never know what lay behind the doors. The man did say that his wishes and dreams lay behind the doors.

Upon entering the round hall, he heard the doors silently close behind him. Instead of turning around or panicking due to the closing of them on their own, he looked upon what exactly the room contained. There were six pedestals with six objects laying on them. And sitting opposite from him was what appeared to be a throne.

The room was lit by candles whose light bathed the room in silver and purplish light. Marble pillars, walls, and floor, glistened as the light reflected off of them. But what caught his attention the most was what appeared to be a composite ghost or hologram hovering at the very center of the room.

The figure was that of six figures overlapping one another. Each one looked familiar to the boy's eyes. His own eyes widened when he realized where he had seen each of the overlapped faces before.

Each one had been the star or main character of one of his six previous weeks worth of dreams. It was a semi-dream come true for him to finally get to see them all again. Semi-dream come true since it was happening within a dream.

"_Welcome,_" six overlapping voices echoed around the chamber, "_Welcome to this space, this nexus of realities. It was interesting to know that another of our _cousins_ cheered us on and delighted in our exploits. So here we stand as one and yet not, bearing gifts to aid you in your own adventures._"

"Err..thanks," he said to six of them, they nodded to him in acknowledgment of his gratitude.

He approached the first pedestal which held the first of the six objects. It was a flat oval stone hung on a chain with all sorts of squiggly lines etched on it. On either side of the oval stone were two small round and polished emeralds. As soon as his fingers came into contact with it, the first of the six shades separated from the collective and moved to the side of the child.

"_Greetings and salutations young son of heaven and hell,_" the first of the six said, "_I am known as Devil, as in the Devil himself who wages war, as you must have seen, with All Heavens and is in love with an angel._"

"Nice to meet you, sir," the child said respectfully, he knew that this shade or figment of a dream was a real person one that demanded respect even from his foes.

"_That talisman which you now hold in your hands will protect your mind from any that would wish to enter it or control it_," Devil informed him, "_It shall also serve as a means for you to summon demons and fallen angels from your own existence's Hell. For not all the hells are participating in the war_."

"Thank you," the boy said, he let Devil place the chain with the talisman hanging from it around his neck, "Do I have to wear it always?"

"_Not unless you want to, but it would be best if you at least have it with you always,_" Devil said before returning to the center of the room joining his _cousins_ standing at the center.

The boy then moved on to the next pedestal which held the second item, and as soon as he touched it another of the specters moved beside him. The item was a dagger about six inches in length, it was a double edged one with a pointed tip. At the same time as being a dagger when it was unsheathed it was also a fan when sheathed. Blade, handle, and sheathe were colored black, the wooden sheath and handle having blood stain designs on them.

"_Interesting little thing isn't it,_" the second of the collective spoke as the boy examined the bladed weapon as well as its fan form, the thing actually shrunk by two inches or so when in fan form, "_You witnessed the war that I lived and died in. You saw what the people I surrounded myself were capable of. This item shall serve as tools for you to heal or to hurt. It will be by your intentions that either action or effect shall take place. Use it well._"

"I will," the boy said, then wondered out loud, "Where do I keep it?"

"_As it's sheathed form is that of a fan, you may keep it in a pocket or hidden in a sleeve if you wish,_" the second of the collective said, "_I am certain that you shall figure out a way to conceal your fan, should you wish to hide it from prying eyes or for surprises._"

"Thank you," the boy said as he placed it in his pajama pocket. He watched as the shade that had failed to introduce himself moved to rejoin the overlapping group at the center.

Moving to the third pedestal the boy found himself face to face with a signet ring made out of a mixture of gold and mythril, it was lighter than a feather when he lifted it off of the pillow it had been lain on. Inscribed on it were what looked like a three clawed dragon and a five clawed dragon, both in the serpentine dragon style of the East.

"_I am Kurai, King of Hou,_" the third shade said as he stood wearing blood stained clothes beside the boy, "_This ring is my gift to you, it grants you access to treasures of old along with old magics that while normally would be passed down by blood shall pass on to you with my blessings. By wearing this ring you shall be recognized an heir to two lines of kings. By being its master you also gain the power of transformation. Use it well._"

"I will," the boy said, as he let Kurai placed the ring on one of his fingers, the boy had the feeling that he'd get the royal treatment if he ever visited the Eastern Lands, "Thank you."

"_You're welcome,_" Kurai said as he returned to the center of the chamber.

The fourth pedestal held a pair of black leather gloves, a piece of cloth that looked like its purpose was as a blindfold, a mask for the lower half of his face, an hour glass, and finally a weighing scale. It was probably the most occupied of the six pedestals.

He failed to notice that he had company beside him, this one in a form more commonly linked or connected to death and the Grim Reaper. He only noticed the latest of the six to stand by him when a colder than ice hand was placed on his shoulder to get his attention.

"_I am Death, I doubt you need anymore explanation or description when it comes to who and what I am,_" Death introduced himself with his thousands of voices echoing from all around ranging in volume and tone, he placed the gloves on the child's hands, "_The materials that were used in the creation of these items, all of these gifts from myself to you, were taken from beyond the veil that separates the living from the dead, not counting those that have chosen to remain in the land of the living._"

"So what do these gloves do?" he asked Death without fear, as he new that he would not be taken as it was far from his time, "The other things that I've been given have additions to what I am able to do already."

"_With these gloves you shall be able to grasp onto things that are normally beyond a mortal's grasp, like spirits and souls,_" Death explained, "_They shall serve as your tools for reaping souls as well as aids when you wish to delve into weighing a soul's or spirit's worth or measuring the age of something or someone._"

"Why would I do that?" the boy asked.

"_I don't know with you,_" Death said, "_They are now your tools to do with as you please._"

"Oh, ok," the boy said, "So what of the other items?"

"_Here,_" Death said as he fastened the face mask around the boy's neck followed by the blindfold, "_By wearing the mask as it was meant to be worn, your body and clothing shall change into the form of a Death Reaper or Grim Reaper as my subordinates or I are sometimes referred to as. In that form your physical consistency will be that of a Death Reaper or a ghost, with the ability to chose who you shall be visible to and who can sense you as well._"

"What about the blindfold?" the boy asked Death while fingering with it but not pulling it over his eyes.

"_The blindfold, once covering your eyes, will grant you the ability to see the things that are normally not seen, as well as see things that are hidden,_" Death explained before pulling out a satchel and placed the remaining two items in it, then explained their use, "_The scale is what you shall use to weigh a soul's or spirit's worth, while the hourglass can be used to determine how much longer a life has left and possibly extend or shorten it._"

"Thank you for the gifts," the boy said, and didn't bother asking about his parents, he had a feeling that Death would not answer or would not be able to answer any questions he had about them.

"_I am in charge of taking souls to their next lives, I do not keep them unless they wish to remain with me,_" Death told the boy as a means to answer his unvoiced questions, "_Know that a part of each of your parents shall be with you always. Those parts will remain with you always. This much I know._"

With those words Death moved back to his place among the collective at the center of the room, leaving the boy to move on to the next pedestal and gift, as well as speak with the next speaker.

The fifth pedestal had on it a single stick, the boy was able to identify it as a wand. The medium through which magical humans channeled their magic through to perform magic easily. It was the pen used to draw runes in the air to guide the flow of the magical energies.

But the boy could somehow tell that this was different, this stick, this wand was no ordinary wand, it was something else entirely. Something greater than a mere wand.

"_I had a difficult time determining the materials used in its creation,_" the fifth of the collective from the center of the chamber spoke after approaching and tapping the boy on the shoulder, "_I am Magic, but when you are in need of invoking a greater power, you may refer to me as Magus Iunctio._"

"Nice to meet you," the boy said to the obviously robed man who held a staff in one hand, he also noticed that the man held several pouches in his other hand, "What are those?"

"_These,_" Magus said as he handed over the pouch to the boy, "_Is a pouch that holds small pouches holding powders of different colors, each colored powder is to be used to draw your magic circles for amplifying magic or doing other things. I only thought of it after Death decided on multiple gifts._"

"Thanks," the boy said, he looked into the pouch and found smaller ones of different colors ranging from black to purplish blue, "I take it the most potent one is the purplish blue one, huh?"

"_Indeed it is,_" Magus said, "_For it is raw magic. You can say that it is my blood. Blood itself is a very powerful material when doing magic._"

"I'll keep that in mind," the boy said, "So what about the stick, something's telling me that its not an average everyday ordinary wand."

"_You would be correct with that assumption, you have very good instincts and gut feel,_" Magus said, "_In truth it is three things or has three forms. A wand, a scepter, and a staff. While most would keep their wand in a hidden pocket or use a holster, you have the ability, thanks to Kurai, to use your body, each and every single cell, for storage. To think is to create, that along with belief and will, will allow you to do almost anything you put your mind into doing. This stick merely amplifies your power, channels it, makes it more stable and easier to control. But it is just a tool, one that you don't really need._"

"You're telling me not to rely on it, aren't you," the boy noted, "I'll remember that, so...how do I do magic without the tool?"

"_All you need to do is reach within yourself and will the magic to flow,_" Magus said, "_Its difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, the possibilities become as endless as you make them. You have within you the power to create, to change, and to destroy. Use it wisely."_

"I will, just as I will the rest of the gifts that I have been given and the last one to be received," the boy promised, and the collective knew that they could trust his word.

"_Remember, just think it and the stick will change size,_" Magus said, then remember that he had not yet informed the boy of what the stick was made out of, "_I almost forgot.._"

"Yes?" the boy said, he was about to move to the last pedestal and Magus was half way to the center of the room.

"_The items that your medium are made out of,_" Magus said, "_Such things are important to know of. So let us start.._"

The boy turned and faced Magus, prepared to listen, knowledge was one of the things he craved but feared to receive thanks to his relatives, but since all this was happening within a dream, he was ready and willing to accept it.

".._The wood that makes up the shaft that holds the core, focus, and binding materials, was taken from the World Tree...Yggdrasil, making it highly balanced with all aspects and elements,_" Magus listed off, "_The focus stone used is something known as a Sorcerer's, Philosopher's, or Alchemist's Stone, you can research that at a later date. Next up is the core of the the medium, the circuit or wire which the magic goes through, it is a fallen tooth of _the End and the Void_, which is a wolf-like entity that spells the end of all things. As for the actual binding material, well... I used essence of imagination._"

"So its a very powerful medium," the boy half-asked.

"_Ask about the Three Hallows when you get the chance,_" Magus said before he began to walk back to the center of the chamber, "_The Elder Wand or the Deathstick is no match for that thing, and in this case the wand does not chose the wizard as some would claim. I chose you to wield it, you and you alone are this medium's master._"

"I understand," the boy said as he walked over to the next pedestal, the wand had been inserted into his wrist as had been the fan, it was eerily fascinating and wasn't even painful.

"_I guess it is my turn,_" the last of the six said as he walked beside the boy as the boy made his way to the last pedestal.

The items found on the last pedestal were a stopwatch (in wristwatch form) that could also serve as a countdown timer, a stylus pen, and a journal. Compared to the other items these three seemed rather anti-climactic in that they were rather simple things, but that was only because their uses had yet to be explained.

The boy flipped through the empty journal, or at least tried to reach the very end of the thing, but found page after page after page. It simply wouldn't end. He only stopped when he heard a chuckle from his side, looking in the direction of the source of the sound he found himself in the company of a teen a few years older than himself.

"I know who you are," the boy said to the teen, "I heard your name in my dreams."

"_Tell it to me then,_" the teen challenged the boy as his eyes laughed.

"I think I'll call you Har," the boy said, "Since you keep wanting someone to."

"_I think I like you even more now,_" Har said, "_So you do indeed know my name. Let's get this over with so that you can get back to the waking world shall we._"

"Ok," the boy replied, he knew that his adventure awaited him and would begin once he woke.

"_I shall start with the journal since you picked it up first,_" Har said, "_Its pages shall never end, write in it whenever you wish, or even record your adventures in it. Its really just a place to organize your thoughts, plan out your plans, or relieve yourself of stress on some occasions. It has some other nifty uses, but I leave you to find out what they are._"

"Thanks, I'd always wanted something like a diary, but Aunt Petunia wouldn't get me one and Uncle Vernon made fun of me that one time I asked," the boy admitted, "Dudley called me a girl..too."

"_Well its a journal, and if someone else decides to make fun of you for it, tell them that all the successful people or most of them have one,_" Har said, "_History is like the journal or diary of the world. Which brings us to the second item, the stylus pen. With this handy dandy little thing you will be able to adjust or alter or modify minor instances in the timeline as you see fit, just small things, minor decisions and actions, but nothing big like the death of your parents._"

"So..with it I can make some things I want to happen happen?" the boy asked.

"_Yes, but not all the things you want to happen,_" Har said, "_The stylus will send you a signal when you can't alter something you want to_."

"Ok," the boy said understanding the point.

"_As for the stopwatch wristwatch,_" Har explained, "_That little thing will allow you to stop time via a combination of using the stopwatch and the countdown timer, lasting for a maximum of one whole day before it will need to be charged which means that you would not be able to use that function for an entire day. You can use the countdown timer to rewind time, seconds equals minutes, minutes equal hours, and hours equal days, with a maximum of one month. After that use you will have to charge the function for a full month before being able to use it again. Lastly, with the stopwatch function you will be able to slow down how time around you, which is the rest of the world, down to a relative crawl. Understand?_"

"I do," the boy said gratefully, "I can see all sorts of ways I can use this gift. Thanks!"

"_You're very much welcome,_" Har said as he patted the boy on the head, then floated back to rejoin the others. The boy tucked the journal away into another part of his body, along with the stylus, and the watch before he faced the figures at the center of the chamber.

There was only one thing that remained in the room, one object which he had yet to be examined and explained to him. So the boy walked over to the throne. Upon reaching it he found that it was made of a material that looked like wood but was not.

"_Before you bother asking us, we did not provide the throne, we did not create it, we did not bring it here,_" the collective spoke at the same time with their overlapping voices echoing around the room, "_It was already here before we each laid our gifts for you on their pedestals._"

The child examined the throne once more, and decided to just sit on it and see what happened from there, if anything would happen for that matter. So he sat on it and found it quite comfrotable. But before he could actually relax he felt that the dreamscape that he was in began to shake as if an earthquake was happening.

Unknown to him, in the real and waking world that was exactly what was happening. An unexpected earthquake shook the island nation of the United Kingdom. It came without warning, but it did have a purpose as all things served a purpose.

The child wasn't to remain as he was it seemed, all of his kind were supposed to be unique after all, not left to rely on gifts from those like him, but cultivate something uniquely his own. Whatever it was was what caused the earthquake.

So there he sat on the throne, wondering what was going on and whether or not it was a good or bad idea to have sat on the throne.

It was when he was about to get off the throne did a large quantity of knowledge cram itself into his head, most of the things that got crammed in there were things that he would not be able to learn from anywhere else in the world as they were things not found in books and things that those that knew of them would not readily share with him unless he paid some price that he was not so willing to pay.

The statute of secrecy could go screw itself as far as the island that rose out from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean was concerned. The rest of the world, also known as the Muggle world, had yet to discover what the earthquake had called to the surface. It was an island that had not been seen for countless thousands of years, not seen since after the forgotten age in history. Not that many people were aware of it but there was a large chunk of history missing from everyone's minds.

Atlantis and its coexisting kingdoms had existed for well over a thousand years before catastrophes struck and sunk the mighty capital to the bottom of the ocean, forcing what had been perceived as one of its last mages to wipe the memories of its age from existence or as best as the mage could anyway. But there it lay, once again above the waves, and seated on the throne within the royal palace was none other than the child, though in a out of body experience kind of way as his body still rested in England.


	70. Untitled 15

He lived a particularly long life, out living his wife and children who all wished him happiness. He grew used to the fact that his direct family was gone, but was content with life until he arrived at his thousandth birthday. He lived to be that long, and no matter how hard he tried to pass on the mantle of Master of Death, he could not seem to succeed in that endeavor.

Countless of his descendants had tried, and countless more had failed. He was stuck as a Master of Death which granted him immortality. The Deathstick called him master even as it was hidden away from the world, the resurrection stone called out to him, even as it lay almost forgotten in the Forbidden Forest's floor. The cloak would also call him master since as long as he lived he would remain as the Lord of House Potter. His very own signet ring, the proof of his headship would not leave him unless he was truly dead in all senses of the word.

He would have tried to commit suicide had he not been one to believe that it was a coward's way out. He tried all sorts of things to make him no longer a member of the land of the living. His relatives, or descendants, had tried all sorts of things, even enlisting the aid of some powerful dark wizards, though those were put out of their misery when it was revealed that the price of immortality would only come if they managed to best the one man that was older then even Methuselah.

It was a common belief that one grew more powerful the longer one lived, but one's power would eventually wane and stop growing entirely upon reaching a certain age. But being immortal and being who he was made him the exception to the rule. He grew more powerful with each passing day, even his physical body never weakened.

He wasn't the typical old man, he had gained many magical abilities and powers as the years passed by. Many of the magical races of the world believed that he would never die and never fade, they sought him out to be the keeper of their secrets, magics, and history so as to never be forgotten.

Races did eventually die out and become extinct, the causes were mixed, but mostly things that could have been avoided like inbreeding, greed, fighting, and other such things. But at the very least they would not be forgotten, since Harry Potter never forgot. Once he passed his two thousandth year of life, he became known by the few magical creatures and peoples as the Keeper of Magic as well as the Master of Death.

There was no more need for a Statute of Secrecy since most of the remaining magicals were weaker compared to their ancestors, the only exception being Harry himself as he never stopped growing. He was not their leader by and far, he was just the oldest and wisest of the lot in a technologically advancing world. Magic never really evolved past what it had been during its zenith, what magic was able to accomplish depended on the power of its user's imagination, something which eventually stopped growing due to the over-dependency on it by its users. There had also been an increasing lack of creativity since the death of one of Luna's last descendants, as well as the decline of the belief in magic by children of the world.

The last true magic in the world could only be found in books and the living library that was Harry Potter.

Once he reached his 2500th birthday, most of the world's human population had left for the stars already, even what magicals remained had joined those explorers and adventurers leaving Harry as one of the few relics left on Earth. By this time he was revealed to be a real person, one that had been around since before the year 2000. The technological world had marveled at his existence, some had decided to revere him as some sort of god, while others chose to ignore him as some fake since it could not be proved that he was indeed immortal and quite powerful in his own right due to him not really enjoying public appearances. The only people that he allowed to visit him were his descendants, the few magical and non-magical that had chosen to keep him company on occasion.

Five thousand years after the year he was born, he still continued to live on Earth choosing to continue to live in the Castle of Hogwarts as it had not been a school for centuries upon centuries. Magic was truly a thing of the past by this time, only remaining in him and in fantasy stories. Of his descendants, none of them were magical anymore, what little magic they had allowed them to enhance their bodies to make them seem only slightly more than human. But that didn't mean that they forgot him as every few decades one of them would visit the old man that lived in Hogwarts Castle.

He remained as the Lord of House Potter, a very powerful House in all the Galaxies. It was a House well known for their strength and dignity. They were a clan scattered throughout the existence, known far and wide for their great deeds and incorruptibility. Each and every member continually striving to do good. They loved peace, and looked down on war, but when the need arose for them to take up their swords, figuratively, they stood tall, strong, and fought like demons straight out of hell.

Beyond Harry's 10,000th birthday, his clan was truly scattered throughout existence, some still carrying his name and bearing the honor of their Ancient and Illustrious House. It was some time after such a record breaking birthday did Harry make an announcement that echoed throughout the cosmos, reaching each and every one that had even a sliver of Potter in them.

He had decided that if he could not pass on to the afterlife, then he would start his own next great adventure. He had prepared all of his things and packed them into his own personal pocket dimension, something which he had stumbled upon after his first thousand years of life, he was ready to leave. It wasn't suicide by any means. He was going to try something that had never been tried in the past, never willingly anyway. He would be breaching the Veil of Death and seeing where it would lead him, being the Master of Death he was sure in the fact that he would fail to perish.

The Potter all wished him luck, and cheered him on, while those others that only knew of the name tried to stop him from his experiment, they believed that it was indeed suicide. For the majority of humanity Harry Potter had died, they blamed it on old age, but for the Potters it was one big prank especially when a cosmos-wide funeral was held in honor of the oldest living man in existence.

There was only one witness to his leaving, the named heir to the mantle of Lord of the House of Potter, that being an eighteen year old direct descendant of the man himself. Harry James Potter II, the second of his name and he had promised his many times great-grandfather that he would continue leading the House of Potter and would make sure that the clan would never stray from the right path.

Once he left his world and the dimension that it belonged to the Earth, that had lived well past its lifespan and well past the life of the sun it had revolved around, was finally allowed to rest. The only thing that had been keeping the world alive had been Harry himself, that was how great his power was, and that was only the tip of the iceberg.

As soon as he left, the whole of the existence felt something, some kind of wave pass through them, be they human or other race. Everyone alive felt it, the wave of power that had been sucked into the Veil of Death after Harry passed into it. It was his power after all, and the only place it belonged was with him.

So on he went, on his next great adventure..

#

Harry didn't know what he was supposed to expect once he got out from the other side. He had actually managed to reach the real Veil the separated the world of life from the realms of the afterlife. It was there that he met with the true master of death, Death himself that told him that thanks to his gaining eternal mastery of his existence's hallows he was immortal as well as the fact that he also had at least one percent of Magic himself's power and self within him.

Apparently, as Harry found out, he was related to the two higher powers that had a lot to do with his life. Death and Magic themselves, and according to Death, death would not be coming for him any time soon. He could venture into Hell itself and battle demons or Heaven and battle angels for all eternity, and it would not matter, he would remain immortal and alive.

He was alive and not bound by any of the limitations of the land of the living. He had even grown accustomed to sharing his life with a number of people, all of them he had to bid farewell to, and all of them wishing him a happy life in return for the times they had spent together.

So he decided to add onto his existence, he decided to add another dimension to it. He had informed Death of his decision of adding another world to his already extensive existence, another dimension to call his own. He chose one that was still probably in the 1990s or early 2000s. He wanted to go through school again, he felt a little childish with his wish, but it was granted and he was told that once he exited the Veil of Death once again, he would find himself in that whole new world. One where magic still lived, just didn't thrive as much as his original world.

So he walked on through and found himself well into the past of the world he had chosen or described. He would still get to go to a school, but one that he would have to wait for for a time, since being who he was merited some foul up or mix up with his well laid out and or thought out plan.

It was a world of monsters and humans, but they were mostly rather small in numbers and powers at this time. He decided to remedy that and unleashed a fraction of his power onto the world or worlds as the case was since it was multiple worlds, realms, and dimensions interconnected with one another instead of the single one that he had been expecting.

He settled himself in the land that would one day be known as Japan, building his home right in the center of the magma pit within Mt Fuji. From there, he entered a meditative state and molded his magical creature library onto the denizens of the worlds, realms, and dimensions, adding onto what they were, and having them undergo evolutions of sorts.

Through his manipulations with his magic, he found that there were some races that were lacking in his new home. So he created them from scratch, or as close to scratch as he could get.

These originals that he himself created eventually sought him out when they were old enough to not worry about themselves, and had also managed to establish their specific races sufficiently. They sought him out and only the strongest of them managed to find him. One vampire, one werewolf, one kitsune, one dragon, and one tengu.

The five most powerful monsters from West to East of the nexus world which all the worlds and realms and dimensions found themselves interconnecting in, found him within the burning fiery pit of Mt Fuji meditating. One would think that there was some great reason for their visit, but one would be wrong as each one of them just sought him out to show them how great they had become. He was their creator, their father and mother. He was their parent, and they just wanted to show off to him.

They were children thirsting for the praise of their parent, and they each received it as Harry got out from his meditative state. He praised each one, and charged each one with keeping the peace between the monsters and the humans, who he was sure would one day outnumber and possibly overpower them if they were not careful.

They had agreed to try their very best, but should problems arise they also swore to do their best to resolve such issues. They claimed to speak for the other monsters, so Harry accepted their individual words and vows.

He was left alone after that first and last meeting. Even as the ages progressed he did not come into contact with them again, even when great catastrophes occurred he did not wander out into the world. The world was not ready for him and him for the world. He continued to live in the fiery pit of Mt Fuji, enjoying the solitude while still keeping tabs on the world through his expansive magical reach.

He guessed that someone must have decided that he was rather lazy, since paper fliers didn't normally find their way into sleeping volcanoes advertising some school that didn't care much for academical achievements. He send over a request for attending the school and received an immediate acceptance letter to the school as well as a short list of rules of the school along with a list of necessary items for the boarding school.

He packed up his things and portable home, which consisted of small portions of Hogwarts Castle, when he packed his things, he packed everything, then he went off into the great unknown scaring the crap out of some scientists that were at the summit of the volcano when he crawled out from the mouth of the thing wearing shorts and a sleeveless tee.

"Hey, nice weather we're having huh," he said to them in their native tongue, he lived long enough to learn every language in his previous world and dimension, "Well, gotta go, don't want to be late for the first day of class!"

He looked like just about any high schooler, it was a gift, one of the powers he had gained in his long life, shapeshifting. It was fun getting to re-experience the life of a school kid again.

He knew where the school was, but decided against going directly there, so he went off in search of one of the school buses that would bring him to the school. It wasn't so surprising that a human was on the bus when he flagged it down using his student ID, some humans managed to find themselves attending the school in the headmaster's hope of cooperation between man and monster being possible. It worked on some occasions, but others didn't really end all that well. Harry didn't mind since it was one of the things that he had charged his children with oh so long ago.

"Hey kid," he said as he took a seat beside the human, "I'm Toukou Shinsei by the way. So, what's a human doing going to a school of monsters?"

He was almost sure that the kid could have died right then and there had his time not been up yet. The kid was fairly surprised that he had been asked such a question from someone he knew nothing about, and grew a bit worried about the new school he would be attending.

"So...you gonna share or what?" Shinsei asked still seated beside the student.

"I couldn't pass any of the entrance exams for any of the other schools," the student said, "I'm Aono Tsukune, n-nice to meet you Shinsei-san."

"No -san," Shinsei said, "Just Shinsei or Shin. You still haven't answered my question."

"I believe I already did," Tsukune said, "Its the only school that I could get into."

"You do know that you'll be attending a school for monsters right?" Shinsei said, the paling of the boy's face gave away the kid's answer. Simply put the kid was unaware of what he had gotten himself into.

"Monsters aren't real, s-stop kidding," Tsukune said as he tried to subtly shoo Shinsei away from him.

"On the contrary, monsters are real," Shinsei informed him, then boasted, "I should know, I am one after all."

"Oh really, prove it then," the kid said.

"Well ok," Shinsei said, and did nothing, "See I'm a monster, just not one with tentacles, a big bulky body, fangs or whatever else you like to associate wit a monster," then he grew a bit more serious and caused the driver of the bus to actually temporarily fear a heavy amount of fear slam into his body, he knew that it was going to be an interesting school year just not how interesting it was going to be, "In a past life you could have called me a boundary being, a wizard, you know magic and all that. But in this life, I'm something more. So how would you like to fit in more? Hmm? You know, humans, if found out are killed at this school to protect the secret that monsters are indeed real and walk amongst regular humans."

"Err...sure," the human said, he didn't think it could hurt to humor this other weird student that was bugging him about being human and making up stories about monsters that were only parts of fantasy.

"So what monster would you like to be?" Shinsei asked, "A single type? A hybrid? What? I can mix and match them all, and make you whatever it is that you want to be."

"Will it hurt?" Tsukune asked.

"Not at all," Shinsei assured him, "I haven't had any complaints yet."

"You're not going to claim my soul for this favor are you?" he asked.

"What would I want with your soul?" Shinsei said, "Anyways, souls are overrated, not worth much to me anyway. I've got all the souls I need as it is."

"How many would that be?" Tsukune asked, as he began thinking that he was speaking with the devil himself, little did he know that Shinsei was the Devil's _cousin_.

"One!" Shinsei happily replied, "My own soul! So what'll it be, human? What monster do you wish to become?"

"What would you suggest?" Tsukune asked, not really all that familiar with vampires himself.

"How about vampire?" Shinsei suggested, "Or werewolf?"

"Uhm," Tsukune said, "Ok?"

"Both? OK!" Shinsei said happily and excitedly, "Their strengths but none of their weaknesses. I like that combination, any other monster...hmm..." he was furiously thinking out loud for once, he hadn't had such a convenient project in quite a while, "Aha! I've got it! Shinso-Lycan-Kitsune! Its perfect!"

"What are you talking about?" Tsukune asked.

"Just sit still while I make you into a monster combination not yet seen in this life," Shinsei ordered hyperactively, he hadn't felt so lively in so many years, he had missed it. He didn't really need to make any queer gestures to turn the human before him into a monster, humans already were monsters to begin with, they were the worst out of all monsters, they were the monsters of two world, love and hate. But of course they were a different monster entirely from the monsters that populated the Youkai Academy.

He injected the boy with a sliver of his magic and messed with his DNA, changing and adding and manipulating strands of it, to make him into what Shinsei's insane mind had come up with.

By the time Shinsei was done, the bus had finally arrived at the bus stop of the school and the driver was oh so happy to throw them out of the bus anime style before driving off as fast as he could to escape from the madness he was sure would have contaminated him or worse, Shinsei would grow interested in him.

"So how do you feel?" Shinsei asked Tsukune once the two of them had managed to right themselves.

"I dunno," the no-longer-human said, "How am I supposed to feel?"

"Stronger, faster, superhuman," Shinsei listed off, he wasn't quite sure himself, "I'm not really sure, but if anyone asks about what you are, just say that you met a monster at Mt Fuji."

"Why?" Tsukune asked, "What's so special about that place to monsters?"

"Its just an excuse to say if anyone asks you what you are," Shinsei said, "You know, instead of revealing exactly what you are you just say that you're from Mt Fuji, let them come to whatever conclusion they want."

"Ok..." Tsukune said, "So..do I have any powers now? Are you gonna help me in mastering these powers?"

"Your powers? Eh..hmm...ok," Shinsei agreed, "Its not like I have anything better to do with my time."

"What about studying?" Tsukune asked, "There's always that, you know, we are students after all."

"Not all of us are attending this school to learn, you know," Shinsei countered, then pushed the former-human in the direction of the school, "Go on ahead, I still have business elsewhere."

"B-but," the former-human said, or tried to argue anyway, but failed as he found himself on the path leading to the school.

Now that the former human was gone, Shinsei could go about and scout out the place without appearing suspicious. He walked around the grounds and found that monsters really had a weird sense of what was a paradise. It was all stereotypical horror movie scenery. He easily grew bored and eventually drifted to the school where he met a semi-lost pink haired girl.

Pink. Haired. Girl.

It was odd, and something which he had not been expecting, so he decided to help her find her way to wherever her classroom was. He'd don his armor if it would have helped her, but he wasn't into wearing the damn thing for the moment. She wasn't in need of that costume just yet.

"So..miss..you lost?" he asked as he approached her, she gave him a quizzical look before reply.

"Umm..." she looked kind of cute when she broadcast her thoughts on the matter, "Kind of, I'm trying to find my classroom since I'm sure I missed the opening ceremony. Are you lost too?"

"Not at all," Shinsei replied, "I just decided not to attend the boring thing, how 'bout I help you to your classroom and you can tell me all about how being a vampire has been working out for you."

"W-what? How'd you know about that?" she asked in surprise, she thought that the seal she wore hid her monster identity quite well, she was even more in a panicked state due to him outing her like that.

"I met Mathias Cronqvist," Shinsei replied, "A very nice fellow he was, very nice indeed. That is how I recognized what race you belong to."

"Oh...who's he?" she asked, not knowing who exactly he was talking about.

"You don't know him? I can't believe this!" he slapped his forehead, dramatically, as he walked, "He only the most revered and infamous of all of your kind!"

"Still doesn't ring any bells," she said.

"Nevermind then," Shinsei said as they reached her filled classroom, "Well, I'll leave you to your class while I head on over to mine! Bye!"

He dashed off and headed for the classroom that he knew was his. It was also the only class that had a witch in it, and a particularly young and smart one at that. He knocked on the door and as if a switch had been flipped turned himself into the aristocrat that had been well known far and wide as the Lord of the the House of Potter, the only noble family to keep its status through thousands of years. He carried himself as a monarch would.

After being called to enter the classroom, he introduced himself..

"My name is Toukou Shinsei," he introduced himself, "I apologize for my tardiness, but I had to escort a lovely young vampire to her class."

Murmurs and whispers broke throughout the classroom, none of the other monsters had thoughtt that there would be a vampire attending the school. It was rather unusual, those creatures of beauty and strength, their level was an almost unparalleled S.

"And how would you know that this other student was a vampire?" the teacher asked.

"I met Mathias Cronqvist," Shinsei stated.

"Who the hell is that?" a lizard-man monster asked aloud, he wasn't the brightest monster in the horde, but he did ask a valid question. But it was not the teacher who paled that answered, nor was it Shinsei himself. It was a little witch girl by the name of Sendo Yukari that replied with the correct answer, a surprising feat.

"Mathias Cronqvist, said to be the most powerful vampire in existence," Yukari stated, as if reading from a book, "He is said to be the very founder of the vampire race. Not much is known about him, save for the fact that he was born sometime during or slightly before the first Crusade. He is also rather well known or infamous in the human world as Dracula. Official records rank him as a SSS-level monster."

"You know quite a lot of monster lore for one so young," Shinsei said, before glancing at the teacher who told him to just sit wherever he wanted to.

Shinsei chose a seat by the window, but near enough to the little witch he had a feeling was going to cause problems for herself. He wasn't wrong when she began to act all high and mighty towards the rest of the class, save for him, when lessons began. It was the first day of school and lessons already began after the introductory speech about the school by their homeroom and history teacher. Akuma-sensei, well he was a demon.

The rest of the day continued in the same manner as the first period. It was during lunch that things were shaken up a bit.

Shinsei found his companion on the bus being accosted by an ogre, a particularly ugly one at that. One whose power level couldn't be more than a C-class monster, but a lower C-class level. Tsukune on the other hand, not really knowing how to control his own powers had inadvertedly started a brawl in the cafeteria as he grew to get used to his own strength.

"You really shouldn't be starting fights on the first day of school," Shinsei said as he caught Tsukune's fist with just his pinky, "You shouldn't be starting fights with me either."

"S-sorry, thought you were one of those bullies trying to bug Moka-chan," Tsukune said, "I noticed that one has to show some level of strength so as not to be bossed around here."

"Normally you would have tried to use words, hmm, looks like the monster instincts that had been added onto who and what you are are working fine," Shinsei noted, "They're making you think more like your classmates, that's good. You'll last longer this way."

"What do you want now anyway?" Tsukune asked, the two of them were ignoring the fight that was still raging in the background of Moka who was trying to catch either of their attention.

"I wanted to stop you from getting expelled," Shinsei told him, "Too much publicly seen brawls will attract too much attention. To honor the monster races that you should consider yourself based on, you should avoid these public confrontations. It is unbecoming of one such as yourself. Come find me after school's out, I shall help you then."

With those words, Shinsei nodded once in Moka's direction before heading out of the cafeteria, he didn't really need to eat after all. He also found the brawl rather troublesome, while some others thought him to be weak since he was walking away from a fight.

They were the lizard-men from his class that didn't like him since his very aura pissed them off with how high and mightly it made them think he was. When in truth it was something that they should have been wary off. The really powerful ones are the ones that do not flaunt their power, but keep it hidden from sight.

"Cowards run from fights you know, and we can't have such weaklings as part of our class," the leader of the lizards said as he lost his human form and shifted to his monster form, "It makes Akuma-sensei look bad when there are weak monsters in his class."

"Yeah," another said, "So show us your weak form already, so that you can at least die with some dignity."

"My weak form?" Shinsei asked but didn't turn to face them, "You think I am weak?"

"Of course," they said.

"Then I guess I will have to prove you wrong," Shinsei said as he slowly turned around. The first thing that caught his attackers' eyes were his own eyes, two pools of emerald fire that were screaming at them that they were going to die for daring to challenge him. The next thing they noticed was that other than his eyes his body didn't seem to have undergone any changes at all. But his aura, oh his aura, it caused them all to crap and piss in their pants.

There was so much killing intent being directed their way by way of the aura. It was a killing aura, a true monster's aura. One so primal yet so powerful.

As he took just one step toward them, they unconsciously took several back. They were thinking that it was probably not that good of an idea to have called him a coward or to mess with him at all. One of them then did remember that Akuma-sensei had paled at the mention of Mathias Cronqvist's name, no normal monster, save for that little witch, would have known such a name.

"What are you?" one of the scared group asked.

"What am I?" Shinsei said, "What I am is your classmate. But if you are asking what manner of monster I be, then...how should I put it..."

"Y-you don't need to answer," the leader decided to say, his instincts were telling him to flee, flee and never look back or stop fleeing, the monster before him was something else, something that scared everything in him at this moment in time, there was something even more sinister than some vampire in him, "It Its against the rules anyway..hehe.."

"But you've already revealed your forms to me," he said, "Not that I was unaware of what you were already. I know what monster each of the monsters in this school are, even the humans that have managed to find thmselves here. Mathias was not the only one that I have encountered in my life after all."

"N-no r-really," the lizards said, "Its alright, we d-don't mind at all."

"Its alright, its fine by me," Shinsei said, "As far as my monster form goes, this is the extent of the physical change, unless I wish otherwise," his voice was silky smooth and frightening all at the same time, "Just so you know, I fear no one in this school. I just chose to attend to relieve my school years once again."

"We h-had no i-idea sir!" the lizards said in chorus, they were shaking in fear, more and more by each passing moment, and that was only after just one step, they feared for their lives should he take another.

"I know," Shinsei told them, "I won't kill you, if that is what you fear. No. I'll let you live. I'll let you keep your lives, and I'll even say that I know of a way that you can rise up in power from the measly Cs that you are to a high C at the very least, what say you?"

"We'll do anything for you!" the lizard-men said.

"Good," Shinsei said and took a second step closer to them, the power that radiated off of him increased by leaps and bounds, "You monster, children of fear, have grown weaker as time has progressed, your ancestors were truly nightmares that humans were more than wary of, and even had a hard time defeating in the past. But you, dear children, are nothing like they were. You are shells of your former glory, not even the five tailed kitsune of this school has anything to brag about as compared to the nine tailed kitsune that is worshipped as a god by his race."

"But.." one tried to interupt, but was turned into ashes, its power turned to energy that hovered in the air and flew into its former comrades, there were now only five out of the six that had originally wanted to devour Shinsei.

"Anyone else want to interrupt?" Shinsei asked them, they all shook their heads not at all caring that one of their number had been essentially killed, "Good," he said then took a third step and vanished after that.

The next thing the lizard-men knew was that they woke up finding themselves in the infirmary, all five of them had been brought there by Shinsei. They all felt rather different, something had changed within them, they just didn't know what that change had been. They also each found that they all had a kind of lock or seal bracelet on their arms. The nurse explained that the new accessories were all that was keeping back their monster forms and power from going out of control.

They were each told by the nurse that they were to meet someone that could help in the path of no longer needing the seals, they just had to to seek out the most powerful monster at the academy. She knew that they would find him, after all she had recognized who he was and what he was, that monster of a man that had brough the five lizard-men all sealed up to her domain.


	71. Untitled 17

He didn't know what he had gotten himself into when he had decided that immortality, the inability to die by any means (save for the loss of the immortality that is), was a good thing to accept. He had simply been asked by some other boy, who wore black clothes that seemed to such in all the light in the world into the garments, if he wanted to become immortal. He replied yes, they shook hands, and to prove that he was indeed immortal the other kid pulled out a Desert Eagle and shot him at point blank range.

Bystanders, or regular people around them, had screamed, shouted, and ran around that day in panic and fear that there was going to be some sort of massacre that day. But there was none, and when they had all gone into hiding, the bullet that had imbedded itself in his skull had been pushed out as his head healed itself, regeneration and all that. He was immortal, he hadn't died, he just felt how much getting shot had hurt.

The only reason why he hadn't moved was because he was in shock, that was it, that was all. He could have moved in he had wanted to, but the shock stopped him from acting like some zombie out of a horror flick.

When the piece of metal hit the pavement, he just stared at it, touched his forehead where the bullet hole had been, there was still some blood from where he had been shot, wiped it off then just stared at his blooded hand in disbelief. He was alive, and since he didn't look like he could believe his eyes the black clad other kid shot him again, several times in fact, in all of the place that were signs of sure death if wounded in those places.

He had gained bullet wounds, or holes, in his forehead and at the back of his head as the bullet decided to exit his head, in his chest as the bullet went through the front of his torso through his heart then out the back, two bullets in his abdomen one piercing his liver the other his kidney. The black clad kid pulled out some serrated knives and plunged several of them into his spine, and one through his neck. The other kid then followed that up by producing a broadsword and severing his head from his body and splitting him into two more larger pieces.

He ended up screaming in pain, followed by the realization that he was supposed to be dead, the screams and shouts eventually turned into wonderment as the black clad other kid put his pieces back together again, and he amazed at how fast his body was stitching itself back together again.

The black clad kid then began to explain..

"You are now immortal as you have experienced," the kid said, "Death can still touch you, but that does not mean that you can or will die. You now have regenerative powers, which means that any injury you suffer will be healed no matter how grave. As you should have realized, if you haven't yet, you may still move your severed parts, they will reattach, but in case you don't want to reattach them you can simply regrow them, including your head."

"..uhh.." he said, not really saying much, but voicing that the explanation had gone over his head.

"You cannot die," the black clad kid said, "You are like a lizard and can grow back body parts. Anytime you get hurt, you will heal almost instantly, and in the future you will heal instantly from small things."

"Oh," he said in understanding.

"Lastly, _for now anyway_,_"_ the black clad kid said, "You can also shapeshift...do I need to explain that?"

"Yes please," he said, he was only four at the time and his relatives didn't really like him learning complex stuff or anything out of the ordinary.

"Thanks to your immortality, regenerations, and puppetry like ability," he then explained about the third point before continuing with the original line of explanations, "That's the part about you being able to still move your detached parts," the kid then returned to the main explanation, "Thanks to those three powers, you can now transform any part of your body or your entire body, or your severed parts, into whatever you want. Got it?"

"Yes, thanks," he said in gratitude, since now he knew that no matter what anyone did to him, he now was sure that he would not end up dead like some people or like the threats that his uncle liked to give him when his aunt was not in hearing distance.

From that day on he found himself on the receiving end of his uncle shouting at him, "Why won't you die?". They were rather enjoyable experiences, even after his uncle had him exorcised and the priest that had been called in to deal with him wasn't able to do anything for his uncle. He had experienced what it was like to drown, sort of since he didn't exactly die his lungs just ran out of air and was replaced with lots of water. He got knocked unconscious thanks to that.

He had experienced what it must have been like for the servants of darkness to be burned at the stake, though his was more of a bonfire that his uncle made sure was rather large and quite white hot. His cousin found it rather cool, such a big bonfire and all that, his aunt didn't really care and didn't even worry when he had been missing for most of that camping trip.

He had been fed to all sorts of animals at the zoo and any wildlife preserve that his uncle had managed to bring him to, making him quite well traveled. He got to know all sorts of animals, both from the inside and out. The first few times that he was fed whole to some of the larger predators was frightening even though he knew that he would recover from the experience, but after those initial few he grew used to them.

He'd been shot, stabbed, run over, sawed in half, hung, had his wrists slit, had his head lopped off, disemboweled, tied to a rock and thrown in the Atlantic. He'd been fed all sorts of things that would have killed anybody, his uncle had even managed to find a nundu of all creatures.

It was thanks to the nundu that his uncle gained a healthy appreciation for the wilder and more dangerous side of magic. It was something that he didn't dare share with his wife for fear of a possible divorce.

He somehow managed to awaken the dormant magic that he had buried somewhere deep inside him, which allowed him to venture forth and find those dangerous and very harmful things and ways and creatures to use to try and get him his nephew dead.

He found several magic practitioners that had a thing for hurting children with spells and only spells, and he had left his nephew with them for a weekend only to find them cowering in a corner after they had failed to kill the boy several times in a row. Even the infamous killing curse had no effect on the boy, that was Death touching but never taking being put into play.

Then there were those mass murderers that his uncle, Vernon, had somehow managed to get out of prison or off of the executioner's block. Those guys were pretty creative and downright sick, but they all somehow ended up curled into little balls or assuming the fetal position after an entire long weekend with the boy. The cabin in the woods where they had been left with the boy was painted crimson with the blood, guts, and assorted body parts of the boy, and yet said boy remained alive and relatively well.

He was actually found by his uncle laughing like a loon while his head was only halfway sawed off and had half a chair sticking out of his mid-section.

Vernon had tried everything that he could short of asking mad scientists for help, since he had a feeling that they wouldn't try their very best to kill his nephew and might just lead him down some long and winding road that would eventually lead to the end of the world, which the boy would still somehow manage to survive in the vacuum that was space.

Within the span of seven years Harry Potter became a very knowledgeable creature, he learned many things, and went to many places. He was very well traveled for his age, having been to places that other children could only dream about, like the bottom of the ocean or the bottom of a lava pit. He knew and forgot more ways to kill a person than any other person knew how to kill a person. He also knew how to survive or even avoid such fates.

While he had managed to progress in the educational department, rather phenomenally and supernaturally too, he hadn't managed to excel quite as well in the social department of his life. All the people that he had associated with had mostly been people who had tried to kill him, hired and otherwise, most of them were either scared of him or were forced to be away from him due to circumstances beyond their control.

Then there was Uncle Vernon.

Whereas Harry got knowledge, Vernon received some manner of wealth from all the things he tried doing to Harry. He managed to set up an online alias and a company registered under said alias that fed money into an offshore account via paypal. What the company did was sell videos, ranging from documentaries to snuff films, of course the snuff films were the real money maker.

Vernon had figured out early on that his nephew would just continue refusing to die and so capitalized on it, just put a mask over the one being snuffed out, and _**Bam!**_ instant fortune from sick people all over the world. Petunia Dursley never figured out that her husband had two jobs, one being some marketing guy at Grunnings, while at the same time being a millionaire whose fortune was earned through the production, distribution, and sale of low budget films, videos, documentaries, and snuff films.

The relationship between uncle and nephew went from hate-fear to win-win relationship. Harry got knowledge and Vernon got rich. They both won, and after the sixth year of working together Harry actually finally got a cut of the profits, just five percent, but considering how much five percent was, he didn't complain. Not that he needed the money anyway.

Harry didn't sleep or live in the cupboard under the stairs, especially not after Vernon found out that his nephew didn't need to be whole to survive and thus he left pieces of Harry buried all over the place, well the garden of Number 4 Privet Drive at least.

Harry didn't mind, since he enjoyed the feel of the soil between his body parts. It was quite relaxing, nurturing even. He felt like some weird plant, and on some occasions had his separated body parts morph into some of the most exotic flowers that he could remember having been buried alive under or fed to.

He had just turned eleven, and his birthday had been spent in a vat of toxic waste, he was the dummy in the documentary of his uncle on the effects of toxic waste on the body. He compared the dip in the vat of toxic waste to time in a hot tub, he had been in several when his uncle had tried to cook him alive with varying increasing degrees of hot water.

He and his uncle found out that if he didn't need a body part he could just will it to turn into dust or be absorbed back into his main body, whatever that body part was at the time. The documentaries on cannibalism had benefited from that, and the other times that his uncle decided that he should eat his body parts.

During his own cousin's birthday, he had been brought to the London Zoo, something which his aunt and cousin weren't all that happy about, but the uncle and nephew were thrilled at the opportunity to get Harry into very dangerous situations, and possibly sue the zoo for reckless endangerment or worse, a child being eaten by one of the wild animals in the enclosures.

More money for Vernon, and potential abuse of immortality for Harry. It was yet another win-win situation.

Getting there had been no problem, although Petunia and Dudley did get a little bit scared when Vernon shoved Harry into the baggage compartment of the car. They didn't think they'd ever see such a sensible and normal man do something like that. They were even more freaked out when they finally realized that he had done it with a smile on his face.

The two adults left the two children on their own, Harry by the lions and tigers and bears, while Dudley was left in the reptile and snake house. While the two children went about their business, Harry looking for ways to get into the enclosures without gaining the attention of any security personnel or zoo staff and Dudley tried to bully the reptiles into moving, the two adults moved to a more private setting to have a discussion. One where Vernon somehow manged to convince his wife that he wasn't crazy, on drugs, or had any plans of killing their already freakish nephew. He managed to convince his wife that everything was perfectly normal, and that his slip up was just some hallucination brought about by stress.

When they got back within the eyes of the rest of the zoo, some young people thought that they had done that nasty away from prying eyes yet still in a public place thus some applause was heard coming from the younger people. Petunia had no idea why they were doing that, while Vernon had a good idea of why, and facepalmed himself because of it.

They found Dudley first, and Vernon decided that maybe she should spend some more quality time with her son, _he volunteered to look after and for Harry as not to ruin their son's birthday_. Successfully convincing his wife to spend the rest of the day with their son while he went off to babysit their _insufferable_ nephew, Vernon ran as fast as his thick legs would carry him to where he had a feeling his nephew had managed to get the zoo into trouble.

Harry had gotten himself trapped between the lions and one of the walls of their enclosure. There was a small sign that said 'Feeding Time' which listed the times but was covered by all sorts of announcements and directions as well as a map of the zoo. There was also a misplaced sign that read 'Petting Zoo Enter Here' with an arrow that pointed to the small gate which Harry had used to get himself turned into lion food.

Setting up the zoo up like that had been easy, especially after his ninth birthday when he found out how to perform external magic that had nothing to do with himself directly. He conjured the signs and stuff, while got himself into the place.

His schooled his features to show a scared eleven year old, instead of the adrenaline junkie of an eleven year old that he was on the inside. He delayed the zoo staff from arriving on time, even though some of the onlookers watched in petrified shock as the lions moved in for the kill.

Vernon did his part about shouting about someone helping his nephew. He acted in the proper worried for the life of his nephew worried uncle role perfectly. All the acting lessons and experience was paying off since everyone was sympathizing with him, trying to calm him down, and doing everything in their power to _help_ Harry get out of the predicament alive and in one piece.

There were several cameras filming the event for use in some expose that would be released to a journalist or two about corruption in the zoo as well as the other uses of supposedly semi-domesticated animals. It was Vernon's way of sharing the love or money, he needed to have some form of charity thing going on, it was his social responsibility program in action.

The zoo personnel finally managed to get to the place just before Harry's head got bitten of and his body crushed by the weight of the lions and their massive maws of DOOM. Tranquilizer darts and whatnot were fired at the lions to get them to back down or drop dead, whichever came first.

Vernon ended up shouting up a storm and raining down threats of lawsuits at the zoo personnel for all sorts of things. The other adults and parents alike echoing what he was saying. Harry was brought to him, or at least zoo personnel tried to get Harry to his uncle, but the boy refused to get near these people that had waited for the last minute to arrive. He made sure that everyone within hearing distance heard him compare the zoo employees to false superheroes who arrived at the last second to save the day.

The two of them walked away from the zoo, taking public transportation, followed by Harry's assortment of body parts disguised as different people with the footage of the event from all sorts of angles.

Before heading home, Vernon collected the tapes, Harry disintegrated the excess body parts, and the two of them went about making a short film of the event, before sending copies on their way anonymously to several journalists and tabloidists.

The next morning, there was a scandal about the zoo splashed on the front page of the broadsheet that Vernon subscribed to. Harry was not mentioned by name in the articles detailing the event, and a special expose was revealed on the telly, there had been some _leaked _footage of a child being fed to the predators to sooth their savage nature most of the time. The face of the child in the video could not clearly be seen, but the gory death of the child could be seen even though most of it had been censored.

That last part was what Vernon and Harry did after they delivered the first batch of tapes before heading home.

Vernon's plump looking exterior was a mere illusion to the true muscle that all that blubber supposedly was. He did exercise a lot, if he didn't he wouldn't have been able to do half the things he did in his quest to finally end his nephew's life and make lots of money out of it.

Aside from the news reports about the revelations after the zoo mishap, everything else about the house was normal..

Then the rest of the morning mail arrived...

One letter in particular caught the family's attention...for different reasons.

Harry, because he actually got an invitation to that prestigious school up north from that school several of the dark wizards that had tried and failed to kill him spoke about.

Vernon, because his nephew would be out of his wife's hair for most of the year, and he didn't really need his nephew for most of the year, he had a lot of stocked videos and photos for his second job. He felt that his nephew needed a break, as he did. He decided to let other powers have a go at the boy's life.

Petunia, because it just confirmed that her nephew was indeed a _freak_ in her eyes and would get to go to that exclusive school that she wanted to go to when she was a jealous little girl.

Dudley, because his cousin never got anything from the mail. He thought that it was a mistake. He was a spoiled little boy that got whatever he wanted, he didn't really know any better since Vernon rarely ever disciplined him and Petunia always spoiled him rotten.

"Accept the invitation!" Vernon ordered.

Harry didn't need to be told twice and scratched out a hasty reply on a napkin, bolted out of the house, called over the only owl in the vicinity of the house, attached the napkin to the thing, and let it go back to whence it came. He knew how the magical post worked since he had interacted with those that used it. Vernon had an owl or two in his other workplace too.

"Vernon!" Petunia exclaimed, she had been taken rather by surprise by her husbands most recent actions.

"Its somewhere far away," Vernon stated his case before his wife could get another word in edgewise, "He'll be our hair for most of the rest of the year. The way I see it, it was the best choice we've actually made concerning him."

"Oh," she said, she didn't have a counter-argument to that after all, so she simply nodded and 'hmm'ed' and left it at that.

"I'll take him to London after breakfast, and he'll be out of our hair and be _Their_ problem," Vernon added as an afterthought.

"That's a good idea," Petunia mused, though she did add, "I need some things from London, would you get them for me while you're there?"

"Of course Pet," Vernon replied.

Later on in the day, Vernon and Harry shook hands outside of one of the half-way gateways between the muggle and magical worlds, said their goodbyes, good lucks, and go dies. They parted ways after that brief shake. Vernon to his errands and Harry to his next great adventure in the same life.


	72. Untitled 18

Just as his uncle had a second job of his own, so too did Harry...or more like several. He had gained these other jobs or professions after his third meeting with Dark Wizards, they were members of the English Mercenary Guild. They had offered him a position in their ranks after they finally gave up and after he got bored scaring the daylights out of them.

He had been encouraged somewhat to make friends by his uncle, he managed to make associates, ones that didn't think they had any other choice other than to give the kid membership into their guild.

Mercenaries weren't just hired out as bodyguards or hitmen, they also accepted other types of work, ranging from being messengers to house cleaners to even delivery persons. They were the jacks-of-all trades people, or so they lead those that sought out their services to believe.

Somehow, Harry managed to get to the second highest position, the only reason why he remained in that position was due to his age. The guild was a government recognized organization, even though not all of the things they did were legal. So clearly a child couldn't be placed in such a high position as Guild Master.

The jobs Harry mostly did were extermination jobs which were basically he went on missions to slay some dangerous beasts or lots of small pests, delivery jobs to dangerous places, and whatever else the other members of the guild had a difficult time completing due to the danger to one's life involved.

Other jobs that Harry did were those that required an item be provided to the client like potions ingredients. There were people in the guild that didn't really like looking for discarded body parts, but for Harry..well..he could afford to lose a few parts. Once separated from his core self or main body part (whichever he chose that to be), he could make the part or parts either temporary things in the world or a permanent fixture or actual object or item that wouldn't suddenly turn to ash. He could sever his connection with those parts, even after having them transform into something else.

That was also how he became a valued member of the English Guild of Apothecaries or Apothecaries Association. He was a Black Market Division member, one of the most valued of the lot due to the rarity of some of the things he provided for those that sold their wares on the market or behind closed doors.

While he worked, the kind that he wasn't filmed, he wore an older face that of a fifteen year old with a body to match, one with an athletic build, a runner's. He had the ability to transform or turn into anything that he could imagine, and so did that. No clear picture of all parts of the transformation, a general idea would suffice and the magic would do the rest.

There was a third organization or association that he had become a member of, his joining had come after he had accidentally killed a foreign crime lord visiting the British Isles. His uncle had been the one to invite the crime lord over from the States, the man had quite the resume when it came to killing, only known to a select few. There were several bounties on the man's head since he had managed to appear legit to the rest of the world.

Vernon knew about it of course, thanks to all his connections thanks to his snuff films, the man was to star in one of them and through the film Vernon would generate several bounties worth of revenue. The man had come over, he was really wanting to be a part of one of the things he really enjoyed doing, which was killing children. There was some sort of sadistic pleasure he derived from the act.

Vernon had taken the man to a warehouse that Vernon owned under several aliases that he managed, with Harry's help, to set up. Once there, the camera started rolling, Vernon had a way to make sure that his face and body were rarely ever seen in the videos, he acted as a director, one whose voice was not heard. He watched as the crime lord approached Harry who was bound, gagged, and had a mask over his head.

The man did his thing, it was an hour's worth of torture before the killing blow was finally used. A hammer to the head, a sledgehammer that is, was used to _end_ Harry's life. Or so it seemed. It was probably one of the creepiest videos that Vernon had ever produced, since it wasn't going to be distributed as a snuff film, but as a part of a low budget horror flick that he decided it was going to get into once his nephew decided to _accidentally _forget that the crime lord was still supposed to remain alive.

After having his brains bashed in, Harry's unbound form rose up from the crumpled heap it was in once the crime lord's back was turned to him. His face too remained unseen through out all of the films he starred in.

In a surprise move, the surprise on the victim's face was captured clearly by the camera, his hand shot through the back of the man and through the front holding onto the despicable man's still beating heart. Following that single action, Harry removed the thing that covered his face from the view of the camera, but instead of his actual face that was shown it was of an unnamed youth. An unnamed youth that could open his mouth really wide, have lots of shark teeth, and eat a man almost whole.

For a low budget horror flick it was a big success, and it proved to be the most legal-ish way to let those people who had a bounty on the crime lord's head that he had been taken out of the picture.

The underworld viewed the flick as the coming out video of a new player in the killing profession. The European League of Assassins, the premier assassin's guild in Europe, sent recruiters out to test this new player. Vernon had allowed Harry to leave some clues for a confrontation to take place and prepared the meeting place so that the battle could be added to some fantasy flick that Vernon planned on creating.

The recruiters took the bait and arrived just after the finishing touches were completed.

Harry had been waiting for them, wearing nothing but a two sizes too big shirt, jeans, and a brown paper bag covering his head.

One of them approached and cautiously removed the paper bag, only to reveal the face of what could only be compared to a mannequin. So the recruiter poked it with a handy stick, those things were dead useful when checking if a corpse was a corpse. The poke resulted in the body vanishing right before their very eyes, no pop or crack of apparation, no flash of light or whatever visual effect was seen. The body simply turned to air.

It was Vernon's idea, since he knew that his nephew could transform body parts into more or less whatever he wanted, then it was logical to assume that he could turn into the air itself, which was what the boy did.

If assassins were akin to the shadows, like their relatives the ninja of Asia, Harry beat them by becoming something that was literally everywhere. The silent killer was what he became.

Sure the kid had morals, his uncle did to, but their presence or absence was dependent on the situation and their mood. It was one of the things that made the two of them human, they had flaws and in this case it was their insanity.

Harry had no qualms about killing, especially when his morals flew out the window. He was the wind and so killed as the wind, he was the cutting wind. He hadn't yet figured out how to make his clothes transform with him so he left those where he had been at the start. Later on he would figure out how to not leave his wardrobe or whatever objects he had on him behind.

There were eight assassins, they stood no chance, and only one was left alive to tell the tale or make his offer. He had watched all of his associates, ones whose names he did not know or care to know, get cut up by a killer that was neither seen no heard. He watched as they had all been cut to ribbons. All clean cuts, the kills were all clean, somehow the wounds or cuts or whatever were cauterized before bleeding could even begin.

He was left as the only one standing, his knives, which were his primary tools, were useless in his hands. He waited for death, but it did not come for him.

Harry returned to his clothes, and filled them out as he returned to human form, or relatively human form as he kept his face as a blank mask similar to a mannequin.

"_What business do you have with me?_" Harry asked, his voice was like a whisper on the wind, which it kind of was with the aid of magic and his freakishness.

"..." the man hesitated, he was still a little bit in shock at what he had witnessed and been spared, before speaking, "We were sent to test you and invite you to join our organization, I doubt you would have heard of it..."

"_ELA_," Harry stated, "_I have heard it in whisper all over Europe. My meal mentally spoke of it briefly_."

Magic was not a foreign concept to the ELA as they had a few practitioners in their ranks. The mind magics were mere extensions of a mutated or evolved part of the brain, mind magic was not limited to wizards as the wizards believed, but could be performed by muggles as well, the magical version of psychics was just a lot stronger.

"Then will you join our brotherhood?" the assassin asked the boy, who he did not know was a boy.

"_What do you offer that I will not be able to find elsewhere?_" he asked via that whispering wind.

"Our superiors didn't think you'd be intelligent enough to ask that question," he replied, it was quite the let down, pride had almost ruined the chance of gaining a promising powerful member.

"_Not good enough,_" Harry stated, "_But if you are willing to send back a message from myself to your superiors I might think about the possibility of joining._"

"I can do that," the assassin said.

"_Then tell them that my condition for joining will is to be able to challenge your absolute leader for his or her position,_" Harry told the assassin, it was a bold statement, wanting to challenge the leader of an infamous and whispered organization, "_I serve no masters_."

The assassin had been allowed to leave after he agreed to deliver the challenge as well as bring along Harry's right pinky, it was an odd request for the assassin, but thought that it held some significance to the other killer.

The message was received and the challenge accepted. The league believed that if they couldn't get this new killer under their thumb, then it would be best to make sure that no one else could have him. Their leader had years of experience under his belt, survived many assassination attempts from lower ranked members. None had managed to succeed as he had succeeded in taking the place of his predecessor. He was confident in his chances of coming out victorious.

An immortal can not be killed, and the arrogant and prideful leader of the league had learned that lesson, the price for the lesson learned was his life of course. Had he known what Harry was capable of, he would have been allowed to keep his life.

With the challenge accepted, Harry's pinky wriggled its way out of the pocket that the assassin that had brought the message had placed it in. The pinky then grew into a hand after popping out of the pocket. It went unnoticed until Harry sat on the ground in the middle of the league's council meeting room in their secret headquarters deep beneath the Earth's crust.

He wore a body suit made out of dragonhide, or at least it was made out of his skin turned into dragonhide. He simply sat in the middle of the room waiting to be noticed. He had patience that would outlast any mountain, as he had all the time in the world to wait, unlike the people in the room with him.

But of course, he was still a child in many aspects, so he decided to make himself known after listening to the league's council members speak about things that simply went over his head. He stood up.

He wore his blank mannequin face, something which he would be changing once he was accepted as the leader of the league.

"How did you get in here?" one council member demanded as he stood up and prepared for a fight, as did his comrades, it was then that Harry noticed that there were no girls or women among the group.

"_Does it really matter how I got in?_" he asked, "_All that should matter is that I'm here for his_" he motioned toward the leader, _"head. So do we do battle now, or should I wait a while?_"

"You challenged, I've accepted," the leader said, "We fight now, so prepare to d.."

Harry was already prepared to deliver the killing blow before the man could complete his taunt. He had turned a strand of hair into a spider and had it crawl its way to the man. Then as the taunt was almost completed, he had his spider turned into two hands that broke the man's neck faster than anyone could react.

"_I win,_" Harry said, and from that moment forth he was the Grandmaster of the ELA which he decided to change the name of to just the Organization.

He appointed the one that he had spared as his assistant, the man went by the name Knives, while he went by the name or title of Wind. The council was kept as it was, they were professionals, and since they didn't know when Harry was around, they couldn't afford to muck up.

He left his own brand of surveillance in the headquarters to keep track of the day to day of things, and in a way managed to be in more than one place at the same time and control multiple bodies or vessels of his will at the same time. It had been confusing at first, but he eventually managed it.

Due to the positions in the three organizations that he was a member of, he had a few safe houses, and if not safe house, he had some places where he could crash while not at Number 4 as his uncle had him not come home for some days.

He had such a place or four in Knockturn Alley, the capital of all things dark and illegal in the magical part of London. One was a permanently reserved room at an inn, the Cracked Cauldron Bottom was the name of the inn and pub, the other three places were dorms for the mercenaries, apothecaries, and assassins.

He chose the room at the inn, he wasn't known as Harry Potter. Since he went with an older face and body, one that made him look like the love-child of James Potter and Sirius Black rather than James and Lily Potter's aged son, no one treated him in the manner by which they had more or less programmed themselves into acting toward the savior of the light.

He was anything but purely light.

If magic were a discipline, he would have studied it and majored in wandless transfiguration and potions, and minored in immortality.

He had some things stashed away in his room at the inn, it was his room so he could do with it as he pleased. The owner of the inn and pub didn't really bother him, the man owed Harry a life debt after all.

Harry didn't mind that part since it was true and Harry did indeed risk himself for the man.

The mercenaries knew him simply as Harry, most didn't bother with his last name just that he was slated to be the next guild master once he was old enough to be recognized by the Ministry of Magic as a responsible adult in society. The association referred to him as the Black Supplier, since he was usually seen wearing black clothes and dealt mostly with illegal or just hard to find things.

The inn keeper decided to call him Aeolus.

It was a well known fact in the Alley that Harry, Supplier, Wind, and Aeolus, knew each other. The relationship was something that no one really knew how deep it ran, but it was known that they occasionally dealt with one another. Only those in the know actually cared about the four of them and their knowing one another. By those in the know, meaning those that knew the significance of those four personalities or persons.

The guild believed that their vice-guildmaster was the guy that cleaned up the messes of the Wind, it was somewhat true. The association believed that the Supplier got some of his more hard to find or acquire ingredients or materials from both Harry and Wind. The organization thought that their grandmaster played politics with the guild's vice-guildmaster and the association's Black Supplier. Aeolus role in the picture was the middle man of any and all transactions between the other three.

They were seen as having a business relationship, but at the same time there always seemed to be an even deeper connection. There was also the fact that no one was allowed to make a joke about one of the other three while in the company of one of the four. It was a conversational taboo, the first and last person that tried was on the receiving end of the a technique known as the Four Winds, no one was sure if it was some sort of spell or something else.

Harry remained in the Alley until the school supply rush arrived in Diagon, the crowds were something he wouldn't have liked had he been the center of all that attention, but since their concern was shopping for school supplies he could blend in better among the rest of the eleven years old in the alley.

With Diagon Alley packed with people, Harry had no problem blending in with his default form. He found that there were a number of people from the groups he associated with that were also in the Alley, all part of the rush of last minute school supplies shopping for their own children. Even some assassins were around.

Harry had memorized all of their faces and the names that went with those faces, as well as memorized these peoples' quirks.

He spotted each and everyone of them, and kind of creeped them out when they felt the feeling associated with being specifically looked at. It unnerved them, and for the assassins it was even more unnerving since they believed they were being targeted for liquidation. Their body language showed that they were prepared to defend themselves and their families if need be.

Then just as suddenly as the eyes on them landed on them, they moved on. That unnerved them even more.

Harry's first stop was the bank, he was on neutral terms with the goblins, they didn't look down on him and he didn't really care much about them so long as they did their job which was guarding his gold and making his fortunes grow. The goblins knew enough not to mess with him or any of his aliases. A thief from their race had tried to double cross Harry and had paid for it with his life and the life of his immediate family.

They knew who he was, but not that he was immortal. He was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, but that little title didn't really matter or benefit them. What benefited them was the growing Potter fortune. He was a valued client.

They also knew him as Harry, Black Supplier, and Wind. They didn't fear him since they believed him to be mortal, which was why their view of him was neutral. Had they known that he was unkillable, they probably would have respected him and feared him at the same time.

While he was not special in the eyes of the goblin nation, he was given a single privilege, that being the ability to visit his vault without any goblin accompanying him. He was the only human allowed to do that.

He had a number of vaults to his name. But he found only three worth visiting. His school tuition was transferred automatically from his trust vault, so he didn't bother with that one and just allowed it to grow via interest. The ones that he regularly visited were the four vaults of his four personalities.

For this trip he visited vault number 9 which he had acquired after ending one of the Moste Ancient and Most Noble lines, it was a revenge job and he claimed the vault along with everything that the line he had ended owned via right of conquest. It served as his Wind vault.

He withdrew some funds, placed them in a mokeskin pouch, and left the bank. It was an in and out job that none of the goblins really cared so long as he continued banking with them.

He had his list of required supplies and so went about acquiring them. He only bought what he didn't already have, like books, robes, a telescope, gardening tools, and the like. He went to Knockturn Alley to purchase have a custom wand made, he didn't feel that one of the Ollivander creations suited him, they were impersonal wands and not to his liking.

When it came to Potions supplies, well he was the Black Supplier, the things included in the list were things he had in stock. He'd decided that he'd bring a Potion Master's supply cabinet's worth of potions supplies. He got his mastery in the field as the Black Supplier and Harry Potter just after his tenth birthday. Potions was like chemistry and cooking, two fields that he had a lot of experience in, and interest in as well.

In the Potions and Apothecary community there were rumors flying around that the Black Supplier had an apprentice or two floating around. Which was why he decided that just in case his potions professor was an asshole as some other more experienced students were saying that he was, he would have some kind of shielding from whatever treatment the professor had to dish out.

When he was done with the majority of his supplies, he went off in search of his custom wand. He came out of the custom wands shop with something that wasn't overly rare in material and make, but it was more personal. It was made purely out of things that he himself had supplied the black market, all of the things that made his wand were once parts of him.

He waited in the Alley and his room at the inn until the first of September which was when he took a taxi to King's Cross station, it was only at that time that his organization found out that their leader was not yet an adult, but a teen.

He had issued a challenge to them as he wore his school uniform and his blank face as he stood before the gathered captains, as he had decided that the organization needed a more organized hierarchy. He challenged them to find him at Hogwarts, and each one that found him and spoke a certain pass-phrase would receive a reward in the form of 500 galleons. It was quite the prize.

It was a challenge that many would try their hand at, and many would fail. But he hoped that someone would manage to find him. The pass-phrase being 'Aeolus of Knockturn is missing', with such a phrase the assassins would have to make sure that the one they would speak it to was their leader as it could cause some unwanted attention and trouble for the organization.

Discretion was advised.

He didn't need to find the train that was to take him to the school since he and his uncle had stumbled upon it some time ago and he had already been run over by the train, scattering his bloody body parts all over the station. It was a hushed up thing since on-site investigators believed it to have been a freak accident and chalked it up to faulty wards, in their minds they simply mentally said 'it was just a muggle anyway'. It was supposedly nothing to worry about.

The platform was cleaner than he remembered it to be, probably because whenever he had seen the place it was usually dyed crimson with his blood and guts. There were a number of families already there, saying their goodbyes and what not. Among them was surprisingly Knives.

So he walked up to the bastard of a man who was exempt from the challenge, it was a good thing that all members of the organization were required to wear a mask of sorts to hide their identity from fellow members.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Harry asked his assistant and stand-in while he was gone.

"Well someone's gotta be here for your first day," Knives supplied humorously, then hastily added when Harry gained a slightly annoyed look, "Alright, seriously, I'm here to see my daughter off, she's a little firstie like you after all."

"I can't believe you're here," Harry said, "I'd've thought that you'd wait in the car or something."

"Yeah well.." he began to say but was interrupted by the sudden arrival of his wife and daughter, they had gone visit the little girl's room to freshen up.

"So who's your friend Dan?" Knives' wife asked him as she noticed Harry as she and her daughter were walking over.

"Ah..well..." Knives hesitated.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Harry said, "The name's Harry, I'm Dan's friend."

"You look a bit young to be Dan's friend young man," Jane, Dan's wife, said, she was skeptical about the introduction and the validity of it, "Well I'm Jane Granger," she then motioned to her daughter, "And this is Hermione."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintances," Harry said as he surprisingly kissed the back of the woman's and girl's hands.

It was after the greeting that Knives noticed a mischievous glint in his boss' eyes, and realized that it was already too late to stop whatever the eleven year old was planning.

"Its no wonder that Dan works two jobs," he said, Knives wanted to palm himself, "Forcing himself to earn more to spend more on his two lovely girls."

Jane forced Knives to face her, she had a concerned look on her face.

"When were you going to tell me about this second job?" she asked him, "And why do you even have one? We earn enough from our dentistry as it is."

"I don't think we're needed here any longer," Harry said and tugged on his yearmates's arm.

The two first years walked away from the two discussing life partners..

"So how do you know my dad?" Hermione asked him, they stayed on the platform since there was still plenty of time til departure.

"I met him a few years ago," he replied, "I scared the crap out of him and eventually we learned how to be friends."

"That's not the real answer I know it," she said, "He vanishes some nights, I've seen him leave. So tell me the truth are you like my half-brother or something?"

"_Little_ girl, I'm no one's half-brother," he stated, "Your dad's a friend of mine, butt out of our personal lives. If he ever wants to tell you, he'll tell you."

"Fine," she said, "I guess I'll just have to resort to whinning."

"Go ahead," he said, "I'm sure you just love acting like the _child_ you really are."

He left her with those parting words, he still had dark wizards to piss off and other ways to try and commit suicide to think up or locate.

Back with Dan and Jane..

"Well? What's this other job of yours?" his wife demanded that she know, they were married, a sacred bond was formed between them that should never be broken, she didn't like the fact that he had been keeping secrets from her, and that the allowance that they had been receiving from a distant rich relative was actually his pay from his second job.

"Remember back before college, even though I was a bit of a bum I always had some cash on hand?" he said, deciding to come clean or as clean as he dared.

"Yes, I remember," Jane said, remembering that he never really seemed to run out of pocket change or petty cash, "What does that have to do with it?"

"I never quit my part-time job," he admitted, "I've still been doing the things I was doing way back then."

"You do know that you never actually shared what it was that you did," she said, "You always said they were just some odd jobs that paid enough, actually you never did share what the definition of enough was."

"Well..." he tried to think of how to begin without looking like a criminal, which in some circles he was.

"Well, spit it out already," she demanded, "And why is it that some kid knows about your second job and I don't? Have you been hiding an on-the-side family from me?"

"No! No. Of course not," he said placatingly, "You're the only woman for me, and Hermione's my only child by any woman that I've ever had the pleasure of sleeping with, which is...only you...which sounds rather pathetic from an average male's point-of-view come to think of it...nevertheless, I've never cheated on you, or had a girlfriend before you as I stated when we started officially dating during college."

Glad that we could clear that up," she told him, but still a bit irked due to his keeping secrets from her, "So about this second job, what is it already? It can't be so bad that you can't tell your wife about it."

"Well...I wouldn't say that..." he said, still trying to find a way to make himself look not like a criminal.

"Just say it," she said impatiently.

"My superiors have me go out all over the globe...but mostly just around Europe...to look for people," he said, it was the best way to say it without having to reveal that he killed those people.

"You are telling me that you go around the world in a single night," she said, "You actually think I'll believe that? What do you take me for?"

"Someone that hopefully understands and forgives me for not sharing that I've known about magic almost all my life," he replied.

"Oh.." she said, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Statute of Secrecy," he replied, "I didn't know our daughter was magic until she got her letter. I really shouldn't talk about my other job too...so.."

"Ok, I forgive you for not telling me," she said, "This time. This had better be the last time you decide to keep such a big secret from me. Now explain where Harry fits in all this."

"Well..." Knives really couldn't think of any other way to say it, "He's my Boss."

"Come again?" she said, not really believing that she had heard correctly.

"I said he's my Boss," he reiterated, "I work as his assistant, but before that my former superiors just sent me around the globe looking for people. More recently I've been the one in-charge of the day-to-day stuff while Harry's had to be elsewhere or in school or with his other business partners."

"You expect me to believe that?" she asked him, she wasn't buying any of it.

"Oh fine," he said, giving up with being partially honest with her, "Ever since college I've been working with a very secretive organization that specializes in terminating targeted individual. I specialize in knives, I had a thing for blades, but more specifically knives."

"What?" she said, her brain not being able to process such an honestly brutal or brutally honest thing.

"I'm a hired knife," he told her, "I kill people. I go around the world killing people, taking lives. I learned how to kill from my father, who learned it from his father, and so on and so forth."

"Finally!" she exclaiemd, "I can't believe you actually kept that a secret from me for so long!"

"You knew?!" he incredulously asked.

"Of course I knew!" she said, "I knew you were into something like organized crime. I always knew that, and my own godfather confirmed it, he said he met you while he was at a meeting one time."

"You knew?" he said again, now being the one that couldn't believe what he was hearing, his wife's expressions were so believeable, it was as if she was trained in the art of lying, "How the heck could you have known? And what does your godfather, who you rarely ever talked about, have to do with me?"

"My godfather was Mark Anthony Heskow," she stated, she never really did talk about her favorite godfather who was the head of a minor crime family back she was a little girl.

"Well shit..small world," he said, it was the only thing that actually came to mind.

"And I still can't believe you never bothered to tell me," she said, "He even told you about me I believe."

"I didn't know, alright," he said, "I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch when it comes to those things, and at the time I was more concerned with my targets."

"One of the reasons why my father even let me date much more marry some no-name guy like you was thanks to my godfather's recommendation," she told him, "He told my father that he could trust you with my life since you were quite good at keeping those that would do me harm away from me, like that one professor that wanted to fail me on purpose."

"I didn't kill the guy, I never even lay a hand on the guy," he said.

"Really?" she said skeptically.

"I asked some friends do the threatening for me," he said.

"So are you going to share these things that you've been hiding from me now?" she asked him, "I really don't mind this second profession of yours you know, and I'm sure our daughter will understand. She doesn't only want to be a researcher but has also been subtly getting lessons from her own godfather."

"Please tell me that John Peterson isn't related to your godfather," she begged, but knew that in some way his wife's best friend was related to his one time client.

"He's the present Boss of the Heskrow family," she said, "So tell me about your boss."

"I'll do you something better," she said as he noticed their daughter walking back to them, his boss nowhere in sight, "Ask that friend of yours if the name Wind means anything to him. And if anyone asks how you know that name, don't say that you heard it from me, and if you do have to tell that friend of yours, make sure that he swears not to tell a soul or you'll be less one husband that loves and cares for you and was only trying to protect you."

"Ok, alright," she said, finally halting their conversation as she too noticed that their daughter had returned to them and was wearing some kind of determined look.

"What happened to Harry, sweetie?" Jane asked her daughter with a bit of concern.

"He left," she replied, "So...is dad into organized crime like Uncle John?"

"No," Jane replied honestly to her daughter, much to her husband's chagrin, "But related to that."

"Oh, ok," she said, "Well, I think I should get on the train. I'll miss you two."

"We'll miss you too sweetie," Jane said to her daughter before giving her a motherly hug.

"What your mother said," Knives said.

"Remember to write," Jane told her daughter.

"Make sure you tell us everything, but don't treat it as an assignment ok?" Knives said as he too hugged his daughter.

"Alright," she said, "I will and won't."

"Good," Knives said, "I might come check up on you during the year."

"But muggles can't go to the castle, its not allowed," their daughter said, "I read it in Hogwarts: A History."

"Some books don't know better," Knives said, "I'll make sure you see me when I come to that castle."

"Are you trying to act like some kind of spy daddy?" Hermione asked her father, as she noticed that he had this different gleam shining in his eyes.

"Nope," he said, "An assassin."

"Alright," she said, and in a semi-joking way added, "Can you kill Harry for me? He refused to answer my question."

"Honey, Hermione, sweetie," Knives said seriously, "You can't kill the Wind."


	73. Untitled 19

He had enjoyed his trip in silence so far. That Hermione girl had barged into his compartment, but upon seeing him had slammed the compartment door closed. He wondered briefly if she was searching for the rather poisonous toad that he had stumbled upon while in search of an empty compartment. Other than that he hadn't been disturbed, it was probably the aura of death that he exuded that discouraged others from venturing past the barrier that separated them from him. Even the trolley lady hadn't bothered with him.

It was only when the train had neared its final destination did someone disturb him. One of the prefects passed by to inform him that it was time to change into the school uniform, which he was already in. The prefect didn't seem to really care all that much about the aura he had been subconsciously exuding.

He followed the rest of the first years who followed the half giant that seemed awfully familiar to some boats. Jumped into a boat, sat down, and enjoyed the ride up until someone decided to go for a swim. It had reminded him of the few times that he had experienced drowning, and deciding that reminiscing was boring, he jumped into the lake. When he didn't come up for air after a few minutes of stalling, people began to worry.

Most feared the worst had happened, a death at Hogwarts, and this time a suicide. But minutes before anyone decided to do anything, Harry was flung out of the lake by the Giant Squid itself. He landed back on his boat in one piece, albeit not breathing at all, not that anyone managed to notice the lack of rising and falling of his chest.

He decided that it was probably not such a good idea after all, and that his immortality might cause him some problems. But as a compromise his desire to commit acts that would normally be termed as suicide attempts would only be performed when there were no witnesses or if the witnesses could be convinced not to say anything to anyone.

He followed after his fellows until they were all bunched together at the near front of the Great Hall awaiting their name to be called and for them to be sorted. When it came to be his turn, the Hall grew deathly quiet for a moment before whispers and murmurs swam about the Hall.

He walked up to the stool, sat down, and waited for the hat to be dropped over hie head, obscuring his view of the Hall and the Hall of his head and the infamous scar that adorned his forehead, one which didn't really do anything at all.

'_..Hmm.._' he heard in his head, it was probably the hat he thought, '_You're right tis I, the Hat! Now let's see..._'

A moment passed...

"I REFUSE TO SORT THIS THING BENEATH ME! I WAS NEVER MEANT TO SORT SUCH A BEING!" the Hat shouted for all the Hall to hear, and for some of those with greater hearing in the forest to hear.

"Cool! I don't get sorted! Must be a first!" Harry said as he removed the Hat from his head and bounced about for a bit, before stopping in front of a frowning deputy headmistress, "So..where do I sit, and don't say with the Gryffs, I don't belong there, or with any of the houses!"

"Fine!" the old woman irately said, she was a bit annoyed, it was that time of the month as menopause in magical lives came on later when muggles were considered as senile old fossils. She transfigured a small speck of dust into a table that would sit only one person, and another one for a chair, "Go sit there!"

"Thanks!" Harry said as he skipped on over to the table and chair in the corner of the Hall.

#


	74. Untitled 27

The whole school was against him, no one believed him when he said that he didn't bypass the safeguards, the age line, or trick the Cup. How could he, he was just fourteen, he didn't have the knowledge or experiencet o hoodwink such a powerful magical object. Sure he was the Boy-Who-Lived, but so what, he didn't even know how he had survived that night that his parents had died.

He found himself away from all the accusing glares and finger pointing. No one at the school believed him, not even his head of house or housemates, not even his so-called bestfriends had believed him when he stated as honestly as he could possibly say that he didn't do it. He knew that the Twins had meant well with their joke about him getting his name into the thing and actually managing to participate, but it didn't really help with his reputation at all.

It was one of those deserted hallways that were rarely used since no classes were spent in the long since nearly forgotten rooms along them. He was wondering and mourning his life, or whatever it could be called. It wasn't much of a life anyway, danger was at every turn. He could have called himself Fate's Bitch, but that title was reserved for someone else.

"_Psst! Hey you!_" voices echoed all around him just as he passed by a painting that looked like it had several people holding a meeting in a purple grove with a bonfire in their midst.

"Huh? Who? Me?" Harry said, pointing to himself while looking around the corridor trying to locate the origin of the voices, there were far too many for the persons they belonged to to be hiding in some dark alcoves.

"_Yes you! You're the only one in this corridor anyway!_" the voices echoed all around him once again, it was really starting to creep him out too.

"Yeah...ok...so where are you? What do you want from me? Or with me?" Harry asked, his own voice echoing around the corridor.

"_We're over here, the one with a bunch of dudes sitting around a campfire, you can't really miss us,_" the thousand ehoing voices stated as one, in varying tones, styles, languages, and even genders.

Harry saw the painting immediately, but couldn't figure out how so many voices could come from a painting with so few people in it. It just wasn't logical, that was the sum of his thoughts until he remembered that when magic was involved logic flew out the window.

"Hi," he said to them as he faced the painting, "So what do you want with me?"

"_We want to help you,"_ the thousand voices said, the one speaking was what anyone would recognize as the Grim Reaper or Death, it was odd that Harry found himself speaking with a painting version of the inevitable truth, "_We know about what's happened to you, once the Goblet spouted your name, we didn't think it would be this bad though."_

"Yeah," another of the men said, "I mean, I had my Granger by my side, even though she betrayed me later on in life."

"I had my wife, bless her, with me during my ordeal," another robed man said.

"What are you talking about? And how do you propose to help me? You're all paintings," Harry pointed out.

"Painting? Dear _cousin_, we're just in the form of a painting as to not arouse any unwanted attention," a purple and blue robed man said, "Dumbledore wouldn't like it if his weapon and tool were prepared for the tasks that have been set before him."

"I'm starting to believe that he doesn't care about anyone other than his greater good too," Harry admitted, the man was supposed to be the most powerful wizard of his generation and yet someone had managed to pull one over on him during his watch, his headship of one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of magic in the entirety of Europe.

"Good," one of the the men said, "Now get in here, just think of the painting's surface as being like the entrance to the platform of the Express. Its just a modified illusion."

"I'll try," Harry said and backed up for a running start.

"There is no try," the youngest looking one of the group said, "Just do it."

He didn't really have any other alternatives, his friends had all deserted him to his fate as it were and even though it could possibly send him to blissful unconsciousness if the inhabitants of the paintings were just having him on, it was still somethnig. So he stood back, closed his eyes, and ran.

The tripped on a random log, and ended up with a hand thrust in front of him. When he was pulled off of the oddly colored grass, he found himself staring at a face he could swear a wizard's oath to be the one he saw in any mirror he looked into. His own, or at least what could pass off as a perfect imitation.

"There is a reason why we call you _cousin_," Harry's _twin_ said, "We are distant relations to you, we are...Harry Potter from other existences, existences that are spread throughout the inifinite and vast expanse that is Imagination."

"_Introductions are in order I believe,"_ Death said, "_I'll start. I am Death himself, both in title and in name, I also go by the name Contristo Acerbus, call me either Death or Contristo depening on whether I look like this or look human._"

"Nice to meet you," Harry said, he didn't really know how to react to such an introduction, "Are you married to Life by any chance?"

"_Silly boy, I am Life as well though I guess my wife, Helena, could be considered more of it than myself,_" Death replied.

"I'll be next," the one that Twin said, "My name is Har or Aetas, whichever you prefer.."

"Nice to meet you Aetas," Harry said, and received much laughter due to his choice, "What?"

"Very few have chosen to call him Har," a man with a scar on his face that ran from forehead to the edge of his lip and wore an eyepatch said, "I'm Ryoku by the way. I am Power, while Aetas is Time as well as a Supreme Being, which is a god of gods type of True Immortal."

"I see, nice to meet you Ryoku," Harry said.

"I shall continue," a young adult in a black business suit minus a tie or bow said in monotone, "I am Devil himself, Ruler of All Hells and the In-Between. Sworn enemy of All Heavens, and to this day continue to do battle with the Almighties for the right to rule All Heavens. Mess with any Luna Lovegood, and you mess with me."

"He's serious about that threat too," Aetas said, "His girlfriend is the only angel that won't side with Heaven for any reward save for his love, and even then she would chose hell just to be with him for all of eternity."

"I," the oldest looking one of the group, since Death looked good enough to be dead or a walking skeleton perhaps, said, "Am Magus Iunctio, otherwise known as Magic himself. I doubt I need to elaborate about myself. You also find yourself presently in my home, the Purple Grove or the Purple Glade. The name changes depending on the situation, and it can be found deep within any Forbidden Forest. The trees surrounding us are the personal trees of my students and friends."

"Lastly," the last one said, "I am Kurai, I am by no means as powerful as the others, but I am a Master of Transformation and causing pain."

"Nice to meet all of you," Harry said, "So am I going to get some sort of alter-ego too?"


	75. Untitled 31

Viator. That was the name he chose to go by when he decided to take a kind of vacation. While his other parts and personas continued to go about their business. Death himself had decided to go off on yet another great adventure, a small part of himself but still just as powerful.

There was this set of worlds that he was quite familiar with since the core characters were all more or less indirect subordinates of his, the only actual and true subordinate was the so-called royal families of that set of existences.

The original plan was to convince Devil to allow him to simply END the Golden Throne, but that almost hellspawn had too much pride to use the easy way out, a thing that really garnered Devil Death's respect, even though it would make ascending to lofty heights all that much easier. He didn't really give a damn that he was part of what made the war so hard to finish.

This wasn't a conversion mission, this was purely for his entertainment. He wasn't out to look for another wife either, especially after marrying his one and only wife so publicly that the ceremony had been attended by the different powers of light and dark, the different powers of the balance of Imagination. This was a vacation with some adventuring mixed in as well as some forced reincarnations and passing on.

Unlike in the majority of the worlds he visited or operated in personally, in this particular reality or existence the main setting was in a town in Japan instead of somewhere in Europe or the Elemental Nations, he absolutely loved those places. It was a little known place where not much usually happened, though that was just the mortal realm playground, the afterlife realm playgrounds consisted of the three realms that a soul could find itself in.

_Heaven_.

_Purgatory._

_Hell_.

This set of existences were special in a way, that way being that they weren't affected or participating in the war that Devil was waging and trying to win while mortal. Viator still found it strange that Devil chose to fight his war as a mortal.

The Heaven was separated into three parts, Rukongai was where most souls, or pluses, ended up in, Seiretei where the more uncommon souls ended up in, and the realm beyond where the Royal Family of the afterlife which was headed of course by the Spirit King the symbolic and absolute ruler of Heaven or Soul Society as it was called as a whole.

Purgatory was referred to as Hueco Mundo where heartless souls, those who lost theirs to despair or remained in the living realm for too long, could go if they chose not to remain in the rich resource filled world of the mortal realm where they could hunt down and devour souls in their never ending quest to fill back in the hole they, generally, had in their chests where their heart should have been. Though most hollows are former human souls, there is a sub-group of hollows called Menos, there are three levels to this powerful hollow. Gillian, Adjuchas, and Vasto Lorde. A Menos is a conglomeration of hundreds of regular hollows.

Then there is Hell, where the evil souls are sent or go to upon their mortal human or living deaths. The denizens of hell are like their hollow brethren or selves but a bit more powerful.

He decided to stick to the human world for a time before venturing on to another one of the realms. There were people that interested him in the living realm, such as those souls that remained in the world and refused to pass onto their next life in Soul Society where the memories of their living life are gradually erased, repressed, suppressed, or replaced.

He wandered the town for a few days in his Death default form as he hadn't come up with a look for _Viator_ just yet. He made sure that no one could see or sense him, not even those soldiers that he occasionally came across on their patrols for hollows and pluses. They were only mildly interesting, the more interesting souls that he found were those that could sense or even see spirits, those inner eye opened people that Trelawney might have tried to emulate, not that people of his birth world needed some third eye to see spirits, magic made souls visible after all.

He made sure that these medium that possessed quite the energy for humans fascinating, but not in the sense that he would gladly start performing experiments on them. Just generally fascinating. Though he had yet to encounter a person with enough Reiryoku, or spiritual energy, to get him to think that he wasn't as invisible as he thought he was, even Death can make mistakes especially since he had originally been human.

He witnessed some battles, saw some deaths, but didn't interfere. It wasn't his place or part of his personality to interfere, not anymore anyway. Perhaps in his old life, that ancient memory, he might have intervened, but it was pointless now, now that he was solidly confident in that fact that all things eventually came to be under his jurisdiction.

Time moved differently for him where a hundred years could be considered by most mortals as just what it was, for Viator a hundred years wasn't even a blink of an eye, it wasn't even worth noting on his calendar of events unless something truly interesting happened.

This was why he didn't mind inserting him into the living realm as one of the human after he finally decided on a form for _Viator_.

He had chosen to keep his hair color, and had it lengthen until it reached somewhere above his mid back. It was not a messy mop. His eyes on the other hand were the opposite of the eyes of a blind person, instead of that cloudy white, his were black, the kind that one would associate more with a demon or evil being of some sort. He gained an even more soul-less gaze than his Death default form could ever give off.

His height was exactly six feet, not an inch more or less. Not that it really mattered, he just liked being tall. His build was not muscular, for he didn't need any to do the things he was capable of doing, he had a regular civilian build, not that it changed how powerful he really was. He had more than enough power in his pinky to cause the end of the world to come early to not have to worry that his normal appearance, minus his eyes, had affected his power.

He decided that since he was so old, by any standards, that he would dress in a fashion that would reflect his age. He chose to wear kimonos, whether or not he was invisible or human-ish. It didn't really make him stand out as there were still some people that chose to go about wearing such things, and on the off chance that one of the Soul Reapers, or Shinigami, those soldiers of Soul Society, managed to catch a glimpse of him, well. He wouldn't really stand out much and they'd probably just ignore his presence as their normal attire was such.

It was on a lazy day that while he was watching the river from the bank that he sensed an explosion of reiryoku, it was immense that he wondered why such a soul had not been trained to suppress the reiatsu, or spirit pressure, that was being released. Either such energies had been locked away and suddenly unsealed themselves from wherever they had been lazing about in, or something else had happened.

Viator was betting on the energy suddenly rushing out or gushing forth uncontrolled, rather some other reason that would have him lean to magic as the reason.

It had instantly caught his interest and was why he had rushed to the source, as the invisible entity that he could become. What he found was a spiritual presence and pressure that had the potential for growth to force his generals to take interest in the source as well.

There was a boy crying over his mother as any child would if he woke to find her covered in blood, her own, and most assuredly no longer among the living and also without her soul having passed on, it was devoured, Viator was sure of that. He _knew _it to be true.

The child exuded an aura of sorrow and anger. Not something one would really want to ignore when the source was a child. So Viator approached the child to assess the situation, he didn't want to tap into his omniscience state as it lessened the adventure value of things.

He didn't really mind when the child was startled out of his negativity when he approached and began surveying what had happened, the Ws and that single H. He didn't think that the child could see him, up until he noticed that the sobbing had ceased.

"_You can see me, can't you,_" he said as his voice echoed from all around in a thousand forms, it was not a question.

"..." the child simply nodded as he didn't know what to make of the situation. Some random stranger just showed up and didn't seem to care at all that there was a dead body there or a crying child. There was no immediate call for help or panic or questions, just a man looking around, visibly looking over the situation.

"_That's..interesting,_" it was indeed interesting, the child would have to have a lot of spiritual energy to even see his outline much more see him as just another person, "_I didn't think anyone, much less a child, could see me. I'm sorry for your loss, I can feel the sorrow and anger you hold, the sorrow due to your loss and the anger at the one that took her from you._"

"..." the child had nothing to say.

"_I can also sense a growing void within you, an inner conflict, I'm sure you understand what I am saying,_" he told the boy.

"..." the child decided to just nod in response.

"_The only reason I came here was due to the amount of energy and pressure you are presently releasing, unintentionally I'm sure,_" he said, "_That will become a problem for you, I am quite certain, others like the one that took your mother will come after you and eat your soul if I let you continue as you are._"

"There are more of that thing?" the child asked, a bit worried and a bit of the rage returning.

"_Oh yes, lots more, though not all as cruel as the one that apparently your mother protected you from,_" Viator informed the child, "_I have decided to protect you,_" he placed a hand on the boy's head, it had turned skeletal rotting before the child's very eyes, there was a brief glow of dark crimson around the boy, "_There. I can already feel your spiritual energy and pressure decreasing. That aura that attracts hollows, the kind of monster that that thing that killed your mother was, will no longer be drawn to you. You'll still be able to see spirits and the like, but they won't think of you as something worth eating._"

"Ok," the kid said, "Since you know a lot about that monster, do you know how to kill it?"

"_Why?_" he didn't really need to ask since he already knew the answer to that question, he just wanted to hear the kid say it.

"I want to avenge my mother," the young boy said, "But I think not dying while doing that would really be better."

"_Good enough reason for me,_" Viator said, "_Tell you what, if you find me again, I'll train you up so you won't be harmless and won't need to hide behind someone's back next time trouble comes around the corner_"

"Why not now?" the boy asked.

"_Because we both don't know if our meeting was just a fluke," _Viator said as he began to fade away, "_You can still see me, but in a while you won't be able to. If you can find me again with your now limited power, you will have proved that you do indeed have what it takes to avenge your mother and if you wish to in the future, protect others, like she protected you._"

"I'll find you!" the boy promised right before Viator vanished from sight and sense completely.

It took the boy, whose name was Kurosaki Ichigo, six months to find Viator again. The boy found the eternal entity known commonly and simply as Death, or to his customers Viator or just Vi, manning a bathhouse located in the outskirts of town. It was really a bathhouse, spa, tea house, and brothel, rolled into one, and was in a single compound too.

Viator had a purely female staff, all of whom he had rescued from a life of poverty and all of whom had the ability to see the unseen. His customers ranged from living to already dead, though it was difficult to tell the difference. He charged in money and in actual souls. All who entered his property were given the form of a living person, so even some hollows visited the place, though while there they looked nothing like hollows.

Ichigo chanced upon the place while he was cutting classes in search for that weird man that he was sure only he had seen, but now wasn't so sure since apparently all the people at the place could see him.

"Hey! Train me!" he still demanded of the man, "You said you would if I found you again."

"Alright," Viator simply replied, he sounded so human for that was the state of being he was in at that moment, "I will train you, but only after your classes for the day are over. You will come straight here, and bring your homework with you. I will not have one with your potential slack off. Understand?"

"Hai sensei!" the child firmly replied, giving his word in the process and changing what might have been his future into something else, something that no one would expect.

He went to the compound of his now teacher, and learned whatever he was taught, and it wasn't only fighting, but general things, scholastic things, and things that he didn't really need to know just yet. He also learned a little from being there, taking up a kind of part time job as a delivery boy for his teacher whenever something needed to be brought somewhere else in the compound.

His father tried to find out where his oldest child kept disappearing off to and appearing from, but found himself at a loss as even with his years of fighting and tracking experience as well as the innate tracking ability he had as a father, he was still unable to find his whenever he went searching for him. Though he did notice that the school his son attended had stopped sending him negative feedback after the kid did his after school vanishing acts.

He had a kid that knew the ins and outs of the world, a kid with more know-how about the world compared to others his age and in some cases those twice his age. It was strange and odd, he decided to chalk it up to his kid doing something to take his mind off of his mother's _mysterious_ death.

Had he known the truth of the situation, he would have gone back to his old workplace and spoken to his boss of bosses about the situation. It would have caused quite some chaos. But he didn't know what circles his son walked in now, so he didn't act in a way that would cause the afterlife to panic.

Ichigo never saw real battle, but knew how to act in it thanks to his teacher occasionally ambushing him when he thought that his student was ready for some almost actual combat. He was also introduced in the entity that, as he was told, was another part of himself. A presently unattainable part of himself.

It was his fighting spirit, it was his untapped, but tap-able potential. It was an extension of his very soul, one which even in death would not leave him.

His zanpakutou. Zangetsu.

It was like having a conscience that was not a conscience, or having MPD but not being classified as crazy. It was a bit confusing. But he learned to acknowledge his partner's presence, as well as the fact that after enough time, he would be able to completely merge with these other kind-of fractured parts of his self.

It could also be considered as his old soul or a previous incarnation of himself from a long long time ago.

Ichigo eventually gained some friends, or gained more friends, and not just the people that he worked with and or trained with. He made friends in his school too, while also gaining the title as the strongest of the school and was feared by the local underground or underworld gangs or groups due to his strength and skill.

He eventually also gained a sense of justice, he was a kind young man that helped when he could but at the same time made it so that he didn't look all that nice.

He was like a diamond, he had a lot of faces that he showed to different people.

He was also rarely ever truly angry, for in his own history he had only been truly angry two times. When his mother died and he swore to avenge her, and the second time when one of his sisters had been hurt by a gang leader that had tried to take away Ichigo's power by using his sisters.

Ichigo, while mostly lawful, accepted death as an inevitable part of life, and also that in some cases killing was not really as bad as most made it out to be. He was a just keeper of the peace, one that knew that there were times when blood had to be shed for peace to remain or for chaos to stay its hand.

The gang leader had been found by his gang in a dumpster, dead. They didn't need to know what had happened, or want to know, for their leader wasn't just dead, but was injured in such ways that they had a hard time describing when they surrendered themselves over to police while confessing their crimes. It was safer behind bars than on the streets where they could be picked off one by one without any prior notice and suddenly turn up in a random dumpster.

But Ichigo wasn't that sort. He just took out those that were undeserving of co-existing in the world of life, or so his teacher told him when asked for advice concerning select situations.

He knew about the reality of magic, as his teacher had done plenty of things that could considered as such. There was also this feeling that he got whenever he asked about taking someone out of the picture in some way.

His teacher was very knowledgeable. Viator advised Ichigo when it was okay to off a person and when not to, he shared with him what information the young man needed to know to make the actual decision for himself. They both took time to look at everything before making the actual decision.

They were in a way vigilantes, but unlike the ones in the comics, they made sure to stay out of the spotlight.

Time passed, and then one day came, another day when fate and destiny decided to butt in, but their plans weren't entirely made possible since at the last moment they had to step back lest they feel the cold blade of Death against their throats.

It was a good thing that they had stopped when they did, for while it allowed Ichigo to become a Shinigami with some additional power gained from the transfer from the female shinigami to himself, it also allowed him a form to hide the form he had gained by accident from his training under Viator. It also provided him with a useable excuse to hide how he knew a lot of the things that he knew.

The Hollow, the cause for the meeting with the shinigami, was dealt with in one blow, thus starting Ichigo's interaction with Soul Society and Viator's real fun.

#

"...Interesting," Viator stated after hearing his student's story, "Very interesting. I am proud that you were able to come up with so much and do so much in such a short period of time. But now with this predicament, you will have less time to visit. That is understandable, visit when you are able, and always remember that I will help you when you need my help."

"Thanks sensei," Ichigo said, "You still haven't share with me how you know so much about everything, you know."

"I will not share that information with you right now," Viator said, "It is not yet the right time, when it is, you will know."

"I understand, sensei," Ichigo said, not daring to push for information that would eventually be made known to him.

"Good," Viator said, then proceeded to a veer into a different topic, "The last of your paycheck has been deposited into that account we set up three years ago. Your investments, made through me, are doing quite well, and the girls will miss you, as will I."

"Uh..ok," the carrot-top said, "So...this is see you later then?"

"Apparently," Viator said, "I forsee a very active future ahead of you. Try not to get killed, I don't want to have to see you as a plus too soon in the near future."

"I'm not some push over like I was back then," Ichigo said, "I have a feeling that I'll be getting that revenge of mine soon."

"I think you will too," Viator said, "I think you will too."

With those parting words, Ichigo left and wouldn't see his teacher again for quite some time. But he had most of what he needed to survive and thus would manage.

Viator, finding a gap in his schedule, decided to see about finding that anomaly he had been feeling lately in the town. There was an energy that was a bit like a cleansing energy of sorts, one which in a sense negated spirit energy. It was interesting, as it had the potential to permanently tip the scales and wreak havoc on the balance in the world.

Things like that always interested him, it was different, out of the ordinary, and not often a part of his routine.

He was a being of permanence, and thus liked change.

He donned the same uniform as the shinigami at night and went out hunting, hunting the things that he was sure his student was still not yet ready for. Like Menos, those things were still things that he felt his student didn't need to deal with yet, especially since he would need to get used to having all of his energies out and about and not locked away as the lock that kept them at bay had been unlocked by the transference of shinigami power to him from that short shinigami Kuchiki Rukia.

He encountered a few things that he didn't think he would find in this world, like vampires and a cousin of their the Bount, or soul suckers. There were werewolves, kitusne, mystical tanuki, and a whole host of other supernatural creatures, these ones didn't turn into hollows and just reincarnated into something else, like plants or rocks and things.

But some of them were actually hollows that had managed to hide their masks and holes, transforming into other things to blend in with the country they resided in.

It didn't really take much time before something happened that attracted the interest of Viator once again. It was a night that a Menos had escaped from his blade, a feat that not many monster could boast about, even though none of them knew of him and his capabilities.

He had been there when his student had dealt the killing blow to Grand Fisher, which was the name of the hollow that had taken his mother from him. His mother had been avenged, and there was one less impure soul in the world. It was a nice turn of events.

But now, this was different. There was a Menos threatening the town, but Viator was not worried, he could intervene anytime he wished. He decided to see how much his student had grown in the short amount of time away from him.

He watched as his student defeated the thing, something which normally would have taken a vice-captain, if his research was to be believed, to defeat, at the very least. It was quite the sight, a giant being taken down with an overgrown butcher's knife, at least that was the form that Ichigo's zanpakutou took on while he was still not yet used to controlling such a large amount of power.

"_I applaud your advancement, yet feel disappointment in the fact that you still wield that butcher's knife, rather than the elegant blade you had for four years under my tutelage,_" Viator said, he was invisible to all save for that young man that at nine years old had been able to still see him while he was in a state that kept him hidden from even most gods.

While listening to his companions, Ichigo heard and saw his mentor and nodded almost imperceptibly at the entity to acknowledge his words.

Things were changing quite fast, quite quickly, two soldiers of Soul Society had come for the short shinigami that Ichigo called friend. When the carrot-top was left bleeding on the road, Viator decided that it was time to reveal himself to part of the world.

He stepped in before that former captain of the Research and Development Division could take his student to heal at some shack in town. Viator intervened. He dropped down beside his student, while wearing the traditional shinigami uniform, and picked the teen up and hefted him over his shoulder.

"Put him down!" Urahara Kisuke demanded as he pointed his cane at Viator's direction threateningly, "I don't know who you are, but by your way of dress, I'd say you're a shinigami, probably from the twelfth division, here to abduct a research project. Leave him and leave now, lest you taste my wrath."

"I don't think so," Viator stated as he made to leave, he didn't think of Kisuke as a threat, since the former captain wasn't a threat at all, just an obstacle, "I'll be taking my student now, former captain of the Gotei 13. He was mine before he became your tool."

He jumped up onto a street lamp and prepared to do something faster than a flash step to his property to better care for his student as well as to accelerate the teen's training in control.

"Wait!" Kisuke called out and followed him to an adjacent street lamp.

"What do you want?" Viator asked, impatiently.

"How do you know about that?" Kisuke asked, "How do you even know me, and knowing me how can you look down on me and my power?"

"Your power is infinitesimally small compared to mine, and is comparable only to a fraction of my student's," Viator stated, "The only reason he lost to that pair from Seiretei is that he has yet to gain back his full control over his energies."

"I see," Kisuke said, "So if you're not a shinigami, what are you?"'

"I am a businessman and mentor to this teen on my shoulder," Viator said, "Prepare whatever it is you plan on preparing. My student shall rescue that friend of his from the fate decreed by Central 46."

"You know quite a lot about the situation don't you," Kisuke stated, rather than questioned.

"I make it a point to know as much as possible about anything that concerns myself," Viator said, "Things that affect my student concern myself."

"I see," Kisuke said, "Well, I was planning on helping him train up so that he'd be able to face the challenges that lie ahead. Since I've only just met you, under these circumstances, I would like to apologize for not trusting you immediately. Will you allow me to go with you, that I might know where Ichigo will be staying for the duration of my preparation?"

"Fine," Viator agreed, "Since I know who you are, I might as well introduce myself," he said as they ran across the rooftops, "You may call me Viator-sama, I am not your friend, and my power greatly dwarfs yours, the fact that you are unable to even feel a fraction of it is proof of my claim."

"Viator...-sama," Kisuke decided that it would be a good idea to just follow along, something in him was telling him that disrespecting or just pissing off Viator was bad for his continued existence for some reason, "Well...so how long has Ichigo known about my world? Or is it our world?"

"Since six months after his mother died," Viator replied, "We are here."

They dropped down to the ground before a walled compound, Viator's residence. Upon entering Ichigo was handed over to one of the women that lived and worked there, she brought the carrot-top to his room, the one he used when he was over. This left Kisuke alone with Viator, no one else came to them as they walked through the compound heading for one of the bigger buildings not connected to the central complex.

Kisuke couldn't help but grow a bit worried the deeper he walked into the compound, he felt a presence so familiar that he could taste its identity but not name it. He wasn't sure what it was, but something in the compound screamed danger.

"Do not mind your instincts, it is only natural that you feel this anxiety the deeper into the compound we walk," Viator said, "It is a security feature I put in place to keep some of my guests and clients safe from harm. The shinigami kind of harm."

"What business do you own, if I might ask," Kisuke asked as they reached the doors to their destination.

"Mostly pleasures of the flesh, emotions, and mind," Viator said, "A visit to paradise for some, and hell for others. That is the business I own in this world."

"Would it be possible for myself to partake of these services?" Kisuke asked, he was curious, "I am willing to pay of course."

"Very well," Viator said, "You are here already and I'll give you a discount since you are the first shinigami I'll have as a client, Ichigo doesn't count since he's my student and part-time employee."

"What form do you take your payments in?" Kisuke asked, such info was required after all.

"Cash or check are universal," Viator said, "Since I've never dealt with a shinigami, what form are you willing to pay in?"

"I can pay in check," Kisuke said, "If that's alright with you."

"I'm sure it won't bounce," Viator said, then snapped his fingers, calling one of his girls to come to them, wearing an elegant kimono, the brothel part of his business had two levels, one was the regular whores, and the second were the more cultured and trained geisha. The girl that arrived was one of the higher tier.

"You called, Vi-sama," the girl meekly said once she arrived.

"This is Urahara Kisuke," Viator told the girl, "Treat him well."

"Wait a moment," Kisuke said, "We haven't discussed payment yet."

"Ah yes," Viator said, "Since you have a discount, it will be up to you to decide the first part. I would also like to borrow Benihime if you would allow."

"Benihime? What would you want with my zanpakutou?" Kisuke asked, he was understandably apprehensive about the request.

"While you will be spending some time with one of my girls, I wil


	76. 1UP

**1UP –**_ as in extra life...though what comes after is anyone's guess as the following Letter'd chapters may or may not have anything to do with one another_

"Um..Godfather," Lily Evans said, she was but a child of five but she knew who her godfather really was even though her own father didn't, it was an accident really one that she had stumbled upon when her neighbor's eldest family member died.

"Yes Lily," he said, he knew she had seen what he had done, even though no one else had seen him, "What is it, my little flower?"

"What did you do with Mrs Robertson?" she asked him, it wasn't what she wanted to ask, but it was what popped into her head once she finally got to ask her godfather her question.

"I took her to her fate," he replied, not at all really caring much for what he told the child, he already knew that she knew what he was.

"Which was?" she asked, pressing him for an answer.

"Tell me what you think it was," he said, turning to face her in the form that he was sure she had partially seen.

"Um...I don't know," she said, she wasn't frightened, she knew her godfather wouldn't hurt her, ever.

"I don't either," he said, his voice not quite yet sounding the way it did when he was in his truer form, "I am but a guide did you know that? I don't judge or decide where one goes once it is one's time. I simply show them the way, and they are the ones in the end that make that final choice in this life."

"Oh," she said, "So does that mean if I'm good, I really will go to heaven?"

"Perhaps," he replied, "I wouldn't really know, I wasn't really given a choice in the matter, well not really, but I did kind of become what I now have become."

"So you really are.." she began to ask.

"Yes," he replied to her uncompleted question, "I am. And since you figured out my secret, I will do something for you that I rarely do."

"What's that?" she asked him, even more curious than before.

"You know how in arcade games sometimes there's an extra life or a continue?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm giving you that," he told her, "You can use it for yourself, or for someone else. But you only get one so choose wisely."

"Ok, thanks godfather," she said to him, "But can you really do that?"

"Yes, I can do that," he told her, "I am what I am, I am also a father, a brother, a cousin, a friend, and most of all, when it comes to you, your godfather. When your parents are no longer physically around to look after you or out for you, I shall still be there for you. Remember that."

"I will," she said, she promised to remember.

"I will be just a call away," he said, "Call if you need me, only if you really need me though, as you should know I have many more responsibilities."

"I'll remember," she said, "You have work like papa does."

"Yes, I have work like he does," he said.

They had been in the house's backyard when they had the conversation while Petunia was at a friend's house. Petunia thought that she had the cooler and more respected godfather, but she was wrong since Lily had a godfather that people all over the world respected or feared, as there was almost nothing more revered as Life and **DEATH**.

The next time Lily saw her godfather in such an other worldy form was when she had her first chance encounter with some Dementors, those guardians of the Wizarding Maximum Security Prison of Azkaban and representations of fear itself. There had been a criminal on the lose, a mighty dangerous one at that, while not an escapee the man was still very dangerous and he needed to be caught before he exposed the magical world to the world it hid from.

She was only ten at the time. But she already knew about the magical world, thanks to another kid her age that had introduced it to her.

She was defenseless as she knew not how to defend herself against them, they had found her alone that night as she was walking home from the local park where he had spent the day with her friend, Severus Snape.

"_G-Godfather, help, please,_" she whispered and stuttered as the terror at meeting the things closing in on her surged through her.

She was surprised that instead of fleeing in terror or fear, they kneelt before him as if he were either a king or a god, or both.

"_I am greatly disappointed in you,_" he spoke, his voice was that of a thousand voices speaking as one ranging from all ages, languages, and styles, "_I know that it is in your nature, ye of lesser standing and power, but still...attacking a child. My godchild no less. Have you no shame?_"

~Our sincerest apologies sire~ one volunteered ~We were ordered that there be no witnesses~

"_Turn a blind eye to the innocent, that is my decree, unless they or I say otherwise,_" he ordered.

~Understood sire~ the Dementors said ~We hear and obey~

With those words they left, floating away to continue their search.

"What were they?" Lily asked, she was shivering from the cold that they had brought and left with, the cold reminded her of both winter and her godfather, but his cold was comforting while theirs told of her time being almost up.

"Dementors," he replied, his voice returning to the one she was used to, "They are magical creatures, created by a number of higher powers, including myself. They are the eternal guardians of the wizarding prison of Azkaban, though it is only being lent to the British Ministry of Magic, and of course I know that you know that magic is real, that friend of yours being proof of that."

"Why did they attack me?" she asked him.

"They feed on human emotions, or emotions really," he explained, "Positive and negative, it matters not to them. They were also ordered by the Ministry, whom they serve for the time being, to leave no witnesses of their passing through."

"Oh, I don't think I like the Ministry that much," she said to him.

"I don't like them either," he said, "They abuse their power when they think no one's looking. But that's not to say that all of the members or employees are bad."

"I know," she said, "Thanks for rescuing me."

"As I told you years ago," he said, "I will always be here for you, all you need do is call."

"I know, that's why I called," she said, then remembering that she was still feeling a bit cold, asked for a hug which he granted her and offered to escort her home, her parents were surely worried about her since she was out past her curfew.

They walked most of the rest of the way back to her house. She had been strong, he expected her to be of course, she had stood where others would have already fallen. Others would not have been able to think clearly enough to call for help. This was why he was not surprised that mental exhaustion claimed her a minutes away from her house.

He carried her the rest of the way, and answered whatever questions that he could when her parents bombarded him with questions after she had been put to bed.

"In a year's time, around summer I believe," he said to his friend and his wife, "Your daughter will receive a letter, an invitation more like, to one of the UK's most prestigious educational institutions. Whatever you do, don't think it to be a joke, it will be genuine, and someone will most likely come along to answer whatever questions you think up. Ok?"

"Ok Trist," Lily's father said, "You really are a lifesaver, you know that. I don't know what I would have done if something did happen to her."

"I know," he said, "Be glad she had the head enough to call for help."

"What were you doing anyway?" his friend asked him.

"Truthfully, I was working," he said, "Which reminds me, I've got to get back. It was nice seeing you guys again, but I've got to rush."

He really was close by and had to ask his latest adventurer to wait a while as he had a goddaughter to rescue. He returned to the recently deceased soul apologizing for how long it took, and continued with his duties. The soul didn't know what to think, but was surprised to know that her son, whom she had left behind, was actually the girl's first and only friend.

It was a few more years again that passed before Lily called on her godfather for help, it wasn't that she was in mortal peril again, but that she felt betrayed and didn't know of anyone else to trust for the time being since it was her best friend that had betrayed her.

"_Godfather..._" she whispered while she was alone in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest, it wasn't the smartest of things she had done, but it was the only place she knew she wouldn't be disturbed and when her godfather appeared, while he wouldn't be happy with her chosen setting, his presence would keep anything mortal away from her.

"What happened?" he asked her, he knew instantly that she didn't feel happy, she wasn't as full of life as she usually was during the summers, "And this better not be about that Potter kid."

"Its not," she said, "Its Severus, James and his friends humiliated him again and when I tried to help him...he...he called me a Mudblood..."

"Hmm.." he sighed, "He didn't mean it you know. But I know how you feel, you didn't think he had it in him to ever call you that. Will you forgive him?"

"I'd like to, but he hasn't apologized, and I don't think he will," she said, "His friends in Slytherin were cheering him on, and I even heard some others whispering that he was only friends with me for help in class."

"So what help do you want from me this time, child?" he asked her, "I'm not really much help in the advise department, plus I'm not a girl."

"I know," she said, "Its a boy matter, but I can't really...I don't really feel comfortable talking to anyone else about this. There's school rivalries and stuff, and I don't know how my girl friends would react to this...and my confusion."

"Conflicting emotions then?" he asked her.

"I...a bit," she said, "Its rather complicated...I'm sorry for bothering you about this."

"I don't mind," he said, "Bother me all you like. Its not like I was busy this night."

"What do you mean?" she asked, she didn't really know how or what he did exactly.

"I've got armies under me that go around doing what I do," he told her, "You think I'm almost everywhere guiding souls at once?"

"Actually, yeah," she said.

"Well, I'm not," he said, "A part of me, sure, but not every part of me. Its like how a part of me flies with the Killing Curse, a tiny unnoticeable part that I sometimes forget about it."

"Oh," she said, "Back to my problem...what do I do? Do I just forgive him, since I kind of understand his situation or...what?"

"Honestly, I don't really know," he told her, "I think, he's chosen the path he wishes to walk down on. While it may not be the lightest, it is still the path he thinks is best. He is still your friend, I can tell you that much, but he thinks that this is the best way for him to protect you. He knows that you do not share the same feelings that he has for you. So please trust him, and tell that Potter kid that if he hurts you, I'll come for him before it's his time."

"Hehe, ok," she said, "I'll trust Severus, but I still kind of feel betrayed about it...but I know he hasn't had the best of lives...and I'm not telling James that. We only just got together."

"And Severus probably was feeling a bit mad at you for choosing his bully over him," he said to her, it wasn't that hard to figure out, and it wasn't like there weren't other lives that it didn't play out the same or slightly different but inherently the same.

"I...yeah...I guess," she said, "So...will you still threaten my boyfriend? Are you gonna tell Dad? Or Mom? Or Pet?"

"Why in the world would I want to do that?" he asked her, sounding as if he thought she were crazy, "Your family will ask me too many questions, I don't want to answer any of them without you there to shush me before I spill his deep dark secrets, like how he took a lock of your hair in first year and stuck it into his journal after thinking that he was already in love with you then."

"He what? That's kind of just creepy!" she exclaimed, "He didn't douse me with a love potion did he?"

"No, he didn't," he said, "It wouldn't have worked on you anyway."

"Why not?" she asked, "Do you have something to do with it?"

"Kind of," he admitted, "I asked one of my cousins to make you immune to such mentally and emotionally influencing potions and other such magics."

"You have cousins?" she asked him, she never really thought about asking about his more personal life.

"I do," he said, "Distant cousins, but we treat each other as closer than that. I'm also married just so you know, I have two children of my own, one's dead the other's a god, you know the kind, he's got hosts of angels at his beck an call and such too. Which reminds me, if you have any more of this kind of problems...I would advise you to seek out the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw."

"Why her?" she asked.

"She's my wife, that's why," he admitted, "I kind of forgot to tell you about her. Hehe," he ran his hand through his hair in slight embarrassment, it kind of reminded her of James Potter though, "Don't tell her that though."

"I'll try to remember," she said, mischievously.

"Alright," he said, "What do you want for your silence?"

He was amused by her Slytherin thinking, even though she wasn't in that House.

"In the future, when I've got a kid, my first one," she said, and held up a hand so that he wouldn't interupt her, "Will you be his or her godfather too?"

"Sure," he said, "You didn't need to blackmail me into that you know."

"I know," she said, "But this way, I'm sure you'll protect him or her too."

"Whatever you say, my little flower," he said, "I'd best be going now, as should you. Your friends will start to worry that you've not been back for a few hours, and I also don't think you want the unicorns thinking that you're no longer pure."

"What do unicorns have to do with me?" she asked, "I'm still a you know..."

"Yes, I am well aware of that," he said, "But by being in my presence, a bit of my presence stays with you for a while, I don't think your Care of Magical Creatures subjects will like staying near someone that feels of my touch."

"Oh fine," she said, then hugged him goodbye, she was probably the only person alive in her world that didn't fear Death, since he was after all her godfather.

Several more years pass, before she calls on his more supernatural than her form for the third and last time. While she had met up with him or he visited her on many occasions, they didn't count as everyone else saw him as human those times and not as what he truly was.

She dared not call on him during the war itself, when she was out fighting with her husband by her side, or ask him to protect her husband as he always calmed her down telling her that it wasn't any of their times yet. But that didn't mean that she feared her end. She knew that it was inevitable, and she didn't want to use up her one up (1UP), that continue or second life like in the arcade games.

It was _That_ Halloween Night, he was coming for them, for their family, for her baby boy. She would not let anything happen to him. Nothing at all, and so help her, he would not pass on with her as she knew she would.

He came, she could hear her husband, James, fighting downstairs. It was foolish of her to think that her trusted headmaster's additional wards would be able to protect her, those anti-portkey and apparation wards were showing how much of a curse they now were. She couldn't escape, and while she knew it was the end of her life, she wouldn't let her baby suffer the same fate, even though it would surely be a swift passing.

"_Godafther, hear me...protect my son and let him not fall as I surely will this night,_" Lily whispered, and knew that she had been heard.

"Stand aside girl!" the monster that had once been a mere ambitious young man ordered her, he planned on saving her for the sake of his most loyal and trusted of servants, a brilliant halfblood lke himself.

"No!" she shouted and physically pushed him away, "You will not have him!"

There was no fancy magic that she had done, she just layered a forgotten spell she found in the Potter Family Grimore, that protected any under its protection from injuries to the mind and soul, the body could be easily repaired but the soul was something else. She wasn't a Potter by blood and thus the spell didn't really do what it was supposed to, not that she knew that.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort intoned, the spell racing out of his wand, but instead of hitting baby Harry Potter, it slammed into Lily Potter as she dived into the way after she had been pushed banished out of the way by Voldemort himself. He did try, he really did, but the woman had been stubborn and there was nothing that he could do but kill her, or so he told himself.

"Avada Kedavra," the dark wizard intoned as he pointed his wand at the baby in the crib that Lily had placed her son in. The spell flew like it always did, but it also did something that he did not expect.

Instead of slamming into the child, and forcefully ejecting the child's soul from his body, it stopped mere inches from the child, and warped, distorted, wavered, and stretched, until standing between the child and the monster was something to do surely feared.

The self styled Dark Lord Voldemort knew what true fear or terror felt like the moment the figure materialized before him. He saw the souls of his most recent kills appear near him as well. Lily and James Potter stood near him, and moved protectively over to their son.

"N-No...I-It c-can't be," Voldemort stuttered in fear, he hoped against hope that he wasn't facing his greatest fear.

"_Tis not yet your time Tom Riddle, fear not,_" Death spoke in the voice of a thousand or more voices, all calm and collected with an underlying threat implied, "_Fear not the reaper, for yours has yet to come. Yours fled from thee years ago today, as had your guardian and devil. None remain with thee once thee performed your first vile and unforgivable act._"

"T-then why are you here?" the dark lord asked, gaining a bit of his backbone back at the revelation that it was not yet his time.

"_I hath heard that there be a prophecy concerning you, or at least that's what you all seem to believe,_" Death stated, "_I will let you decide your own fate. Shall we see this prophecy play out, or shall I simply do as I please._"

He had ignored Voldemort's question altogether, he was not obligated to listen anyway.

"Let the prophecy play out then," Voldemort decided, at least with that he had a chance of winning.

"_Very well then,_" Death said and stepped aside, motioning for the two parents to do the same, Lily had to tug her husband away, and his look of betrayal was like a Christmas present for the Dark Lord.

"Avada Kedavra," Voldemort cast, and the spell swift and sure, it slammed into the child and after a tense moment of silence that seemed to last for forever, the sickly green light flew out of the child leaving a lightning bolt shaped scar of the child's forehead as it was flung back into its caster, dissolving the caster's body and forcefully ejecting its screaming spirit.

"_And that takes care of that, for now,_" Death said, "_You may only remain for a little while longer. Say your farewells to you son, if you please, then I shall take you to that place you've been wondering about all your life Lily._"

"But what about Harry?" she asked him, still concerned for her son.

"How are you on such friendly terms with D-Death?" James asked his own question.

"_I'm her Godfather, and the second godfather of your son,_" Death answered James, as if it answered all of life's mysteries.

"No shit," James said, he didn't really know what to say to that, all he knew was that Lily insisted on having her own godfather be named as Harry's godfather as well, in case Sirius didn't prove himself worthy or mature enough to take care of their boy.

There was also one good thing about having Death as the child's godfather, he could not be so easily swayed by anyone in the mortal world into giving up his responsibilities as a godfather.

The parents told their child, who surprisingly enough understood them on some level, that they would always be with him even if he couldn't see them, that they would be proud of him no matter what he did, and that they would always love him. They need not wish him luck due to the people that they trusted surely being there for him, especially Death.

Once they had said their fare thee wells to their child, the two parents were taken up to where all souls pass on to, with that job done, Death returned to the mortal world where his newest godson was only to find that someone decided to meddle in personal family affairs that had nothing to do with them whatsoever. It was a good thing that he was Death, he had more than enough pull among the living to make sure that nothing happened to his charge, this one that had his mother's second life, and an additional one of his own.

Of course he knew what had become of the child he had temporarily left on his own in the ruins of Godric's Hollow. That didn't mean that he had approved, the child would have been better off in the ruins rather than where Albus Dumbledore had decided that the child be taken to and who was it that had been given permission to look after the child.

Albus had decided to leave the child in the care of the half giant Hagrid, not that the half giant was not a gentle giant, it was just that he had a tendency to not be able to keep secrets and had a tendency to set fire to his flammable hut on occasion.

That was followed by the old man's decision to leave the child in the care of his aunt, an aunt who detested magic more than she detested anything in her whole life. It was a good thing that she hadn't dared touch the child when Death arrived for him, as was his right as godfather seeing as the child's other one had given him up to Hagrid.

"Tis not such a good night Petunia," Contristo Acerbus, as was his more mortal guise referred to as, said, "Have you touched the child or just left him out in the cold November night to possibly freeze to death?"

"I refuse to have anything to do with that thing," Petunia said, "Take it if you want, I'm not touching it."

"I understand the pain you must feel whenever _that_ is mentioned," Contristo, or Trist as Petunia and Lily's parents had called him, said, "I know how my two friends really died that day, I know the cause of it, and each time you are faced with that you blame any that are connected to _it_. Know that tonight you have made the right decision Petunia, you have handed over Harry to the one with the right to care for the child. For this you have my thanks."

"I read the note," Petunia told him, "The one left beside him with some _spell_," she said the last word like it was fouler than foul, "It claimed that I was the to take care of it."

"Your sister knew of your disdain and dislike for what she had, something which you hadn't gotten," he told her, "She specifically mentioned that her child was to not go to you in her Will. The one who left Harry here, clearly violated such wishes, and worry not, he shall reap what he has sown."

"This Headmaster," she said, "He's the one, but based on the way Lily talked about him, how can you hope to challenge him...?"

"You just worry as a mother should for that son of yours," Contristo said, "He doesn't have what your sister had, and no other child of your shall gain it, unless you wish one to. I have seen to it, you might not be my goddaughter as your sister was, but I have been looking out for you too. Though not to the same extent that I did her."

"How can you be so sure that none of my children will have _it_? My parents were two perfectly normal people too you know," she said to him.

"I know someone that deals with that sort of thing," he told her, "No need for you to worry about it."

"Alright," she said, "So you'll take him."

"I will take him," Contristo said, "And unless you wish to see him, he will not appear to you."

"Good," Petunia said, "I'd like it that way, thank you."

"You are welcome," he said, then reached down and picked up Harry, as soon as he did all the protections that Dumbledore had placed on the child, the ones that would bind him to the first person related to him in someway for his protection and his caretakers, activated. But none of them, that were supposed to allow Dumbledore to influence them, took effect since Dumbledore would have to be more powerful than the one he would be trying to influence. He was not more powerful than Death.

Harry was brought not to where Death resided for most of the time, the child was not yet at a stage in his life that he would be able to survive living there, it was much too gloomy for a child to grow up there, unless the child was Death's own flesh and blood.

He brought Harry to his mortal home, the ancient seat of power of the House of Acerbus, the Moste Ancient and Moste Noble. Very few Houses could claim such and not owe their status to the crown. It was a House that could trace its line all the way back to the dawn of magic in this world, something that very very very few others could do or dare to do and not shame themselves in doing so.

In this world, it was a lordship, as that was all that the Lord wished to be called in reference to his House, that did not pass on from father to son, it remained with the first of its name. Contristo Acerbus, Lord of House Acerbus, one who was considered as royalty throughout the magical world and was also considered very eccentric since he mostly spent his time working as the Head of the Maintenance Department of Azkaban. A post that no one ever thought of applying for since one would have to work around so many Dementors.

"Honey! I'm home!" Contristo shouted as soon as he entered his manor home, one that was hidden from the more mundane world, the muggle world as it was called by the magicals.

"Why here?" his wife, Helena asked, "Why not at _Home_?"

"He is too young and more human than any of our two children could ever hope to be, as much as they thought they were," he said to her, "He needs the sunlight more than we do, and nature, and the world. So what do you say to playing second mother to him?"

"I'll be his aunt," she said, "No use trying to take the place of a woman that I will never be able to replace."

"Alright, and it wouldn't be that you would be replacing his mother," he said, "Just taking over from where she left off."

"And you?" she asked him.

"I will be taking over as my rightful place as his godfather," he said, "My crazy goddaughter's wishes."

"Only you," she told him and held out her arms to carry Harry, "Hand him over, who knows what you've already taught him, and I know you have things to do."

"Thank you," he said and handed Harry over to the woman that would make sure that he honored his ancestors, herself being one of them, directly and indirectly due to the pureblood intermarrying that they did on occasion.

It was rare for anyone to come out and openly challenge the secretly self styled Lord of the Light. Contristo Acerbus being the only one of three people to ever do so, and was the only one who could probably get away with it unscathed. He was also probably and possibly the only man in the wizarding and magical world that did not need to bow down to the letter of the law, he was above such mortal things after all, and those that had founded the government institutions somehow knew such and made it a point to make him above such laws for all time, magically binding their institutions into being unable to come down on him for anything he did.

It came as a great surprise that he appeared the day after the supposed defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort on the steps of the anti-apparation protected steps of Gringotts Diagon Alley Branch, a pair of menacing, instead of merely frightening, Dementors appearing only moments after his arrival. It was frightening that such a powerful man would make an appearance, though most didn't know who he was, the sight of the two Dementors caused some amount of fear and panic to spread through those celebrating while in the alley.

He ignored the screams and shouts, and strode into the bank, no one noticed that the goblins knew when to bow to one more powerful than they, they knew him for what he was or what he did. Whether they knew him as the one that worked with Dementors without them affecting him in the slightest, or as one who was older than the Alchemist, or even as Death was anyone's guess. What mattered was that they knew that he was higher up than they on the food chain.

He walked in and went for the nearest unoccupied teller, which was all of them. The goblin waited patiently, for one wrong move or word could cost him his life or the collective lives of all of the goblin race.

"I wish to speak with the one responsible for illegally sealing the Last Wills and Testaments of Lily and James Potter," he stated.

The goblin was hard pressed not to follow the wish and fulfill it, for doing otherwise could result in very bad things happening, for a war with Death was not something that anyone could win.

He was lead by the teller to one of the many offices within the cavernous bank, the goblin upon seeing him enter dropped down onto its knees groveling and hoping against hope that it survived its meeting with this particular client.

"I require an explanation as to why the Potter wills have been sealed," Contristo stated, "And if I do not like the explanation..._Well...I'll leave your sick little mind to figure out the consequences._"

"U-understood sir!" the goblin groveling before him squeaked, either way that goblin wasn't going to survive past the day, "The Chief Warlock got the Wizengamot to make it so, claiming that now wasn't the time for such trivialities to be enacted, there is still much chaos and confusion at the British Ministry of Magic and thus those with ill intentions toward the orphaned members of society. Or at least that was his argument, who are the wizards to go against the words of the Lord of Light?"

"Indeed," Contristo said, then waved a hand at the cowering goblin, "Kill this useless piece of dung, it is unworthy to even be in the same mortal world as I. I shan't dirty my blade with it."

"Glady!" one of the warrior goblins said and in one swift motion separated the goblin's head from its shoulders, the neck wound was cauterized as to not make much of a spectacle of the event.

"Good," Contristo said, "I require a new account manager it seems, since that particular one, unknowingly held my own family accounts."

There was a chorus of goblin voices shouting out their willingness to serve as an account manager for the Potter, Acerbus, and Hogwarts accounts.

"The one with the least experience," Contristo chose, and the goblins parted ways for one cart goblin named Griphook, "Very good, now unseal the will or are ye not goblins, the ones assigned by the wizards to keep their wills as even in times of old they knew that such events could transpire. Wizards are after all not to be trusted with their own finances and future, while Goblins are known for their honor, not only in battle, but also when it comes to such sacred things as the last wishes of the deceased."

"We would never steal from the dead," Griphook said, his voice that of the goblin race, "There would be no point, nothing to gain, save for your wrath, sire."

"Then unseal the wills and activate them," Contristo commanded, for he was one with such right to demand such things to happen.

"Thy will be done, Lord Peverell," the goblin said, and pulled out an elegant case from somewhere in the room, opened it and simply cracked the wax seal of the Potter Last Wills and Testaments.

"Summarize it," Contristo commanded, "We all know that all the fancy words are mainly as tradition dictates and that there are words in there only for the orphaned to hear. I require the list of beneficiaries, along with the list of guardianship over Harry Potter."

The goblin laid the wills out onto his new desk, took out some sheets of parchment, and began to write as fast and legibly as he could. The other goblins present just continued to watch.

Some friends got some money, and some items, but everything went to the last living and mortal Potter, Harry Potter. His guardians were listed in a certain order. There made no mention of Dumbledore having any say in the child's upbringing, and it was mentioned that no matter what Petunia Dursley was to never have anything to do with the child due to abhorrence to anything with magic in them.

Sirius Black was at the top of the list, but he lost any right to the child when he handed him over to Hagrid, as per Dumbledore's orders. Black prioritized locating Peter Pettirgrew over his charge, the son of his late best friend.

Next was Minerva McGonganall, but she too lost any right to the child as soon as she had permitted Dumbledore to leave the child in on the DOORSTEP, on a cold November's night, of one Petunia Dursley.

Alice Longbottom was out as well, but not because she had abandoned her charge, but because she was not in the state of mind to do anything at all, what with being in a cruciatus curse induced coma. Death Eaters had been given access into Longbottom Manor, even though the wards were ancient, someone had decided to have them deactivated, and had some weaker, yet obscure wards, used in their place. Dumbledore's suggestion.

Amelia Bones was the name after Alice's, but she was not suitable for such a task as she now had to deal with her own niece, as her brother and sister-in-law were not physically fit to look after their own child.

Severus Snape was on the list as well, but due to his having a certain branding on his arm, whether or not he is or was innocent meant that he was not a possible real candidate. The public would simply not trust such a man, even though he was trusted by Lily Potter.

The last name of course, on the list of guardians, should anything happen to the Potter couple, was Contristo Acerbus. He was the last resort, and of all the names on the list, he was the only one that had the right to take the child in.

Since the will had just been activated, he was officially the guardian of the Chosen One, the Boy-Who-Lived. Boy was the media going to have a field day with that.

"Have all other sealed wills activated, the ones that the Ministry managed to seal, the ones that your institution failed to activate due to the threat of Ministry reprisal," Contristo ordered, "It is within your rights, and not just your right, but your responsibility to see that the deceased's last wishes are fulfilled. The goblin treaty that granted goblins the right to being keepers of the gold of wizards also gave the goblins the sole right and responsibility of fulfilling such things, or have you forgotten?"

"It seems that even our education has been sabotaged," Griphook said, "We shall have someone look into all treaties, sire."

"Good," Contristo said, "I shall now take my leave. I hope that the next time I visit, with my charge, you will have better news for me."

"I will make sure of it," Griphook swore.

With that oath Contristo left the goblin territory, his Dementor escort following close behind him, the ground upon which he tread was the cleanest it had ever been, what with everything that lived found where he stepped dying and turning into nothingness due to his sour mood.

Once he got back home, he summoned his legal team, one of them anyhow. They were the most dangerous trio of lawyer that the magical world would ever encounter, and those in the know would dare not go against them in a court of law.

Rhadamanthys, Minos, and Aiakos, these three lawyers were hardcore, there wasn't anything they wouldn't dare do if it would make sure that their client won their case. They were obsessive compulsive and perfectionists. They also had a healthy fear of death, and thus were perfect for Contristo's needs. There was also being the Greek Judges of the dead that made them more than fit to be the lawyers of Death.

They were given orders to make sure that Harry Potter's assets, and anything related to him was kept safe. They were also to copyright or trademark everything that had to do with the image of the Boy-Who-Lived, since there were sure to be those that would dare make money out of a boy with seemingly no legal protection. Too bad for them, that they were going to have to deal with the full might of the netherworld.

"Keep him safe, why don't you," Contristo said on a parting note with the trio, they bowed and left to do their jobs, that and to escape whatever fury Death my send their way if they didn't hop to it fast enough.

"How was it?" Helena said as she walked up to him, still carrying Harry in her arms, though he was asleep.

"I have custody of him, and thanks to that the Ministries of Magic can't do anything about it," he said, "I am exempt from the law, and by extension so are everyone in the family. Just don't tell those two _idiots_ that."

"Why would I? They both get into enough trouble as it is," she said, as they spoke badly about their own flesh and blood, "What is the status of my old House?"

"We have your mother's heir, and you get to mold him," he told her as he ran his fingers through Harry's hair.

"Oh I think I really like that piece of icing," she said, her eyes having a certain mischievous fire dancing in them, she had been granted a more physical body by her husband since she had another kid to take care of now.

#

No one knew about who really had Harry until the first lawsuit found its way to court. Once it became public that Contristo Acerbus got custody of Harry Potter after the wills of his parents were unsealed and activated as was the right and responsibility of the goblins, after the Wizengamot had more or less broken the law on the word of Albus Dumbledore, no one could do anything about it.

The reasons as to how he had gotten such a responsibility were detailed in the Daily Prophet, along with all the other publications. The Three Judges, as they were known anywhere, made sure that the publications didn't forget to mention how Albus Dumbledore had no right whatsoever to meddle in such affairs.

Before the articles in the newspapers and magazines, very few in the world even knew who Contristo Acerbus was, but after such news was released, Harry Potter's nickname had to be changed and was change to The One, since there was precedent of survival from getting hit with the Killing Curse.

One cannot kill what is already dead.

Not that anyone knew the full extent of what Contristo was.

Anyone with plans for the former Boy-Who-Lived would have to rethink or re-tweak those plans now that Contristo was involved.

Dumbledore didn't know what made him think of going against such a powerful man, a man that even he feared, that his old teacher Nicholas Flamel feared more than anything in the world. Salazar Slytherin himself was even said to have feared this man that was centuries upon centuries older than Hogwarts itself. When he married Helena Ravenclaw he was already an old man, one that didn't look his age at all.

Had Dumbledore known how Contristo fit into the picture earlier on, he would have set up the Longbottoms instead of the the Potter like he had done, for the greater good of course. Had he done so, he wouldn't have been as screwed as he was now.

The papers painted him as some sort of manipulative old coot that had his own agenda. Meddling where he wasn't supposed to meddle, and almost causing the goblins to go to war once again, not some puny rebellion but a full blown war.

His hands were tied, he couldn't do anything, nothing was within his grasp. Nothing really.

At least he still had his Order of Merlin First Class, his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts, though that could change in the coming months, and his seat as the chairperson of the Wizengamot, the Supreme Mugwump position on the ICW wouldn't be taken away after just a small insignificant thing, or so he thought.

All his positions were in danger of being taken away from him.

He decided to back off while he still could, but also decided that he would bide his time and strike like the viper that the Sorting Hat had told him that he could be.

The Old Dark and Old Light families didn't really know where the future political powerhouse would lean in the future, the House of Acerbus wasn't solidly on any side of things. The one thing all the Old Families agreed on was that they needed to find a way into the good graces of the Potter heir, and stay there.

They already gave up on getting in on the good side of House Acerbus, as countless generations had already tried, but none had succeeded, old tales tell of Contristo Acerbus having eyes that could see into the depths of one's soul.

How true those tales were, since he could indeed do so, from a distance even, from half way across the universe if he wanted to too.

Nothing could be hidden from his gaze, nothing. _**Nothing**_.

#

Harry spent his early years in bliss, he had no chores to speak of other than the ones he volunteered for when he was four, which were just cleaning his own room, fixing his own bed, and helping set the table. It was a big table too.

He loved meals above all other activities, for it was when he got to spend time with everyone that lived in or visited the manor. There were always no less than twenty people in and around the manor, ranging from humans to Dementors.

Of those twenty, six of them were always Dementors, three were his Aunt Lena's guards, while the other three were his. He learned not to fear them, he was actually quite fearless, though he dreaded disappointing his Aunt Lena and his godfather Trist, Death did not let him call him anything else.

Of the fourteen others around the manor, three were himself, his Aunt, and his godfather.

Of the remaining eleven, four were elves, not the house elf kind, but the tall as a human type of elf. They worked as the main servants of the household, wore uniforms instead of those rags that that house elves usually ended up being seen in. One male and three females, the females were usually the ones assigned to making sure that Harry didn't do something he wasn't supposed to or go somewhere he wasn't supposed to.

The remaining seven others, were random people that came and went, but usually stayed for whatever meal was coming up.

After his fifth birthday, a day he found to his surprise was shared by his godfather, though the man didn't really care much for celebrating it anymore since he'd already had so many, Harry found out that he had cousins or brothers of sorts, the children of his godfather and Aunt Lena.

They were Julian and Julianus, both were rather eccentric, one of them could rarely visit, while the other could just pop up anytime, but didn't since he had work. Whatever it was that kept those twins occupied Harry didn't know, or care to know, all he cared to do about them was thank them profusely for giving him the two puppies they did get him for his birthday.

Each of the two brothers had given him a cerberus, a three headed dog, these two that were given to him were apparently from the Central Hades' Cerberus's bloodline. The two three headed pups were partnered up with another set of gifts from someone that Harry had only been told about by his aunt.

Most other children were told that the devil was a bad person, but not Harry. He was told that if he was real good he would get to meet the ruler of hell himself, and maybe get a birthday present. Which was what happened on his fifth birthday.

Devil, as Trist called him or cousin Devil, had given Harry a pair of kittens, but in keeping with the trend and his own nature, the kittens weren't the run-of-the-mill kind. No. They were nundu kittens or cubs, little ones of one of the deadliest magical cats in existence.

He named each of his dogs and cats after one of the Hogwarts Founders, his Aunt Lena was really happy when one of the nundu cubs was named after her own mother. Rowena.

The other nundu was named Salazar.

Which left the two cerberus puppies to be named Helga and Godric.

The twins were originally going to give Harry a manticore and a chimera, but their mother talked them out of that idea. Devil had wanted to give him an angel as a pet, but the twins and his Aunt Lena talked that Being out of that present.

When Harry was seven he discovered hobbies, he liked gardening, potions, chemistry, and flying. He was given a green house, and even managed to train his four pets into helping him around his greenhouse. He had all sorts of plants given to him, along with all sorts of seeds. The plants were what led him to potions, and from potions chemistry and to a lesser extent cooking.

The flying bit came after he witnessed his godfather duke it out with his Uncle Devil one afternoon during that seventh year of his life. The two men had been sipping tea one minute and the next they were fighting in the garden. It was a good thing that there were many wards concealing their presence, else the neighbors would have witnessed a fight they were not likely to ever forget, even in death.

It was also at age seven that Harry found out what else his godfather did, when not working as the maintenance head of Azkaban prison. His aunt had taught him about the grim reaper and all sorts of things about the state of death, of the event, and all sorts of things related to the morbid subject. So he knew that when he saw his godfather and uncle fighting in the forms that they were in, he knew without a doubt what they were.

He wasn't scare of either of them.

It was when he was eight that his relatives, these people that cared for him, came clean completely with him. It was only at that age did Trist start sharing with the boy tales of what he did, and some of his workload in preparation for the boy's own future.

Aunt Lena told him tales about Hogwarts, and even her own story which came with all the secrets of the school that he would one day attend. It was all fine, the boy didn't mind that it took them all a few years before starting to truly include him in the whole of their lives or unlives as the case sometimes was.

Uncle Devil would visit occasionally, bring with him a legion of demons and minor devils, and share his own stories, as well as let the boy have a go at leading people. The demons didn't mind at all, and were glad to be of service to the little boy who didn't really mind that they were evil, or supposedly evil.

The other visitors to the manor let him in on the things that they kept from him, leaving relatively nothing out unless they had been instructed that the child need not know about such things.

At nine, he got his godfather and uncle to teach him how to fly without the aid of a broom, fly the way they managed, either with wings that they didn't really need or in that wraith-like form that Trist called his truer form.

He was a child with a little devil and little angel in him. But growing up around Death himself and his sometimes ghost of a wife, he had a little death reaper in him too.

He was the nicest kid anyone could ask for, but when you got on his bad side or caught him at a bad time, you'd feel the wrath of one that had managed to weasel his way into the normally almost frozen heart of the Devil himself.

His pets weren't any different from their master, but they had moods and personalities of their own. But all four were protective of their master, and even growled at Death and Devil when their master was in a bad mood. It was a rather somewhat intimidating sight, more due to the frustrated looks on Death's and Devil's faces.

While he may have been an all around good kid, he did disobey his guardians some of the time, which some of the time also got him punished, by loss of privileges and the like, but no chores as that would take away from the elven servants they had.

At age ten, he manged to whine his way into convincing his guardians into taking him to France, where he met the Hunchback of Notre Dame, who wasn't really much of an hunchback and more of some guy that his godfather also called cousin, cousin Clement, so he became Uncle Clement.

While in France, he also managed to meet another _cousin_, Uncle Har, calling that particular uncle by that name made that particular uncle's day, week, month, year, and possibly lifetime. The guy looked to be in his early teens most of the time, but Harry knew better, he knew that his godfather along with all of these uncles that could pass for siblings, even though they weren't closely related, all weren't at the age they looked.

At the end of the France trip, Harry even met an uncle that he knew could kick his godfather's ass if he really wanted to. He didn't know how that could be possible but he knew that it was. That was Uncle Magus, the guy gave Harry a silver apple tree that bore fruits whose skins were made out of all sorts of precious metals and stones.

Harry was a home schooled child, one that was still able to interact with children his own age, younger than him, and older than him, and not all of them were dead, or human either.

He was probably the only wizard alive that had actually met a baby Dementor, his mother's primary guard Primoris had a kid, creeped her out when she found out that Dementors and their cousins could have kids. The baby was unlike anything Harry had ever seen before in his short life, and he had managed to see a whole lot.

A baby Dementor's power was even stronger than when it became an adult, it was a defense mechanism that the Dementors had. The baby was like a Dementor and a Boggart hybrid as it not only sucked out the happiness in a person but also turned into their greatest fear.

Harry was the exception to that rule and thus was made the baby's babysitter and taught the kid some more responsibility.

When his eleventh birthday finally rolled around, he was very much excited to receive his invitation to Hogwarts. He didn't know it, until his letter arrived that he was also going to have his first meeting with the Headmaster as well.

Dumbledore decided to hand over the letter personally, that way he could gauge how much he would have to work with when molding the hero of the light. The Dumbledore family wasn't an old one by much, since it was just as Family and not a House, but he had done his research and knew where the Acerbus Manor was.

It wasn't that hard to find, since Contristo didn't hide the place under so many wards that one would need to know the secret to find it. But even though it's location was known, people rarely came for a visit.

The door was answered not by a house elf like he had expected, but by one of the higher forms of elf, a standard elf. He hadn't been expecting that at all, he would have accepted a human servant, but not a standard elf.

"What business do you have with the House of Acerbus, Mister Dumbledore?" the elf stated, as it was of course standard procedure.

"I have with myself Mr Potter's Hogwarts Invitation," Dumbledore said, "I would like to hand it over to him personally."

"Enter," the elf said, "But take heed of what awaits the sin of pride, for should you seek more than his attendance you shall find...well...I'll leave you to think up what will happen to you. Maris will take you to the sitting room to await my Lords."

"Thank you," Dumbledore said, and followed the elf that appeared from almost out of nowhere, but had actually been waiting just inside the manor's entry hall to escort whatever walked through the front doors. He followed this second elf into a sitting room, where there were couches. It was like a common room from Hogwarts than anything else.

He waited, clutching the invitation, with baited breath, he was a bit nervous even though he had faced off against Dark Wizards and had learned from Nicholas Flamel, he was still not prepared to face what he hoped was not a lost cause along with someone that he knew many a Dark Wizard and Light Wizard had tried to topple from power all these years.

His waiting came to an end when one of the doors into the room was pushed aside to allow two figures three figures to enter the room, one child and two adults. He never imagined meeting a colored Grey Lady in his life, while he knew her as a ghost he hadn't yet connected the dots to who she really was. After all, one must not believe everything that one reads in the paper.

"I have been informed that had decided to break tradition and personally deliver the Hogwarts Invitation to my charge," Contristo stated once fully into the room, he kept himself between Harry and the Headmaster.

"True," Dumbledore said as he rose from his seat to properly greet the Master of the House.

"What is your true purpose here Albus Dumbledore," Contristo said with a raised inquiring brow, "You are not a man that would simply break tradition as you have, for just about any reason, and for just about every celebrity that has the potential of joining your fair institution."

"I was a fr..." Dumbledore began, but was interrupted.

"A friend of his parents you were going to say," Contristo said, "An acquaintance maybe, but not a friend. I assure you, Lily most of all didn't trust you, and with good reason I'm sure. I do not trust you, not one bit Albus Dumbledore."

"I have no ulterior motive for bringing Harry his letter," Dumbledore said, acting all familiar with the eleven year old.

"That's Mr Potter to you Dumbledore," Harry spoke up, "I do not know you, and as such I have no reason to trust you. For all I know you set my parents up, and based on your actions during the night and following week after my parents were killed while I survived, I can't see how you are being quite honest with us."

"Mr Potter then," Dumbledore said, it would not do to anger such a magically gifted young man that had a responsibility to save the wizarding world, to hell with the rest of it for Dumbledore cared not for the rest of it, he extended the letter of invitation, "Your letter."

Instead of Harry reaching out for it, it was snatched from the old man by Primoris who appeared from out of the shadows. He trusted the old headmaster even less than Contristo did, as was his job as a bodyguard of sorts.

It was a good thing that most mortal magics did not work on him, otherwise he would have been under the partial control of Albus Dumbledore who had layered a few normally unnoticeable mental and personality altering spells, as well as monitoring charms, tracking charms, and control charms.

Dumbledore's face almost contorted into a scowl at that one action that he had not planned for. He had forgotten in his planning haste that he wasn't dealing with an ordinary wizard, but with Contristo Acerbus, a man that could kill him in front of the entire ICW and they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Except maybe smile, look on in horror, or join him.

"He is untrustworthy," Primoris reported, "Spells were layered on the letter, that should anyone other than he, Dumbledore, touch the letter, preferably the little prince, the spells would activate and latch onto that person. The nature of the spells, I cannot say as they do not affect me."

"I see," Contristo said, "Harry, what do you want done?"

He deferred to the boy that would be going to the school that the old man before them supposedly lead and watched over. It was a choice between keeping the man in check, still in power slightly, and grant him some more opportunities to try and manipulate Harry, and the choice of kicking the man in the balls and making sure that this butt loving Nancy boy wasn't in any lighted position to do anything unlawful or inhumane.

"Let him keep his position," Harry said, "Let's hope he can remain professional as a Headmaster, and not the Chess Master he's making himself out to be. After all, prolonging the inevitable makes the torture more pleasant for the one causing the pain, in whatever form it takes."

"What are you people talking about?" Dumbledore demanded, he didn't like being treated like he was of no consequence in the world, especially to people that in truth really didn't matter in the world of the greater good of Albus Dumbledore.

"Nothing that should really concern you and your designs for my charge," Contristo said, "I can see through you plain as day. I know of your plots and plans, and have known for quite some time. But thanks to Harry you get to remain the kindly grandfather that you've built as your primary image. But know that it was not mercy that spared you this way, but pity. Pity for your very inconsequential existence."

The headmaster was then asked to leave, even though he was slightly confused and wasn't all that sure about what had transpired within the home. Contristo had altered the man's memory of the events that had taken place, it would not do for one source of entertainment to realize what was really happening in his world.

#

It was the end of the month of August, during the school supply rush, that Harry decided to procure his supplies. The ones listed in the de-charmed and de-cursed letter of invitation. He was accompanied not by his godfather or Aunt Lena, but by his three guards, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, not very original names but they had been around at that time so it didn't really matter, and one of his eleventh birthday presents.

One of his _brothers_, he wasn't sure whether it was Julian or Julianus that had given her to him, but he had an angel with him an actual angel and it wasn't the kind that had been broken after hours of torture in All Hells, like his Uncle Devil had originally planned on giving him that one birthday ages ago.

She looked to be around sixteen, and it was unlikely that she would age past that look for many years due to the nature of what she was. It might have been cruel on one of the twins' part or that it was slavery in a sense, but it was a good thing really.

This angel of a girl, whom Harry named Ange once she was given to him, had not purpose back when she still had not solid form as most angels found themselves to be. She served no purpose up in the heavens, she was no guardian, guide, nor warrior child, but when she was given to Harry she found her purpose and chose to serve him happily.

They visited the bank, three black, one white, and one child. The goblins bowed only slightly, most failed to notice the courtesy they showed the boy that walked with Death. He made his first ever withdrawal from his trust fund, not that he needed to but he had wanted to. Then made his way back into the Alley proper where he would begin his first steps into scholarly independence.

He didn't need his guards with him all the time, and thus had his version of the three musketeers venture off into the crowds to purchase the things he didn't really need to personally purchase for himself. That trio of Death Reapers, not surprisingly had rapiers as their reaping tools.

Ange was the only _adult_ of the trio that looked human, the three scared most people that saw them at the edges of their vision where the illusion of seeming invisibility of semi-notice-me-not charm wavered. She wore white clothes mostly, the exception being the peach pink shirt she wore under her white robes. She didn't carry any form of weapon on her, that was the Death Reapers' jobs, she was a mere companion as well as a means for a quick get-away.

She accompanied him to Madam Malkin's for his school robes, it was a requirement and when it came to school robes Madam Malkin's was the best, for anything else there were better places to go and tailors to see compared to her bland style, but since she had her shop in Diagon Alley she was viewed as the premier place tailor to go to, even with her bland style.

No one bothered him as he continued his school shopping, he wasn't an ever present figure in the lives of the people. He was merely an object of speculation and just another name in the history books. No one dared say or write anything that was not true and had some hard facts behind them or permission from either Harry or Contristo or both, unless of course they wanted to deal with a lawsuit that could destroy their lives if they pushed their luck.

Due to the trio of lawyers, most people had no misconception or expectations of Harry, there were no fantasy books of the boy-hero or toys of him, or any such thing. No one really knew much about The One as he had been called back when he was all the rage after defeating the most powerful and feared Dark Lord in over a century.

While there were those that had a sudden realization when they saw his face or caught sight of the scar that Albus Dumbledore had said he wore on his brow, they dared not approach him or disturb him. He was still a private citizen, one whose guardians would gladly take those that trespassed into his personal space to court for undue harassment after all Harry was still a child.

Dumbledore had tried and failed to make people look up to Harry, have them make assumption, opinions, and expectations of the boy, since people had no real basis for anything they thought up.

His final stop for the day was the wand shop, not the traditional one where most wizards and witches went for their first wand, but one of the lesser known crafters, and not a mere maker. His godfather had been the one to point it out, or at least in the direction of where such a place could be found.

His guards and companion accompanied him, making sure to keep him in the middle of the group since they were traveling into the bowels of the dark ally of Knockturn, the balance to all the light alleys and the greys. Their destination was the pub and inn known as the Choco Chugger, where the barkeep gave them directions to the wand crafter that Harry sought out, but only after finding out who his caretaker was.

"I heard some things," the barkeep said before Harry and his group walked off to the crafter, "Are ye interested?"

"I am," Harry said, his godfather told him that a pub of any kind was brimming with information common and uncommon and sometimes even rare ones.

"Then listen well," the man said, if he really was a man didn't really matter, not to Harry anyway, "A senile old owl's planning to plant some bait for some rats to take, as well as trick a potential chimera into taking the bait as well. That's all."

"Thanks for the info," Harry said, not really getting what it was supposed to mean.

The wand that had been prepared for him after the materials had been carefully selected was made out of a wood from the trunk of an elder tree, it was 13 inches long, and for the core was some liquid silver that the crafter claimed was from a goblin god of silver. Harry believed the tale of the crafter who had personally procured the materials. He believed it since he had met impossible Beings already.

It was quite a temperamental wand, once it had touched Harry's hand it decided that it had only one master, and anyone that touched it, well...they were in for a nasty shock of their lives. If it was just the wand that didn't like the person, the shock was minimal at best, but if Harry didn't like the person that touched his wand, well...that was a whole other story altogether.

The most difficult decision Harry had to make before leaving the manor for the train station, was which of his five pets he would bring, then he had to narrow it down to four since no one would likely believe that Ange was a pet too, not that there were any laws that disallowed slavery in the magical world. It was that backwards a society all in all, not that Death minded much.

In the end he chose to go with Salazar the Nundu, it was a difficult decision, but he wanted the added luck on his side. He wanted to get into Slytherin.


	77. AA 2

Contrary to popular belief as well as contrary to the belief of those that actually liked or tolerated him, he wasn't mortal. He hadn't been for a very long time. He hadn't been since after the sealing, that sealing that took away a lot of things from his life, one of which was his immediate family, another thing being his childhood.

At first his body could still remember to do as any normal healthy body would do, making everything in it perform as it should perform, it was really more of survival instincts working properly rather than actually remembering how things should work and how a healthy body should appear. He would breath without thinking about it, digest his food, pump blood, and all those other things.

But as his mind matured, those bodily functions seemed to lessen in their automated functions. He had to think about doing those things to appear normal and just like everyone else. Eventually he had to remaster how to do all of those things that normal people took for granted. His brain was the only thing that he didn't need to remaster or anything like that.

When his body's automatic functions began to wane he had another thing to worry about, another thing to master. His thoughts, his self-control, his will, his wishes, his whims, and the like. For as he learned, reality was his plaything, it was an extension of his self, his mind wasn't really cooped up in his brain, his thoughts weren't isolated in his cranium. His mind and his soul were, in a sense, one and the same thing.

It just so happened that his sealing had been a slightly botched up piece of work. His father might have been some great person, world renowned and all that for his skills on the battlefield and in seals, but he was just a man, and any mere mortal man could make mistakes.

The man had not merely sealed the threat to his home into his own son, but had tied his son's soul not just to the beast but to literally all of reality. The only thing that the boy could not fully manipulate or bend to his will were people in general, sure their bodies could be morphed and changed, but everything else that made them individuals was out of his control to an extent.

He couldn't outright change them to fit his whims or desires, but he could still manipulate them using external elements and forces into doing or becoming those things.

It was a slow and gradual shift from still being as close to everyone else as he could get to being so different from everyone else. It also took him quite a while to master all the things he needed to master. Because of this time taking training and mastering of himself and exactly what he was capable of, he wasn't really a visible part of the village's daily life. He kept to the shadows as much as possible, not really doing much or acting out to get attention.

He wasn't on the forefront of everyone's minds, he was normally an afterthought while he was in those shadows. But of course that didn't stop others from shunning him or looking at him with _those_ eyes when he was visible or in their midst.

He didn't really do well in school, but kept at it, because he had more important things to worry about and progress in than grades and the impressions or perceptions of others. He wasn't like everyone else after all, he was different, special, unique.

Not even the Hokage knew about how he was different, though he had seen some signs of something being amiss. It wasn't that he didn't trust the man, it was just that he didn't want to burden the old man any further.

He kept himself out of things that didn't have anything to do with himself directly as much as he could. It wasn't that he was an underachiever, it was just that he didn't want to get swept up into something he might grow to have no control over. A situation was a perception of reality, and was not really something he could just change or correct on a whim. There were just too many variables for him to think about, to many lives that could possibly be involved. He didn't think he was ready for such things, and until he was sure he could handle it, he would avoid such things as best as he could.

He failed to pass his the genin graduation exam with his age group, but one of his teachers approached him with information about another exam, a secret one that he could take if he wanted to become a genin. He didn't really think about it much and listened to what the man had to say to him.

He did as he had been told, stole the scroll unseen even by the Hokage, which was rather difficult since the man had turned his back on the scroll for a mere instant. It was one of those there one second gone the next kind of things.

Since no one had seen him take the scroll, much less seen in the vicinity of the Hokage Tower, no one could really suspect him of the theft of the scroll. Most, including the Hokage, had deemed the threat to village security as being great and ordered a village-wide lock down. Nothing and no one enters and leaves before the scroll was found and the culprit captured, for in their minds only someone of great experience could have managed such a feat. Someone on par with one of the Sannin or the Kage for that matter.

It put a dent in Mizuki's plans for framing the theft on Naruto, it was rather unexpected. He had thought that the deadlast of the year would have been more noticeable and obvious, and didn't expect that the blonde would have been able to pull off the heist so perfectly.

The blonde was only made aware of the truth about his _other graduation exam_ when he began to wonder where Mizuki was, and why the man hadn't shown himself yet. So he extended his senses outward, beyond what normal senses could perceive and sought out the chunin. On the way his senses found out about all the events that had transpired after his theft of the scroll.

Since the only thing left for what he thought to be an authentic exam was to wait for his sensei to appear and test him on what he had learned as well as grade him on how well he did, he decided that he had been lied to and he should return the scroll.

He knew that others would just attack him and ask questions later, so he chose to return the scroll to the Hokage in the same manner in which he had taken it from the tower. He simply willed the scroll to return to where it was normally kept, under heavy lock and key and other protections. That was one of the things that made the Kage think that it was a really experienced shinobi that had taken the scroll.

He included a handwritten note to the Hokage where he apologized for being tricked by one of his academy instructors. He told his side of events, as well as narrated what he had done and what he had learned from the scroll. As for how he had managed to take the scroll without anyone being the wiser, he stated that seeing was believing and no number of words would be able to make the Hokage believe a note.

The Hokage knew without a doubt who had written the note after reading it. He sent out his guards to retrieve the blonde unharmed. He needed a word with the boy or young teen, to verify the note and everything that had been written before confronting the chunin that had been the root cause of the village's present state of alert.

The blonde sat where he had sat when he had written the note before sending it away to the Hokage. His note had the exact coordinates where he could be found if the Hokage wished to verify his story.

So the Anbu didn't have that hard of a time searching for him, they went to where he said he was and would be should he be needed for interrogation of any kind.

They did not know how to treat him and so informed him that he was being summoned by the Hokage. It was at that time that he decided to show a little of his true self for the first time to other people. Instead of walking or moving with the Anbu in their own chosen manner, he moved all of them to the Hokage's office. Directly there. Bypassing any walls, doors, and defenses put in place to keep those that should be in the place, out.

These guards of the leader of the village had been taken by surprise by such turn of events that they were more than a little disoriented when they arrived at the office, even though the travel had been nigh instantaneous. They ended up sprawled on the ground instead of standing ready for anything. It was a little bit embarrassing for them.

The Hokage didn't fare any better, but at least he was sitting down when the group just appeared in his office, in front of his desk.

"You wanted to see me, jiji?" Naruto asked the old man, a tad bit innocently, but at the same time knowing that he was in spot of trouble.

"Yes," the old man said after regaining his senses and getting startled out of his stupor, "Would you mind telling me how you did that, take the scroll while my back was turned for but a moment I mean."

"I've always been able to do stuff like that," Naruto admitted, "Like how I appeared in your office."

"Which reminds me, how did you do that," the old man asked.

"I can just do these things," the blonde said, "It's part of who and what I am."

"What do you mean by 'what you are'," the Hokage asked.

"A monster of course," the blonde answered as if he was stating that the sky was blue.

"Naruto," the old man concernedly said, "You are not a monster. Remember that, you are just different."

"If you say so old man," Naruto said, "But that still doesn't change the fact that I can do the things that I can do."

"Why did you never tell me you could do these things," the old man inquired.

"Well it never came up in conversations and I didn't want to have burden you with the knowledge of it," the blonde said, "I didn't think it would be that important to you."

"Naruto, I care about you," the old man said, "I really wished you had told me about these things. Now I'll have to tell the village councils about you and what you can do."

"NO!" the blonde said, "No. Please don't. They don't need to know."

"But they do," the old man said, "I will be lifting the lock down in a few minutes, since the scroll has been returned and the culprit has been caught, and I will have to inform the other people that help me run the village what happened, so that we can find a way to make sure such a thing does not happen again."

"No! It's my secret!" the blonde said, angered that someone else, someone that he cared for, one of his precious people was going to share his secret with people he didn't want to know that secret with, "If you tell, I'll...I'll...I'll.."

"You'll what Naruto?" the old man asked, he thought that the blonde could simply teleport, that was what it appeared to be anyway, he didn't understand or know the blonde's full powers, "I have every right to inform the people who help me run this village about anything that could endanger the village. While you may have some mastery over this gift, from wherever it came from, I think it would be best if I find you someone to help you better control it so that it doesn't and you don't become a threat to the village in the future. I'm not saying that what you did was wrong. Since you were only following the orders of a superior and trusted teacher..."

"I have been in complete control of my self and my gifts and curses ever since I began to really think for myself," Naruto stated, his whole demeanor shifting into one of pure seriousness, "I take my burden seriously, unlike some others who have other gifts who take them for granted. I know the reason behind the glares and heated words, I know the reason behind the distrust, and I can tell you it has nothing to do with what I now am, with what I became after my own father performed his botched sealing."

"What are you talking about?" the old man said, trying to cover up the fact that he had been hiding something from the blonde.

"I know about the fox, and about the secret that was revealed," Naruto said, "I know you did it as a security measure for the village, even though you were quite wrong. I remember that night, and I remembered it in greater detail a few years after that night. I am more mature and much smarter than what my grades at the academy show. I have been focusing on more important things, such as keeping my power and ability in check."

"Naruto see reason," the Hokage asid, "I know that someone as young as you might think you know what you are doing, but you do not. I am older and more experienced when it comes to dealing with such things.."

"No!" the blonde shouted, the whole village began to shake with minor tremors as his anger surged to the fore, "It is you who do not seem to understand. Sure you're old and all that! But this is my life! I've been the one living it! I've been in control! Trust my word, I would not and will not lie about something as important as this. I am in complete control of myself and what I can do."

"Naruto! See here," the old man said, his anger and frustration at the blonde rising to try and match the blonde's own growing fury, "I am Hokage. This is my village, and so long as you live in my village you will obey me. I am sovereign here, what I say goes, and when I say others need to be made aware of your abilities, others will be made aware of them. If I say you need control, then you will be found a teacher who will help you find that control. That is final!"

"So all this time I have been just some weapon that you have been cultivating to control," the blonde stated emotionlessly, "You've been pretending to care for me all this time. To think I trusted you... Well then, you leave me no choice. If I want my secret to be my own, then I guess I'll just have to leave this village won't I."

"Naruto.." the old man tried to interrupt and change how his words sounded, he was regretting letting his anger get the better of him.

"I refuse to listen to your honey'ed words," the blonde said, "You will listen to my words and follow my wishes. My soul is reality, and reality is my soul. The other consciousnesses in it are just characters in a story beyond my control, but the setting, the props, everything else.." the ground began to tremor once again, this time a little bit stronger causing some of the sentries and patrols outside of the village to be a tad bit weary for a potential attack from one of their rivals from a past war, "... Everything else is a mere extension of myself."

The sky dimmed, even though it was morning and there hadn't been a cloud in the sky, the sun had been shining so brightly that it wasn't advised to gaze up at it. Now there was only darkness, it came so suddenly that none could explain how it could have happened, other than a very powerful illusion being cast all over the village, without chakra being detected in the technique at all.

The tremors began to increase in strength, bordering on being declared as an earthquake severe enough to cripple a village as powerful as this one.

The winds began to howl as well, yet the trees refused to sway. They stood firm like little wooded soldiers in a storm.

The energy generators that produced the electricity that the village used to power their homes and appliances and other things stopped generating power, a village-wide blackout occurred with the team in charge of maintaining power being unable to explain what had suddenly happened.

"The Kyuubi... Kurama," Naruto stated, monotonously, "Was not sealed within me that night. The Shinigami failed since my father was unable to perform a perfect sealing, even great men make mistakes after all. Instead of sealing the fox in me, he tied my soul with reality, even gods can make mistakes as well apparently, unless it was planned by fate all along."

"Naru.." the old man tried to get a word in, as he was realizing that he might have underestimated the blonde.

"Release the village from lock down and wait a few days before deciding to share my secret with the world," Naruto said, "We all know how loose the lips of those two councils are compared to mine."

The blonde added nothing more giving the old man time to speak once again.

"What should I expect in a couple of weeks," the old man asked.

"You were so focused on me that you failed to see the potential destruction I could have brought upon the village," the blonde said, "Now if you will excuse me, I shall leave you to your aged ponderings as I have more important things to do than remain in a room with an old man who can't trust one that has never lied to him, only kept secrets just as he had."

Naruto left the office with nary a sound or any visible sign, it was as if the old man had blinked, one moment he blonde was in the room with him and the next he was just gone, as if he had never been there in the first place. It was only when the blonde had left did he get the chance to take a look outside and see his people running around like headless chickens of a sort. They had just witnessed a fraction of the end of days and were acting accordingly.

They looked to their Kage for answers, and at the moment he didn't have any. So he waited a few days, and sure enough he received reports of strange occurrences from all over the known world. Of the sky suddenly dimming, of the ground suddenly shaking, of the winds howling yet the trees standing tall. The waters calmed and the fires refused to even start. Electricity became a shadow of what it had once been only remaining in the bodies of the living.

It was only when all these reports came pouring in did he decide to just keep what Naruto had shared with him a secret, no one needed to know that the blonde could do things that even the bijuu themselves could only dream of. The thought of others seeking to control him for that power was to far too undesirable to comprehend.

Then it occurred to him that he really didn't have that much authority over the blonde since he wasn't even part of the military forces of the village. He was a civilian, a civilian who had failed to pass the genin graduation exam. A civilian that could do things to the world itself, to reality as a whole. It was a rather frightening thought.

It was also something he wished to rectify, after telling a whale of a tale to the two councils of some unknown ninja that had committed suicide after being cornered with the scroll in the most evidence destroying of fashions, he made his way to the blonde.

He believed that the blonde was telling some modicum of truth when it came to his abilities, but the old man refused to believe that the blonde could really do whatever he wanted with reality. He needed more first hand proof. He would do that before granting the blonde genin rank.

He did, after all, pass the secret genin exam, false though it had been, the blonde did do everything he had been told to do.

The blonde was easy to locate, if one knew him well enough. He liked to keep to himself, he liked being alone, so the best place that he could be found being alone was atop the Hokage mountain as few people ever went there. It was actually one of the places in the village that one couldn't get to normally or easily, which was why very few actually bothered going there.

"I apologize for what I said and planned on doing without knowing all the facts," the old man said to the blonde who was sulking, but at the same time showed how in control of himself he was since it was not dark out and it was not raining, meaning that the blonde was not subconsciously influencing reality.

"...accepted," the blonde replied soulessly.

"I also refrained from sharing your secret with the councils," the old man said, "I, instead, mentioned an S-class nuke-nin working with a traitor in our midst and spun some tale that they are sure to keep to themselves, though I'm not sure how far or close to the truth some of the story is or was."

"...good," the blonde said.

"I am also granting you the rank of genin," the old man said, "The village can't really do without your power, and I know for a fact, now at least, that you do have what it takes to be a useful member of my forces," he held out a forehead protector to the blonde, "Well, aren't you gonna take it?"

The blonde turned to face the old man and accepted the headband and put it on. He wrapped it around his forehead not that his head needed any protection, his entire body didn't even need the protection at all. His body would reform should it ever be destroyed anyway, though it would only do that if he so wished it to. He didn't need a physical shell for his self anyway.

"Thank you," the blonde quietly said, in contrast to how he spoke to the old man only a few days before.

"Your welcome," the old man said, "Team placements will be held a week from now, be at your old classroom then. Now that the official stuff is over with, how about I treat you to some ramen? Hmm?"

"..." the blonde gave it some thought, "Alright..I'd like that."

#

He was there in that classroom when the team placements were to be announced. He sat in a seat in the back of the classroom and made sure that no one minded him. He didn't, as always, want to attract attention to himself. He neither wanted nor needed it.

He wasn't after all like his other batchmates, those that had power and flaunted it. Wasn't a shinobi supposed to hide what they were truly capable of, weren't they supposed to be disciplined individuals, ones who didn't show the world what they were capable of so that they could be either underestimated or overestimated.

He knew and understood that his peers were children, though not as experienced with everything that life had to offer as he was, but still most of them were from families or had at least one family member that was in the profession of serving the village in the military capacity. Couldn't they take things more seriously.

It sickened him how some, like the last loyal Uchiha could keep on showing just how good he is. Showing off when he should be conserving what he knew, and only showing the bare minimum, not caring what others thought of him, and just knowing what he was capable off.

Didn't the Uchiha think that by showing that he knew a lot others wouldn't think that he didn't deserve to know more, to better himself. He was showing that he was a glass half full and could do things on his own, had he been a glass half empty, or a fourth empty more people might be more willing to hand over more tips and techniques that he could use for future missions or for killing off the one person in the world that actually cared about him.

Then there was the alpha male, in mind, Inuzuka who tried to show that he was the best in all things, though more for attracting the attention or affections of the females of their class. It never really worked out right since he was not all that serious about the things he did and he was far too chauvinistic for most of their tastes. Kunoichi were powerful in their own right and had certain abilities and missions that only they could do and accomplish.

Among the girls there were two head or leaders of the Uchiha fan girls, the Haruno who thought that her book smarts would or could get her out of any situation, and the Yamanaka who didn't take her lifestyle seriously. She must've really been spoiled by her parents of clan.

All these superiority complexes in ones so young, it must not have been that healthy for all of them. He, on the other hand, didn't have to worry about such things as health since he was always healthy. It wasn't like he could die anyway, that had been taken from him on the day he was born and tied, permanently, to reality and reality to him.

Umino Iruka came out and claimed that it had been an honor to have taught such a class filled with potential. He then followed that, customay, thing by announcing the teams. When it reached Team 7 he mentioned Naruto's name along with the Haruno and the Uchiha. His name alone garnered much attention since it was relatively common knowledge that he didn't pass the exam.

Iruka was smart enough to mention just how Naruto had managed to attain something which he had orignally failed to get. The man simply mentioned that he was a genin and to leave it at that. He just mentioned that it was the Hokage's decision and left it at that.

Upon hearing his name called, Naruto made himself more visible to his classmates by dropping whatever barrier he had around him to make others not think he was there. He'd always been good at hiding himself, so it didn't really surprise his classmates that he could hide his presence like that. It was either they weren't surprised that he could hide himself or they thought that they had just ignored him like they usually did.

There was an hour long break for the teams to get together, get some food in, get to know each other, and the like. Team 7, unlike other teams didn't spend the time together.

The Uchiha spent his time brooding, the Haruno chased after him along with several other girls vying for his affection, while Naruto remained in the classroom observing the world around him in the way that only he could observe things.

He waited with his teammates for their jounin sensei to arrive, pick them up, and get to know them before dashing any hopes of immediately getting into the swing of things of going on missions, training, and the like. He didn't mind waiting, he was used to waiting and being patient. It was how the rest of the world worked after all. He would be doing a lot of waiting in his long existence after all, therefore there was no use complaining at all.

When the man finally arrived three long hours after he was supposed to appear, he followed his two teammates up to the roof where the man had told them to get to for their introductions.

He shared only his name, while the pink haired one shared that she liked their Uchiha of a teammate, the Uchiha wanted to kill his brother, which left Naruto as the last one to go into his introductions. His teammates were a little interested in what he had to say, none of them really knew much about him anyway. He just didn't stand out save for the fact that he had been deadlast and hadn't been one of the original passers of the exam yet the Hokage deemed him fit to become a genin.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he shared with them, a pleasant smile making its way to his face, "I like my friends, and observing the world. I dislike...the troubles that plague the world. My dream...well...I guess my dream is of finding someone that will be willing to be with me forever."

"Well that was different," the scarecrow stated, he hadn't been expecting something that simple at all.

The other two had similar thoughts, they thought that someone who was at the bottom of the proverbial barrel would have wanted something more unattainable than wanting someone to love them or something like that.

The man then began to tell them that before they could begin missions they had to pass his test. It was the real genin exam, the one that determined if they were going to return to the academy or be officially made members of the military.

Naruto did not argue or complain in any manner. He simply accepted it since he had been expecting the man to say something to that tune. It was normal really, weeding out who had the potential then testing who really had what it took to be one of the defenders of the village.

He didn't listen to the man's advice about not eating breakfast, he didn't need to eat anyway. He had all the energy of the world in him, he had all of reality in him to power his every movement. What he did do was prepare some energy bars for his two teammate who were sure to take the man's words to heart and not eat.

No matter what one was going to do, if it was an intensive physical activity one needed energy to move as efficiently as possible.

He arrived at the meeting place earlier than the other two who were taking their sweet time preparing for the test, or not eating anyway. He sat on the ground, in the shade of a tree and waited for them patiently. He blended in with nature and began drawing on nature energy, it was not really something he consciously did, he was as much a part of nature as it was a part of him so it was natural that he draw on such energies when he wasn't doing anything.

It was an automatic thing, unlike his body which he had to retrain to do so many things.

When his two teammates arrived he offered them each some energy bars while repeating what he knew to be true about the eating thing. They reluctantly accepted the bars, there wasn't anyone there that would know or understand the significance of why accepting wasn't such a good thing in their books. It was because the one that had offered and explained to them about the food thing was at the bottom of the class.

They waited for sometime before the jounin appeared, the other two genin wondered how he could manage to wait so patiently for the man who was late for a meeting that he had been the on to set the time for. He just shrugged when he had been asked.

They were told by the man what to do and more or less what was expected of them. The jounin had been warned by the Hokage not to instruct Naruto into coming at him with the intent to kill. It was something that the jounin decided not to take seriously since he knew how much the old man cared for the blonde, even though he didn't outwardly show it.

The man sharingan caught sight of the sudden appearance of the Shinigami who materialized between him and the three genin just as he gave the signal to begin. He felt his impending doom reach for him, so he ran. There was no way that it was real but even after popping out his gifted eye he could not dispel the image.

While the jounin was dodging and running for his life, Naruto went off in search of his hiding teammates. While their hiding skills were above par, he could still find them. So long as they lived in his reality he would be able to find them, no matter where they hid, he would find them.

He approached the Uchiha first and explained what he knew of the test, and what it was really testing them on. He revealed that he wasn't the idiot he portrayed himself to be, it made the Uchiha really look at him in a new light. Here was a real shinobi, one that hid in plain sight, a really dangerous foe, as the most dangerous ones are the ones that one least expects.

The Uchiha agreed to some cooperation, which made recruiting the Haruno to their cause all the more easier as she would probably, at this point in time, go to the ends of the world for the Uchiha. They devised a plan which would show teamwork, even though they still didn't know how to work well together.

They each shared what they could do, then when everything, that they could stomach the others knowing, was laid on the table Sasuke came up with a plan. One that would work since he was an Uchiha, or at least that was how his brain worked. Naruto pointed out what flaws he could find, and Sakura put in her two ryo.

With the plan ironed out, the three of them went to their sensei who was almost within the grip of the death god.

"Leave," was Naruto's simple order, the two genin didn't know why he had said that but they did notice their sensei's look of relief on their faces.

They decided to put such questions about their blonde teammate out of their mind and started the plan and attacked the jounin. In the end proving that they had what it took to work together, and so he passed them without having to explained the real test, for the very first time.

Most thought Kakashi was lying or joking when he claimed to have passed a team, finally. The Hokage confirmed it as he had been monitoring the bell test wanting to see if another generation would be passing on the teachings of the Hokages. He did publicly berate Kakashi for disregarding hs orders concerning the quiet Naruto, who could do more than just stall with the shinigami like he had.

After the team passed the next few days were filled with D-rank missions, chores really that most civilians and shinobi alike were just too lazy to do themselves or couldn't hire professionals to do for them since the common thought was that shinobi were just that much better at things than professionals, those that trained for such things which allowed them to charge their higher prices.

Sure shinobi were sometimes cheaper, but some things should be left to the professionals irregardless if these professionals couldn't do a lot of the things that shinobi could do.

Naruto made some of the missions even easier than they needed to be or could normally be. It was thanks to him that the Capture or Retrieve Tora mission became a team favorite after the first time since they found it to be so easy thanks to Naruto. A normal cat was not a person and not a summon or demon or deity, and thus he could make it do as he pleased. Though like any other thing or person he could also move the cat to wherever he wanted in the world, which was what he did do to the thing.

One moment the team was looking for the cat and the next moment the cat was already purring in Naruto's arms like it had always been there enjoying his ministrations.

Team 7 held the record for fastest completion of the Tora Retrieval Mission, one second. No one aside from the Hokage and Naruto knew how it was possible. But that was the way things were. One second, no one could beat such a score unless they started out the mission with the cat already in their possession.

It was a week or two later when the Hokage summoned Naruto and not the rest of team 7, he had been thinking about a lot of failed missions that were still salvageable. Salvageable only by potentially Naruto, unless the blonde couldn't find some way of doing things.

The mission in particular which he had summoned Naruto to his office concerned one of the formerly prominent clans of the village that had fallen upon difficult times as few of its members had managed to awaken their bloodline limit and had also strayed from the clan's specialty. But that wasn't the problem that the Hokage wanted Naruto's aid in solving.

The problem was that the clan heir had in fact unlocked the bloodline limit, but had absolutely no control over it. It had even created a sentience of its own from all the negative emotions and all other repressed things from the girl. This semi-alternate personality was hell bent on destruction of many things, starting with the clan itself, due to what it had fed off from the heir.

Naruto was either to get rid of this alternate personality or give the heir the control she needed to work the bloodline properly. But at the same time the old man had to take into consideration the good will of the current head of the clan, which was the heir's own uncle who had been looking after the wellbeing of he clan ever since the girls parents had died at her bloodline's hands.

Illusions that could affect reality, affect the physical world were their speciality and were thanks to their bloodline limit. It was a frightening thing, if only the clansmen focused more on their craft than other easier things.

Then there was also an heir that didn't had two states of mind, the one with absolutely no confidence and no support from anyone with regards to her abilities, and the other state of mind who was in complete control of her abilities and hated everyone and everything around her.

"I can help," Naruto said after all the facts were brought to his attention.

"How?" the old man asked, "I had someone try and teach the girl control and genjutstu, but that failed. Her alternate personality just grew strnoger and eventually overpowered her, and thus needed to be sealed away for the time being. But the clan needs a sign for a positive future, rather than the pervading doubt that the girl has brought to the clan."

"What is more important," the blonde teen asked, "The happiness and wellbeing of the heir or the good of the clan and the village as a whole?"

"The second option," the old man replied, "Why?"

"I can think of one way that will benefit the clan but not the girl if I properly understand how her uncle's mind works," Naruto said.

"What are you thinking?" the old man asked.

"I will remove this alternate personality and give it a complete soul of its own," Naruto replied, "This soul will then be combined with the genetic traits of the current head and his wife, and in nine months will be born as the messiah for the clan. It will grow with the love and care that it lacks at its present state. It grew to only feed on negativity, but by being reborn as an actual person it will grow to feed on both sides of the spectrum."

"What is the drawback of this?" the old man asked.

"This heir, the girl, will lose her bloodline limit thus making it impossible for her uncle to accept her as the heir of such a clan," Naruto said, "As I understand it, these bloodline clans pride themselves in their bloodlines, and those who can wield it. An impotent member, with regards to that special ability, as the head would reflect poorly on the clan as a whole."

"Is this the only option you can think up?" the old man asked.

"At the moment, yes," Naruto said, "I've explained some of what I can do to you already, so you should already know that some of the things that I might have been able to do had I no actual limits, like playing with the individual are not possible due to those limitations."

"I know and see," the old man said, "We'll go with your plan and suggestion. I will speak to the clan head, but will have to change some parts of the explanation while you think of some way to make this thing look harder than it really is. People have a thing for seeing and believing don't we."

"I understand Hokage-jiji," the blonde said and made his way out of the office to prepare a lot of unnecessary things.

In the evening of that day did the Hokage summon Naruto to the home of the head of the Kurama clan. The heir was already waiting there for whatever was going to be done to her to help her help her clan and remove the burden that had been placed on her shoulders ever since the day she had unlocked the full power of her bloodline.

Her uncle was there with the old man as well, all three of them waiting for his arrival and whatever props he had thought to bring with him. Unknown to the old man and the heir the clan head had plans for the girl. He wasn't about to just strip the girl of her place in the clan, but planned on removing her from it in the only way that would not bring the clan any dishonor.

The old man had an inkling, but only Naruto and the uncle knew the truth of the matter. Payment in the form of money for the village and compensation of a sort for the one that did the deed, the difficult deed. To lose one's name, which was what exile would have accomplished would not look good on the uncle's reputation or do anything for the blood of his sibling. There was no honor in banishing a girl for doing nothing really wrong other than not being able to control her power and being born as the heir, or having a perent that had been born before her uncle.

"Sign here please before we begin," the uncle said thinking that he was being crafty and doing something without anyone being the wise, the Hokage even told Naruto to sign the thing thinking that it was just a formality for payment of what he was going to do, it was only after the deed had been done would all parties be made aware what the additional payment and what Naruto had signed really was.

"Two of you aware of what I am," Naruto stated, "It was because of what was done to me that I am able to do what I will be doing today, so please lay the subject on the ground and make sure she doesn't move...things are going to get a little bit **wild...**"

His features changed as the two older men forced the girl to the ground just after the Hokage released the seal that kept the girl's bloodline at bay. It had already been cracking from the strain of keeping such a powerful entity back. Once unleashed it tried and failed terribly at attacking anything that was within its sights.

These things, such as this part-soul, instinctively knew that it was dealing with something far beyond its own understanding and comprehending. It knew that it was dealing with something far greater than its own power, something that surpassed any tales of demons or angels.

This alternate or secondary personality saw the mask for what it was. It was a facade to hid the more powerful entity that lived among mortal men and women. It was fearful for what such a Being was capable of, but felt something soothing its part-soul. It was a foreign but not unpleasant feeling.

It was sudden and unexpected though for both the part-soul and full soul of Kurama Yakumo, that the physical body began to thrash as if in pain, but it was more of an exaggerated reaction. The two older men held her down forcefully, she didn't scream, but when her mouth finally did open the monster-like form that she had taken on leapt from her and joined a light opaque ball that grew just out of her mouth's reach.

Once it was the size of a fist it shot out of the room so fast that not even a pair of sharingan eyes would have been able to keep track of it. It was the part-soul finding the rest of itself, and being given the chance of becoming a person.

When the thrashing finally stopped the former heir lay limp on the ground, it was a really tiring experience losing something that had been a part of herself for such a long time. There was a rather large gap that needed filing, and so Naruto decided to fill it with something. It was something he had thought up on a whim.

His hand shot out, covered in what had in the past been solely the property and power of the Kyuubi. It raced into the still hanging open limply mouth of the girl, reacher her insides and the power simply flowed out through every blood vessel in her body, and shot through every nerve, and basically every fiber of her being.

"What are you doing?" the Hokage asked as some of what Naruto was doing, which was basically rewriting some of the girl's gentics or adding or replacing what had been removed from her, had passed through the old man rejuvenating him.

He felt as if some of the strength that he had lost to time had been returned to him in a small dose. It felt really good, like he had what it took to take on his only remaining rival for the position of Hokage and win.

'_I'll tell you later, just make her uncle think I'm doing something demonic like taking payment or something equally unsound as that, sating my thirst for virgin or something equally insane as that,_' Naruto mentally said to the old man, it was the weirest form of telepathy that the old man had experienced and beat out anything the Yamanaka clan had ever come up with.

"What is he doing? Is that supposed to happen?" the uncle and clan head asked the old man.

"There is much that we have yet to understand when it comes to his kind," the old man said, "Since we're dealing with a greater demon or something like that, I would have to assume that the demon whose power must have been what granted this thing to happen is just seeking payment of its own or something like that."

"I see," the uncle said, hoping that they weren't going to get eaten by a jinchuuriki that lost control after sating its carnal desires or needs or whatever the hell Naruto was doing with that elongated appendage of his that was defying quite the number of laws.

When Naruto finished his self assigned task, he fell to ground mentally exhausted from what he had done. Had the old man checked to see if he had a pulse the old man would not have found one. It was a side effect of course of focusing wholly on one single task. A euphoric one sure, but a task that required all of his concentration nonetheless.

"Are you alright?" the old man asked the blonde while the uncle tended to the niece.

"Yeah," the blonde replied, "Never thought I'd feel so mentally exhausted though," their conversation could only be heard by the two of them.

"Well at least you now know more of your limitations," the old man said.

"It will pass with time," Naruto said, "I am reality and reality adapts."

"I guess," the old man said, "But you aren't yet as experienced as reality, so listen to an old man who has such experience. Alright?"

"Alright," Naruto stated, knowing that the old man with all his years of experience in many fields was indeed right.

The girl had not fared better than Naruto, she had actually fallen unconscious, fainted if you will, from the strain of what had happened to her. She didn't know what had happened to her even, she had only been told that her burden was to be lifted.

"Was that supposed to happen?" the uncle asked.

"Looks like it," Naruto said, not really caring that he sounded a bit careless with his statement.

"Well now that's over with," the clan head said, "I'll have the payment forwarded to the village's account, and this young man can take his new wife with him."

It really shocked the old man to hear such a thing, the papers that Naruto had signed were handed over to him. What a payment, something that the old man could not argue against, or undo. It was done, written down, signed, and all that. The deed had been done and the payment was just waiting to be received.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Hokage asked.

"She is of no use to the clan any longer," the uncle said, "Keeping her within the clan, without being married into the clan or holding our sacred bloodline limit is just not allowed by clan law. Something which I'm sure you'll allow us to abide by since you still allow the Hyuga to use that abominable seal of theirs. This way, she will still have a family to be with and it looks like the boy will have someone to come home to after missions. I'm really looking out for everyone, and the boy agrees too."

"Naruto?" the old man half asked half said.

"You chose the village," Naruto stated, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Fine," the old man said, "Its already on paper, nothing we can do about it now. Just make sure you take care of her, the next few days will be a trying experience for her."

"Nothing bad will happen to her on my watch," Naruto stated, then joked, "I've always dreamt of getting married, but isn't this a little bit early?"

#

Yakumo woke up in someone else's bed, or at least she didn't know who owned the bed. The room too was not one she was familiar with. There was a bathroom connected to the room, the only reason she knew this was because the shower was running and it sounded like someone was singing in the shower.

She didn't know who it was, but he sounded to be about her age. He. Then it hit her that he was in some guy's room, in some guys's apartment or house, and in that some guy's bed for whatever reason. She also noted that she was wearing her sleep clothes, so that meant that nothing had happened between them.

She grew a bit scared and confused though when it really hit her, this was about the same time that the guy, the same guy that her uncle had hired, that the Hokage had recommended to fix her problem.

"Yo," Naruto said, "Good morning, I hopoe you slept well. Shower's free, feel free."

"What...what am I doing here?" she asked him, it was the first question that her mind could supply that her tongue was willing to move for.

"Well...I'm assuming that your uncle didn't tell you," Naruto said, "But you live with me now. You were apparently part of the payment for ridding your former clan of...your problem."

"So...I am your property now?" she asked him, fearing the answer more than her problem with her former gift.

"No," the blonde replied, trying to calm her down and the emotions that were welling up within her, "Something else, I'm sorry about the arrangement, even though I was aware of it somewhat, it wasn't my decision to make really."

"Then what am I?" the girl asked him.

"My wife," the blonde replied, "It was either that or you become no-name, an honorless exile of the Kurama clan."

"I'm what?!" she exclaimed, she had thuoght the worst, but not that, definitely not that, and it seemed that she couldn't find it in herself to disagree with her predicament, it was over and done with, the papers were probably already filed and she also knew that she much preferred it than to being seen as dead by her kin.

"Married to me," Naruto replied, "Its not that bad, and I'm not that bad. I'm probably better than most of the other people that your uncle could have had you married off to."

"And why is that?" she asked him, skeptically.

"I can do the one thing that all the others can only try doing," he replied.

"That being?" she asked.

"I can promise that no physical harm shall or will befall you," Naruto stated confidently, something which would seem foreign to anyone that heard him, yet true at the same time.

"How can you say such a thing?" she asked him, "How can you promise me that? What if an earthquake were to happen under my feet, or how about a tsunami while I'm on a boat, or what if civil war broke out in the village while you are away? How can you protect me from getting hurt then?"

"Ever since the day I was born I have been blessed and cursed with a burden and a gift," Naruto replied, "The rest of the village, the older generation thinks of me as the village's ultimate weapon. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki...but I am not that and never was that."

"What? The power of human sacrifice?" the girl said, "I've read about jinchuuriki, then if you were supposed to be our village's then why aren't you? What happened?"

"The sealing went wrong," Naruto said, "If you've done your research you will already know that my looking like the Yondaime is not coincidence. He was my father, and he botched the sealing. For instead of sealing the fox in me, he did something else, somethnig that even the shinigami that helped him helped him botch."

"So whatever they did is how you can make such a bold promise?" she asked him.

"Yes," the blonde said, honesty is one of the things that keeps a marriage a worthwhile one or so some say, "Do you wish to know what happened? What really happened?"

"Yes," she said, hesitantly, it was better to know now than be surprised about it later.

"They made me immortal.." he said but couldn't continue since she sprung out of bed so fast that he could barely keep up with her movement.

"REALLY?" she asked, it was more disbelief and wanting to try out if he really was immortal, it was a little bit insane, her going from a little confused and scared and shy to this thing that wanted to see if he would remain alive if she cut off his heads.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "But not in the traditional nor normal senses of the word."

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"My automatic body functions are not as automatic as yours," he explained, "I had to learn how my body works over the years, and had to make my body do as everyone else's does. I had to remaster my entire body to the point that it does what it does sub-sub-consciously, this was in order to appear mortal and human."

"What do you mean?" she asked, as she sat down on the bed which was just a foot or so behind her.

"Here," he said as he moved closer to her, and held out his hand to her, "Can you feel the warmth in my hand, the flow of blood through my veins?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Now stand," he requested, and she did, so he wrapped his arms around her in a caring embrace one which she couldn't help but feel protected in, an embrace that she felt she would love to stay in, in his arms she felt that nothing bad could ever happen to her, it was like the whole of the world was embracing her protectively.

"What...what is this feeling?" she asked, not intentionally out loud.

"It feels like the whole world is protecting you doesn't it?" he said.

"Yes," she said as she snuggled into his embrace, wanting to feel more of it, as if moving closer would make her feel so.

So he let her feel more, more than even he had dared to for himself, and he was reality.

She felt as if the whole galaxy, the whole universer, the whole of everything was surrounding her protectively, and dare she think it – lovingly – she didn't think it was real though or real yet, but she had a feeling that it could be.

"What is this...you really care for me...even though you don't even really know me," she said.

"I know enough," he said, "I'm a simple guy, with simple needs. Hehe, and since we're already married, I really should care more for you more than anybody else."

"I only really just met you...uhm..." she didn't know what to say what with what he was doing to her, that single embrace was more intimate than anything she could ever imagine, for the moment at least.

"We only have the rest of eternity to get to know each other better," he said, "Maybe fall in love and not just live together, that is if you'll let me get to know you better, and the rest of everything."

"Ok, I might as well," she said, "What could it hurt, and you did say you'd protect me."

"Do you still want me to explain?" he asked her, not yet letting her go even though he was getting close to being late for meeting with his genin team.

"Please," she asked, as she continued to be in his embrace not giving him a chance to let her go, the feeling of being protected that he was giving her was something that was quite addicting, it was so strong and genuinely innocent and pure for someone that, from what she had overheard from her clansmen about him, had not lived the best of lives.

"Instead of being tied to a sentient or living amalgamation of malevolence and rage, also known as a Bijuu or chakra monster," Naruto said, "I was tied or merged with Reality itself. I am reality, this is why I believe you feel right now that eveything is surrounding you, in a good way."

"Yes," she said, "Though there's this feeling I'm getting from you, as if you're a little bit impatient."

"Eh? You picked up on that?" he said, he didn't expect her to pick up on that at all.

"I think so," she said, "Um...do you need to be somewhere?"

"Err...yeah actually," he replied, "I've got to meet with my team."

"Genin team?" she asked, she assumed that he was a jounin due to his ultimate weapon status.

"Yeah," he said, "And in case you're thinking I'm already jounin. Stop. I'm just a genin."

"How you be just a genin?" she asked him.

"The old man didn't want me to be the village's weapon and tried to give me as normal a life as he could," Naruto said, "Being what I am, made it a little bit difficult since I can't really say that I have that many friends, or really played or had a real childhood for that matter."

"Oh," she said, sounding a little glum upon learning about it, "Well, you have me now, and I'll try and do my part to make the best out of this life we'll be sharing from now on."

"Thanks," he said, sincerely.

"Thank you too," she said, she found that even though they had only really met there was something else about him, and not his being reality or being immortal, that she liked about him, there was just something in him that couldn't make her not like him in any way.

"You know...I could stop time and we could stay like this forever," he said, half jokingly.

"Please don't," she said, taking him seriously, "It wouldn't feel as real as it does if you did."

"Ok," he said, "So what do you want to do now?"

"Like you said," she said, "The shower's free, and you have a team to meet with for missions."

"Are you sure?" he asked her, since this was all new for the both of them, "I could send a really realistic clone to meet with them in my place, and I'm sure the old man wouldn't really mind if I did."

"No," she said, "It's alright, and I don't think it would really be fair if you did that. I'd also like to get used to things away from the Kurama clan compoud on my own, for now."

"Ok," he said and let her go, slowly though so as not to surprise her with his lack of _warmth_.

"Um..if you get a mission out of the village...can I go with you?" she asked.

"Err...I may be reality, but you'll have to ask the old man about that," he said.

"The old man?" she asked him, she didn't get who that was.

"Hokage-jiji," Naruto replied, since it was what he did call the old man.

"You call Hokage-sama that?" she asked him, disbelievably.

"Yeah," he said, "Its normal, though you'll also have to ask him if you can call him that, you're not me, and I've been doing it since forever."

"Don't you have a meeting to get to?" she asked him.

"Ah, yeah," he said, "See you later I guess," he moved closer to her and gave her a peck on the cheek, he'd seen other couples do it, and they were married so why not, right?

He left her in a daze, she was the one in a daze and not him. He was confused and happy at the same time. It was an odd feeling for one such as him, but since he was usually in the background no one really noticed his slight change in demeanor.

Yakumo went about tidying up her new home, not that it was messy or cluttered. She just wanted to add her own self into the thing. That was how the Hokage found her a little while later.

He hadn't bothered with knocking as the door was unlocked and open even, as if the girl was testing Naruto and his promise to protect her from all physical harm, the mind was something else after all.

"Yakumo-chan," the old man said, startling the girl out of her focused cleaning and arranging of things, she had to add her own things to the place after all. All her worldy posessions, that had not been tied down, had been dropped off at the small apartment, which shouldn't have really fit all the things in it, but did.

"Ah, H-Hokage-sama," she said, straightening her dress and apron before bowing to the old man, "W-What can I do for you today?"

"I'm sorry for how everything was rushed," the old man said, "Your uncle really knows how to throw a really fast curve ball, it took me completely by surprise. But I'm not here about that."

"Then what are you here for Hokage-sama?" the girl asked the old man.

"Naruto's team will be coming by the mission office after all their D-ranks are done for the day and I shall be assigning them a C-rank mission," the old man said, "I just wanted to let you know this beforehand. And I also forbid you from going with them on it. It is simply unprofessional and I highly doubt that it would really matter since he can be in more than one place at any given time."

"I...hai Hokage-sama," the girl said, a little crestfallen that she wouldn't get to spend more time with her genin of a husband that should really be worshipped as a kami if his secret were ever let out or become known, "I'll tell him you dropped by.."

"But if you really want to go with him, I guess I can send you along with another team to deliver some additional orders from me to his team or himself at a later date," the old man said, "This will be a slightly long term mission after all, and the team will need to be in communication with me on some level."

"Thank you Hokage-sama!" she said, happily.

Naruto returned to their apartment sometime in the afternoon with news of being assigned a C-rank mission, he wasn't always omniscient, so he didn't know about the Hokage's visit and words with his wife.

The girl told him of the visit and what the old man had said, and the blonde didn't really seem to mind. He did say that since he's a part of nigh literally everything, if she needed him all she would need do is call.

She in turn told him not to worry, she would have to get used to it after all, she married a ninja and a ninja would occasionally have to leave for long periods of time. But at least she didn't have to worry about him never coming back to her. She did, though, say that she would be visiting him with whatever team the Hokage sent with additional orders, just to visit him.

"I'll see you in a week or so, right?" he said before turning to leave their apartment, but she stopped him by looping her arm around his, "What?"

"I'm going to see you off," she said and began walking alongside him to the gate.

Not that many people really disliked him due to his liking to stay or remain in the background. He played no pranks which caused very few additional people to get annoyed with him or dislike him for any reason at all. So it was really ok for him to be seen walking arm in arm with a girl. He didn't have to worry about any attacks against her after all, and should anyone try. They would have the whole of existence after their hides.

When they got to the gate the other two genin were already there, but there was no sign of their client or their sensei. The two other genin wondered who this mystery girl was that had been clinging onto Naruto as he approached them. Only unlinking arms once they finally arrived.

"So that's why we're earlier than you," Sasuke said, "Who's she by the way?"

"Ah manners," Naruto said, "Must've forgotten them at home," he then motioned to his girl, "This is Yakumo," then he motioned to his teammates, "These are Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, my teammates."

"Nice to meet you," she said as she bowed to the two of them, while they in turn did the same.

"So...Yakumo-chan," Sakura said as she decided to try and be a friend to this unknown girl called Yakumo, "Why're you hanging around Naruto? You were practically clinging to him the whole time the two of you were walking."

"Umm...well..that's," she did a really good impersonation of a tomato since she didn't know if she should tell the truth of make up some elaborate lie that might bite her in the ass in the future.

Instead of immediately getting the chance to answer, she felt his embrace around her once again. That feeling like the whole world, the whole universe, the whole of reality was engulfing her in his warmth. It was a pleasant and calming feeling, it made her feel more relaxed as she was not used to dealing with people probing into her personal life like this pink haired extrovert was.

"Yo!" Kakashi said as he finally arrived, just in time too since Yakumo didn't have an actual answer that she was comfortable with giving the pink haired kunoichi, "What'd I miss?"

"We won't say you're late since you didn't really give us a specific time to meet you at the gate this morning," Sasuke stated calmly, not really minding everything around him, he was more worried if he was going to get to see some action to test his skills in the real world or not.

"I see...well," Kakashi said, "Let's head on out, so Naruto say goodbye to your girlfriend, we can't take her with us you know."

"Hai Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said and moved closer to Yakumo to give her a see-you-late hug, while she gave him a peck on his lips, rather forward of her, but she did it nonetheless and waved goodbye at them as they walked out of the gates.

Instead of thinking that she was going to miss the boy that she had just met, she knew that she could still get to know him, indirectly, by talking to the Hokage. One way of getting to know a person was by getting to know the people he surrounded himself with.

Who better to ask then the old man, as Naruto called him.

She was directed by the Hokage to the Ichiraku Ramen bar, the owners were apparently on her husband's precious persons list. She went there with some spending money from the Hokage since she had actually forgotten to ask Naruto where he kept his.

"You could always just ask him," the old man had said, "He can hear you even from all the way over here, you just have to call out his name and whisper your wish on the wind."

It was a little corny but she tried it when he was half way to the ramen place and lo and behold her husband's fog wallet appeared in her hand with money and some ramen coupons in it.

She found the bar and pretended to just be a normal girl asking about her crush. She was all innocent like, up until Ichiraku Ayame noticed that she had a wedding band and asked her about it.

She had actually forgotten about it, no one else seemed to have noticed it, she didn't even remember that her husband had one on.

But he was so good at not being noticed that even these little things weren't noticed by most, it kind of rubbed off on her or it was just his way of indirectly and directly protecting her from things she thought she was not yet ready for.

"So is that a promise ring or did something happen that we're not supposed to know about yet?" Ayame asked the girl.

"Well..umm...Naruto-kun helped my clan with some problems...and...well...umm..." the girl said, it was her decision to explain it or not to explain things, "I somehow ended up...getting married to him.."

"Oh," the older girl said, not really knowing how to proceed with the conversation after such a big revelation.

"That explains why you've been asking all sorts of questions about him," Teuchi commented, "Well, ask whatever else you want to know about him. We may not know everything about that blonde, but we'll help you get to know him while he's out in the world doing whatever it is he's doing."

"Thank you," she said, gratefully, so she asked who else she could ask about her blonde.

After telling her or sharing stories about he blonde with her, the father-daughter pair directed her to Iruka, who should know a little bit more about the blonde. The blonde really only had a handful of people that he considered as precious after all.

Iruka proved that he knew just as much and could share just as much stories about the blonde as the ramen duo. He was an observant teacher after all, one that had managed to catch the blonde unawares with his care. He hadn't seen the demon that the boy should have been keeping prisoner, he just saw a kid that normally didn't stand out.

Iruka saw the potential that Naruto kept hidden away from the rest of the world, though he didn't know the exact extent of Naruto's full potential.

It was during that first night when they were away from each other as a married couple that Naruto decided to visit her, in one of those normally unexplainable ways that he could do. He appeared to her as a being made up of swirling winds, it was a little bit like seeing a ghost as he mixed in some snowflakes and water droplets to make his form more visible to her.

"You said something about it not being fair to my teammates if I only send or leave a clone," he said, "But since you know about me, I'm here in this form, and if you are indeed lonely and if you do want to know a little bit more about me there is one soul you can visit, one that no on in Konoha actually knows about."

"Who?" she asked.

"Why, your former clan's namesake of course!" he told her, "None other than Kurama himself. Even the Hokage doesn't know about him, about my servant of sorts. He's rather strange, especially after he saw me for me and not for what I was supposed to be and for what I had truly become. I can direct you to where he is if you want, even provide you a door to get there if you wish."

"Why would I need some door?" she asked him as she felt his arms, his aerial and ethereal arms surrounding her to help her sleep without a comforting presence near her.

"Well...you know how summon clans live in a kind of pocket dimension of their own," Naruto said, "Well, Kurama, demon kind, bijuu, and whatever other creature out there in the great wide world, live in other pocket like dimensions, separate yet at the same time part of this dimension, of this world."

"So that's why no one's seen this powerful bijuu again.." she said.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "He likes his solitude, though after a year or three he did ask for a family to call his own so I kind of tweaked a bunch of kitsune into being members of the first Bijuu summon clan."

"Oh," she said, "I think I'd rather have you there with me, I don't think I'd be able to face a bijuu on my own."

"Ok," he said, "We can do it whenever you want, though I guess my physical human body should be around for that."

#

It was the second day of the mission beyond the walls of the village hidden in the leaves. Team 7 were just walking a bit more leisurely than the old man that was their client would have liked, but they decided, or Kakashi did, that slow and steady was the way to go since there weren't supposed to be any dangers anyway laying in wait for them.

He had a feeling that the client was hiding something, he was really just waiting for something to actually happen.

Naruto didn't bother expanding his senses, he wanted to be surprised, the only instance that he kept his senses on high alert and full alert were the ones focused around his little wife back in Konoha. It was how he had known to send her his wallet, which he had a spare of on him as a just in case. Things like money and the like were easy to make and when he made them, they were not counterfeit.

He thought that since he had been with his team long enough it might be time to give his two teammates some kind of gift. They were ninja and thus could use all the help they could get their hands on.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto said, getting the Uchiha's attention.

"Yeah?" the raven haired youth said.

"We're teammates so we should help each other right," Naruto said.

"Yeah?" he said, wondering where the blonde was going with this.

"I just thought that since we're out on a mission where almost anything could happen," the blonde said, "Maybe I should help you guys in adding to your list of abilities."

"What do you mean?" the Uchiha asked, he didn't really know much about Naruto really, none of them really did other than the fact that there was a girl in the village waiting for him to get back and that he could create solid clones and had this weird ability to summon or banish things.

"Its not really a village secret," Naruto said, then whispered so only Sasuke could hear, "_But if you want me to, I can awaken your doujutsu. Your sharingan._"

That really startled the Uchiha, he almost tripped but somehow managed not to. It was as if his body had moved on its own, or someone else was pulling his strings.


	78. AA 8

"_So tell me,_" a thousand and more voices reverberated and echoed all around, "_What is it you wish of me for your birthday present?_"

It would have sounded as a rather odd question coming from the lips of a Supreme Being as well as the anthropomorphic personification of Death himself, but it wasn't all that odd. Considering that he was speaking with one of his great-great-great grandchildren.

To those that were not that familiar with the family of Death himself, of his clan or House, one would mistake this descendant as being no more than probably ten year old. But those that were familiar with the family would recognize this immortal scion as being at least twice the age of his physical appearance took. Others in the family were able to choose what age they looked, but this young man or boy was one of the few that had still been unable to unlock that little special ability.

Even though he was an immortal 20 year old, that did not mean that his great-great-great grandfather could not give him or grant him a birthday present or wish. He was still a descendant of the ageless Being after all, and like most grandchildren of any sort were in some manner of speaking entitled to such things.

"As you well know, grandfather, I am not that well versed with the worlds," the descendant and birthday boy said, "I don't really find myself doing much...so...I was thinking...I wanna be a few power cells short of being a Supreme Being...is that asking too much?" he questioned hopefully.

Death thought it over, mulling the wish in his head. He didn't really need to think it over, but he did need to think of some of the ramifications of actually permitting such a thing and granting such a wish.

This descendant was seeking adventure, but at the same time retaining or gaining a seat of power of sorts. He could oblige the youth, that train of thought eventually led to his willing to grant such a wish.

"_I have thought it over, and it looks to be your lucky birthday,_" Death spoke, his thousands upon thousands of voices echoing throughout the room in which he was speaking to this descendant of his, "_I shall grant you this wish, as it is within my power. I shall be displacing you from this existence and into another. Is this acceptable?_"

"It is, sir," the youth replied, "So...ah...when do I leave?"

Adventure, mischief, mayhem, and death, were in the blood, so wanting to leave was expected.

"_Then gather your wits about you my young descendant,_" Death spoke with a blended voice of authority.

The air grew thick around the youth, then he began to feel a pull, one that came from the center of his very being. The focal point of his very soul.

There was a sucking sound that came next, and before anything else could be registered by the youthful youth. The only thing he knew was darkness, and a pain so great that only one other could claim to having felt something exponentially worse.

It happened so fast. One moment his ancestor was speaking to him about granting his wish, it was a roundabout way of asking to be sent on some sort of adventure really, and the next thing he knows is a world of blackness and pain.

Then it all stopped and he found himself laying on soft desert sand which belonged to quite the expansive wasteland. There was a gloom and doom feeling to the place, one which he was quite familiar with. He had encountered it before, the feeling that is. It was similar in a sense or in a way with how his ancestor's own home felt. It reminded him of the seat of power of Death himself, though it did lack Palacio de Azkaban.

The never ending desert, it nagged at his memories, but something was keeping him from remembering. He didn't know where he was, nor was he aware of just how powerful he had become. It was mostly a mystery to him at this point.

He noticed that it wasn't all white sand, as there were some dead looking trees that dotted the desert. It reminded him of his ancestor's home even more, but as he got close enough to one he found that instead of the expected silver it was a kind of quartz.

The sky seemed to be night as far as the eye could see, he willed his vision to show him even farther than any mortal eye could hope to see and still he found no sunlight.

He wandered the vast desert searching for any sort of form of life. He searched for days upon days and nights upon nights, his internal clock telling him just how long it had been, just how many hours he had traveled, and just how many miles he had walked.

Weeks upon weeks, and months upon months had passed him by. Then years upon years and still he had not found anything or anyone. It was a desolate world he had found himself in, and he had no knowledge as to how to get or go anywhere else.

He eventually stumbled upon an energy that was thick in the atmosphere, in the air. It was something he was more familiar with. Something that he had felt before, when handling souls and spirits.

It seemed as if this world was full of this energy, whatever it was called. It felt, to him, like the breath of life. This got him thinking about some of his ancestor's _relatives_. Those other Supreme Beings, Higher Powers, and other such Beings.

Gods.

Creation Stories.

He found himself in a lonesome place, a place where the only sentient life was himself. It was as if he found himself in some sort of void. He didn't enjoy it much, or one bit.

He didn't want to spend the rest of his eternity in the place alone. He resolved to do something about his loneliness.

He took hold of some of the energy freely roaming or floating around him, he infused this neutral thing with some of his own life essence.

He didn't really know what he was doing.

It was all so new to him.

He didn't have an oven, he didn't even have fire. But he decided to walk down a path similar to his _relatives_.

The energy, whatever it would later be called, was like water. The life essence he was sharing was what he was using to refine the energy.

He took some of the sand around his bare feet and had them become the basic foundations of the clay for his soon to be creations.

He was a twenty year old wearing the form of a ten year old. It would be several decades before he would be able to adjust his physical age as he wished.

Even though he only had twenty years to his name, in the blood that flowed through his veins was a library of instinctual knowledge, this was how he knew how to do most of the things that he could do. Like create life as he was, he was descendant of life and death after all.

It was only when he had his clay and water did he notice that not only were his feet bare but the rest of him as well.

It shouldn't have been much of a shock for him, he logically pieced together that it was supposed to be a sick sort of joke played on him by his ancestor. That was just how such a Being worked after all.

He had his base materials float in the air before he gathered some of his inner energies and gathered some more energy from the plane of existence. He merged these energies in the same manner which some of his relatives would, and had them turn into clothes for himself. It would not do for his creations to see him in such a vulnerable looking state.

He fashioned for himself white fit clothes that had a feel of silk to them, but at the same would serve as armor. Thin black lines giving the shirt and pants more definition, as well as separating the two pieces from one another. Above these basic things he had a flowing trench cloak of white with black and silver trim along the edges.

He recalled his biology lessons from when his physical appearance matched his temporal age. He went to school just like every other person or Being that he knew. He had accomplished primary, secondary, and tertiary education. It was a requirement of the family after all.

He started out with cells, and built his way up from there. The building blocks of life first before anything else, or at least that's how he decided to start things.

He stopped at just short of sentient life, the rational animal kind of sentient life. Everything he had created so far were the things that could be found just below rational animals, just below sentient life. He wasn't sure why he had stopped, but he felt that something was indeed missing.

He sat on the sands, having them form a throne for him to rest on rather than sit directly on the sands as he had done before. He needed an armrest to rest his arm on that he might lean on his palm to aid his thinking and pondering.

His thoughts went in the direction of analyzing the energy that was dense in the atmosphere. How it reminded him of spirits and souls, and how the place he found himself in, the world he found himself in had been so desolate and lonely, as if something was missing.

It had been lifeless before he arrived, and was relatively lifeless before he gave it life of its own.

It was hollow, in a sense. If the world was round, which he had a feeling he would not be able to find out even if he tried, it would be a hollow sphere. But as it stood it was a hollow world.

Thus the plane of existence became known as **Hueco Mundo**.

He gave his creations the ability to evolve, a hierarchical evolution starting from a simple mindless entity to the more than simply sentient rational animal.

It was the basic foundation of life for this world that was now his to claim, and claim it he did. He was the god of Hueco Mundo and all of its inhabitants were in a sense his children, in a sense.

It was a century or more later did he rise from his throne, and have it dissolve behind him back into sand and spirit particles, and come to a theory of a possible direction he could go. There was something missing still from his world and he sought to solve it as best as he could.

He ripped or tore a hole through space and time, his portal opening up a tunnel that on the other side he could sense was a world filled to the brim with life. The World of Life or the Living World.

Stepping through he knew, he knew the purpose that his ancestor had given him, what new adventure was truly in store for him, and what the final stage of his creations was slated as being.

**Human**.

He got a feeling every now and then that there were memories that wanted to rise up above the rest and remind him of something or have him realize something rather important, but he just couldn't find it in him to do just that, to let them come to the fore. They would have to wait until later, he had some additional things to take care of after all.

His was the equivalent of Purgatorio it seemed, as he had found himself eventually walking the streets of what he learned was called Rukongai, at the very center of which was Seiretei. He had located heaven after stalking a newly deceased, a soul which had relinquished its hold on its mortal shell and gained a physical form for its otherwise formless soul-self.

He also eventually stalked another soul, one that had been forcefully dragged through a pair of guarded and chained gates down to the pits or circles of hell.

There was the world of the living, there was heaven where the peaceful and innocent dead went, there was hell where those in need of redemption are sent to, and so he found his niche. Hueco Mundo, where every thing else went.

By opening the first gateway between his world and the world of life, some of what he had created seeped into the world of the living which gave way to the possibility of his creations to spawn from the spirits, souls, and hearts, of those that joined the dead.

After returning to Hueco Mundo he located the very heart of the place, above ground of course. Once there he summoned to himself two of the first creatures to gain a sense of individuality, but still felt that they lacked something whatever it was.

It was a different hunger which they felt and suffered from, it was not the same hunger that yearned for sustenance but a feeling like something was still missing within them. It was that thing that would seal up the visible hole in their bodies.

They came as he had called them, wasting no time to arrive before the bone white throne that protruded from the very center of the world.

This time the throne sat atop a spire, a spire with a spiral staircase that led up to the actual throne on which this god sat, this god of Hueco Mundo.

These two Hollows as they had grown to be known as by the other realms of existence, went by the name of Tal and Gwin, one male and one female, both of which had also been the very first pair of hollows to be given life. They had made up the first cell formed and had been born once that first cell had split.

Survival of the fittest was the one law that all of them lived by, until such a time that none would dare or few would dare challenge them. They had devoured countless others born after them, which was how they had managed to keep their individuality when they had been the first to ascend to great hollowship, otherwise known as being classified under the classification of Menos.

It was rather difficult to tell the difference between the two towering giants of the hollow world, both had a white mask for a face with a pointed nose, a ring of spikes around what must have been their necks, their bodies were made out of some sort of black cloak or cloth, while their feet and hands were white bandaged things.

Their gazes locked onto this tiny figure that sat comfortably upon a white throne, one shrouded in a cloak of his own.

He looked up at them once he was sure he had their undivided attention and revealed a masked face as well. A black mask covered his face, nothing of his body could be seen other than his clothes. He even wore white gloves on his hands, and his feet were covered in much the same manner as the two giants before him.

"_Twas I that summoned thee,_" he spoke, his voice similar in echoing quality as his ancestor while lacking the thousands upon thousands of voices had an overlapping sound to it made up of three ages, like the fates of past, present, and future, "_Dost thou recognize who sits before thee?_"

Instead of giving a verbal response, the two giants nodded their heads in recognition, they would never forget the aura, since they knew not the face, of their creator.

"_Thou art the first of thy kind to reach such a level of power and intelligence,_" the one that sat upon the bone white throne stated factually, then added, "_Which means that there being only two of thee, there art only two ways for thee to grow beyond this level lest thee stagnant until more of they kind evolve._"

The two remained where they were, wondering still why they had been summoned from two of the farthest reaches from where his throne sat.

They were a tad bit confused of course.

"_Since there art only two of thee," _their creator spoke, "_I shall gift thee with the required energies for thou to evolve further, to move closer to filling that void that continues to haunt thee._"

The two giants took a step back as they began to feel power coarse through their bodies. The black cloth-like skin that made up their bodies fell away to reveal gray skin over one muscle bound form and one sleek form. Both of which were as close to humanoid as each could get for the time being.

Their masks lost the pointed or elongated nose and button eyes and even the stitched looking teeth. Both had lost any form of facial structure, only having smooth surfaces for faces, but should they need to eat, an opening would form somewhere on the mask's surface.

Their gaping hole, the symbol of something still missing, had moved from the center of their chests to right above where their hearts should have been. Hollow anatomy was different from any human's or animal's.

They had thought that their change would remain, and they would be left to their own devices until they gained enough power and experience to evolve once again.

"_Leave here for now, but return once the numbers of Gillian class menos, the class of menos thyselves had been the first of, has reached the hundreds,_" he who sat upon the bone white throne ordered, "_At that time I shall raise you, adjuchas to the highest level that most would think as the final form of evolution._"

The two went their separate ways, but not before putting to memory what the other looked like and felt like. They each had a feeling that returning together was a very important thing to do.

They each went their separate ways, but decided that the lesser hollows deserved to know more about themselves, and being more powerful than all existing hollows it was their duty to share what they knew with those lesser than themselves.

They were like prophets of the hollow race or species, sharing their knowledge with the lesser beings. The promise of power and getting even closer to being or becoming whole was more than enough incentive for them. Suffering from the gaping void within them and the hunger they suffered from was something that any would try to go beyond.

It took close to half a millennium for the first required hundred gillian to evolve, but unlike the first two these hundred lacked individuality. They were little more than beasts made of hundreds of consciousnesses warring with one another for dominance.

It was upon the evolution of the hundredth gillian did the two mid-class menos hear the call of their creator.

The two monsters in power of the hollow world did not stop for food or rest, this prompted the hundred gillian that had evolved to follow them, curiosity winning out of the warring state of their inner selves.

102 powerful monsters of the hollow world converged around the spire that rose above them all, even higher than it was before. He who sat upon the bone white throne was there, waiting for all of them to arrive. His power flowing outward, connecting to every single one of the taller set of the monsters that towered over their two superiors.

These Gillians were powerless to stop the puppeteer that pulled all of their strings, having them all form two straight lines.

"_Feast upon their flesh, for they art mere cattle,_" he who sits upon the bone white throne commanded of his two favorite creations.

The two Adjuchas did as thy were commanded, the Gillians did not complain, or make any kind of sound, as if they were resigned or accepting that being devoured was their purpose in life.

They hadn't thought that they would get such a power boost from the Gillian that had gathered. They each felt full at the end of their meal, but not yet content as they would never feel such until the holes over their hearts were made whole.

They sensed the additional power from their creator, which as they believed was the real reason that they were able to transcend their own limitations once more and evolve into something far greater than they already were.

They each found their forms change, they shrunk in size a little bit more. They each had a more noticeable humanoid form, each of them gaining more noticeable gender specific features.

Tal, the male, looked like a combination of an eagle and a human as he had wings upon his back and a human skull for a head and mask. Gwin, the female, looked like a combination of a cow and a human, sharing the same kind of head as Tal but having a cow's tail and patched coloring as one too, instead of having wings of any sort.

Once the transformations were complete, they remained standing before their creator upon two pedestals that rose out of the ground beneath their feet. The pedestals were similar to the spire upon which the bone white throne sat upon, the difference was that they were smaller in diameter as compared to the spire's space at the top which had enough space to pace in.

There was also yet to be any stairs leading up to where the two new and first Vasto Lordes stood.

"_You feel content, almost entirely content with your level of power, yet feel as if something is yet still missing,_" He who sits upon the bone white throne commented, "_Thou art mine children, mine creations, thus I shall share with you a nugget of wisdom... There are yet four more evolutionary stages, though three are more connected than the last. To obtain the next level of evolution from thy present one, one would have to unlock one's hidden potential, shatter one's limits, and seal away one's monster self._"

He who sat upon the bone white throne had installed something like automatic knowledge, having his primary creations spread the word and knowledge and whatever would get rather taxing as time wore on. The things that the pair knew and would continue to gain in the intelligence and knowledge department would be passed on as some kind of racial heritage. But that would only happen once they reached the final stage or level of evolution.

Arrancar was the next stage, the one after Menos, it was a stage of evolution that any Menos of any class could obtain if they so wished, though there would be a lot of hard work on their part. The stages of evolution were thus: Demi-Hollow (a soul or plus transforming into a full blown Hollow), Regular Hollow (individual but more primal instincts), Menos (hundreds of regular hollows combined into one entity), Arrancar (regular form, resurreccion form, segunda etapa form), and Entero (no Hollow hole).

He who sits upon the bone white throne did not share anymore hints or information on how the pair were to move forward. He simply sat on his throne and waited for the two intelligent life forms to figure things out on their own.

He ventured to guess that since they had ventured into the human world a few times, but not to feed but to explore, they must have observed a number of things. He had a feeling that they would eventually find the clue he had hidden in their forms with regards to what they were supposed to do next and how to proceed after that.

He materialized a sword, one which would serve as a medium for his power, much like what his ancestor had used back when he was only or just mortal, back before he had become the paradox which was Death himself. It wasn't like what most of those soul reapers used to do battle with, his was a broadsword with a bone white blade to match his throne, an ashen black hilt with a silver rectangular guard and silver hexagonal pommel.

He had the thing lean lazily against the side of his throne, he didn't need a scabbard for it, since it couldn't cut anything unless he wanted to cut something with it. There wasn't a sharper or duller blade.

The two Vasto Lordes before him tried to analyze their situation. Logic led them somewhere of course, but they could not be sure of it yet. Something was still missing and thus their first semi-joint theory would have to be put on hold.

They felt a flickering piece of that untapped potential within them, and thus the only way they knew how to reach it or seek it out was to delve deep within themselves.

Meditation was the answer.

They were at the very top of the food chain, and would remain thus for a very long time. So they had no worries about making themselves appear vulnerable as they tried to delve deep within themselves as they had observed some humans do so.

He who sat upon the bone white throne decided that he needed a name for himself, the kind of name that would set him apart from everyone he knew. He too entered a meditative state. The side effect of his going into such a state was that Hueco Mundo's above ground and skies became even more inhospitable than it already was, or had been when the Menos roamed the surface world.

It was underground where the majority of the the hollows could be found.

It took a whole decade before something charged, a decade was too short a time for the numbers of Gillian class Menos to rise again, and thus no hollow save for the pair of Vasto Lorde dared stay above the sands.

The change was that the meditating duo were suddenly surrounded by a perfect sphere of energy. It was a solid spherical wall of their spirit energies that surrounded them, like a womb of sorts as they began to undergo an evolutionary change.

Within each cocoon or womb-like orb, the Vasto Lordes lost the obvious armor looking layer of skin they showed the world, if an Adjuchas could have different colored outer skin instead of just black and white, the Vasto Lorde had more white than any other color. It was this white that was being replaced.

It was replaced by tanned flesh and the body shape and structure grew more into a human's. Parts of the mask, which served as the main identity of the hollow cracked, shattered, and fell away though leaving a small part of it, both of these transcending Vasto Lordes retained the lower jaw of their skull masks along with a white necklace-like piece around their necks.

It took another decade for the whole evolution process to end, it was exactly a decade after the sphere had formed did the first crack appear, and a few hours after that the orbs shattered into spirit particles as if they had never been there. Thus leaving the newly minted Arrancar naked as a newborn human baby.

It was as they drew their first breaths as the first Arrancar in all of Hueco Mundo did their creator too awaken or remove himself from his state of meditation.

He took one step towards the two of them, one moment he was on his spire and the next he was on a combined raised platform or pedestal which was connected by narrow bridges to the first two pedestals. The bodies of the two Arrancar lay at his feet and not that far from them lay a pair of medieval broadswords.

He conjured, from out of the free floating spirit particles and a bit of his own personal power, some clothes that matched his own garb for the two waking figures on the ground.

"_Get dressed and follow me, your transformation has been well timed,_" he said as he began to walk down the set of steps that circled the raised platform that stood before his spire.

The two, once they were fully awake, got dressed, it was part of their instinctual knowledge much like a lot of other things, and followed him down the steps. They also knew to bring their swords with them, sheathed too.

They didn't know where he was leading them, but they obediently followed catching up to him even. Both of them had to continually use their basic speed technique in order to keep up with him.

Somewhere in his world he had felt a tear, a forceful one that was not of the same make as the ones used by his creations and the others that were born after the first hollow cell.

It was a group of three that passed into his world, one that seemed to be as strong as he or just below him in power, but the difference was rather small and nigh insignificant and unimportant during a battle between the two of them. The other two with this trespasser were on par in strength as the newly ascended pair that trailed behind him obediently.

The group of three eventually arrived a few meters in front of the trespassers. Each side gauging the other's threat level.

They were contrasting in forms. The three denizens of Hueco Mundo were white, as pale as the moon that forever hung in the sky above, the the trespassers were clothed in black.

"_Speak, ye who hast dared enter my domain,_" he who sat upon the bone white throne demanded, the reason behind the statement was clear. Who are you and what are you doing here, it was a simple statement or query.

"I am Nanashi Yuurei, the Rei-Ou," the more powerful of the three trespassers stated, "I followed a lost soul to your domain, I didn't think that such a place would have someone like myself in it. Might I know the identity of my host, on whose lands I have chanced upon?"

"_Yo soy Vacuo, el Dios de Hueco Mundo, el Dios de los Huecos," _he who sat upon the bone white throne introduced himself and even bowed to his near equal, "_What did you hope by following one of the lower lifeforms of my world?_"

"What do you hope to accomplish by sending your forces to the Living World?" the Spirit King asked.

"_I send no one anywhere, I summon and they come,_" Vacuo stated, "_Hollows, or lost souls as you call them, those that transform into those black and white monsters your soldiers must have encountered are mostly little more than animals. They seek to fill the emptiness in their souls, which is symbolized by that hole they sport on their bodies."_

"I thought as much," Yuurei said, "Yet at the same time you have two of your creations standing with you. If you claim not to control the actions or influence the decisions of your creations, then why have two of them with you?"

"_Tal and Gwin...they are two of my first creations and thus are special,_" Vacuo replied, "_Let me explain a little bit about my creations. They were born from my loneliness to fill the emptiness I had been feeling for countless years. This creation process or reason resulted in affecting the lost souls that formerly were left wandering the world of the living until such a time as they lost any hold to the world or one of your own creations sent them on their way. Hollows seek three things..to survive, to become strong enough to survive, and to fill the void symbolized by the hole they have somewhere on their body._"

"So while I am king of heaven, or Soul Society as I like to call it, you hold sway over purgatory," Yuurei stated.

"_You could say that, since I guess this is where those that do not pass on naturally end up in, though as I have felt through my connection to all of my creations they can be purified and sent on to where their sins and virtues would have sent them had they not died with an overwhelming negative emotion or something ilke that," _Vacuo said, "_Is there anything else you would want to know?_"

"I currently have a truce of sorts with the ruler of hell," Yuurei said, "My forces are not permitted to meddle with the affairs of hell, and vice versa. We obviously can't strike up the same agreement, therefore I shall settle for a non-agression pact between the two of us. Neither of us shall voluntarily invade the other's domain with the intent of conquering it."

"_I can agree to that, I wasn't planning on biting off more than I can chew anyway,_" Vacuo said, "_I am more than content with what I already have. The thought of unseating you never crossed my mind._"

"Then we are at an agreement," Yuurei said.

"_We are,"_ Vacuo stated, "_Now leave mine lands!"_

He had more important things to do than converse with his ranking equal. The trespassers were in his lands and thus his raised voice was not only a command and a demand, but held enough power to tear a hole through space and time and connect Hueco Mundo and Soul Society, a gust of wind from out of nowhere shoved the Spirit King back into his domain.

"What happens now, Creator?" Tal asked.

"_Do as you please,_" Vacuo dictated and vanished back to his throne where he promptly returned to silent comtemplation.

He sat in silent contemplation keeping a mindful eye on his creations. They grew even greater in numbers as time wore on. His two first creations did indeed do as they pleased. They traveled together across the sands trying to find that which would make each of them whole. They did not neglect their power though, they were supposedly the most powerful of the mortal hollows, and also their pride at being such would not allow them to wane in power.

They were not aware of it but it was as if they had been placed in an arranged marriage with one another. It was like Noah's Ark, where they were one of the many pairs that were supposed to repopulate the world with their progeny. They did not know it or have much of a clue, but eventually, after a century of traveling together, training together, and going through a century's worth of shared experiences, they returned to the very heart of Hueco Mundo to confront their creator with something that they would never have thought they would ever consider.

"Creator?" Tal called out, cupping his mouth with his hands to get his voice to echo even louder, hoping that he wasn't disturbing his creator, it wouldn't do to experience the wrath of their god after all.

"_Yes Tal...why have you decided to visit?_" it was a rhetorical question of course, but that didn't mean that he didn't expect an answer, even though he did know the answer already.

The pair of hollows stood on the platform directly before but slightly lower than his spire. It, as the other structures remained where they had been. As he opened his eyes, he looked upon them, focusing his attention on them as only he could, and it was only then that he noticed a very minor detail.

This minor detail caused one of his unseen eyebrows to rise a little bit, but of course it wasn't seen due to his black mask covering his still hooded visage.

"Er...I...that is to say," Tal said, trying to find the right words to express what he wanted to say, "We, Gwin and I, we would like to have your blessing before we go any further with our..._relationship_."

"_I see, you have my blessing to proceed,_" Vacuo amusedly said as he noted that their hollow holes had significantly shrunken in that hundred years that they had spent together. It earned them a smile from him, they had a feeling that he was pleased.

Some part of them was human, they and he were sure of it, for the other hollows that had followed their creation had not walked down the path that they had. Some of that humanity seeped into them, that and the interactions they had observed in the living world between the living...it influenced them quite a lot more than they had thought.

It took another century before they visited him once again.

This time their hollow holes had not shrunk, not even a little. They were clueless with how to proceed any further since they each felt that they were very close to being whole, for lack of a better term. They felt complete with one another, but at the same time their hollow holes remained. They didn't know what was still missing.

"_So you have once again returned, what troubles you?_" Vacuo inquired. They found him in the same position as they had last seen him, which was sitting on his throne with him leaning on one hand which was propped on one of the armrests of his throne.

"We...we do not know what is missing," Gwin spoke this time, "When we are together, do things together, and most of all when we are touching, we both feel complete, yet our hollow holes remain..."

"We are lost...sir," Tal added.

"_You did well to come to me..._" Vacuo said and rose from his seat and appeared before them, "_I have the solution, but are you willing to do whatever it would take to be whole?_"

"It is as if we are being taunted every time that feeling of completeness if there and is gone again," Tal said, "I am willing to do whatever it is that you tell us to do."

"As am I," Gwin said.

"_To become whole, as you put it, you must each take into yourself the other,_" Vacuo stated, and waited for the explosion of anger that should follow his statement.

"I would have to kill him/her?!" both hollows angrily said in shock, "Anything but that!"

"_I am gladdened by your unwillingness to sacrifice the other, even though you hadn't said as much,_" Vacuo told them, while holding out his hands placatingly, "_I did not mean that. I did not say anything about consuming the other whole. I simply meant that in order to become whole, one must become one. Just as your holes are symbols of there being something missing...Do I really have to spell it out for you?"_

"Err..." the two didn't know whether or not to respond to such a question.

"_Fine..._" Vacuo exasperatedly said, "_Munch on a part of the other, just a part. I'd like to sugges the heart..."_

He only got that far since the two only heard the first sentence as they did something like that. It was a rather physical, spiritual, and emotional, experience.

If their creator said that it had to be symbolic, then it was symbolic. They each exchanged a ring finger. Once each finger was consumed, they each felt as if they were being judged by some unseen force, and it wasn't their creator they were sure of that. It was something else, something more primal, something older than their creator and god.

It was as if they were being judged, everything about them individualy and as a mated pair, for lack of a better term.

This feeling was followed by a short, yet bright, flash of light which covered the two of them. When the light died down, the two of them found each other inside what looked like a pale pink egg from the outside.

Vacuo examined the egg curiously, he hadn't been expecting that at all.

He couldn't really help himself as he poked and prodded the egg from all angles, wondering when the thing would hatch and reveal what changes the two had undergone. He hadn't really thought of what would happen once the two had actually proceeded even further with their relationship.

He decided to sit on the ground and wait for the egg to hatch, munching on some cookies he had created for himself in his near boredom.

He had waited a grand total of twelve hours for the first crack to appear.

Six hours more hours for the second crack.

Three more hours for the third crack.

And one and a half hours for the egg to shatter, the shell turning into spirit particles first before condensing and clinging to the two figures that had been inside the shell for such a long time.

Tal and Gwin appeared looking the same as they had before being surrounded by the egg, there was only one difference. They were each whole, the two of them lacked the distinctive hollow hole. Though they did each keep the thick band of white around their necks and a bit of their masks on their lower jaw.

"_I see very little has changed,_" Vacuo stated as he stood from the ground and banished his trash, "_Well, get out of here! Live long and prosper._"

The couple didn't need to be told twice, though they did ask if he, Vacuo, wanted them to visit him every now and then. He simply shrugged before returning to throne and waited for either them or someone else to visit him.

#

Centuries upon centuries more passed before someone new chanced upon the stairs leading to the audience platforms. Tal and Gwin had visited him every decade or so, one time bringing them first child with them for introductions.

It was a Vasto Lorde that stood before his spire. It was male and looked upon him wondering what he was.

"Who are you?" the Vasto Lorde asked, he was cautious as he had never encountered such a lazy looking entity in all of Hueco Mundo before.

"_I? Yo soy Vacuo,_" Vacuo replied opening his eyes and straightening up on his throne, "_And you would be?_"

"I am Renkou," the hollow replied in return, "What is this place?"

"_The heart of Hueco Mundo," _was Vacuo's amused reply, there was something about the Vasto Lorde before him that was different from the others that he had observed, _"You are different from the others._"

"What do you mean?" Renkou asked.

"_You are inquisitive, is there something you be wanting?_" Vacuo asked this hollow.

"I want a purpose, a reason for living, all this wandering and senseless killing...it is not to my liking," Renkou admitted, though he wasn't sure why he was admitting to something such as that, and he was one of the most powerful of the hollows that roamed their world.

"_Hm.._" Vacuo said rubbing his chin in thought, "_Come back once you have unlocked your potential, and I might something for you to do._"

He was different in that he was satisfied with how powerful he had become. He was also rather tired of all the fighting. He didn't really have that much pride in him after all. He just wanted a break in the monotony of it all. Fighting and surviving were the only real things that happened in his life. He wanted change.

So he would do as this strange Being told him to.

He wandered the desert sands of Hueco Mundo puzzling over what Vacuo had meant about unlocking his potential.

He let his feet take him wherever, they took him one of the deisgnated six corners of Hueco Mundo. Sheer cliffs that rose out of the ground to a height that no enhanced or advanced eye could see. By the wall was a domed structure.

Renkou was sure that he had found one of the seven mysteries of Hueco Mundo as some of the other hollows had come to calling those seven places. He had apparently stumbled upon his second one, the first one being the Heart of Hueco Mundo or Corazon de Hueco Mundo.

He didn't know what he had stumbled upon until he found himself surrounded by six Vasto Lordes, all of them prepared to bring him down if he showed even a sliver of hostile intent.

Vasto Lorde were solitary creatures, and so he was intrigued as to why six were working together, unless they were just one and the same hollow.

"Why have you come here?" one of the Vasto Lorde questioned him.

"Where is here exactly?" Renkou asked.

"This is Primer Punto," the one Vasto Lorde stated, "Now answer the question."

"I was lost in thought and allowed my feet lead me here," Renkou replied.

"Honest," the Vasto Lorde stated, he believed what he had been told, "I am Verdad," then motioned for his companions to stand down, which they did before moving away and heading for wherever they either hid or spent their time.

"They obey you...?" Renkou said, he was a bit more confused rather than lost in thought now.

"Chain of command and all that," Verdad said, "I am Captain of the Guard of Primer Punto, they have to follow my orders. So...would you mind sharing what kept your thoughts occupied that you stumbled upon us?"

"I chanced upon El Corazon de Hueco Mundo," Renkou shared, "And was told to return there once I had unlocked my potential...I still don't know what that means."

"Ah..I see," Verdad said, "I think it would be best if you spoke to the King and Queen of Primer Punto."

"A king and queen?" Renkou asked, it was all new to him, he didn't think that Hueco Mundo had such Beings.

"Yes," Verdad said, "It is not that hard to fathom when one thinks about it. What other titles would or should be given to the unquestionable most powerful hollows in the land?"

"But you are Vasto Lorde," Renkou stated, then asked, "How can these two be unquestionably powerful?"

"To challenge them to a duel for the right to lead would be suicide," Verdad said, "I tried over five centuries ago. I remain to this day humbled."

"Then let us meet with your leaders," Renkou said, he didn't really have anything else to do with his time and he was still stumped by his problem.

Verdad led the way, sure that Renkou had no ill intentions for any of the denizens of Primer Punto.

The interior of the domed structured was not as barren as the exterior. It was like a bustling city in the Living or Human World. It resembled a mixture of all the civilizations almost haphazardly blended into one place. It was rather interesting.

He learned as he walked behind Verdad that the place was indeed a city, a kingdom even. Only Menos lived there since they were the only ones that had the individuality to survive in such a place. There was also the fact that only a menos would be able to remain standing in the presence of other menos. Any lesser hollow would do more than buckle under any released reiatsu.

He noted that there weren't that many Vasto Lorde moving about the place, but did notice a great many adjuchas and a number of gillian, the kind that had managed to keep their individuality.

They passed by a vast meditation area, according to Verdad it was where those that wished to increase their power without having to feed or fight spent their time.

They passed by several other places and areas. No one really paid them much mind, save for the few that knew Verdad personally.

When they reached the throne room Verdad announced himself and his companion just as the massive door were opened to allow them entrance.

The throne room was a a massive white hall that was devoid of any furniture other than two thrones, both pale white with some black markings on them.

Sitting upon the thrones were the King and Queen.

"Majesties," Verdad said as he bowed respectfully to the two most powerful hollows he had ever in his whole existence ever encountered, "I have with me one that has encountered El Corazon de Hueco Mundo."

"You may leave us Verdad," the King said, and Verdad bowed once more before turning around and leaving his new friend in the capable hands of his leaders.

"So..what brings you to our domain, young Vasto Lorde," the King asked, his Queen choosing to let her mate do the speaking.

"I was told that if I could unlock my potential I would find a purpose waiting for me at the Heart," Renkou replied, "Oh, and let me introduce myself. I am Renkou."

"Nice to meet you Renkou," the King said, "So you spoke to Him did you. Then I shall help you, and if not myself then my mate shall aid you in your quest."

"It is a path less traveled by, but the rewards are great," the Queen said, "Many have tried to transcend past the level of Menos, and those many have yet to succeed due to lack of patience. Though I suppose there are still those that are trying, but not really succeeding."

"But you two succeeded, didn't you?" Renkou asked.

"We did," the King replied.

"Then please tell me, majesties," Renkou requested, "Tell me what I must do."

The King and Queen informed the hollow, the latest in a long list of those that wanted to reach beyond their own limits and transcend, of what he needed to do.

The simplest explanation was to connect with the part of oneself that had one not walked down the path of hollow would have allowed one to become a Soul Reaper, the bane of most hollows.

After the explanation and instructions, Verdad returned to the throne room to take Renkou to where he would be staying while with them.

After getting settled in, Renkou went straight to the preparing himself for the time he would be devoting to trying to reach whatever it was that he was supposed to do. He focused on his goal, that of being the first in the kingdom to go beyond the level of Menos so that he might return to the Heart and to that Being that the Royals had called the Creator.

Day in and day out, Renkou could be found sitting cross legged on one of the meditation mats in the center of one of the meditation areas of the city. Focused on his task, not wavering even when the task seemed to be so impossible.

He had reached the ceiling of his power, so he had assumed that breaking past that barrier would have been a simple feat. But it proved not to be so. The barrier was seemingly nothing, seemingly air. No matter how hard he sought that barrier that he had to get past within him, he could not find it.

A decade passed him by in a blur, and still he could not find whatever it was that he was looking for. He had even asked some of those that had claimed to have caught a sliver of their potential for some advice. The hints and stories were varied, never the same thing spoken twice. So he assumed that just like how almost no two hollows were alike, so was the process of reaching this seemingly impossible goal.

It was frustrating to say the least. But even so he continued to try and find it, find whatever it was that he was looking for within himself.

He had thought that getting to be among the ranks of the few Vasto Lorde had been very difficult, but after a decade's worth of nothing happening, he found that his latest challenge was exactly that. A challenge.

He spent a decade training physically thinking that maybe there was supposed to be some sort of balance between his physical body and whatever it was that he was looking for. Since it was locked within him, it must be some sort of mental thing.

For another decade he dedicated himself with studying thinking that his knowledge base was lacking.

Then when he thougth he had run out of options he requested an audience with he King and Queen to get their advice on the matter. It was something that no one, save for perhaps their children, had actually thought to do before.

They each had different helpful hints, but nothing he believed would work for him.

But instead of quitting like so many others thinking that it was something that only the extremely strong could accomplish, he had remained on the path to _enlightenment._

He finally caught a glimpse of his potential after a century of searching within himself. It had happened after thinking that maybe the emptiness was the barrier that kept him away from what he sought. From there it was not so stormy sailing.

It took him another decade to finally take a firm hold of what he had been seeking all of that time. He took it within himself and accepted that it was real. With that single thought in mind and with his own power within his hands, his reiatsu skyrocketed around him.

The crushing force was enough to send some of the weaker adjuchas to their hands and knees. It also called the attention of the King and Queen who rarely ever left their personal chambers or throne room.

A flash of golden light was what greeted the royal couple as they arrived on scene. It was a momentary flash, one that once died down revealed not the Vasto Lorde that had been sitting on the mat, but a more humanoid entity.

One with raven black hair, jade eyes, and what appeared to be single horn and eye patch, which served as the remainders of his hollow mask. His hollow hole which had formerly been located a the center of his chest had moved up to just below his adam's apple.

He was also naked.

No one really cared about that last part, as they all cheered at his success while some decided to double their efforts since they saw that it was possible after all, while others decided that it was far too much work for them.

It was the King himself who provided some clothing for the newest Arrancar to rise above Menos.

"What am I called now?" Renkou asked the King while the Menos around him cheered and congratulated him.

"You are now an Arrancar," the King said, and handed over a sheathed katana, "A majority of your hollow powers and your former form is sealed away by this blade. It is the lock which holds your power at bay, which is greater than it had been in your previous level of hollow."

A few days after ascending, Renkou bid the friends he had made in the city farewell as he still had something to do. His place was not there with them, but somewhere else. They wished him luck and some even said that they would try and become the same as him so that they could join him.

The King himself saw him to the city's main gate. Verdad was waiting for him.

"Here to see me off as well?" Renkou asked the Captain of the Guard.

"Nope," Verdad replied, "I'm here to go with you. I've already trained up my replacement and am ready to go with you."

"And you're fine with this, majesty?" Renkou asked the King.

"It is his choice," the King said, "And as he said, he already has a suitable replacement."

"Alright then," Renkou said.

"Well then," the King said, "I wish you luck, and kindly pass on a message for me to He Who Sits Upon The Bone White Throne."

"Ok," Renkou said, "What's the message?"

"We'll try and visit more often," the King said, "That's it."

"Will he know you're the source of the message? I mean no disrespect but all I've known to call you, your majesty, is that and King."

"Since you are the first since my children to have joined the ranks of Arrancar, I will share with you my name," the King said, "I am Tal, he will know that name."

"*"


	79. BA 01

"I'm leaving, do not stop me," he ordered his subordinates, all of them deeply bowed, "Go about your duties, its not like you really need me to oversee all of you, you did well enough without a master for centuries."

They left him alone in the chamber of the mystery of death, where the archway into the realm of the dead could be found in the very center of the room. It was one of the last places that anyone would come to look for him. He had finally had enough with the world, the reapers of death that he oversaw had been the only ones that didn't have an ulterior motive when it came to anything to do with him.

He had gone through life discovering later on in his life that the many people he had surrounded himself with and thought of as family were in fact backstabbing him or had been using him ever since they had first met him. None of them really considered him their friends, he was only their friend until he could no longer be of use to them anymore.

The only ones that had never bothered with using him were long dead and gone, before he inherited the mantle of Master of Death. His parents had not betrayed him, they tried to protect him and died in the process, same went with his godfather, and even his potions professor (thought he didn't really like the man).

He had left everything he owned, be it property or funds, not to his wife and children, all of whom had either used him in some way or turned on him, but to those that had honestly looked after such assets. Mainly mundanes and goblins.

Sure the goblins didn't really like him, especially after that stunt he had pulled in his youth which was the fist ever successful breaking into and escaping from one of the most dangerous banks in all of the world.

The goblins were sure to appreciate all that he was leaving them, including one Philosopher's stone, and a number of other trinkets that had had managed to acquire over the years.


	80. C 1

"I'm almost at the tip of boredom right about now," the old man, sitting across from him sipping every now and then from his cup of jasmine tea, said, "Tell me, if there was one power that you wish you had. One to aid you in your quest to destroy the world and recreate it. What would that power be?"

He thought about it for a bit. He didn't really want to return to just sitting in the white void alone and with nothing else to do. He thought long and hard on it, for this old man sipping tea before him was surely no ordinary man.

He knew where he was, or at least he thought he did. It was by no means heaven, therefore it must have been hell. He had always surrounded himself with people, or at least preferred the presence of one or two people.

But with any and every sense of time, even his internal one, robbed from him along with being in the, as he had believed to be, never ending solitude, he found himself in hell or what he perceived it to be.


	81. c 2

How he had envisoned the world to be, it had become upon his death. The only flaw to his plans were all of the betrayals that he had wrought and brought upon the world and those around him.

He died with only one regret, that being that he would not be able to live in the world he had created with the people he had inevitably orchestrated its creation and ultimately created it for.

For his crimes against others, against humanity, against the world in general and at large, he was sentenced to hell, but not the one he had expected. It was not eternal physical torment, but more mental. He was robbed of his perception of time, that and was given what would have been eternal solitude.

It would have been eternal solitude, an eternity of loneliness had it not been for the fact that he didn't really mind or go crazy. He was content with his lot. He minded a bit, but that was the only extent of his discomfort. That and the fact that there was a group of Beings that had a habit of growing close to boredom and always seeking out a means to alleviate such a state from overwhelming them.

Fearfully referred to as _Those Five_ or _Them_, were the five Beings that had been left in charge of Everything. They were Crius Crossworld, Master of the Crossworld which was the nexus that bound all of Everything together, it was the focal point, the epicenter, the knot that tied all existences together, it was the surface upon which all parallel worlds reflected off of.

Previously the boss of _those five_ was Shadow Shaijo, or Shadow for short, it was from he, who had previously been one with all, that Everything came about. He had been the beginning, which was the reason why he was the Guardian of the Gate of Entrance from which all new Ideas flowed through and into Imagination.

Imagination was the canvas, Ideas were the paint, and Everything was the painting constantly being revised and repainted and overlapped, constantly evolved.

Another member of this illustrious and overly feared and revered council was Nul Nusquam, the Guardian of the Gate of Exit and the caretaker of the End and the Void. His Gate was the passage which Ideas flowed out of when they had lost all purpose or were scrapped entirely or partially. It was also his responsibility to keep at bay Boredom which was the stagnation of Everything, the anti-thesis of Everything in Imagination.

Beyond these two gates were two things, before the Entrance there was Inspiration and after Exit was the Real World. Not that that was very important.

Following those three, and not being any less than them, were Alexandre Westwurl and Toukou Kyonshi, the masters of the Western Worlds and Western Crossworld, and the Eastern Worlds and Eastern Crossworlds, respectively.

They were _Those Five_, the leaders and rulers of Everything. _They_ were as high up as one could get in the hierarchy of Everything, _They_ were the higher ups, the Powers That Be, the Upstairs. _They _were just an existence or two short of being Imagination _Itself_.

Boredom was acting up again, pressing against the forcibly closed Gate of Exit, and Nul decided that he was wasting too much time keeping his Gate closed. It wasn't that it was physically trying to perform such a task, but the mental fatigue was getting rather troublesome that it was keeping him from more important tasks such as paperwork.

He called a meeting between his fellows and held it at the very foot of his Gate.

The other _Four_ arrived in their own ways, no carriages or cars taking them to their destination, while the child-like void cloaked Being waited impatiently, like a child, for them to arrive for their meeting.

The first to arrive, a ball of shadows coalesced from all of the shadows present on the floating symbolic rock in the vastness of Imagination. It exploded in a shower of black petals and death butterflies, to reveal a Being clothed in the shadows that might have granted him his name. Crimson eyes pulsating with power were the only other distinguishing feature, or the only part of his face shadowed face that could be seen by the light of a million heavenly bodies in the Imagination space that surrounded the rock upon which the Gate stood upon.

"Greetings Master Shadow," Nul said, neither coldness nor warmth present in his child-like voice.

"Greetings young friend," Shadow spoke, mirroring his younger counterpart in their shared balance of responsibilities.

A black and white door materialized out of free floating particles that had once made up Ideas. It creaked open slowly to reveal the next arrival, an old man in a business suit, complete with tie. His amber-gold hair shimmering ethereally in the partial darkness, this was only matched by his twinkling amber-crimson gaze.

"Welcome Lord Crossworld," Nul stated, and nodded his head respectfully. Shadow merely raising an unseen eyebrow in greeting to their friend and comrade.

"I thought a more professional attire befitted such a meeting," Crius stated as he motioned at his suit, pristine as it was.

A white cloud streaked from the East of their position, on it was what appeared to be some kind of slim version of the Frankenstein monster with pale greenish skin, wearing a doctor's or lab coat, and with a jiangshi's hat on his head with a talisman of some sort hanging from one side of the hat.

The cloud vanished from beneath his feet as he arrived at the foot of the Gate and greeted his fellows with a bow of respect as was customary in many a world under his watchful gaze and power.

"Kyonshi," Nul stated, nodding at the new arrival, the others already present doing the same, "It is unlike you to be earlier than your own counter-balance."

"I was expecting him to be earlier than I, or at least arrive at the same time," Kyonshi said, in his defense of a sort, "Perhaps his train was delayed, it happens some of the time."

"Indeed," a disheveled looking young adult said upon disembarking from a steam engine that had appeared from out of nowhere. Or more precisely from the tear in the veil that separated not only the realms of life and death but concealed the gaps between existences and worlds, "Five seconds late due to someone getting on board that couldn't decide on a destination."

"I take it Conductor wasn't too please with that," Nul inquired.

"You're damn right he wasn't," Alexandre replied, "Kicked the little blighter off of his train when he caught my eye and my haste."

"Now that we are all here, we may begin our meeting," Nul said and motioned for his fellows to take seats on the steps that led up to the Gate itself.

"Why have you decided now as the time to summon us?" Crius queried, "I was enjoying my most recent purchase of quality Jasmine tea."

"You should have brought us some," Shadow stated.

"I have some lemon grass if any of you wish for a cup or pot," Nul offered, already beckoning the pot of such a calming exlixir to make its way on nonexistent wings to their seats on the steps of such a monolith.

"I'll have a cup," the other _Four_ said, welcoming something to drink while they talked, that was all it really was, their meetings. They were merely talks, long winded conversations which usually ended up with a parody of sorts being created based off on a world or set of them.

They chatted for a bit about nonsensical things, nothing really making any sense to any observer or eavesdropper, but to them it was as normal as asking how one's day had been, not that time was as constant in the vastness of Imagination as it would be on any solid world or existence.

It was only with one loud and almost deafening bang against the closed Gate did _The Five_ decide to get to the topic of discussion which had summoned them to the base of the monolithic Gate.

"Getting back on topic," Nul said, "I want my Gate opened, forcibly sealing it due to the most recent, as you must have heard, attempted invasion has become quite the annoyance. I am presently unwilling to wait for things to die down on the other side and things to return to the status quo."

"I see," Shadow commented, "You wish to find a solution to alleviate the invading boredom which plagues us at present due to the near stagnation of our Active Works."

"Precisely," Nul stated, "I wish to return to my paperwork."

"Before we get to that, I have a question," Alexandre said, raising his hand a bit as if he were still in school, if he ever really attended one.

"You are by no means some random student, and we are by no means real licensed teachers," Kyonshi noted, "Save for Master Shadow on the teacher part, so please put your hand down and simply speak your mind."

There was a moment of silence..

"I can't recall my original question," Alexandre stated apologetically, "There must have been interference from the Real World...I recalled hearing or sensing something about production and quality.."

"Thank you for the momentary reprieve from all the seriousness of our discussion," Nul said, "Now may we continue, if there are no more or other interruptions."

No one else had anything to add, interruption-wise.

"I want this problem gotten rid of," Nul said, "So kindly..."

He was interrupted by Alexandre who had recalled what his question was supposed to have been.

"Yes Alexandre," Shadow spoke, entering annoyed teacher-mode which would have put any of the snakry Slytherin Severus Snapes to shame, "What might your question be?"

"I merely wish to know of the whereabouts of the End and the Void," Alexandre inquired, "That wolf-like pet of yours is usually at your side when we meet up like this."

"I used It to keep the Gate closed while I speak with you, less of a noise that way," Nul replied, "What with the canceling effect my pet has when coming in contact with Boredom or the Nothing."

"Now that that's over and done with," Crius said, "I already have a solution, parts of it have already been freely flowing in our space."

"Let's hear it then," Shadow said, as he was already clued into the possibility of this turn of events.

"There is a soul in one of the Hells, not All Hells thank Imagination," Crius said, "A sinner worthy of the ninth and a few other circles, but his intentions had been pure. The thing with him is that even though he suffers, he doesn't really mind his eternal punishments and even expected and accepted it upon his death."

"There can only be one of such sort of soul," Kyonshi and Alexandre stated at the same time as the particular group of souls in question were from worlds that could be considered as partial crossover of the ones that the themselves governed.

"What makes this one soul stand out among the rest?" Nul asked, "There are countless of his lot in existence."

"I stumbled upon this particular soul on my way to my office one day," Crius answered, "He had an interesting soul to him, he was an Old Soul."

"How old are we talking about here?" Kyonshi asked, it was one of his after all, "I've got countless of those under my watchful gaze."

"A hundred life times including the one he is serving his sentence in his perceived hell presently," Crius replied, "Remember, each sentencing of a, supposed, eternal punishment is the sum total of years lived during that lifetime multiplied by the number of actual sins multiplied by the number of previous sinful lifetimes."

"What were each of his lifetimes like?" Alexandre asked, curious as there were many old souls suffering in some state of hell or eternal punishment in some form.

"In his first life he was supposed to be the savior of the world," Crius explained, "He did everything that was expected of him, he did the whole dense hero thing perfectly. He even fooled the gods of the world of that lifetime. Then at the cusp of victory, at the moment when he was to solidify peace for the world, he turned on them all. It was his first of a series of betrayals."

"What was the extent of his betrayal?" Alexandre asked.

"He did something that not even his supposed anti-thesis had dared to dream up or of," Crius elaborated, "He destroyed the world. He hid his true skill and intellect behind a the mask of an ever-loving and forging and forgetting fool."

"So instead of being the better man, he ended the world in some manner, revenge against the world for his lot in life, is that it?" Alexandre asked.

"Precisely," Crius said, "To think that was just the beginning. His next 98 lives were the same."

"Better or worse?" Alexandre asked.

"Some better some worse, but all had a theme of intended and willful betrayal," Crius said, though added, "Though most or all of them were more for selfish ends and desires as compared to his hundredth life, which was more selfless than selfish."

"What are you suggesting we permit here then?" Kyonshi asked, wondering if they were going to be elevating yet another soul to a higher position in the hierarchy of Everything.

"We shall break the monotony of his lives," Crius replied, "I propose that we give him the option of a single wish for a power with a merger with a failed reality or dying reality."

"In short we'll be giving him a power unique to him in his new life, should he be willing to take a new one on early, with that new life being just his whole, with all memories intact, soul merging with a dying or taking the place of an already dead one," Alexandre, long windedly, said, "Did I get that right?"

"Yes," Crius said.

"If it will get me out of keeping my Gate closed, I'm all for it," Nul said, a tad bit impatiently.

"I'm game," Shadow stated.

"Give me the requirements and I'll find this soul a world to live in," Kyonshi stated his intention.

"I'll alert the Archivist, and the rest of the Staff," Alexandre said, taking out a tickler notebook and jotting down some things in a script that was indecipherable to anyone and everyone else that wasn't him or the infamous FM.

"Then it is decided," Crius said, "I shall go to him and make the proposition," he stood from his spot on the steps leading to the Gate, commanded an iron door to materialize. Opened said door, and went through the opened portal leading to an eternal punishment.

The _Other Four_ remaining in their seats sipping more of their delicious Jasmine tea.

"#"

He had been gazing upon the pristine white void that he had been trapped in for however how long. It had always just been white, even his clothes had been white, more like a white mental patient's gown or straight jacket minus the straps really. The only thing that had not been white were the color of his skin, his eyes, his hair, basically his body was the only color in the utterly white void.

Time was irrelevant and unknown to him, companionship or social interaction was an alien concept to him. Speaking was but a dream now as he had managed to forget how to move physically from all the time he had spent sprawled on the ground, or whatever he was on was called.

He found himself strange, or at least his fate was strange as was his complete acceptance of his fate.

He thought that once he found out what his fate would be he would resent it or reject it even a little bit. But he accepted it right away, believing that he deserved it and didn't even bother with finding out how long eternity was going to be, not that it would matter as he didn't have some kind of way to tell how long it had already been in the first place.

Then this moment came, the moment that a blot of color sprouted from out of nowhere a few feet away from his relatively prone form. It was a man, or at least he thought it to be a man, his mind went forward thinking countless thoughts and theorizing what he was seeing and what his future in the god-forsaken-void was going to be and this new variable to everything could bring.

"I am sure you are wondering why the monotony of your eternal reward has been halted with my arrival," the mystery man said, "I am, believe-it-or-not, a higher power. There is only one higher than I, but that one does not interfere often. I have four brothers of sorts, and we have decided that in order to alleviate a problem affecting all of Everything we are to offer you reincarnation."

"..." he merely stared at the so-called higher power in disbelief, his face an emotionless mask, one that he couldn't move even if he wanted to since he no longer knew how to do so.

"I supposed you've forgotten how to move," the mystery man said, "My brothers and I are offering to give you one power, it can be anything you wish it to be, as well as for your soul to be merged with a dying one or to replace an already dead one's place in a mortal shell of our choosing, one which had a similar destiny as your own."

"..." again with the emotionless stare and mentally blank response.

"Yes..well...think about the power, since I'll not be taking no for an answer," the mystery man stated, he snapped his fingers and everything that old soul had forgotten was returned to him, "I have returned what you lost during the earlier stages of your punishment, such as speech. The first words out of your mouth had better be what power you wish to have."

The knowledge and wisdom that bombarded him was so great so utterly immense that the only emotions which registered on his now movable face were both horror and shock. Horror at all of the atrocities he had committed in his past lives as he had regained all of those memories, or what could be called echoes of past lives he had lived.

The shock came from the same thing as well.

He quickly analyzed all the echoes of his former lives and deduced that there was one thing in common with all of them. They all lacked a very important something. What they all lacked was an equivalent to his sister.

Whatever his sister had been to him in this most recent past life, which was in a sense still his present one, was what allowed him to become what he presently was. Sure he had sinned, quite a large number of them betrayals, as was the trend in his life, but he regretted some of them and even accepted his fate.

He made his decision, he would willingly take up whatever role this Being before him was offering. He believed that if he could break away from the mold which were his past lives. But he thought of a condition, one that he was sure that the Being before him would surely agree to, even though it was a little bit insane.

He wanted a condition to be considered and agreed upon in order for him to solidify the fact why he would be doing things right this next time around.

"I want the power to create, transform, and destroy," the soul said, "But on the condition that I am permitted to complete my sentence, however long it may or remains to be, while also keeping all my memories including of this eternity of torment."

"Are you sure about that?" Crius said, he could sense what the soul wanted out of the completion of his sentence and the power part was doable and very vague and could evolve into anything which was something that he liked, "It can be done, for what is an eternity to one unaffected by time."

"Then have it done," the soul said, it sounded so much like a command that it was a little bit laughable.

"Very well," Crius stated, snapped his fingers, and it was so. He vanished from the old soul's sight and all other senses, trapping him in the white void for the remainder of his sentence. A sentence which became a tad bit more unbearable due to having contact with someone for the first time in a long long time.

"*"

"So now we wait," Shadow said upon Crius' return to them, "Wait once again, once again wait."

"Not so," Crius said, "As I told the old soul, what is an eternity to one unaffected by time."

"I think I see what you mean," Kyonshi said, "What is but a moment to one of us, may seem an eternity for this old soul."

"Then let it be so," Alexandre said, "Have us blink as one, and have his horror last through all his sentenced time."

"Then let us close our eyes," Nul said, and was the first to do so but remembering to set aside his cup of tea first, "And open at when the mere moment to us has passed but an eternity of suffering and torment has completed itself."

They each closed their eyes and immersed themselves in the seemingly nigh random moment. Time ceased flowing normally around them and the Gate of Exit. Boredom fled.

Time was irrelevant to the _Four_, they kept their eyes closed and remained in that single moment. Remaining still and not being a part of anything directly in that stilled span of time was a relatively new experience for _them_. It was odd, being in and out of time at the same time and for the sole reason as to give an old soul what he wanted in order to give them further entertainment and for the other purpose of forcing boredom to flee from one of the doors of Imagination.

When they once more opened their eyes, Crius himself knew it was time. He blinked away from their little meeting place to pick up the soul he was to send forth, while the others prepared everything else, including the reopening of the Gate of Exit.


	82. C 3

He was having a dream, he knew it. It was the only way he knew for him to find himself in a purple grove. He was sitting on a log beside a small bonfire, which was being tended to by a woman that he could have sworn could have passed off as Medusa the gorgon.

He had been having a conversation with a man, much older than any man he had ever met, about fantastic beasts and all sorts of things that would be considered as fairy tales or mythologies of the world and more. It was quite the enchanting experience.

It was a purple grove, that was the best way that he could describe the place what with all the shades of purple and even the lighting of the place was a light purplish glow. There was a small cottage or a hovel really in the center of the grove, and he also noticed that it was surrounded by a line of silver trees and other plants. The common thing was that all the plant life was silver and not green.

The man he was conversing with was anything but normal, as far as he could tell. He wore silver and blue robes, robes of all things. The likes of which would could only be seen on wizards, warlocks, mages, and priests. The man could have been Merlin, but he knew better than to assume such a thing.

The man had this aura about him, this feeling that comparing him to Merlin was like comparing a t-rex to an ant and saying that they were the same thing.

"Just so you know, _Harry_," the old man said as the conversation between the two was winding down to a close, "If you ever need me, all you've got to do is use some silver, in a creative way, and I'll come to your aid. Got it?"

"Yes sir," he replied, not voluntarily though..

"*"

A moment later he shot up in his bed in his room in #4 Privet Drive.

He had had the room given to him after his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It wouldn't do for any of the magicals to find out that he lived in the cupboard under the stairs after all. His relatives didn't know how they would react to such a thing and thus preventing such a thing from happening gave him a room of his own to stay in, and remain in during the summers.

It was summer, he was locked in the room, his food was delivered once a day through a flap at the bottom of the door, he could compare it to what inmates at the more poorly funded prisons in the world were fed too, or was worse than even that, he wasn't quite sure though.

He wondered about the dream, it felt so real, he enjoyed it too. He also noticed that things were a lot bigger than things were once he woke up.

Curiosity, as they say, killed the cat, but he could care less about some cat. He wanted to verify if the dream was really just as dream, after all, what could it hurt.

He was lucky to have some sickles on him, he had managed to save some from his first ever memorable or rememberable trip to Diagon Alley when he did his shopping for his first year of magical school. He thought that it was enough, just one coin, but what to do with it. The man in the memory or dream said to use silver in a creative way.

He gave it some thought..and decided to try something. At this time he didn't know that magic was not permitted to be performed when out of school, aka during the summer months. So he tried charging up the coin with his magic, like heating an ice cube with his body heat. He didn't really think about why he was doing it, but he just did it.

It was like a beacon, the Ministry of Magic caught wind or managed to track down the disturbance of the peace in a muggle filled area, with only one magic user in the area they prepared to send out a warning about such use, but were stopped when the most unlikely of things happened. The tracking device in their possession and all records of the incident just up and turned into a fine dark blue powder or sand and was blown away by some un-felt wind.

All over the world, the oldest of all the magical races felt something shift in their world, as if the very fabric of space and time, of life and death, was being torn or pushed aside. It was a dizzying feeling, one that bore looking into.

The goblins were the first to realize what was happening. They were the very first as they were the caretakers of a very special vault. A vault that had been around long before their race had become bankers or lived where they now do whilst in London.

It was a vault which depicted a single silver tree, done up in true silver. What lay beyond its doors only the oldest of the race knew, the elders of the race knew about the treasures that lay behind the bolted door, where impossible things were said to happen, as the world had never seen before.

The secret of the vault had been passed down from elder to elder, should the silver tree shine eerily with a purple-blue light it meant that one with the power to preserve or destroy their world was coming, for what purpose no one was to know. They were just to know that Magic himself was coming for a visit and to be prepared for whatever such a visit would entail.

The elders panicked in private, but showed in public that everything was going to be alright, even if it was possible that the world was coming to a magical end. The fairy tale of the world could be reaching it's 'The End'. They didn't need their people's to worry about it as they didn't need the world to worry and go into full blown chaos mode.

They decided to wait and see, and pray to their gods, Goldgrinder and Goldmangler being the more prominent ones. They were after all the two leaders of the Goblin Pantheon.

Back with Harry, he was still cramming as much magic as he could into the silver coin, it was even heating up in his hands, he didn't notice since he was so engrossed in what he was doing. He and his connection to magic was growing so strong that he became as close to being as one with magic as one could get.

There was something akin to a sonic boom or atomic bomb exploding in his room when the coin could no longer take it. The boy was flung into a wall, but it didn't hurt for some reason, felt like pillows too.

The coin had exploded and reformed into a silver door, one with a purple-blue holly tree etched on it. The door was soon opened and an old familiar man in robes stepped out.

Harry immediately recognized the man, though at first his voice was lost to him as he scrambled through his earlier and some pushed aside memories looking for the man's name.

"It's Magus Iunctio," the old man supplied, "In case you forgot, after all. We only spent that one night talking. You took quite the beating that way and your personal store of magic wasn't enough, so I pulled you to me, for healing."

"T-thank you for that, Mister Iunctio," Harry said, unsure if he pronounced the name right.

"Magus is fine, or old man even," Magus said, waving off the more respectful sounding title of Mister, "You're practically family, or as close as it gets anyway. I told you that night, but it seems you have forgotten."

"Yeah," Harry said, not getting up off of the ground, "I only just remembered now, I had a dream actually, which led to me pouring what I could into a silver coin, I don't even know why I did that."

"Instinct most likely," Magus said, and pulled out a chair from particles of himself in the world, "Come and sit, that we might talk once more. As for why you must have dreamed of our first and only previous meeting, I think it might have been a side effect of my reminiscing of that particular meeting."

"Oh," Harry said, "Why didn't you check up on me after that?"

"To be honest," Magus said, "I don't really know. I'm sorry though, but I'm here now, and you even called me to. So care to share if you have any problems? I won't assume to know everything, even if I can know everything, I'd rather you share what you wish for me to know."

"Well...I had a shitty first year of school, sure I might have made some friends and classes were okay, but the rest of school was trouble," Harry admitted, "I don't like being famous, and let's leave it at that."

"I see," Magus said, "Well, there's only one thing we can do about your life."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Live it!" Magus said, "I'll help you there, this time I'll forge a more solid connection with you," he slipped a hand into his robes and pulled out a cordless phone and handed it to Harry, "Here."

"What is it?" Harry asked, he was as clueless as any wizard about the Muggle world only really knowing the basics and not the more recent advancements in technology.

"A cellular telephone, or cellphone for short," Magus asked, then handed the boy a manual and a phone book, "Read the manual once I leave. Dial 1 and press the green telephone button to reach me."


	83. C 4

"_Why do you insist on remaining here in this nigh barren room?_" Death, with his echoing and multiple voices, asked the guest of Palacio de Azkaban, a guest that not even his own wife knew about.

"_I don't think I can leave just yet.._" replied his guest, this guest having a voice quite like Death's own one but more ethereal, this voice having a more living quality to it. It was the complete opposite of the more oppressive and intimidating voice, the owner had a more calming presence about him, with more warmth as compared to the iciness of Death.

"_I insist that you do,_" Death insisted, holding the door open, he even had a backpack hanging from his scythe's blade, "_I even packed for you._"

"_I am not like you, who can simply venture forth into the great unknown you know.._" the guest spoke, somewhat sullenly, "_I cannot face the rest of my...of _It_ just yet."_

"_She gave up everything that made her what she was just to save you, and to be with you at the same time, for the rest of eternity and after_," Death reminded his sulking guest.

"_But I didn't ask it of her, I didn't want someone else to sacrifice themselves so that I might be saved,_" the guest spoke sorrowfully, and even the very walls of the palace could feel his deep sorrow.

"_You were special, always special, no matter how many incarnations you took on, she always found you special, you were her cherished one, the one she would do anything for, especially after all the things you had done for her, in her name,_" Death reminded his guest, who sat on the stiff bed in the room, "_You even stood up to me. ME! Death himself! Just so she could continue as she was and not fade away!_"

Death was growing frustrated, he couldn't for the death of him figure out why his guest couldn't see reason and simply accept what had happened had happened. When one is given a second chance, or something like that as he had, one should take it and live! But his guest simply refused to do that and just sulked, went into depression.

"_THAT WAS DIFFERENT!_" his guest raised his voice, the palace shook at the anger and frustration behind the shout, it got some of the stationed guards leading to the corridor in which the room could be found to shift uneasily. Even though they were well aware that those that could actually really and truly harm their Lord and Master would not dare do such in his own domain.

"_You were her special one...had it been up to _THEM_, she would not have been given the chance to do what she did,_" Death yet again reminded his guest, "_She chose what happened. She did it for the both of you. You who valued her above all else, you who understood what was between us, her and I._"

"Alright..I get it," the guest said, his voice gaining a more human or normal quality to it, one that was not filled with the power he had some time ago, "I'll go. Happy now?"

"_Yes,_" Death said and moved into the room and handed his guest, who could probably pass as his own twin brother had it not been for the ruby red orbs he had for eyes as opposed to Death's emerald gaze, while in human form of course.

"Thanks for packing some things for me," the guest said, "I appreciate it. And I apologize for being such an ass and a burden. I'll try and do what she would have wanted."

"_Do that, for how else can the rest of Everything continue if you fully decide to just give up on doing the one thing you were made to do," _Death said, it was a reminder and advice all in one.

"I suppose you are right," the guest said, "I just don't understand or see why she had to do that, to go that far for one such as I. She could have found another in the future, why did it have to be me?"

"_I may be Death, but even I can't say that I fully comprehend what goes on in the fairer sex's minds,"_ the master of the realm replied, "_She just fell in love with you, for whatever reason she had, and decided that you getting destroyed or killed for the nth time was simply too much for her to bear._"

"Well...I guess, I still don't understand that kind of love," the guest said, "But I guess she'll never be without me now..because of what she did..what she sacrificed..."

"_Just move on from the fact that she chose to do what she did for you to doing what she would have and did want you to do,_" Death told him, "_Live, for how can Everything continue to do so when Life himself cannot._"

"Fine," Life himself, the anthropomorphic personification of Life, just as Death himself was, said, "I'll do this thing, and well...I'll do something...I mean what _**I**_ do doesn't really affect everything else that I subconsciously do, unless I will it to, right?"

"_Indeed,_" Death said, "_Just remember, if anyone asks how you do the things that you do, like take care of all of your responsibilities, just have them watch Meet Joe Black."_

"I know that," Life said, "You had me watch the thing after she and I became one in the non-sexual sense of those words."

"Yeah well," Death said, holding back that which made him speak the way he did, since speaking with italics could get a bit tiring on the eyes for any that were seeking entertainment from his story or a story that had him in it should he or someone else to chronicle such events.

"So...where should I go from here?" Life asked.

"You could go nurture this new existence I'm sending some of my people to," Death said, "Sure I'd say that it might be a woman's right to do the nurturing bit, but you kind of are both..."

It didn't really take long for the two, that could pass off as twins, to get to the docks where a hovercraft was waiting by the shore for its passenger to get on in. There was a schedule to keep, and Death Reapers were never late, unless one was the son of Death himself, or Death himself.

"_Hold up!" _Death called out, raising a his scythe to get the attention of the captain of the craft, "_One more passenger for the ride,_" he then pushed Life on forward a bit, "_Take care of him. He's a bit new to all this._"

~Yes, my Lord!~ the Death Reapers, those guardians of souls that guided souls to the afterlife, whenever their turn on the mortal coil was over, or their present story was ended, though there were some cases where a soul was left on its own, but that was a case to case basis or depended on a number of requirements, such as there being other entities or Beings that did what the Death Reapers of Death himself did.


	84. CA 01

"I wish to eradicate the world known as the Wizarding World," Harry Potter stated as he stopped just short of entering the Pearly Gates of Heaven (one of many as there were many worlds, realities, dimensions, and existences), "Does this mean I don't get to join all the people that backstabbed me and used me during our collective lifetimes?"

It was a question directed at the angel that had been escorting him to the paradise in which he deserved, after all the shit he went through in his life. He had a feeling that the angel that was trying to get him past the gates had something else in mind for him, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

"I do insist we get you into heaven, please Mister Potter, this is your eternal reward we are taking you to," the angel said, its tone of voice dripping with milk and honey, "We are willing to overlook your sudden bout of vengeance for minor slights against you by some of our other residents."

Now Harry knew that something was definitely wrong, he was either in hell or these angels had a different thing planned for him. He wasn't getting some kind of reward for all the good he had done, and he had done a very large lot of it during his extremely long life time. He had been and still remained as the Master of Death of his world, it was only thanks to his servants, all of those Death Reapers that answered to him, that he decided to finally leave the mortal realm and seek some peace in the after life.

It seemed that just like with most of his life, things had not come out the way he had wished they would.

Here now was an angel that looked to be calling or signaling for backup. It was as if the angel was going to force him to enter heaven for whatever reason.

He would not be used, and thus did the one thing that he had been told he would be able to do even after he died.

He cast the most powerful Killing Curse that he could at the angel, his magic went with him even in death as it was as much a part of him as was the title and rank of Master of Death. The Elder Wand or deathstick had bonded itself or melded itself with his very soul, as did the other two items that came with that wand.

The speeding green bolt sure did surprise the angel, it also served as a beacon for the arriving backup for the one angel that actually looked like it died to know where to go.

There was another group that was alerted to the curse and the event that was taking place. It was a group of demons and devils that had been trying for weeks upon weeks in that reality to locate the main entrance to heaven so that they might invade and possibly destroy it or at least conquer it.

The hellish army arrived just as the angelic reinforcements had arrived.

There was a clash the likes of which Harry did not think he would ever bear witness to in his lifetime or existence for that matter. Sure his mortal life had ended, but he was still in a sense alive.

He grabbed from out of the middle of the clashing forces by someone that looked to be a lot younger than he did. One that wore a cloak about his body that depicted the night sky of all things. It was a beautiful piece of work.

"There is a war that has been going on for quite a long time now," the younger looking person said hastily, "You can do nothing but hinder the forces that seek to end the reign of the one that tried to force you into helping them win this war of theirs. But there is something that you can do, something that will allow you to relive your life as you see fit."

"What are you talking about? Are you trying to use me as well?" Harry asked this unknown person that had managed to get him from out of the clashing forces.

"I am not trying to use you, frankly you are of no use to me other than entertainment," the unknown person said, "I am Time, and thus I can send you back to the past to relive your life again, but that is not what I am offering you since I do wish for Hell to win this conflict."

"So you serve Hell?" Harry asked, but something in him was telling him to trust this person.

"Not in the slightest," Time said, "I serve only myself, and I guess my extremely extensive family. What I am offering is to send you to another world, one where the Harry Potter of that world is slated to die in around nine minutes at the hands of his cousin beating him to death due to accidentally locking his cousin up in some display case at a zoo."

"But I'm a grown man!" Harry argued.

"Your soul is a grown man's soul," Time said, "What I will do is send you through Space and myself to that world, that reality, that existence where your soul will inhabit the body of that Harry Potter as that soul expires and leaves it to be with his father and mother who had chosen to try their best to watch over him and see him suffer."

"Will I remain as I am now?" Harry asked.

"You will remain as the Master of Death," Time said, "It is like a time paradox, the three Hallows of that world will find their way into your possession and merge with the ones you already possess, thus making you the Master of Death in that reality as well. So what say you?"

"I'll go, but I expect an explanation for all of this when I get accustomed to this new life of mine," Harry said to his companion.

"I shall explain as best as I can once ..

**TBC**


	85. CC 01

He had already been reincarnated two times, this life of his being his third life and he decided not to waste it, gain what his archnemeses had tried to achieve during their lifetimes, that being immortality. He didn't think he could or would manage to survive having to live through yet another life just to leave it and not be able to see his loved ones on the other side a third time. It had been heart wrenching the first time, and just as bad the second time, and of course if he had to endure a third time he might not be able to do what he had done during his first two lives.

In his first life he had been a warrior, one that according to myth and legend from his second life was veiled in shadows, worked in the background. According to the myths and legends of his second life, the warrior he had been was one that mainly focused on espionage and assassinations. The reality was the farthest from the truth as it could get. He distinctly recalled having to perform a retrieval mission for a cat several times during his youth of that life.

His second life was one he wondered now why he had deserved such a fate. He had a brief stint in the world of happiness, that being a year or so of living with his parents and his parents friends, before they had been ripped from him due to some snake-freak of a splintered soul of a man deciding that he was far too much of a threat to him and his own ambitions to leave alone. Things spiraled downwards from there, then of course he had to experience his second war in which he was the central piece. Where he was the star that would either be the winning piece or the one that would cause the ultimate downfall of the world.

He had already been the chosen savior or destroyer of the world twice, and this time around...well...this time around he intended to be nobody's plaything. This time around he would carve out his own destiny, just as he had believed he did during his first life, and just as he had tried to do during his second.

The reason behind his ability to remember his past two lives was due to something which he had acquired during his last life. That was inheriting the title, mantle, and rank, of Master of Death. It was a position in both life and death which gave him power over life and death, but not to the degree that most others believed. For one thing his power, that supreme power over the forces of death was limited to the world in which he lived in during that lifetime and that world of life alone. In the realm of the dead he was merely ranked as a general of sorts in the vast army of Death himself.

Death himself had at one point in time merely been a Master of Death himself, but had ascended the mantle of Death itself, after some events where he had met the one Being that could end anything that Being so wished.

It was thanks to his position, which he retained even when he himself finally decided to cross over and into the realm of the dead to join those loved ones he had in life, that he had been given everything that he had gained during that first lifetime and had been permitted to keep everything he had worked for during his second lifetime.

Of course the only things he did get were the memories and the power, also known as energies, that he had in those two lives in order to fully make sure of those memories of his. Any monetary or material objects were not included in the package, as those things could not just transcend the boundaries of space, time, and the veil that separates both the world of life and the realm of the dead.

Not that he needed those things anyway, he could just get whatever he needed, if he needed it, one way or another in this life of his.

The gifts that he had gained from ascending the throne, so to speak, of a Master of Death had only made themselves known to him in bits and pieces starting from the first day of his exile, and only recently finished unraveled everything to him.

Even though he had only gained bits and pieces of them at the start, his near savant level mind managed to piece together what he was getting. More or less at least, but he knew. He knew, that whatever they were would be important later in his life. So when he came across the memories detailing accessing whatever supernatural powers his body or soul contained, he began his descent into the madness that was training and found that he liked it just as much as he liked pitting his wits against others with intellectual minds, or at least others that had enough between their ears to be of some use to him and his oftentimes boredom.

It was due to all the training he had done, starting just after finding somewhere where he would not be disturbed, that he became more than capable of taking care of his sister and providing for all of their needs, including helping out a family that had been very close to his late mother. A family that had selflessly decided to help him and his sister when they had discovered that they had survived the conquering of the former island nation and economical superpower.

He and his sister studied at the academy which the family that had been helping them since their mother country had betrayed the country in which the two royal siblings had been sent to as political hostages. While his sister ended up becoming an almost model student for her own year, even considering her handicaps, he on the other hand was almost a model student in all aspect be it physical or mental, save for the fact that he liked to skip class.

He skipped class for two reasons mostly, the first being that he had to go gambling to get the much needed additional funds that the school needed to run itself as well as for his own and his sister's needs. The second reason was so that he could hone his more physical skills.

His way of honing his more physical talents was by being a rebel without a real cause, he didn't really have a real goal in mind other than to train up for when the time finally came for him to bring the fight to his father, that detestable man that followed Darwin's survival of the fittest law of nature.

He was a one man rebel cell, he was a radical. He fought against the government and people that he could number himself as being one of. He utilized a technique which had more or less become one of his more favored and well known techniques during his first life, a technique that had the potential to gain him the title or nickname as a one man army.

His rebellious activity revolved around acquiring assets for himself for him to use later on in life when he found the chance to go forth and wage war with the empire that his father was the head of. He focused on stealing plans for knightmare frames and other technological advancements, advancements ranging from medicine all the way to arms. He also went out of his way to take bring down the nobility that owned factories and the like that supplied the local Britannian army with their tech and other such supplies.

While he couldn't get them all under his varying aliases, he did manage to get enough, just enough to ensure that should he ever decide to deploy his army of doppelgangers, he would have enough to be more than simply a nuisance.

He had found out early on in his stay in the country that he considered as home more than any other place in the world, was that the maid that had been assigned or more or less been given to him by the family that took them in was in reality a female ninja, one of the last of her kind or profession that still existed in this day and age. Ever since finding out about her other profession he went out of his way to taunt her with his own skills, treating her as a sparring partner of sorts though she never did quite catch onto the fact that her master Lelouch was the masked man that assaulted her on more than one occasion and pretended to target her mistress Nunnaly as well.

His sister was not aware of his exploits and his seedier extra curricular activities. He preferred it to be so, had she known what he was capable of she might worry unnecessarily for his safety. It was his job to worry about her for he was her big brother.

"*"

He had most recently stumbled upon some information that his older half brother had been keeping rather close to his chest. It had only been a rather accidental discovery. The information was a secret facility where secret experiments were being done on a secret test subject that supposedly the emperor himself was not in the know of, and should the crown ever be made aware of the experiments then things would get rather hairy for the viceroy of Area 11.

If the project was so hush hush, then it stood to reason that it was quite valuable. Whatever it was. Whatever it was, it was destined to be his, or so he decided that it was.

He sent a clone of himself to class for the day, as well as one to the scheduled games he and his friend Rivel had with some of the nobles around the settlement. His real self was off in his masked costume as the yet to be caught masked vigilante code named Zero. Not that anyone knew of his existence, he was more like a thing that caused the nobility some nightmares.

He decided that if, when, he came out and publicly challenged the empire he would go by the name of Zero, the Black King, for the meantime this costumed form of his would have to go by the alias of the Knight of None, the chess piece that didn't have to obey conventional rules and made his own path in life.

He snuck into the secret facility just as another terrorist cell attacked. He listened to their rushed conversations that led him to believe that they thought that what they had managed to acquire was poison gas, when in fact it was something else. The test subject that his older half brother had spoke about briefly when he thought no one was listening in.

Like all plans, the one that the terrorists had didn't look like it had gone the way they had originally hoped that it would. There was a car chase of sorts, where one of his clones the one that went off gambling had gotten caught in the thing. He still had some of his saving people thing in him which the clone had latched onto and decided to do when it got caught up in the chase.

He followed silently and stealthily after the truck that had the stolen goods. He arriving just in time for the delusional son of the late Japanese Prime Minister to hesitate in performing his duty due to whatever naivety that son of Kururugi Genbu had.

He switched places with his clone just as the terrorist that remained with the truck had it explode in a ball of fiery death, and carried the girl that had erupted from within the not-really-poison-gas-containing-container through some tunnels leading to someplace else that hopefully had some people in it that he could kill.

He didn't really view Kururugi Suzaku as a friend, more of an annoyance and a perfect excuse for when he was younger to do certain things. He didn't like the naïve spoilt boy that had morals and ideals and tried to shove them down the throats of others that didn't really want to accept such things. There was a day and age regarding morals and ideas, this was not one of those days or ages. This was an age of action.

He would not avenge a stupid person, for that was how he viewed Kururugi Suzaku. A stupid person. Too inept to accept reality, and too bullheaded to accept the fact that what he wanted did not mean that it was also what others wanted.

Personally, he believed that the people formerly known as the Japanese had not gotten what they deserved when their country finally surrendered to the invading Britannia. They were a proud people and had deserved to fight to the last man. But they had been denied that when the late Prime Minister had fallen, though the details of his death were very much unclear. He suspected foul play, but who had done the deed was something even he did not know.

But he could guess, and guilt drove men to do unethical or illogical things.

He found himself cornered when one of his classmates had inadvertently alerted the soldiers to his position. For the first time in a very long time he thought that his chances of survival were more than quite slim. Even with all of his powers, he didn't want to test out the possibility of his being immortal. He might still be a Master of Death but at didn't mean that he had absolute authority of over both life and death in this world and in this life. He didn't want to test it out just yet.

There would be a time and place for that later on in life when he didn't still have an ambition to fulfill.

It was his desperation and desire to continue on living that caused the green haired girl that he had more or less rescued to propose a contract with him, adding to his already considerable range of abilities. He of course accepted the proposition, and used it immediately. He found of course that the new ability was just a more powerful and more absolute one time user version of an ability that he already had thanks to the energies that had been carried over from his first life.

This new power that he had gained was something that could only really be referred to as the power of absolute obedience, since that was basically what it did, it granted him power to command another into doing his bidding no matter what it was, but only for one time as something in the depths of his mind had urged him into trying it out on the one soldier that remained alive due to blinking when the original and first command had been given.

The obtaining of the power of course occurred only after the green haired girl had been shot and the reality of his impending potential death crashed down around him.

It was finally time for the House of Black to strike out in the open for the very first time. It was what he called his army of one, in honor of his late godfather from his second life.

He highjacked a sutherland from one of the Britannians that had arrived on the scene and discovered the dead bodies littering the floor with him being the only person alive there. He claimed that he was the son of a duke, a ploy which the female pilot had fallen for before being trapped in a 72 hour long illusion, which in reality only lasted around 3 seconds.

He was Zero in the cockpit of the sutherland and coordinated with his forces via the energy link he shared with all of his clones. The black pawns had come out to play and every single one of them had the potential of becoming a queen. He sent them off to acquire even more frames.

He also made sure to make use of the other pieces on the board to his advantage. Those other pieces being the terrorists, he decided that he might as well take command of them rather than risk them getting in his way. They were appropriate canon fodder since they had bungled up an operation which he himself had planned on performing.

All it took for him to take command of them, and not having to reveal who he was, was by saying one word. Victory. Along with his tone of complete and utter confidence in his victory, he won them over for this battle at the very least.

It was smooth sailing for him and his forces up until the point where the mysterious white knightmare frame, code named Lancelot, took to the field and wiped out all of his own frames, every single one of the ones that he had managed to acquire for his side of the battle

He didn't like to lose and thus made sure that the pilot was aware that making an enemy out of him was a bad idea.

The terrorists kept an open ear to what was happening around them and keeping an eye out to whoever it was that had directed them in battle, some hoping that he would come for them and reveal himself to be one of the heroes from the war.

It was quite the surprising sight for the terrorists that when they were all about to perish at the guns of the soldiers of the army some of which were men and women that had at one point in time called themselves Japanese but now served as Honorary Britannians fighting for a country that was and never would be their own, that they were saved by a number of men in plain black bodysuits for uniforms.

It was modern warfare against the kind of pawns that could turn the tide in their favor of their masters.

It was the kind of sight that none of the terrorists nor civilians ever thought that they would ever see in their lifetimes. Here before them and defending them with swords, knives, and throwing stars, were living myths.

These were clones that had been sent out to make sure that no more civilian were caught in the line of fire.

One would think that bullets would be faster than arms and blades, one would be wrong with that assumption seeing as many of the bullets fired ended up being sliced in two, as well as rendered useless against this small army of defenders.

They even managed to blow up a tank using strips of paper with illegible writing on them. Paper bombs really. It was impressive work.

Their way of sending the all clear message to their superiors had also wowed the civilians and terrorists alike. The supernatural was at play around them, this fact was hammered home when one of these moving shadows vanished in a small puff of smoke.

With the non-combatants taken cared of, Zero could focus on the white knightmare frame. Lancelot was about to meet its downfall, and on the battle of its debut too.

He appeared wearing his Knight of None garb, which was basically just him in a shinobi shozoku, a multi-pocketed vest, a utility belt of sorts, and of course his faceless mask that had a pattern similar to the black king of chess. He was as a walking shadow in broad daylight, all cameras available that caught sight of him made people wonder if he was insane or what.

It was the second option, since he shot into action once the white knightmare was finished reading him his Miranda rights, which weren't really used or followed much in this day, age, and climate. Thinking that he was just another ordinary human, with insanity in his mind, the Lancelot's pilot didn't think of bracing himself for impact, which he should have done just in case anyway.

The Lancelot was pushed or more like slammed into a nearby abandoned building with enough force to knock all of its systems for a short loop before everything was back in working condition again. Slash harkens were dodged and summarily avoided, land spinners were separated from the armored legs on which they were strapped onto.

It was a baffling how one of humanoid shape and size was managing to go toe to toe with the most advanced piece of equipment that the battlefield had ever seen to date.

All that were watching the rather short battle were baffled and puzzled as to what was going on. For in their eyes what they were witnessing was and should be impossible. One man was going toe to toe with something that had more than enough firepower or simply just he weight to overpower such a weak thing as an organic life form. Then there was the ability to seemingly move faster than any human should be able to, or the ability to pull out objects from thin air just like in a cartoon. It was terribly frightening a power and an individual.

The coup d' grace came when the Knight of None jumped back and out of way of one of the arms of the knightmare frame coming down on his momentarily stationary position. He jumped backwards performing a backflip, and landing on one of the heaps of rubble that had been caused by his turning his opponent into some sort of pinball.

What really scared most of his audience wasn't the fact that he could do what he had done, but the fact that he had pulled out a rifle of all things from wherever he had been keeping it. The reality of it was that he had conjured the thing, and loaded it with an armor piercing round.

The sensors of the white knightmare were quick enough to pick up on the laser point on the head of the machine, but the machine itself was not quick enough to put up a defense against the bullet that shot at it at record speeds blowing the head clean off of its armored shoulders effectively blinding the pilot.

With that one annoyance out of the way, Zero made his way to the mobile command vehicle and got inside with not much effort. Managing to distract the numerous guards using a tactic that he had used to expose and distract both open and closet perverts. It was a technique he had oftentimes used when he was still more curious than most about the opposite and fairer sex.

His means of self pleasure would surely cause psychiatrists to go nuts over him and his deviating behavior in that field of life.

Getting into the seat of command where his half brother was had also been rather easy. All it took was a simple illusion seeing as these people were rather simple minded and didn't have any real will to push aside things that shouldn't be real. He had his clones fabricate footage regarding the leaving of the prince alone and vulnerable to anything that the coward clearly didn't have the backbone to handle.

The gun that had been pointed at him, the safety off of course, had been a very real threat to the prince's life which caused him to give out the ceasefire order, halting any and all other military activities in the area from proceeding. The increasing numbers of loss of life were lessened to enough of a degree that things would not be or could not really be called or referred to as a massacre.

What followed was total unraveling of what Prince Clovis la Britannia was, all of his secrets, knowledge ,and all other things that he kept to himself, were laid out in the open or rather at the feet of the demon that was his half brother.

When the power of absolute obedience had finally run its course, Clovis was left with not a single secret left in him that Lelouch or Zero did not know. There was nothing that the blonde could hide anymore, not even the fact that he had only stopped wetting the bed after he had lost his virginity to one of their other half sisters.

"Please...don't kill me..." Clovis pleaded with his half brother, but the demonic glint in Lelouch's eyes, both of which had some sort of red color in them, one eye having a sigil of a sort while the other was a ringed crimson eye with three tomoe spinning on three of the rings.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity to show the world just how serious I can be," Lelouch gratefully informed his half brother, "Without you, our father would not be able to know just how serious his life is being threatened by me, not that he will ever know that it was I that pulled the trigger. Fare thee well _dear _brother."

The trigger was pulled, the shot ringing out and around the mobile command base causing several of the guards that were stationed there to run off and quickly find the source of the shot. Only to discover minutes later the splattered gray matter of Prince Clovis decorating his throne in the command room of the mobile command center.

Clovis, being dead, could not reveal the identity of his killer in any way since he would be betraying a master of the realm in which he now was a part of. For all intents and purposes Lelouch was invisible and untouchable by the dead.


	86. CC 02

Ever since he could remember, he had felt a hunger and since his relatives had called him many names over the years, one of them being Freak, he had come to accept that he was a freak of nature, that he was different from all the rest. There was always this kind of hunger in him, one which could only be sated just like any other hunger by consuming something. In his case what he needed to sate this hunger was not your run-of-the-mill food, but one of three things.

Blood, preferably human and fresh.

Calcium, in any of its forms but in the quantity of what can at least be found in the body of a person that is about the same size as he was.

The third thing that could sate his hunger was something that was quite far from physical. It was more of a side-effect, not that he knew, from an event that was buried deep within his memories, where the murderer of many, including his parents, had accidentally granted him his very first taste of soul.

He had controlled his urges, his urges to obtain those that would sate his hunger. He saw, from what meager amounts of television that he had been able to catch more than simple glimpses at what others did to those that were different, as well as to those that were a potential danger to society. But a single science lesson lead him to walk down the path of not really caring for what most humans believed.

He disregarded most of the human laws regarding killing mostly, he believed there to be only one law worth following that being the law of nature, survival of the fittest.

While he could control his urges, that didn't mean that he go on indefinitely like that. He had to feed sometime. He preyed on the weak or helpless, usually finding them wandering the streets as he walked back to the house of his relatives. These were the vagabonds, those useless or seemingly useless people that society had cast out due to their inability to participate or contribute to the civilized world.

He also served as one of the reasons why some of the persons found in or on the missing persons lists could not be found. And if any part of them was found, their disappearances could not be traced back to him.

Other than his appetite there were some other things that set him apart from other humans. He was a freak of nature, combining quite a lot of other creatures in nature. His body was stronger and sturdier for one thing, able to withstand more of a beating than most other creatures.

His skin and the inner and outer linings of his internal organs were harder to tear, rip, or generally damage. His eyes were generally more more like those of a crocodile, serpent, or shark, in that there was a protective membrane that shielded his eyes from harm.

His senses were greater than a normal human, they all made him an even greater and more dangerous predator.

Aside from these minor things, he had the ability to shift his shape or parts of his body to suit his needs, in a sense he was an ever evolving or adapting predator.

His base form was that of the human that he had started out as, his second form was whatever he needed his body to be at that time, or wanted it to be at the time or anytime for that matter.

He was not bullied by his cousin or any of his cousin's friends, they had learned their lesson after they first tried to bully him. That day one of their number had never reached home. He had been a satisfying meal, while parents believed in a kidnapping or something more along those lines, Dudley Dursley and his gang instinctively knew what had really happened to that one friend of theirs.

While the normal humans weren't aware of the danger that they were in, the animal life knew. As much as possible, the animals tried to stay clear of this predator that more often than not wore the form of man.

Some of Arabella Figg's pet cats, she was the street's crazy cat lady, had fallen victim to the predator that wore human skin on, they were just like their master thinking that since they had defense mechanisms that other animals lacked, they had what it took to escape whatever dangers there were in the neighborhood.

Of course they didn't have what it took to survive something that was clearly built to outlast anything else it encountered. This is what happens when something decides to interfere with the natural order of life, with the circle of life, with the chain of fate.

He really was a freak of nature, a one of a kind creature that was anything but natural. He was unnatural, and there wasn't anything that could accurately explain what he was.

He was a creature that had the potential of avenging the natural world, it was even possible that he was the natural world's creation for revenge for all the destruction that man has wrought upon the natural world, from deforestation to the extinction to a number of creatures and plants.

His closer blood relations were glad to be rid of him for his eleventh school year. Throughout that whole year he had been forced to control his urges to go out and hunt, for not only did he not yet know the lay of the land, but he also was unsure of whether or not anyone would find out about him and his uniqueness. He didn't want to risk exposing himself to a people that clearly loved to discriminate.

It was at the end of the year that circumstances permitted him to feed for the first time since the end of the summer before the school year. His defense against the dark arts professor had been his meal. Once the piece of soul of the dark lord had fled, which he had unfortunately been unable to consume, he had pounced on the still remaining body of his professor and proceeded to consume it as fast as he could since he couldn't afford to be caught in the event that someone were to come check up on the stone that he had also managed to consume, it was that or let the crazy man get to it.

It as a "You want it? Then come and get it!" kind of moment, especially more so when he ate the thing, his digestive system made short work of the stone. Its miraculous properties were quickly integrated with his systems. A drop of his blood mixed with water would grant the water regenerative properties, but should goblet of his blood be drank it was Elixir of Life, that life extending goodness that made undone what time had done to the body in order to return some years, about ten give or take a few months. His blood, if he intended it to, could be used to turn iron into gold, only if he intended it to. Only if HE intended it to.

He made it out of there before the Headmaster arrived, but in the end it was somehow revealed that he had at least been there and had somehow saved the stone from being stolen. He was not accused of murder or accused of stealing the stone, it was, according to the headmaster's great regret, that the stone had not been saved from whatever conflict had gone down in that chamber.

Gryffindor House won the house cup and that was th end of his first excruciatingly boring first year.

His second year was the year in which he flourished in his freedom, with a creature that was not he roaming around the pipes of the school he was given more or less free reign to take bites out of his fellow schoolmates. They and the professors just blamed whoever the Heir of Slytherin was, he was not stupid enough to accidentally reveal to the whole student body that he could communicate with serpents which would have branded him as the Heir.

He was not so discriminating as to give out a warning such as 'enemies of the heir beware', if he were to leave a warning he would have made the wording be 'run and hide, the predator hungers'. Or something to that tune.

He was careful not to kill anyone or take anyone's souls, that would not do as it might cause this sanctuary to be closed, then where would he find himself. Back with his relatives that's where, and he did not want that to happen, else he would be forced to consume such filth as their bodies and souls.

He met up with the King of Serpents that had been living for a thousand years within the Chamber of Secrets once he had found out where it was, the ghost girl being a great help to him.

It would be a battle to be remembered by him, the basilisk instinctively knew of the danger he posed and struck before being ordered by its spectral master to. It's instincts screamed at it to kill or to be killed. It's eyes radiated killing intent, their killing properties were also at full blast. It proved to be a great way to clean the Chamber.

Upon entering the chamber his body changed into one that matched the serpent king that he was to do battle with. The two massive serpents danced a dance of death that even the specter would remember well past its time in the world of life that it tried to cling on to.

Bodies slammed into one another, teeth raked flesh, poison seeped into skin, and eyes blazed with enough killing intent that the chamber was cleansed of all life that could not look away. Vaporized more like from the intensity of the intents to kill and destroy.

It ended with his jaw muscles being stronger than the basilisk's, which he used to behead, in one of the bloodiest fashions, his opponent. He swiftly turned his skin into a sponge and sucked the corpse dry of all fluids, slightly moaning in ecstasy at the taste of it.

He had mouths form at the tips of tentacle like appendages that shot out of his body and that was how he consumed the rest of the corpse, assimilating the basilisk into him. It was his first taste of the thing after all. He did this as he sniffed the diary that lay on the ground, and to the horror of the soul fragment that was still in the process of returning to the living world, he sucked it too dry of the soul that had slept within it.

He waited for the girl that had been a true victim of events and circumstance to awaken from her slumber which had been caused by her soul being sucked dry of its own nutrients and being transferred to the soul that had formerly inhabited the now empty diary.

She fainted upon her waking due to the sight of her savior still consuming the basilisk's carcass. It was a rather gigantic serpent after all and would take a bit of time before it was finally gone.

It was an hour later when the girl finally woke once again, this time she steeled herself and willed herself not to faint at the sight of the mouthed tentacles returning to the body which they had sprouted from, his body also reverting back to its base form.

"What are you?" she had shakily asked him, he could smell the terror she felt at being within a few feet of him.

"I?" he said while pointing a clawed finger at himself, it shifted back to normal a moment later, "I...hmm...there is no name for what I am yet. Though you could say that I am a freak of nature, an ever evolving apex predator," he then thought about it a little bit more before adding, "I am also Harry Potter, now how about we get out of here, hmm?"

"You're not going to...hurt me are you?" she shakily asked once more, willing herself to take a step away from him but her body refused to respond, her instincts were screaming at her to run away, but her body and mind would not listen.

"Had I wanted to, you wouldn't be here asking me that question, now would you?" he hypothetically asked, "Now come follow me, I'll get you out of this dump and back to your family. I need some sleep, that was one large meal."

He led the two of them back to the tube that led into the tunnels below the school. Once there they found that due to an earlier cave in, probably caused by the serpent brawl, the stairs that could be accessed to go up the tube were unavailable due to blockages in their systems.

"Are we stuck down here?" she asked him, her voice not as trembling as it had been before.

"No," he informed her as his clothes shifted in that unexplainable way that clothes shifted for animagi to allow leathery wings to sprout from his back. The lower half of his body shifted as well, from the waist down his body became like that of a satyr's but instead of ending with hooves they ended with taloned feet.

His body was bare of any form of clothing, other than the fur that covered the lower half of his body.

"How..how do I get up?" she asked him, frightened at the thought that he might leave her down in those dark depths to wait for any other help to come for her.

"This is how," he said as he lifted off of the ground, and hovered above her, his talons grabbing her by her shoulders and lifting her up into the air. He made sure that he was not hurting her, as that could cause some rather uncomfortable questions to be asked of him once they reached the upper levels of the castle.

"I would ask that you hold on," he said, "But you don't really get much of a choice. Don't scream."

It was the only warning he had given her before he shot up and through the pipe that led back up to the unused girl's restroom. Not once did he slow down, and not once did he slam her the walls of the piping.

Once they got back up top, he reverted back to his base form but not before lowering his package back to the ground. It was a good thing that the ghost girl was not present in her usual haunt, as he didn't want to have to deal with the girl. Though he was still debating whether or not he would devour her or not.

He led the way to the Great Hall where the school staff were devising plans to locate the missing student before the school was officially shut down, they were being aided by some ministry officials and law enforcement personnel. The Weasley family was off comforting each other as the crisis continued around them.

The maps of the school had been brought out from storage in order to be studied, of course none of the secrets that were to be discovered, had been discovered, and would hopefully be discovered, were not on them. The plan makers were theorizing where to begin their search, but were not coming up with anything, and like most times when it came to such things in this world, time even being of the essence was not being paid much mind or given much real importance.

It was more like they were only doing this for show having already given up on the possibility of finding the girl that had been taken down into the Chamber of Secrets by either the monster or the Heir of Slytherin. They were just too much of a bunch of cowards to inform the family of what they really thought and be done with it, instead of giving the family false hope of the return of their daughter.

The cowards were saved from having to inform the family of the fate that befell her daughter and their beliefs about that fate by the sudden banging sound that he double doors of the hall made when they were pushed aside by the one student that the headmaster hoped would come to save the day.

Behind the heroic figure stood the form of the girl that had been thought lost to all of them. Her family raced to her side and embraced her, glad that she was alive, well, and finally safe. It didn't take her them long to convince her to share her side of what had happened, and it did get her in trouble, but less than what would have happened had someone else been the one to notify the authorities.

She was let off the hook due to her savior producing some evidence pointing to someone else being the mastermind behind the year long experience. He also pointed out that the Weasley family had been a very well known light family for several generations. They were also far too impoverished to be able to afford to do something or anything like what had been done to the school. There was also the nature of the medium by which the experience or crime had been committed, why would such a family known for their love of family be willing to sacrifice one of their own for something that went against everything that their family stood for. Their being rather low on the financial food chain would not permit them to hire good enough lawyers to keep their sacrificial lamb out of prison. He had a number of other arguments of course.

The short of it was that the girl had been used, and there had been another power at play, one that was good enough not to get caught, and leave only one bit of evidence behind, which had been the enchanted diary that possessed the student that had been running around petrifying people. The even shorter of it was that the authorities were just too damn lazy and had been bribed far too much by certain concerned parties that they decided to not do their job regardless of the evidence, and just dropped the case.

There was also the fact that they trusted the self-styled leader of the light, the headmaster, far too much when he said that there was nothing to worry about. That was after he had returned to the school.

Points were awarded, and all that. The school would remain open, and the students could feel safe again, and get back to their usual thing.

But with this threat gone from the school, he could not go around taking small bites or sips out of people, he no longer had something that he could blame on, or something that could be blamed on. So he would have to control his urges once more.

He did get something good from the whole ordeal though, he got a life debt out of things. It was his very first original one. It had also been a minor side effect that could have not happened had the other party not thought that she owed her life to him, as did her parents.

He'd cash in on that if he ever really needed a fix. It was possible, he could ask for anything from the family or directly from the girl. It was his right.

His third year was a rather new experience for him. It was one where he did more than he could have the previous two years. The Ministry of Magic had thought to guard the school, and him, from an escaped convict by sending in the Dementors, malevolent joy draining and soul sucking creatures, whose only known weakness was a Patronus, or the corporeal embodiment of pure positivity.

He didn't really care much for this supposed betrayer of his parents, this godfather that didn't care enough about him to take care of him instead of go running after the real culprit of the crime. How he knew that the man was no traitor to his parents was because he ran into the man, and even in the face of impending doom still did not admit to doing something that he clearly believed that he did not do. He even informed the wraith that was to take his life about the real reason he was at the castle, and why he had done some of the things he had done throughout the year.

And take his life did the wraith certainly do. Sirius Black became nothing more than a shell of his former self, now devoid of a soul. He was one of many that lost their souls that night as the Dementors converged on the area as they sensed the prey they had been charged to locate and subdue, kill even. They too had been snuffed out. Over a hundred Dementors had lost all the souls that they had collected over the centuries, plus their own hundred souls, supremely tainted ones but souls nonetheless.

He didn't think that the summer before his fourth year would bring him any good. That was until the Weasley family invited him to join them for the Quidditch World Cup, being a world cup for a sporting event there were sure to be some choice morsels that he could scoop up that wouldn't be missed for a few days. He replied via owl that he would gladly join them.

He arrived at the address that he had been given since he preferred to get there himself rather than be picked up. He was told that he would be spending the night with the family since the trip to the sports grounds would be the next morning. He declined the offer, stating that he would prefer staying someplace else. No disrespect intended of course.

The littlest Weasley knew something was up and so followed him into the nearby woods as dusk dawned upon the world.


	87. CC 03

Ever since he was four years old there was one thing above all others that was the most important thing for him to remember and to do. This being controlling and reigning in all of his emotions, whether they be positive or negative. For it had been at about his fourth birthday did things go out of control when he let lose even a fraction of one of his emotions, be it a smile or a frown something was bound to happen, instantly or after a few moments.

It had all scared him at first and after the first year of things around him going haywire from regular appliances, to the plants, animals, and random objects, then transitioned into terrified and horrified with himself after the tiniest of hints of emotions caused the weather itself to also go haywire.

The things happening around him could not really be ignored especially after a year of it all happening nearly everyday. His aunt was practically ready to chuck him out of her house and be done dealing with him, she threatened him with such when he had turned five, that he either controlled himself and his freakishness or she was going to have her husband leave him somewhere where the chances of other people finding him were slim.

It was all thanks to a visit from a stranger from a higher plane of existence that he did not have to suffer such a fate as the one his aunt wanted him to suffer. The stranger had come to him in a dream and had explained to him what had been going on and that it had taken the stranger a full year before finally getting into contact with him.

The stranger had explained much about belief, and it being a very powerful and potentially reality altering thing. Enough of it had been the reason why the gods of old had been quite powerful, enough of it had also been the cause for the creation for some of those higher powers as well.

Facts could only get you so far, but belief...well...belief could get you farther, farther than anything imaginable. If there was enough of it.

The thing with belief was what had caused the boy to suffer this sudden and nigh unexpected rise in raw power and its affect on the world around him. There was a whole hidden world of people, which was more than enough belief, to elevate the relatively normal child to something closer to one of the higher powers, some might dare claim him to be as close to being such as a demi-god could get.

There were many beliefs about the child, but chief amongst them was that he was or had the power to be either the savior or destroyer of the whole of the world. That was one powerful belief, or wish in a sense.

The universe, or reality, had worked with all of that belief, belief from a country or more's worth of it, and made it more real in the best way that it saw fit to. A child with limitless power and potential, but of course with great power comes great responsibility as well as control.

It was just an extreme power boost, nothing more and nothing less, there was nothing that said that he kid had to gain control over all of that in an instant. Where would he learn discipline and responsibility if that had happened.

The stranger offered to shield others from the effects of his power not being under his firm control until he got the hang of controlling himself to the point that he would appear as some sort of emotionless husk. It would be up to the boy to proceed further and reach the stage where he would no longer need to tamp down on his emotions as by that time he would have perfect control.

His aunt was more than thrilled at the sudden disappearance of the freakishness around him, though she did grow a tad bit concerned about his overall lack of any manner or sort of emotion whatsoever. It was rather frightening, as even his tone was monotone. He spoke and interacted with the rest of the world in deadpan.

A child was not meant to be so emotionless. It was frightening to a degree, but eventually the woman got used to it, as did the rest of her small family.

No one really bothered him much, most people actually grew to have a healthy dose of either respect or fear of him. They mostly stayed away from him, but none of them ever tried to get him annoyed or irritated at him. As for the possibility of ever seeing him angry for whatever reason was something that people generally instinctively knew was a very very bad thing.

Even his relatives avoided him possibly delving into some negative form of emotion. Their instincts screamed at them to avoid such a fate as witnessing Mount Saint Harry blow up. It was sure to be a world cracking sight.

It had taken him three years to master himself to the point that he no longer needed the stranger to help him in controlling himself and reigning in his emotions.

Due to the amount of control of himself that he possessed as well as due to how well he actually knew himself, it stood to reason that he would do quite well in anything and everything else that he put his mind to.

Without his relatives bothering him and treating him, as best as they could manage, as a human being that lived with them, Harry became well known as being an emotionless genius. His mental ability was enough for him to study material years ahead of his age group, earning him his first degree at the age of ten and a half. He became one of the youngest people in the world to have achieved such a feat.

It was a good thing that he acknowledged in his deadpan tone his aunt, uncle, and cousin, whenever he talked about how he had managed to attain such a feat. It was a bribe and blackmail in a way, he painted them as such good people that when in public or private they couldn't help it that they had to act the way such a young genius had described them as.

He didn't burden his relatives since he had managed to obtain scholarships for his studies, acing the exams necessary to qualify for full ones. Though it wouldn't have really been much of a burden for his relatives to bear since they were, while not wealthy, well off enough to have supported him. This way they had more to spend on themselves and their precious Duddikins.

He may have made himself out to be some sort of emotionless person, but he had emotions, he was just unable to show them, to let them out, lest something happen that he did not wish to happen. He may also have become a seemingly truly emotionless person but there were those in his neighborhood that had some anecdotes starring him and his willingness to help them in some way, shape, or form.

Then came his eleventh birthday, being a mere child there weren't that many opportunities available to him in the working world which was why he was trying to see if he could continue his education in some direction. This intention was derailed when an owl flew in from an open kitchen window as he and his relatives were having breakfast. His aunt was the first to react, though it was more like she had suddenly been paralyzed. His uncle and cousin didn't know how to react especially when the thing had an envelope tied to its talons. The bird even extended the envelope to him.

"As you can see, we are enjoying breakfast," Harry stated blandly, "Return once we have finished our meal. I will not have my meal disturbed by your presence."

Upon hearing those words, the bird's own instincts told it to obey or face the consequences. It flew off and out of the window with nary a glance back at the recipient of the letter.

"Aunt, mind explaining what that was about?" Harry asked, in that emotionless way of his, "I noticed that you recognized some form of significance of the thing's arrival."

"I...yes..." his aunt responded after she had calmed down some, her husband noticing that she felt uncomfortable about the sudden arrival and not because it had been a supposedly wild animal or some odd delivery creature, "I didn't think that you would actually be sent an invitation, I had hoped that with you finishing more than the required amount of education that you have, even being recognized in the academical community, that you wouldn't be sent such a notice of acceptance."

"Should I be worried?" he asked her, his relatives didn't really believe that he could feel worried just replicate what it was meant to be in his weird sort of way.

"No...not really, it just signifies how...different you are from us," his aunt said.

"I have known for quite some time now that I am different from most normal people, that something about me is very different from the standard of normal that you have decided in your mind, Aunt Petunia," Harry stated, "Do you know anything about my unusualness and its connection to this owl bearing mail?"

"I already told you about your parents," his aunt said, "I just left out a few details, but enough about it, let us finish our meal in peace and continue this discussion after."

"Agreed," he stated and dug back into his meal.

It was after breakfast, and after the dishes had been washed and everything returned to their proper places. His uncle went off to work taking his son with him for some father-son event at the office, thus leaving his aunt alone in the house with him. She shared with him the omitted details and let them all sink in before she opened another window to let the owl in.

It held out the letter of invitation and perched upon high ground and awaited the response to the invitation.

"It looks like I know what I'll be doing for the next seven years of my life," he said to his aunt, with no enthusiasm evident in his voice whatsoever, then asked his aunt, "Do you know of how I shall be going about procuring the necessary items for this coming school year?"

"Yes, though I am rather hesitant returning to that place," she told him.

"Very well," he said and penned a reply consisting of his acceptance and that he would not be requiring some form of guide or escort as his aunt would be providing him with whatever information he might need, and if she didn't know enough he would find himself either a person that did or a literary equivalent.

With the letter having been sent away he asked his aunt for information as to how to get to wherever he would need to go for his school supplies. She gave him directions as well as hints from what she could remember to look out for.

She would not take him to that place, she dared not to. It was a world that had taken much from her, even loath as she was to admit it, her own sister.

She had no worries about her nephew and his being lost to that world. He was different, and even she knew that he was different from those people, very very different. He truly was a unique piece of work.

He left just after lunch, which he had prepared for his aunt, also informing her that he would see her after the school year ended. She didn't really mind that one bit, though she did request that he send a letter to her at least once every two weeks or even just one a month.

So he left her with his promise to update her on the goings on in his life.

He had some money of his own, it was not from some allowance that he had been given by his relatives. It was from competitions that he had participated in, as well as from investments he had made with the aid of both his uncle and aunt, though the funds were still all his own. If not from competitions than from a living allowance that was standard and came with his full scholarships.

As he made his way into London he did wonder if his parents had actually left him anything of monetary value or otherwise. It was a curious thing really.

Upon reaching his destination he kept a keen lookout for the dinky little pub that his aunt had informed him of. Upon locating it he walked on in and made sure that he did not stand out too much. He made himself blend in with the people there. He also remembered to hide away his scar which would definitely stand out.

Thanks to the stranger that had visited his mental scape, he had, aside from learned how to master, know, and control himself, as well as the thing about belief. He had also learned that the power he had in him was mostly magical in nature, and unlike what those of his parents' kind believed one needed a medium or channeler through which one's magic passed through in order for a spell to be cast, he didn't require such a thing to perform feats of magic.

He was powerful, that was thanks to all the belief that had been accumulated by the universe or by reality and had been used to fuel what had changed him into the powerhouse that he had become. It was due to this that what was called as wandless magic came easily to him. From lighting a fire at the tip of his finger to causing a tornado to form and rampage in the middle of December.

That had happened once and he didn't want a repeat of that accident.

He made his clothes match those of the ones that the others around him wore. He had his hair tie itself into a manageable loose ponytail, he wasn't all that fond of having short hair which when he did have such it was a right mess. It was also one of the very few and rare things that his aunt had sniffed at him about.

He wore eyeglasses, not that he could not clearly see, but because the stranger who helped him during his early years wore a pair of his own, that and the stranger had informed him that it would come in handy should he ever find himself in a fight. He would be underestimated without his frames, which would lead to his sure victory.

He passed through the minor crowd to find his way blocked. So he did the only logical thing for him to do, which most males were loath to do, ask for help or directions. The barkeep and owner of the pub was glad to be of service to a young magical who was beginning on his journey into his own magical life.

The magical shopping district didn't really impress him all that much once he was in it and immersed in it. He had seen greater marvels and wonders during his short life what with all the field trips that he had been allowed to take thanks to his studies. Some of the films he had watched also showed him greater and more wonderful things than what this chaotic alley had to offer.

And it was chaotic, it was like a scene from some classic film or an excerpt from a bygone age where technology was not really something that most people even knew existed, which was rather obvious given the fashion trends, and modes of communication. It was not only a hidden world but a separate world in its own right.

One, as he would later find, thought itself superior to the more mundane world, the normal world where men could do more than just fly on a broom or conjure a goblet of wine.

He was directed by some of the shopkeepers to the bank so that he could actually purchase something. Mundane money, or muggle money, as it was referred to as well as were the mundanes referred to as by these people, was not allowed or used in this world. It was like a whole other country in a way.

Once there he asked what the exchange rate was as well as a rough estimate as to how much money would be needed to purchase all required school supplies for a first year student and still have enough for some minor additions to the supplies. The goblin gave him an amount and he was glad that he had brought more than enough for the little shopping trip.

It was only when he asked whether or not he could open an account or if he already have existing accounts with these goblins did he receive a bit of a surprise, which did not at all show on his face or in any perceptible way. The goblin that he had been speaking with had not been able to tell what the human mage was thinking at the time that he had been informed that he didn't need to convert any muggle money for galleons at all, what with him having an accessible account at the bank. This was of course only after his identity had been confirmed.

When he informed the goblin of his lack of knowledge regarding anything that had to do with the magical world, much more his actual status in the world, the goblin expressed its greed clearly on its face. The goblin then proceeded to inform him, in more private settings, about several protocols and laws that had clearly been breached or broken. One such matter was that he did not have his key with him, and that his questions regarding the possibility of having an account with the bank had not been some crude joke.

There were other things as well, things that were sure to cause the goblin that he had been speaking to to gain a rather considerable fortune from commissions and fees regarding his new client alone. The previous account manager had been summarily killed due to negligence on his part, the executioner wasn't a goblin though. It had been a momentarily annoyed Harry who had unleashed a fraction of his fury, focused solely on the sniveling being that claimed that his, Harry's, legal and magical guardian had been the one to give the order for such dealings and that he, the goblin, had been given consent from him, Harry, to do such things. Even though most of the things and orders were contradictory.

The new account manager would later come to the realization that he now had to outshine any other account manager of his level and above lest he incur the wrath of a mage whose caliber was well above most of his race. There was also the fact that the momentary slackening of control over his emotions had scarred the goblin for life.

After a few short hours of discussion regarding bank accounts and his, Harry's, parents' wills. He left the bank a little bit annoyed, not that it perceptibly or obviously showed. Though had anyone really looked at him, taken a closer look at him, they would notice short arcs of light blue electricity or lightning dancing across his skin, mostly around his fingers and arms.

He had his money and so went on to spend the rest of the day to shop. His illegally appointed legal and magical guardian was removed from his position rather forcefully when his parents' will, both of them, were put into effect. The years that had gone by since the Potter parents' death had been more than enough to grant young Harry Potter emancipation in the worlds. In just a few short hours he was recognized by the governments as an emancipated minor, an adult in student's robes, or soon to be student's robes.

The Potter fortune had been diminished by quite a lot, stolen more than likely, and those funds could not be retrieved since the paper trail seemed to vanish in all sorts of confounded directions. The only thing that the account manager, named Griphook, could do was start from the very beginning with what thousands of galleons remained.

If no significant increase in the Potter's worth was gained by the end of the coming school year, the goblin was sure that he would be replaced by a more ruthless and harder to intimidate goblin. Though he doubted that when he told the tale of his predecessor being turned into paste by a mere clenching of a boy's fists, those other more hardened goblins would think twice about the boy.

Once most of his necessary supplies had been purchased, which was everything aside from robes and a wand, that last thing he believed to be rather useless. He chose the wand to be his last school required purchase of the day, and so went off to the closest clothing store, or tailor really, to purchase his robes.

Getting them was easy enough, though the owner wondered where he had gotten such fine robes himself, the ones he was wearing. He simply replied with one of the most annoying answers one could give..

"Magic," he stated, in that eerily monotone tone of voice of his.

She didn't really like that answer at all.

He ignored the other person his age that was also there for school robes. He didn't find the blonde worth talking nor listening to. The child was a parroting waste of his time, so after receiving his robes, which had been hastily done, he could alter them to suit his wants and needs later, he left to find himself his wand.

Getting the wand was a rather annoying episode in his life. The wandmaker tried playing some sort of game with him, that didn't really seem like it was worth participating in. The man toyed with him, bringing forth wands that he knew would not suit him, and only after several dozens mistries had brought out the wand that the man knew was the nearly perfect fit.

He then spoke some prattle about the wand choosing the wizard. Harry didn't believe it one bit. He didn't really fancy destiny and fate and all that. He didn't see such things as his friends, though he supposed that his emotionless manner might have creeped out the old man by quite a large margin as compared to the desired and not gotten effect that the old man had wanted from him.

He spent the rest of his remaining summer days in the Leaky Cauldron, only leaving the pub/inn to purchase some more additional reading material, and a bigger trunk with much more compartments, numbering seven was the largest trunk he had purchased to fit all the things that he had found himself purchasing. He actually ended up having seven trunks total.

The seven compartment one containing each other trunk in each of its compartments the last compartment ending up having his clothes. His wand he kept in a holster strapped to his arm so that he could pull the thing out if he needed to pretend that he needed the blasted thing.

Each trunk contained one more compartment than the last one that had been bought, the first one obviously having only that one basic compartment.

That was a lot of books and extra potions supplies and extra other random stuff, half of which he was sure wouldn't be seeing the light of day again unless he found himself actually bored.

When it came time for him to leave the more civilized world, he packed up all of his things, it didn't really take him that much time to do so, all it did take after all was a little application of magic. Magic that he had in limitless quantity, or so he believed since he'd never really gotten magically exhausted before.

He found his way onto the platform by asking Tom the Barkeep of the Leaky Cauldron how to get to the platform. Once on the platform he shrunk his trunk and pocketed it, not trusting anyone else with such precious cargo, and boarded the train to find himself a compartment to relax in for the journey.

It wasn't long before his peace and quiet came to an end. Someone decided to open his compartment, deposit a trunk somewhere in the compartment and take a seat. The person then proceeded to prattle on, talking about something or other that he didn't find all that interesting and simply ignored while looking out the window.

"...hey, are you even listening to me?" the person said, "I said my name's Ron Weasley, and I was asking what your name was."

He didn't hear the redhead and continued to simply look out the window. The boy didn't appreciate being ignored, even though he had been ignored from the get go, and tried to rough up his companion in the compartment ending up with him being magically flung out of the compartment by an irritated mage.

The boy didn't get it and simply bull rushed his way back into the compartment and proceeded to get his ass kicked by one that wasn't minding him and was more or less subconsciously kicking his ass with some display of wild magic, not accidental magic, but something like an automatic defense.

It sprung up when he wasn't entirely paying attention to everything around him. Something had to protect him when he wasn't actively doing such himself.

It took about an hour and a half into the trip for prefects, or upper years of all Houses, to chance upon the sight of the redheaded first year attacking a fellow first year that appeared to be either sleeping or not deeming him worth his time or attention. They also noted that magical attacks that were being landed on the redheaded boy.

The prefects tried to stop things from escalating to the point that the redhead would end up needing medical attention, but the redhead didn't seem to know the meaning of reason, logic, and common sense, since he kept going back for more.

It was only when Harry returned from la la land did he notice the crowd that had gathered outside of his compartment crowding the corridor to the point that no one could pass, but all of them could see the redheaded boy that kept trying to perform some form of bodily harm unto him.

"What are all of you looking at?" he asked them in his toneless and emotionless voice, it was more or less his normal voice by this point in his life, "And will you stop disturbing my peace?" he requested as his hand shot out and gripped or more like began choking the life out of the foolish redhead that had been trying to exact revenge on him for not being minded. This grabbing and chocking was followed up by physically throwing the boy back out of the compartment, his magic following with the boy's trunk.

He then reigned in his magic and whatever emotion might be manifesting on his person, face or whatever, and calmly returned to looking out the window and watching the world pass them all by.

No one spoke, no one could. All the onlookers, his age or older were more or less paralyzed by what they had witnessed. The crowd soon began to slowly disperse since not only was the show over, they all instinctively knew that if they lingered they would be on the receiving end of whatever this person could dish out if they annoyed or irritated him further.

Word traveled up and down the train about the first year student that was not to be messed with, about the first year student that was uncomprehendingly unexplainably fear inducing. No one knew his name, but all knew not to get on his bad side or one would face consequences that most kept thinking up an even greater bad thing.

By the time that the train reached its destination Harry was given quite the wide berth by all of the students from first to fourth year, no one cared to inform the guy that met them there about it. But even the Keeper of the Keys and the Grounds of Hogwarts felt it and knew that this was a student that was not to be messed with.

His first peek at the school didn't turn him into someone that could feel emotions, or seemingly feel emotions. He remained as he had been ever since he had been told what he needed to do regarding the control of his power and the safety of those around him.

There was a circle that was formed around him as he and his fellow first years were left in the care of the deputy headmistress of the school and given their brief introduction of the school, what was expected of them, and told to wait for their sorting.

They waited with baited breath, it was frightening for them that had not known true pain to be in the presence of one that looked like he simply didn't care or have a care in the world, but not in a good and reassuring way.

As the first years made their way to the front of the ceremonial stool and sorting hat, they still made sure to remain a safe distance away from the boy that cause their baser instincts to scream at them to not mess with the monster that moved amongst them.

Names were called, and the students whom such names belonged to were sorted. It was when the deputy reached the P's did the whole hall silence itself in anticipation of the one name of the one person that they all wanted to know looked like, for glory, fame, power, or simply friendship, they waited.

"Potter, Harry," was finally called, and the first years all looked around themselves, the ones remaining.

It was when Harry stepped out from among them that the whole of the hall, the students at least, could not believe their eyes and ears. No outraged shouts were heard, no cheers, nor whispers. Just silence and anticipation.

The staff just chalked up the student's behavior to there being a celebrity in their midst, they were not paying much attention to the truth of the matter.

The hat was not on his head for more than a scant few second before it yelled out in what could have been a more than terrified voice..

"RAVENCLAW!"

Instead of the expected applause from the house that the staff were waiting for, it was silence, silence, intakes of breath, some mild forms of panic, fainting, and the scuttling of students moving away from one end of the table giving their newest member quite the large berth.

There went house loyalty and unity, not that the ravens were known to have such a trait.

This became the norm of the school and student populace, the teachers later on realized that they were not hesitant or in awe, their instincts, the primal ones, were screaming out to them to at least be extremely cautious when dealing with Harry Potter, there was simply something about him that they didn't want to have to deal with.

The headmaster hoped that the hero he had hoped would rise up to the task of serving the light and being its savior would actually be a bit more...human...seeming, not this cold stone wall of nothingness that he found. Whatever he had hoped for he sure as hell was not going to get from how things looked. There was no chance in heaven, hell, or somewhere in between, that the self-styled lord of the light was going to get the hero he wanted the world to have.

But it was already too late to revise his plans for the year, the one regarding the stone of his old mentor.

Though at the end of the year it would be noted by him and his staff that the stone went missing, the prime suspect of the theft had somehow ended up falling victim to the curse on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The protections on the other hand had been soundly and resoundingly defeated.

There was no doubt in the professors' minds that someone had gone through their protections like a hot knife through butter and taken the stone for themselves, what whoever took it did with it was anyone's guess, and the headmaster was left with being the only one that would be speaking to his old mentor about the lost stone.

To say that the headmaster returned to the school looking a right mess was the understatement of the year, the only reason that the man still remained alive was because his old mentor had spares of that blasted rock.

Harry didn't really have anything special happen to him during his summer before second year. His relatives did leave him in the house for the summer since they had planned a vacation and knew that he would not really want to go with them, which was true. They could trust him with the house and their trust was well placed, and any all that were not allowed in the house or those that tried to let themselves in the house, namely magicals, he dealt with. Personally.

There had even been this one nutty house elf that he had forcefully ejected from his house and followed that up with a formal complaint to whatever department dealt with regulating such creatures. There was sure to be trouble at wherever that creature worked at. Messing with his mail and trying to keep him from going back to a school which he had voluntarily chosen to go to.

He completed his shopping, didn't turn his bank account manager to paste and even gave the goblin a bonus for a job well done, though the goblin wasn't sure since this was one human that one would have an extremely hard time telling if he was in a good mood or a bad mood, not that the goblin really cared. He got a bonus after all, and that was all that mattered.

Getting onto the platform had been easy as well, of course he did it only after that one redheaded student that he didn't mind, ignored really, failed at passing through and decided to get his father in trouble by flying to the school in an illegally enchanted vehicle.

The house elf that had sealed the passageway had suffered quite painfully, or it would have. It did suffer a fate far worse though, Harry's dead stare. It wasn't a death glare, it was just a soulless stare.

He broke the sealing and walk on through and wasn't even late for the train. He found himself a compartment and wasn't bothered one bit by any of the students, or at least he could have claimed that he was up until one of the first years decided to join him. But unlike the last one that had done so, this one minded her own business which suited him just fine.

Eventually he found her a bit interesting, what with how she decided to read the publication that she as well...

TBC...


	88. CC 04

He'd learned throughout his life that wizards weren't the only prejudiced bastards that he magical world had to offer, they weren't the only ones that held biased or didn't care about any others aside from themselves. Wizards weren't the only people in the magical world that didn't care if all others suffered and died. Wizards weren't the only ones that viewed the other races as unimportant or as a means to an end that can or could be eliminated once their usefulness had passed.

Some were only concerned with gold or business or whatever property they deemed was theirs and theirs alone. Some were only concerned with their personal empires that spanned countries, disregarding any ministry edict or wizarding law for they were not or were no longer wizards. Some were concerned about territory and keeping what they believed was theirs as remaining theirs. Some were concerned about blood and status, some age, some wealth, some property, some sex, there were so many magical races in the world that only a scant few gave a damn about another or the other.

Most were in some form or fashion at war with another, it was like the wild, the wilderness, the jungle or wood, the desert or the plain. The world was continuously at war with itself, the warring factions were like the unending cycle that was caused inadvertently by the law of survival of the fittest.

There was much pride and arrogance in the world of today as there was in the world of the past. Nothing had really changed. Civilizations, monarchies, governments, had all risen and fallen. Warriors turned into heroes who preached change for the better had all come and gone, and yet everything remained relatively the same just with different leaders and different views ruled over relatively all.

He had thought in his youth that to end the threat of Voldemort would bring peace to the world, would bring about change in the world, would make things better.

He had been wrong to think that such a thing as change in the manner he wished or dreamed was that simple. He may have taken out the larger threats, the ones that all the races had decided was an actual threat to all of their combined ways of life, but that still left the other smaller problems of the world. There were other prejudiced bastards out there, other arrogant ponces, other prideful and influential people looking to make a name for themselves.

The major problem of the decade had been dealt with but left all the minor ones behind. It wasn't like he could go after them all, he learned that not only didn't he have the right to do so, go on some crusade, he didn't have the know-how to do so, he didn't really know much about the world. All he had known was that he had to study, get good grades to pass over to the next year level of the next school year, survive the school year in order to prepare himself to survive the next school year, and of course let us not forget that his main focus of his young learning life was to slay some dark lord that others were either not experienced enough, not brave enough, or not prophesied enough for the job, or some sort of drivel such as those.

They were all either too lazy or too much of a bunch of cowards to do anything about such a major threat to their combined world. There were also those men or women that believed that all could be given a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc., chance. There were those that fought something that needed to be destroyed, yet they left them still relatively intact and able to recuperate for the next attack.

He had his family as he learned that he couldn't do anything about it anyway, he cared far too much about how his friends saw and treated him that he could do nothing other than do what he thought they thought would make his life better and happier. While he was happy he wasn't really all that sure with what he was missing out on. He was the perfect husband, the perfect father to his three children, he was the perfect friend. He was always making sure that all those he surrounded himself with were happy, the content part was something that he had no control over since he wasn't any of his enemies that all they wished for was some over the top measure of control over some things.

He didn't delve into the political world, he left that up to some representatives that asked him for his basic views about things regarding laws that were being passed or something like that. All his representatives made sure to keep his name as clean as clean could get and be. He had been the hero of the wizarding world after all, slaying the bastard Voldemort for them all. He deserved to be given the same treatment, almost, as Albus Dumbledore. But unlike that kindly grandfatherly headmaster he wasn't so well versed in how the world really worked and how there really wasn't such a thing as good and evil, only power as had been preached to him by some fragment of a soul.

How the real world worked was that there was your good, and the other guy's good. Your opinion against someone else's. It was that simple and yet at the very same time that complex.

He didn't really think about all of these complicated things, he didn't ever even need to think about making ends meet, he had sound investments in a number of businesses, he worked as a Quidditch player for the national team, he had worked for a time as an auror but quit after it proved to be not as fulfilling as he had hoped that it would be. Then he was drafted into the Department of Mysteries for a time. He never really remained in one job for very long, which ended up making him quite qualified for any government position, including minister of magic though he didn't like running an entire government, it wasn't his style after all. He even tried a few other professions, while sticking with Quidditch throughout all of them, not really finding one that suited him.

He had lived a life of ignorant bliss, which was what happened most of his decisions were not really his own, they were the product of the opinions of others motivating him into swaying in one direction instead of another. He listened to both sides of the fence and made a decision based on that and on what his friends and close allies thought was for the best.

He failed to notice that most of those decisions had a positive impact on a number of those friends and allies.

It was only when he was much older, with a lot more experience with the world around him and in general did he discover some deceit that had been aimed at him all his life, or as long as he could remember vividly. It was betrayal most foul, it was then that he realized that he had squandered his life. In wanting to enjoy life, which was now soured, he had become that which he had abhorred in his youth.

A sheep.

Just another member of a greater flock, moving and living at he whims of the shepherd, this shepherd in this case being his wife, friends, and close allies. His enemies even played their own part in using him for their needs and ends. The end justified the means in all cases and accounts.

They had thought him dying at this point, while they were still living as if in their prime. They had used and abused him all of his life, and now that he was just finding out about the lie that had been his life, or partial lie since his children, all three, had not done any such thing to him. Unless he counted all the manipulations children were known for doing, which he didn't count in this.

He also found out through his eavesdropping as well as extensive use of his house elves, all of whom were deathly loyal to him but had been ordered years prior not to reveal any betrayals by his wife and friends to him by his wife herself, mistress of the house and all that. Since he had finally managed to find out on his own about everything, the elves were free to inform him of everything, privately of course.

He had truly been an ignorant sheep, he had even ignored his own heritage, something which he was sure his wife had made sure that his children were not so ignorant of. He had a feeling that she had been using him as some sort of example to them, perhaps even showing them why wizards were superior to other magical and of course non-magical races. He was ignorant of wizarding ways, and that hindered his growth and ability.

One part of the heritage bit were obscure magics that were known by the purebloods, there were family traditions in there too, but the magic was at the core of it all. After all, they were living in a magical world were they not.

The particular obscure magic that his wife, friends, and close allies had been using had to do with leeching of a sort. They had been leeching magic and life from him for years, or at least ever since he had officially tied the knot with his wife and she had borne him his first male child. From then on his life was more or less expendable.

This was the reason why he felt so weak as of late, sure he was over 200 years old, but so were the others and they didn't look a day over 150. That was saying a lot, they passed it off as being more powerful magically than most, which was true. That and being around such a powerful mage as Harry Potter, the Chosen One and defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort, who even now people still feared even the mere mention of such a name.

He didn't like his lot in life, this one where he had really not made any decisions that personally benefited himself. He resolved to do something about it, but what was the question that he needed an answer for.

So one day he informed his wife that he was going to go out for a stroll, maybe visit the Ministry and the many departments he had at some point in his long life been a part of. She didn't really pay him much mind at the time and dismissed the possibility of him planning something for a change, it would be her and the rest of her conspirators more or less downfall regarding him.

Being as old as he was, he had learned a number of useful things that even those that conspired against him was not aware of. It was always a good thing to have some secrets, it was possibly one of the few things he had done for himself.

He had a small gift, or at least he thought it was small, in wandless magic. He apparated without the use of a wand, a wand which he had conveniently left in his personal study where his wife would be able to see that he had forgotten it, and would deem him no threat to their plans for him, she cared for him somewhat but would not worry since no one in their right minds would dare try something against Harry Potter.

He appeared at the apparition point of the lobby of the Ministry of Magic, or as he now saw it the Ministry of Mostly Corruption. He made his rounds, in a way, visiting his old workplaces, greeting a rather large number of random employees, some of whom had been past bosses and subordinates. He even had a short chat with the present Minister of Magic.

He eventually reached the one chamber that he thought one of the routes to true happiness during his youth had fallen through. He had been an Unspeakable at one point in time, though he had not been forced into taking the oath of secrecy and silence like some of the others, most wizards trusted him on his word alone. He was seen as being that honorable a person, which was a rather good thing for him and a rather bad thing for that department.

The Veil, that little archway into the world beyond the one he now stood in, was calling out to him. It was crying out to him, not in soothing tones as one would think such a thing that hungered for life would, but in tones of pain and terror, while at the same calling out to him for help, for aid, for something to rid it of the pain and suffering it was undergoing, whatever that was.

He wasn't sure why he did it, but some primal instinct in him knew what had to be done, what only he himself could do. Ancient magics were at work here, magics that even the department in which he stood in had no true understanding of, just the basics.

They came to him, the three hallowed items that had been a curse unto the world in some views, others a blessing, and in other still something worth reaching out for, an unreachable dream of sorts. They had never really been taken from him, stolen from him, or won from him. Each item still called him their master. They had each grown on him and him on they, to the point where they would not serve another master, any other master, not even one of his own blood to their full extent and potential ever again.

They came to him through space and time at their very best forms.

One, a stone, had come to him through the wards of one of the three premier magical education institutions in all of Europe. It had bypassed all the barriers that stood in its way just to get to its master, even going so far as to conjuring a band of gold entwined with silver so that it's master could carry it better.

One, a cloak, vanished from the rack that it was usually hung on within a vault in it's master's manor. It had been kept there so that it's master's children didn't get up to no good with it. It rode the invisible currents of space and time to appear a foot behind it's master ready to take up residence over his skin.

One, a wand, wrested itself from the hands of one of it's master's betrayers as the man was about to use it to alter the memories of a family that had been plaguing his own for a little while. Without that special wand he would have to eliminate the family before informing his allies of there being another player that knew about he wand and had somehow managed to take it.

They, of course, would fail to realize that it wasn't some new player to the game, but an old and abused piece.

They would not think of the stone or the cloak, no one knew where the stone had landed after all. The cloak was only accessible by the Head of the House of Potter, since the vault was one of his more personal ones, and it was doubtful that he would take it out where his grandchildren could con him into lending it to them.

Each of these three items had claimed in at certain points of their master's long life. Each one had individually claimed him as it's master. It was only now that he had finally acknowledged them all as being his did they come to claim him as theirs. At the same time.

The stone, now ring, bonded with it's master by setting on one of his fingers. Fitting snugly on it and vowing never to leave it's master ever again.

The cloak settled over his frame, melding and merging itself with his very skin, thus allowing him to vanish from all sights and senses if he so wished at but a thought, as well as turning any he touched to do the same, but for a limited time only. Unlike him that could remain invisible to the living and the dead until the eternity's end if he so wished.

The wand used what personal power it had to coerce it's master into gripping it tightly and to vow to never let it go or leave it in much the same manner that he had had all those years ago. It vowed to never leave him for another, it was not all other wands before and after it that would acknowledge another as being more worthy a master than it's previous one.

All three had vowed to be his and his alone, and he had claimed them as his own. They each bound to him and he to them until eternity's end and even after that. The only way for them to be separated now was for Death, Time, and Magic, to band together and make it so.

It was a merging of souls in a sense unlike any other had managed to do before. It was not some soul bond or something similar, it was more like a reincarnation of a sort of two individual Beings becoming one new one, made up of both, but predominantly of the second much younger one since the much younger one was actually more sentient and, in some way more important, human.

Three brothers had long ago cheated death, so death had granted them boons, gifts, items to reward them for what they had done. What death had not told them was that he had given them himself, or three parts of himself or itself really.

This death had given the three brothers power over both life and death, not that they could access it completely unless they willingly united all three items. The unification of these items would cause the wielder, or master of them, to not only become the Master of Death, but an incarnation of death, and since death was as much a part of life as life was as much a part of death, then that one person or soul would also be reborn as the incarnation or reincarnation of life as well.

But the three brothers never explored this possibility. One had held within him too much pride and arrogance and thus boasted of his new power, and lost it by thievery and murder. One had been far too lonely and depressed and made himself even more so, eventually leaving the living world for the realm of the dead that he might find the peace and happiness he could not find in life.

The third of the three brothers had been unable to explore such a possibility as he was enjoying life far too much, while he did miss his brothers he had duties and responsibilities to his own family. He mourned each of the deaths of his siblings, but believed that the three of them would one day somehow be re-united in the realm of the dead.

He was reborn as the new death of his world, of his reality, of the existence in which he existed. It was a title, a mantle, a rank, a role, and much more altogether. He now had only one superior, Death himself, and that Being, as the memories of about 40% of his present self saw that the Being wasn't that overly hands-on with his subordinates or generals that came in the forms of the multitudes of Masters of Death from across a great many realities.

Then he once again heard the Veil and what lay beyond its flimsy drapes, by the standards of those that were still alive, crying out for his aid, for his help. They cried out from torture and pain, and most of all they cried out for their inability to perform their purpose.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..._" was the prophecy foretold and had supposedly come to fruition when he had eliminated the threat that had been named or granted immortality in the history books as being the darkest, baddest, meanest, and most evil and vile dark lord to have ever graced island, country, empire, and continent.

He recalled the prophecy, it could have been a false one but men had made it real and reliable. Men had turned it into a crutch by which to lean on. Men had lost their will to fight, their will to hope, and had dumped everything on something that should not have been depended on at all.

He recalled the prophecy and its words.

It could be interpreted in a number of ways, and to him at this moment in time, it had yet to be fulfilled.

In his opinion Voldemort had not been some great dark lord, but just another man with too much of seven deadly or mortal sins in his hands. There was also that he was just a self-styled one, one that had never really been recognized officially as a lord of the dark. He was no lord in Harry Potter's books, just another random criminal that had gotten away with far too much in his early years that he let his successes get to his head.

The dark lord spoken in the prophecy could be many things. On the top of his list was society or the magical world in general. As for the one with the power to vanquish this dark lord, he believed that it was indeed he, but not the he that he had previously been but the he that he had now become.

The world 'him' in the second part, he believed went both ways. It referred not only to the magical world but to himself. He was born to those that had thrice defied him, defied his own personal wishes as well as to what the world represented or had been.

Born to those that had thrice defied him. He believed that his being brought into the world in order for the world to rely solely on him for its survival had been one manner of defying both himself and the world. For one thing he had lost quite a lot by being born to both the world and the parents that he had been given. The world had also lost a bit from having decided to depend on him when it came to the man they dubbed as Mr. Who. The third form or event of defying was the betrayal of those that had defined his world to him, or it could even be the simple fact that this world of magic was false in and of itself.

For whatever that it was worth, he decided in his mind and decided to believe that he was the one that was coming or had come for the dark lord. He was the vanquisher, he was the death that had come for the world or whatever it was that he was going to end.

About being born as the seventh month died, well he was born at that time, and he was also reborn at about that time. Most people didn't celebrate his birthday anymore, he had had so many already that most didn't see the point in celebrating it. Even his own wife hadn't been greeting him as he had been doing for her for the past twenty or so years. He never complained, so he guessed that she didn't really love him as much as he had always thought she did.

As for that other crucial last part of the thing, one could not truly live if the other was still around.

He decided to fulfill this prophecy or at least his interpretation of the prophecy that had robbed him of his parents and his childhood and he guessed the rest of his life as it were.

He held out his hand, the one that had a firm grip on the wand of elder wood, and channeled his magic through it with just intent, intent to cancel out whatever it was that was stopping those crying out for his aid to stop hurting them or harming them or keeping them from their purpose.

They came rushing forth from what had once been thought of as a one way gateway to another realm. There were so many of them, souls and other forms of life or unlife. They came out in droves, circled him, embraced him, thanked him, then left the chamber in which the veiled archway stood.

What was their purpose, what had they been kept from doing. He didn't really care to ask, but he suspected that it was or had something to do with both the taking and giving of life and death. They were probably automatic systems that had been set in place at the dawn of time to regulate the cycle and or flow of the circle of life and death.

He didn't know it, but the three items in his possession had actually been a set of four and not three. The fourth item had been given up earlier, which was how death had lost to three brothers, the brothers would not have been able to defeat death had death been at full power after all. Its weakened state was due to the loss of the fourth item that made it whole.

This item was the veiled archway, the doorway, the gateway. It was this physical portal that separated the world of life from the realm of the dead.

The archway had been won somehow and someway in the extremely distant past and been used as a means for obtaining immortality by the very first mortal that had sought to gain such a state of being. IT was the first one to cheat death that had won the veil and used what it could do to keep him or her from passing through that which it served as a bridge between.

Death at that time had sent forth a horde of its servants and soldiers to reclaim the item which it had only reluctantly given up for a time, but had all intentions of getting it back. The horde was somehow defeated thanks to the veiled archway having been used as a weapon to separate those bodies from their respective souls and trapping them just beyond the world of life for what was supposed to have been all of eternity.

This caused the bodies to become cursed entities that would for centuries be feared by all that chanced upon them.

They were the Dementors. What they had once been were the guides of souls to the afterlives. They were also soldiers in a massive army that had served the death of this existence. Without the vast majority of them fulfilling their purpose, there had been those that had been able to successfully cheat death of a soul or more.

Whatever. Nothing about the world really mattered anymore. He resolved that perhaps it was finally time for Harry Potter, Wizarding Savior, Prophesied Chosen One, and all around good guy, to leave this world of life to fend for itself. His children, while they would miss him, they had the means to live without him. His wife, friends, and close allies, surely had enough magic and life in them to survive whatever would lie ahead.

Or whatever it was that he was sure to leave behind.

As the new death of his world, his birth world, he decided to do some sweeping up with the aid of his forces that were getting reacquainted with their own immortal bodies. There were some of those that had cheated him in past and present still roaming around the world. It was time to remind them that death was one of the final and unavoidable truths of existence. Everything died, it was just a matter of when.

After the veil had pledged itself eternally to him, and bonded and re-merged with him, he set about his self-appointed task of cleaning up whatever mess had been made and left in the world of life.

It didn't really take him all that long, but he did scour the globe with a lot of help. The Ministries of Magic all over the world were in a great panic when the first of what they believed to be some kind of Dementor descended upon their people, or some notable person in their territory. The Patronus charm did nothing to them, and soon there were quite a number of them.

With scythe and sword they descended upon those that had cheated the realm of the dead. When all of this was done, and not a single of those cheaters had been left alive or among the mortal and rightfully immortal members of the world of the living, they left. They all vanished back beyond the veil that separated both existence or states of being from the other. The only one that remained was Harry.

He decided that before he went of on his own next great adventure he would be leaving his children with a new will that they could use, one that was written by his own hand and made binding by his own special brand of magic, as well as with the authority of what he had become.

He was finally leaving the world as well as the headship of his house to one of his children, this would surely cut off his wife from most of her powerbase, and cause shifts in power to occur. His children were all smart, street and otherwise, to know that something had been afoot. He wasn't really that proactive of a man, and they knew that. This would make them question events and circumstances and the like. Hopefully the world, even a small part of it would become better because of it.

He didn't really die, it was a kind of impossibility as far as he knew he and his kind were concerned. He did the next best thing once he had all of his documents, documentations, and paperwork finalized. He shoved his soul blindly through space and time, and wished himself luck while doing it.

He didn't know what was to happen to him once he left his birth world, birth reality, birth universe, existence, whatever it was. He didn't know where he would end up or what he would end up as. He just knew that flinging his soul through all that mess would get him somewhere other than the life he had lived for a little more than 200 years.

#

He woke with a start, and checking his surroundings had been the first thing he did. Something had definitely changed with him, what it was he was not yet sure. But before he went of trying to find out what it was, he checked himself if he was still himself, more or less.

He found to his pleasure and displeasure that he was still himself in a sense, he also found that he didn't need to venture out into the world to find out what had indeed happened to him.

He had, once again, reincarnated. He had been reborn as a himself of another existence, making this world his second birth world. He wondered if things would be different this time around taking his reincarnation in stride. Not really bothering much about being reincarnated, he wanted a fresh start, a new adventure after all. So he got it, just not in the form that he wished to.

Based on his inner searching, he was around four years old on the dot in this life. And based on his accommodations he determined that he was in no other place other than his cupboard under the stairs. This meant that in a way he had gotten something that he wanted but just never really did try and do. Get revenge on his aunt, uncle, cousin, and aunt marge, for all the times that they had further degraded what was already a not-childhood.

He was so going to enjoy himself in this life, and he started by testing out his control over his magic. He needed to know if he would be training this new body of his to channel his impressive amount of magic. The manner by which he tested it was casting a non-verbal and wandless lumos. He intended for a tiny light to ignite from an extended finger, and got just that.

This meant that he still had all the control and mastery over his magic and body that he had back in his last life's body. He didn't bother trying to determine how that was possible as he had more important things to do. Such as making his relatives regret the day they had dumped him into the cupboard under the stairs.

He could be considered as an old soul now, and such an soul age manifested itself when he decided to temporarily shed his mortal form and use his more immortal one, the one that would not change regardless of how many times he lost his mortal one. He was and would forever be a Master of Death.

He slipped through the walls of the bland house and made his way to the room that he was sure his cousin Dudley was sleeping soundly in. He found the little porker sleeping quite peacefully and cursed the child. But since this child had not done anything to him that was really bad yet, he put some requirements for the curse to activate, such as willful and intended bad decisions on his cousin's part which would cause the curse to activate. The curse would make his cousin feel like someone had slammed a sledgehammer on his balls, the pain would vanish only once all bad thoughts left his mind, the kinds of thoughts that were along the lines of bullying and the sort.

He found both uncle and aunt sleeping in their bed. How the married couple could survive with the clear difference in weight was anybody's guess. Since the two of them had already done their fair share of making his life miserable in this life, he too cursed them.

He cursed his uncle with having pain in his pecker whenever he did anything that could be considered as a medium level to major sin according to the Roman Catholic or just the Christian religion. As for his aunt, he cursed her with the inability to keep herself so slim, to keep her breath smelling fresh, and a whole bunch of things which would eventually cause her to go a bit mad and have her husband who should love her to spend lots of money on her to make her better again.

There were no requirements or conditions for both of their curses to be put into effect. He made sure that the curse on his aunt wouldn't last forever, and would be reversed once her husband had spent loads of money on her treatments, or if she miraculously decided to turn over a new leaf overnight. The chances of that happening were next to nil, thus he decided that it was ok to give her that much of a fighting chance.

With that done, he returned to his cupboard and reverted back to being a physical person and went back to sleep. The next few years were going to be rather interesting.

The family of three plus one had been forced to move to a different neighborhood several times due to Petunia Dursley's condition that was still years away from being cured or healed or vanished. Vernon...and his job...was a different story. Sure the man was eventually promoted, but he was forced or had forced himself to resign from his well paying job due to a suggestion made by one of his close friends from his college days. The friend was a doctor that he had discreetly gone to to ask for medical advice regarding his pecker.

The friend said that he should just stop doing whatever it was that caused the pain to surface. It was the only thing the man could think of. So Vernon did just that and more or less became a saint of a man because of it. The curse was good to him and made him become a much better man, individual, father, and husband.

Dudley too became a better person due to all the moving and the sit down he had with his father. It was best that the son not follow in the father's footsteps, or what Vernon had previously been anyway.

The family dynamic was changed. The two Dursley males became better and more normal upstanding citizens while Petunia became...one of the most disliked people in each neighborhood that the family was forced to transfer to. It was only when Harry and Dudley were both nine years old each did was the woman finally cured of all of her physical deformities or curse caused problems. But that didn't mean that she changed on the inside. She still hated her sister and her sister's spawn with a passion, she was also everything her son could have been.

But Vernon saw this, and didn't like it. If he could become a new and better man, why couldn't his wife. Thus he paid for her to have some psychiatrist have a good look at her mind or something like that. Get her back on the right track, he also made sure that she could not overly influence their son with her way of thinking. He'd seen in her what he could have become or continued to be and he didn't like it.

As for Harry, he was not treated badly after the Dursley males began their change. He had a relatively normal childhood, minus any love since his relatives still were unable to show him or give him that. There was just something about him that prevented them from feeling such an emotion for him. He could live with that. He also simply tolerated them too. They were just people he lived with to him. He didn't bother forming a connection or bond with them.

His past and first life just stopped him from trying, he didn't want to know what could happen if he connected with them.

He was just some boarder that didn't pay rent to them, though his aunt still treated him badly, worse even since her husband and son didn't seem to care much about him but left him well alone.

It was a balance of a sort for what he had done. He made more or less half of the family better people, and the compensation for that action was to make his aunt even worse than he could remember his first aunt as being.

It was his aunt's behavior toward him and all the rumors that she had managed to spread before his uncle caught on, that caused the family plus one to finally move again when the two boys were in the middle of their tenth year of life.

Harry's uncle coudn't stand their neighbors looking at them funny or treating Harry badly due to what they thought his mother and father had been, drug addict and pusher of a father and a drug addict, diseased, whore of a mother. Harry too didn't like those tall tales and while he could do something about them, chose not to. These narrow minded people would get theirs some day, it may not be him that gave them theirs, but he was sure that the universe would or had something planned for them already.

"I'm leaving," Harry told his relatives on the eve of his eleventh birthday, he noted their incredulous looks when he had said it, "I believe it is finally time for me to return to my own kind, for good or for ill. I'm sure you'd like that aunt Petunia."

"What are you talking about?" his uncle asked him after the shock of the announcement wore off.

"Ask my aunt about it," Harry said, he knew that the man had not been briefed by his wife about it when she had told him that their nephew was a kind of malignant freak that needed discipline to be beaten into him lest he spoil their good name and image. Harry's uncle definitely had forgotten about anything and everything that had to do with being bad to Harry or anyone for that matter.

He left his relatives to hopefully never see them until each of their dying days. He took with him what meager possessions his uncle had told him over the years were his. The part about seeing his relatives again on their death beds or wherever they found themselves when they died was due to him still retaining his being a Master of Death, while not of this brave new world he still would remain what he was.

He also had ambitions of gaining at least two of the fabled same items that were in this world for himself. Getting the wand would be tricky, so he settled on the stone and on the cloak.

He didn't really give his relatives much of a choice, especially when he simply vanished off of the face of the earth when his uncle had some friends in law enforcement go searching for him. One of them was actually a magical that his uncle had met during college, one of the dissatisfied many that returned to the mundane world to seek out a better life than the magical one that he had had.

Upon hearing the name Harry Potter, his uncle's friend had reassured the man that his nephew was going to be alright, but that nothing either of them could do would be able to make it possible for the boy to return. The search was a lost cause. Vernon tried to find Harry himself, but failed to so. So he decided to give up and wish his nephew all the luck that Lady Luck could give.

It was better for them this way, that and Harry didn't really want to have to spend time with his relatives all that much since he couldn't really hate his uncle and cousin anymore, and seeing them everyday clashed with some of the outstanding memories he had of them.

He willed himself to appear in some backwards alley in the seediest pit in all of magical London, one of the foulest and most infamous places in all of the magical world. Knockturn Alley was it's name, and it has survived the test of time, the centuries has not made it change, nor has time managed to change the names of its siblings.

He walked ever onwards deeper into the bowel of the beast, and the alley could be considered as one of the more frightening ones. Delving deeper into this cesspool of the worst that the world could offer was a good enough thing for him to do, he had some accounts with some of the denizens here to speak about.

There was a cheater of what he more or less was in this particular alley, one that was definitely on his hit list. The man was no man, but a vampire, one of the few that had actually managed to frighten off the Death Reaper that had been assigned to it, one of the few Reapers that could still do their job here in this world, and they weren't quite sure what could happen to them if a vampire decided to take a bit out of one of them. Most wouldn't have been able to see one but this one in particular had a kind of seventh sense that allowed him to perceive what most other mortals should not be able to. That was also another reason why the reaper had not come knocking a second time.

The vampire thought him to be an easy meal, up until he saw the hovering image behind the eleven year old boy. It knew then and there why none of the other denizens of the dark pit that was the alley did not bother the boy, some even slinking away swiftly.

He steeled himself for this encounter, he had dealt with a similar being before, though the last one didn't have such a corporeal form as this one did, and the last one also did not appear as frightening as this one did.

The visage that the vampire could see was of a wraith-like form, the stereotypical western form that the Grim Reaper supposedly took. It was much the same as any other reaper or even dementor. What else was different was that the hood held eyes beneath it, glowing orbs of emerald fire, the same orbs that could be seen on the corporeal form that stood unflinchingly and almost bored-ly before him.

The spectral form also clearly wore gauntlets, the kind which was comparable or looked exactly like the hands or armored hands of some dark lord that could swing a bladed club of some sort around and fling ten men with that one swing. It was the kind of gauntlet that would cause the average wizard not well versed in the fact that movies are not real to think 'Morgana's hairy drooping man boobs! Sauron is real!'. But sadly the Lord of the Rings' Trilogy's movies would not be around for several years yet. There was even a gold entwined with silver ring wound around one of the fingers, it had some sort of normal looking but different feeling stone embedded on it too.

The last thing that the ancient vampire noted of the form that this spectre took was that grasped in its left hand was what appeared to be a wand, a sleek and well maintained one by the looks of it, which was the exact replica of the one held in the boy's hand.

"Another reaper come to finally take my soul from this plane? I'll have you running off like the last one," the vampire commented before barring his teeth at the boy, "Any last words before we clash?"

"By my scythe and sword you fall," Harry promised, and a sword appeared in his right hand, both spectral and physical, his wand shifted, lengthened and gained a blade, "Ready to pass on, ye who hast cheated me of what is rightfully mine?"

"Cheated ye of what exactly? My death? My life? What? Pray tell what it was that I have stolen from thee," the vampire asked conversationally as he took a tentative step in the direction of this that would dare try to rip his untouchable immortality from him.

"T'was thy time to be guided past the veil and to the realm of the dead," Harry replied as he readied his somewhat mortal form for battle, a hopefully swift one, "I blame another long ago for a similar unforgivable act, but instead of immediately rectifying that mistake, I shall be removing thee from this world of life."

"I highly doubt that," the vampire said and lunged, ready to take a bit out of the boy since he doubted he could take a bite out of the still spectral form.

In an instant the corporeal shifted into the form that the spectral was of. The vampire didn't know what hit him, one moment he was on the attack and the next he was witnessing as his body turned to ashes and dust.

"What have ye done to me?" the vampire, or now former vampire, demanded of the one that had ended his pseudo-immortal life.

"I hath ended thine life in the world of life," Harry replied, his form shifting instantly once more back to his child form.

"What are you? You are no mere reaper? Are you some kind of god?" the former vampire, who now as he looked upon himself saw himself as he had originally been brought into the world as. Human. Wizard.

"Something like that," he replied, and called through his connection to the universal veil for the reaper that had run off in fear of being turned into something worse than one of the soulless husks that were the dementors of this world.

The reaper appear before the two of them, though it dared not become corporeal for fear of losing itself, something like a wizard had cursed its kind in the distant past, and it did not want to be sucked into a repeat.

"Take him now to what awaits him in the beyond," Harry ordered with a voice of unmistakeable authority.

~You are not my former master...yet...you feel like him~ the reaper said before grasping onto the arm of the soul that it had come to collect or been called to collect.

"For the time being I am your only master, but in the future I might just become your true master," Harry declared, "Just as I had become in another life."

~Very well...I shall inform the others of this change in the way this world has worked...~ the reaper said, then bowed deeply before departing with soul in tow.

'_That was rather pleasant...now to get back to my...shopping..._' he said and moved to return back to the light world.

Returning to the light world or the world of light or plainly speaking the more seen and visible part of the magical world was a piece of cake. Though he had a feeling that someone, a distant cousin had tampered with the way things were meant to be in some way, shape, or form.

He inquired about getting access to, at the very least, his trust account at the wizarding, goblin-run, bank. The goblin asked for his key for verifications purposes, but since he didn't have it he was told that there was a small ritual that would determine if he was indeed who he claimed he was for a small fee of two galleons. He agreed to the ritual and followed the goblin off to the ritual room.

It was a multipurpose ritual room. A drop or three of blood later and it was confirmed that he was indeed who he claimed to be, what scared the goblin and caused it to drop down on its hands and knees were the titles and names associated with Harry Potter as written out on the ritual parchment.

He was Harry James Potter. Heir to the headships of the Houses of Potter, Gryffindor, Peverell. Named heir to the House of Black. Head of the Houses of Gaunt, Slytherin, and Nekrom by right of conquest. He was also able to claim the headships of the Houses of Acerbus, Iunctio, and Ravenclaw, due to the wills of the previous heads of those three Houses having some conditions for their successor.

That was just the headships and heirships that he could claim, and surely would claim now that he knew about them. There was also his other titles, aside from that of Lord, Duke, Earl, whatever.

Master of Death, God of Death, that second one threw even him for a loop how that happened. Lord of Magic, Prince of Azkaban and the Vanishing Isles, Prince of the Lost Isles. Ambassador of Hell. Lord of the Dark.

The God of Death part really threw him for a loop since that wasn't in his job description, he would get an answer to how he became one of those after his business with the bank was over and done with.

"You can get up now," he informed the goblin, "I still have business to attend to."

"O-Ofcourse most honored of clients! O-Ofcourse! Right away sir!" the goblin squeaked out and scrambled to its feet, "How else m-may the goblins be of assistance?"

"I need to make a withdrawal, and it seems I also need to claim my headships, heirships, and get in touch which whoever needs to know what the heck I am," he replied.

"Please follow me, I shall lead the way to your account manager..." the goblin said and they headed for the Potter account manager's office.

They arrived there in record time the goblin, named Griphook, high tailed it out of there as fast as he could. He did not want to have to be around such a dangerous human any longer than he had to.

"Mr Potter," the account manager greeted grumpily, "I am your account manager Dozois, since Griphook did not deign it necessary to remain and inform me of what it is you need of me, I now ask you, what do you want?"

He handed over the parchment that had been used to determine that he was indeed who he claimed to be.

"I wish to claim the head and heir ships, and everything that piece of parchment claims is rightfully mine," Harry stated, "That and make a simple withdrawal."

After looking over the thing, the goblin shot right out of its chair and bolted out of the room as if the hounds of hell were hot of his trail, but not before asking as politely as he could manage if 'Mr Potter' could just wait a moment while he personally retrieved all necessary files and rings and whatnot.

"No running in Gringotts!" Harry heard a bunch of goblins shout, there was the thumping of armored feet against the ground and the sounds of several scurrying other goblins, this meant that he wouldn't have to wait too long for his account manager to arrive, along with the account managers of the other accounts if there were any others.

He heard the door to the office open with a slam and close with a slam along with the sounds of numerous armored bodies slamming into the slammed shut and magically sealed door. Harry's account managers aligned themselves in front of him behind the desk of the original one account manager.

It didn't take that long, just the rest of the day and most of the night, to look over all of the paperwork and put on all the rings and other accessories that showed his authority, power, and whatnot. There was also the brief meeting with the Reapers of Death, the Dementors of Azkaban and the Elves of the Vanishing Isles, the Earthbound demons of the Lost Isles, and a Lich. There had also been a letter that arrived via portal to hell regarding his status as the ambassador of the world's many different hells to the world of life, not that he really needed to do anything.

He left the bank with a lot more titles than he had had in his last life, wealthier than he had been in his last life, with a lot more responsibilities than he could have gained in his last life, an explanation that since he wasn't the world's master of death he had been elected as THE God of Death when it came to the magical world. Lastly, he left with a money pouch that was connected directly to all his accessible vaults, he could pull out as much gold as he wanted, he had also been given something like a check book or bank draft book of some sort when purchases were far too big, as well as a copy of his emancipation papers.

He got everything that was on the list and a few extras such as a boatload of potions ingredients and things that wouldn't be needed by a first year but needed by a third year taking up those more intellectual of classes. He was old, and already knew the subjects and a general boatload of other things not taught at a school. He bought them just cause he needed something to do.

He went to the pet store and found that there was no Snowy Owl that he could call Hedwig, it seem that the bird had never been born or had never been caught, found, or returned, or whatever. It was for the best he guessed.

He bought a two crow-raven hybrids though and named them after Odin's own set of birds.

With all that done, he retreated to Riddle Manor, which he now owned by right of conquest after he had soundly defeated Voldemort, of this world. It was only fitting that he get the place back up and running and in a more liveable condition than it had continued on to be in his last life. He also made sure to contact all of the remaining living house elves bonded to him and his many Houses, all of them answered his call and gratefully wore uniforms so that he could tell them all apart. They were all very happy to begin working.


	89. D 1

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun," the Sandaime Hokage said, sorrowfully on the inside, but on the outside showing a professional face, "Even though you did perform everything that Mizuki told you to do, even though you may have stopped a traitor, and even though you saved a fellow citizen of Konoha. I am unable to promote you to genin. The graduation exam and screening process is there for a reason. As much as I would like to pass you, even through these special circumstances I cannot. It would show favoritism. I truly am sorry."

"B-But this was my last chance old man! Three strikes and I get no more, right? Please make me genin, he was a superior officer, I did what I was told!" Naruto tried arguing, even though in the pit of his gut he knew the futility of it all, "How was I supposed to know he was a traitor from the beginning?"

"My hands are tied," the Hokage said, "The council, thrice damned thing that it is, cast a vote not in your favor. If I showed you favoritism this one time, there might be a revolt! I'm truly sorry Naruto, but it seems that your dream will just have to remain that. A dream."

"Then...then...then what use am I now? What do I strive for? What do I dream for? What do I do?" the blonde teen asked, he was truly lost, his dream was all he had going for him, even it was seemingly far and out of his reach for the many years that he had had it, now it was taken from him, he was blind to the possibility of it. Forever. Or so he thought and hoped that it wasn't real, or true.

"I'm sorry Naruto...but I don't know," the Hokage regretfully said, he'd never considered the possibility of such a situation ever happening, this was the village's secret weapon after all. Its major powerhouse. The one thing or person that was in a sense and a way keeping back the village's enemies from striking after the loss of the Yondaime Hokage.

It never occurred to the aged and old Kage that such a thing would ever happen. He just couldn't fathom why the council in all of its wisdom would make it impossible for the weapon to serve its purpose, for a soldier and protector to do its full duty. He just couldn't think of a plausible explanation. Even his rival for the position of Kage had sided with him on the matter during the meeting.

"I'll still have my monthly stipend won't I?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"I'm not entirely sure anymore, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said, finally showing just how defeated he felt, "The stipend was permitted since you were a promising student with the potential of bolstering the shinobi ranks. But now that that is no longer a visible or viable possibility, your stipend might be stopped. If it is, I shall...see that something be done so that you can continue living the...life...you have been living."

"Well...at least you're honest with me now," Naruto said, "And I guess I'll just have to return the forehead protector Iruka-sensei gave me. Its useless to me now."

"I think you can keep it," the Hokage said, "It may not really serve any real purpose in the world, perhaps, other than as a reminder that at least four people see you for who you are and not for what you keep prisoner."

"Yeah I guess," Naruto said, "But I still won't be able to wear it in public with pride as a protector of my...home...if I can still call it such."

"I might not be able to do much for you in terms of an official military career, but I'll try and find some way for you to...at least find some purpose," the Hokage said, "I promise to try Naruto."

"Thanks old man, but no thanks," Naruto said, "Save your resources for those that will be needing it. I'll find my own path, I've been doing fine on my own up til now, so why stop now. I thank you for your friendship and encouragement. But...yeah. I'll be going now."

That was how the first day of what should have been the beginning of his military career had gone. He had personally informed Iruka of the final decision regarding his promotion to genin. The man was more saddened by the decision than he let on, but he told the blonde that no matter what happened his door would be open to the blonde.

Instead of a celebratory meal at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, Naruto just didn't share what happened with the two other people that saw him for him and not the beast he held within him. They knew him well enough to know that he was hiding something from them, and so as not to make him explode with negativity they acted as they always had around him. Not letting on that they knew about his troubles, whatever they truly may have been.

He got home only to find an eviction notice taped to his door. The interior of his apartment had already been ransacked and most of his furniture that was not pinned down had been ruined, permanently. The only things that had not been touched were the things that he kept in secret compartments all over the apartment. He took them out and prepared to take them away with him. Since it was obvious that whoever had done the damage to his not so important things would probably be back to finish the job, and his life.

He needed to leave post-haste, and did so when he had all of his things. He used the newly acquired Kage Bushin skill to make things move faster. He didn't need to order the clones to do what needed to be done. They were just as much a part of him as he was as much a part of them, he didn't really realize it though.

It was a subconscious thing, he hadn't really realized it yet, but he would sometime in the future. The clones seemingly had minds of their own, but in reality they were just extensions of their creator, like body parts that were not connected to the main body but could still function, gaining commands from the brain and all that.

He had a hideout of sorts in the sewers of the village. He was treated like dirt, and so he had made it a point to get himself a place where no one would bother looking for him, or dare look for him in. Not even the old man knew about that hiding place, and so he hoped that no one found it. Though he did find it hilarious or would find it such if anyone did find the place. It was a shithole.

He had a cot and everything set up in that place, and as he lay down in the smelliest place in all of the village, he couldn't help but think about what in the world he would be doing from now on. There must be something out in the world for him to do, after all, no one was born without some sort of purpose, he just hoped it wasn't his purpose to be the guy that smelled like shit, lived in it, and died surrounded by it.

"*"

"I can't believe you did that," one of _Five_ commented, "I mean, sure its not as bad as the other guy, the one with Masochist Impact, but still...

"I concur," another one of _Five_ said, "Taking away his purpose in life like that. With no real explanation save for misunderstanding and misplaced hate. Really, couldn't you have thought up anything else?"

"Well... I could have killed him," the one responsible for the change in destiny, of sorts, responded nonchalantly, "None of you four would have wanted that, unless on of you do."

"What would be intresting about that?" a fourth of their group sarcastically asked.

"Nothing that's what," the fifth member stated, "Unless one of us were to have the Idea go through a forced reincarnation."

"And I would do it all over again," the one responsible for Naruto not being able to join the ranks of his heroes.

"What do you plan on doing now that's he at the crossroads of burning away into obscurity or rising up above his hardships?" four of the _Five_ asked their fifth companion as they peered into the viewing pool from which they watched the teen go from indecision to indecision, slowly falling into madness from lack of purpose.

"Why, I intend to visit him myself," the fifth replied, "I intend to give him the gift of a hundred tales to do with as he pleases. He shall be the demon that rises from the gathering of a hundred tales."

"But he is merely a new Idea," one of the other four stated, then asked, "How is that going to work out?"

"He shall be a story teller then," the fifth one replied as he donned a cloak of nothingness and void, "Though his hundred tales he will grow and do with them as he pleases. I will not supply the tales, merely the power behind them. What they shall be will be up to him. He is oh so very creative after all, isn't he."

"This had better be worth it," the other four agreed with one another, "Lest we come down and take this new Idea down, and throw it in the waste bin."

"I assure you, it will be worth watching," the fifth one said as he dived into the viewing pool which was one of the faster ways to reach his new charge and champion.

"*"

The blonde found himself waking up to some light shaking, it had been a solid week of living in the sewers. He had also spent the whole week trying to figure out what to do with his life, the shinobi life had been the only way out that he could see from the predicament that he was presently in. He had no way of surviving outside the walls of the village, nor had he any sympathizers that could do anything about his situation within.

He at the very bottom of the food chain within the village that all he could do to survive was survive in the same way that the scavengers that he shared his vast home with did. Scrounging about for what measly helpings he could find to surive.

The nine tailed fox had awoken during his fifth night of purposeless-ness and tried baiting him with the possibility of becoming the destruction of all things mortal. But had failed since Naruto still held some wish to protect that which was still his home from harm, and he also still had enough heart not to want to hurt any of the innocents in the world.

The fox hadn't bothered to try after that, but as soon as Naruto awoke from his seventh night of slumber, the fox made sure that its host listened to the one that had shaken him into the waking world. The fox knew something primeval about the Being that knelt beside the blonde's laying form. Something that scared and awed the fox into believing in the possibility of salvation from the hell that was a ramen filled stomach, or at least what had been one which was now replaced by almost trash.

"Hello Uzumaki-kun," the Being stated, not looking and sounding any older than 10, "Are you awake enough to hear me and recognize that am real?"

"Err...eugh...yeah," the blonde said as he begant o sit up and wipe the dirt and grime from out of his eyes, "What do you want..." then realization dawned on him that someone had found out where he lived and began to fear for his life, but heard the fox sealed within him trying to calm his nerves and reassure him that the Being before him was not going to do anything of the sort, "How did you find me? Who are you?"

"Who I am is not important," the fifth member of _Those Five_ stated, "What is important is what I have to offer you. No I am not offering you a purpose or a way to become Hokage as you were originally meant to be. What I offer you is a power of sorts, or a set of powers that stem from one greater one. Are you interested?"

'_**Listen to him and accept whatever it is, this is a once in a lifetime chance for anyone in the **__**world! This is even more important than my freedom!**_' the nine tailed chakra fox within the blonde shouted with all its might hoping that its words would be heard.

"I'd listen to Kurama-kun if I were you, Uzumaki-kun," the fifth of the _Five _said.

"Ok, so what you got for me?" the blonde teen said, interested since what the heck could he lose now anyway, nothing that's what.

"It is a power that can be used internally and externally," the _fifth_ said, "I will imbue you with the power of the Hyakumonogatari Kaidenkai or the Gathering of a Hundred Tales. Are you familiar with such a practice?"

"Nope," the teen replied, "Never heard of it."

"It is a gathering of a bunch of people who share ghost stories, scary stories if you unfamiliar with that term," _he_ said, "They tell a hundred stories, and after the hundredth story is told, it is said that a demon, monster, or spirit is born from all the fear produced."

"Oh...so what does that have to do with me?" the blonde asked, not really getting it.

"I will be imbuing you with all the power of the resulting demon of the hundred tales," _he_ said, "But instead of you being born of a hundred tales, a hundred tales will be born from you. You shall be the storyteller that creates these hundred tales. It is you who will give these stories life, and in turn they will serve you, be it as a power, skill, or ability, you may use, or as a servant of sorts that you may command."

"So...I can say something like...there's a ghost behind you, and poof there really will be a ghost behind you?" the blonde asked.

"No," _he _said, "It doesn't work that way. See, I have no reason to fear this so-called ghost. The ghost that you speak of does not take form for it does not have form. You must think of a purpose, of a story, how the ghost was formed, why it was formed, what can it do, what's its own purpose. Those kinds of things must be taken into consideration."

"Oh...so say...hmm," the teen got into a thinking pose, "Um...do I have that power thing now? Am I the storyteller?"

"Only if you want to be," _He_ said, "Only if you want to be."

"Then I want to be the Storyteller," the blonde said, "Though...do I have to use the power all of the time? Can I stop if I want to stop or do I have to keep making stories?"

"It will be up to you whether or not you want to keep using it or not," _He _said, "And since you want to have this power, to be the Storyteller instead of being a mere storyteller. Then that is what you shall be..."

The blonde felt a rather familiar ominous feeling encompass the area. He could feel it stifling him and stuffing the area with whatever it was. Then he felt something leave him, something leave him for however how long. He then felt something swirl around him like tendrils of black smoke and shadow, they swirled and swirled in the same manner that his chakra did when he gathered it up and around him. As soon as it had all coalesced around him, it stopped.

It all just stopped, though the blonde did wonder how he came to be standing in the cleanest sewer that he had ever found. The place was even more pristine than any room at the hospital ever could hope to be. There wasn't a speck of dirt in the place, any that was created seemed to be zapped away by some unseen bug zapper.

He noticed that he could feel something within him, something buzzing and wishing to be unleashed. It was not his chakra that was for sure, it wasn't the chakra beast that should have been slumbering within him. It was something else, something that was almost foreign to him, but the longer it remained in him the longer it felt natural to feel it.

"Can you feel it?" _He_ asked, "Can you feel it buzzing and pulsating inside of you?"

"Hu-yeah," the blonde said, a bit puzzled, "What is it?"

"It is the power of which I spoke about," came the reply, "With it you will speak of wondrous and terrible things. Bring life to tales while at the same time able to absorb them or be rid of them. But all this comes at a single cost, and not the loss of your chance into joining the shinobi ranks."

"What? What is it?" the blonde asked, dreading not the answer for some reason he could not explain.

"You must not fear," was the reply, "You may know it, you have experienced it. But no more, not anymore. You must not fear your tales, you may fear for others, you may fear for yourself to an extent. But when it comes to your tales, you must not have a shred of fear in you when it comes to your tales. Though you may feel anxiety and trepidation for your creations, that is all."

"Oh," the blonde said, not really finding a suitable reaction to such a revelation, "How do I bring my stories to life though? Should someone be afraid of them or the stories being or becoming real?"

"Not really," was the answer, "You tell your story with a part of you wishing to entertain, a part of you wishing it to life, and a part of you...and..well..expecting something from it, I suppose."

"Can I try it out?" the blonde asked, "Like now, with you? And what happened to my hideout? Its so white! Its even cleaner than a hospital room!"

"Try it out if you wish," the blonde was told, "You may try it out on me if you so wish. As for the change to your immediate surroundings..well.. I used the built up negative energy from here to boost your abilities. I added to your arsenal for tales, which is why it is so clean. But do not worry, things will eventually begin to build themselves back up to what it was like in here. Unless you wish it not to return to the way it was."

"I like the cleanliness of it," the blonde admitted, "I just never though that a sewer could get so clean."

"Well, here you are, a clean sewer," was the comment.

"So how do I begin?" the blonde asked.

"Some of the oldest stories begin with...'Once upon a time..'" was the advice given.

The blonde though it over for some short moments, organizing his thoughts for the tales that was about to be spun. He thought about his new power too, he remembered the stories from books that weren't real, and he thought over what he could now do. He realized that he didn't have to stick with ghost stories, but could branch out to other stories, so long as they had a character he could sympathize with, or had a character no matter the role, that he could relate with or could be or become.

"Before you begin, I have decided to change my mind a little bit," the blonde was broken out of his inner contemplations, "I have decided that even though originally you would have only been permitted a hundred active tales at a time, who am I to dictate the true number. The more tales you have, the more variations there are to them, the stronger you, the Storyteller are. You gain power from your tales, the more emotional reaction you get from them the more powerful they and you become. So I shall not limit your number of active tales."

"Thank you," the blonde said, then decided after a moment more, "I am ready now. I am ready for my first tale."

"*"

_It was a cloudless night, silence prevailed. Not a sound was made to alert any that was awake to the tragedy that was to befall the world that night. _

_From the moon playing silent vigil over the sleeping world, a thunderous boom shattered the peace of the night. Tearing the sky into pieces and the land soon after with raging winds and thundering earthquakes. _

_A mighty roar was heard reverberating through the night air, turning the pale moon into an iridescent crimson. The orb hung in the sky no longer playing vigil to the world, but glaring at it with all the hate such a heavenly body could muster from its very core within. From the monster that it held captive since times long past._

_Protectors of a village, staring out at the horizon, at the origin of the gargantuan roar could only gape in disbelief at the massive form with nine long red tails swishing behind it. They could only brace themselves for the soon to be onslaught that they would be forced to suffer through and endure at the tails, teeth, and claws, of the lumbering beast miles away yet still before them._

_It came to them as fast as its limbs could carry it, with a mad glint in its eyes and the intent of the destruction and total annihilation of the village. No one knew of its true purpose for being there other than the want for mass destruction, no one cared to try and find out. All they did care for was the preservation of all they held dear._

_Many lives were lost in the conflict, up until the greatest protector arrived with a power of his very own, one that the beast had not been expecting. An otherworldly power, which was used to trap it within a living container. One whose will would not allow the beast its freedom until certain conditions were met. _

_This beast was a nine tailed fox named Kurama, and the condition was for the container to gain a power, one that rivaled thirty-six more tails of power..._

"*"

"...That condition has been met, and the time for Kurama's freedom is _now_," the blonde said, ending his tale, to any Konoha citizen's ears it would have been an eerie reminder of things that had happened, events that the blonde could not have known about in such a manner. But to the one listening, they were just a refresher of the history of the world as _he_ knew it to be.

But he sensed the power in the words, in the tale, and the very end. There was a purpose behind the words, and he had also nearly forgotten the other power that came with the use of it. The power of the Storyteller was not merely to bring tales to life, but to alter reality with some of such tales. It was a reality altering power.

Naruto himself didn't know what to expect, or why he had decided to tell such a tale. But that was what had happened and that was what had spewed forth from his mouth. He didn't know what to expect from such a tale, especially with such an ending.

The old man had told him some additional things about the sealing that he had been chosen for. One such thing was that should the beast ever be removed from within him, he would most likely die. It was a suicidal move, but he had a nagging feeling that things were going to turn out alright...if the creepy smile the one who had dubbed him as the Storyteller was giving him was any indication.

The explosion of malevolent chakra was felt throughout the village, but only for a moment. It only lasted within the blink of an eye, as if the host and its tenant had committed a swift suicide. Gone with a flash, traceless since no one could find Naruto in all of the village, and no one thought to search the sewers.

Many thought it was time to celebrate, while a select few felt sorry, misery, but a few held hope that the conclusion of the many was not true. No one had dared think of the possibility of the fox that they had feared and hated had been released from its prison. It was something that no one dared to think about at all.

To Naruto the release of the fox had lasted for more than a brief moment. It lasted the few long minutes that it took for the fox to crawl its way from out of the blonde's seal on his gut. There was also the other half of the fox that had to tear its way through the number of barriers that kept it from its other half. The two halves also had to merge with one another.

When the beast was finally whole, conscious, and fully sentient, it knelt before Naruto. It knelt in a more humanoid form, more human than fox, but with fox ears, eyes, and tail.

It also felt confusion within itself, not knowing how to treat its former host and the very same one that had freed it. It had felt fear, great fear at the final prospect of freedom. It knew the original consequences of such an act to.

"Why?" was his only question for his former host.

"I dunno," the blonde shrugged, then when it finally dawned on him that what he had tried to do had worked, he whooped with joy that he had done something, he himself had accomplished something that should not have been possible in the first place.

"Will you stand by his side, willingly this time around, sly Kurama-kun," was the question posed to him by the Being that remained in their mortal midst.

"I shall stay," Kurama said, "I shall remain by his side, and shall protect him as I have done from the moment I was sealed within him."

Kurama, with fox features, had long black hair that reached his back, and a delicate seeming body. It was something like how an illusion worked, looking as one thing, but being another thing entirely since if there was anything that anyone would agree on about Kurama, it would be that the Kyuubi was anything but delicate. He was a beautiful black haired man, that would put the resident heart throbs to shame. He wore an eye catching kimono, that actually made him look more androgynous than just male with a cloudy night theme to it, complete with a blood red moon.

"Then so be it," came the statement from the _fifth _of _the Five_, "Satisfied Uzumaki-kun?"

"Yeah, thank you very much for this chance," the blonde said, bowing lowly in thanks and respect.

"Your are very much welcome," _He_ said, "I must be off now, I'm sure you don't need me around for any thing else. I have other things to do after all, but know that I will always be watching, for better or worse, **I** will be watching."

With those words, and nary a flash of light nor a booming sound, did _He_ vanish from the world whose existence and destiny he had changed, and whose fate he had placed in the hands of the Storyteller, Naruto.

Alone in the sewer, Naruto decided to expand the number of his companions, he'd lived his life mostly with Kurama already with him. Now with the power to create companions, he craved for more. But felt that the only way to do that would be for his stories to have some form of social interaction with the world above.

"Might I make a suggestion," the kimono clad kitsune said.

"Go ahead," the blonde said and waited, uncharacteristically, patient.

"I listened in on your conversation earlier, and while you might be able to bring to life more than a hundred tales, why don't you set up a hundred first," the kitsune said, "Form a hyakki yakou of sorts, a parade of a hundred spirits to follow your back. But instead of mere spirits, they shall be tales."

"Ok," Naruto said, "Let's do that. But first...let's do something about the racket upstairs, all the celebration about our supposed demise is grating on my nerves."

For indeed the blonde could hear the sudden start and progression of the celebrations that had picked up so much speed that within a few minutes there was partying in the streets. The younger generation was kept clueless still regarding Naruto, but they joined in on the celebrations nonetheless. It was a village-wide party, why should they care for the reason for the celebrations anyway.

His first stop upon leaving the sewers was the public baths, the public hotsprings, he needed a bath just as much as anyone did...ok...he needed a bath even more than anyone did. No matter how clean the part of the sewers that he had called home for a week had become, he still needed a bath.

He was very much familiar with the things that supposedly went bump in the night. He was compared to some of them after all, and he had, just like most boys, found them rather interesting, but unlike most boys who grew out of that interest, it remained with him.

The hot springs were empty, devoid of even those that worked there or owned them. All were somewhere else in the village celebrating his untimely demise or sudden bout of suicidal tendencies that no one had managed to take away from him.

He took his time bathing, cleansing himself of all the filth that was on in and that he thought was on him. It was a rather pleasant experience, one which he didn't think he would be managing to have for several months to come. He bid his first companion, first follower, first servant to join him.

Kurama too, did enjoy a good soak, he enjoyed it in the sea though due to his rather large size back when he was truly free. His present bond of servitude was voluntary though, which meant that he could still come and go as he pleased.

"When you're done," Naruto said as soon as an idea popped itself into his imaginative head, "Lure someone back here, it doesn't matter who or what age, though a child or teen would be preferable. I have a story to tell about those that wander close to water."

"Your will be done, master," Kurama replied, left the waters, dried himself with a spell, got dressed, and vanished into the village.

As soon as the kitsune left his master, Naruto created a single Kage Bushin, this one knew what it needed to do. It was to follow the kitsune while keeping itself hidden from any that could sense its presence. Naruto really could do that, which did in the past result in many a successful pranks on the village at large. The clone was in charge of making sure that the curious victim of the tale would be able to hear it as it progressed, like a whisper in one's ear, barely heard, but somewhat registered.

"*"

_There was a festival in the village, one dedicated to the removal of a most despised thing. Not that many of the younger generation knew about the reason for the celebrations. _

_Like most other such events, some parents would lose track of their children, and some children would lose interest in the festivities and would wander away, far from their family's supervision. _

_One such child found something more interesting than all the food and games, it was a little girl that had seen the most alluring sight that she had ever seen. Even children were tempted to seek out beauty._

_She followed this mysterious figure, until she lost sight of it due to a thick rolling fog that suddenly set in around her. _

_It eventually grew far too thick for her to figure out which way was back to the festival, and so just continued to venture onward. A part of her wanting to find that mysterious figure of beauty, that even a simple glimpse had been all that was needed to ensnare her curiosity. _

_A few minutes of wandering alone in the fog, she stumbled upon the steps of one of the local hot springs. Being a familiar place she didn't worry about any harm coming to her. She also believed that when she spoke to the owners she would be returned swiftly to her family. _

_Wandering inside she found no one that she knew. There wasn't a soul in the whole building, so she ventured into the area where the baths themselves were. She thought perhaps she would find someone there to help her. _

"_Why don't you join me for a while?" she heard an older girl ask her from the springs, "You look like you could use a soak."_

_There was a light mist the obscured the little girl's view. She was indeed tired, she felt it and remembered that a bath always did relax her, even though she had a tantrum whenever it was suggested that she take one. Especially before bed._

_But she was lost, without her family, and tired. So she took up the older girl's offer, but instead of a bath she just dipped her legs into the warm water._

"_Why don't you join me?" the older girl's voice asked, "You'll feel so much better in the water."_

"I'm not sure I should," the little girl said, unsure truly if it was OK, though there was no one else around to say it wasn't, "If I do.. Will you help me find my parents? It's hard to see outside, and I'm not sure how to get home."

"_I'll help you find your family," the older girl's voice said._

"Ok," the younger girl said, happy for a short soak, and happy that someone was going to help her.

_She didn't seem to really care that it was a stranger, even though her elders had told her not to trust a stranger, she should have thought that people whose faces one could not see were part of that too. She was being far too trusting. _

_She walked into the spring, on the shallow part of the pool. It wouldn't do for her to suddenly change from cool to warm or hot too fast, she knew that that wasn't something one should do too quickly. Or so she had been told. _

_She waded around in the water, her eyes darting here and there, searching for the older girl whose voice she had heard and had been talking to. She'd circled the edges of the spring and had yet to find the older girl, not finding her companion she recalled tall tales that her cousins had told each other about spirits and such that lurked in the water, waiting for would be victims for one of many different thing._

_She stood still in the water when she heard something break it's surface. She looked around frantically for what had caused the sudden sound. She had expected a voice to tell her that it was alright, but instead of receiving one, she felt something brush against her bare legs underneath the once again calm surface of the pool._

"Who's there?" she asked of her surroundings, hoping to hear the voice of the older girl, "Nee-san? Is that you?"

_She heard a splash behind her, one that she knew was of something rising rather than sinking down. So she whirled around as was something anyone would predictably do. While she hoped it was the older girl, what she found was something else._

_It was a humanoid turtle that walked on two legs instead of on four. It had a turtles face but with the beak of a bird. A head full of hair, cut short, but still there. It had the turtle's shell on its back, its skin smooth, but there were things that defined it as male._

_It had a hunger in its eyes, and saliva seemed to drip from its fang filled maw. _

_It lunged._

_There was a scream._

_Then silence._

"*"

There was quite the splash, as the creature that had been born from Naruto's second tale crashed into the water missing the little girl entirely as she was pulled out of the water just in time by the star of the first tale himself.

Kurama had wrapped the little light lavender eyed girl in a towel, that was two sizes too big for her. It was the only one he could find on such short notice. He noted that the tale could be interpreted as an open ended one, so had acted on his own accord.

The little girl was shivering, not from the cold, but from the fright she was feeling. She could not see the water, but could hear something that sounded like frantic thrashing in the water. She clung to her savior, even though she did not know who it was. Anyone was better than the obvious monster that was in the pool, still searching for her no doubt.

"Let's get you dressed and dry," Kurama said, his voice much like his appearance could have come from either a male of a female, a man or a woman, but definitely not a boy or a girl. He kept her in his arms as he searched the bathhouse for the little girl's discarded clothes.

"Is it gone?" the little girl hiccuped out as she let Kurama dry and dress her with his arms and tails helping him hold her in place and keep her warm and her gaze away from the pools where his latest brother might still be found, if the splashing was any indication.

"Not exactly," Kurama said, "But I promise that it will no longer seek to harm you, and if it does try, I will protect you."

"Ok," she shyly said, not acting in the same way she normally would have around anyone, "Ano...who are you?"

"I..hmm...how about you go first ojou-chan?" Kurama said, "I don't think I'll be able to help you find your family if I don't even know your name."

"I'm Hyuga Hanabi," she shyly said.

"Nice to meet you ojou-chan," he insisted no calling her, "I am Uzumaki Kurama of the Namikaze clan, but don't tell anyone that I am a member of such a clan, it would bring a lot of trouble for the village and my master."

"Oh," Hanabi said, then asked, "Who is your master? It can't be that guy my sister stalks. He's the only other Uzumaki I know, and isn't Namikaze the clan name of the Yondaime?"

"You sure know a lot and ask a lot, for such a little one," Kurama said as he began to lead her out of the bathhouse, "Come along, let us find your father and sister. No doubt one of them has grown worried for you."

After the pair left the bathhouse or hot springs, Naruto was left alone there with his latest creation. A kappa of sorts, one whose weakness was removed thanks to his indentation where the his power-providing water was kept being covered by a layer of bone, skin, and hair. This had the effect of making him not bald.

"What are your orders, my master?" the Kappa asked, as he instinctively knew just who his master had been, "And where has my companion in the baths gone?"

Instead of answering, Naruto threw his latest creation some clothes to put on. It would not do for his latest subordinate to walk around naked. He had learned through accidental experimentation that it was not just fear that brought his tales to life, but belief, and wishes as well. Whims were not useable in this matter though, as they were half things and not whole. Fear was just a form of belief and a form of wish, someone had to believe a part of the illusion for the illusion to come to life after all.

This was the method he had used, accidentally, in creating two servants that could create clothes for him from seemingly out of thin air, or anything that they could get their hands on at the least. It came to him simply, that he had to believe something to be real, for it to become real, from a story of his making or choosing of course.

If his creation started out as a monster or object, he believed, and thus it became so, that they could have more than one form. A human one, a humanoid one, and the full on monster or object form. This would make it easier on them to infiltrate human society or the human world more easily.

He had found a needle and thread laying around where he had hidden himself, he didn't really know nor care how they had gotten there or where they had come from, but decided to make up a story for how they had come to be there. He had poured himself into his story telling that the two objects had become like tsukumogami, and come to life. But instead of just from the power he had been given, but also from the two objects that lay on the ground beside him. He named them, Nuibari (sewing needle) and Asaito (linen thread). They were the ones to create the clothes for the kappa who had yet to receive a name.

"I think I'll name you Hyosube," Naruto told the kappa, "So you'll answer to that name, understand?"

"Hai," the newly named Hyosube replied, "What do you wish of me?"

"There are some rivers and streams that pass through this village," Naruto said, "There is even a sewer system as I'm sure you already somehow know. I want you to haunt these waterways, half-drowning drunks that get into the water with you. And if you manage to come across someone with a slashed forehead protector, drown them. Sever the head somehow and bring it back to me."

"By your command, master," the Kappa said and made to leave, but remembered it's station and bowed to his master asking for permission to leave, which was granted.

"Come," Naruto ordered his other two subordinates, "Let us get ourselves out of here, there is much of the night remaining, and we I have more brethren for you to bring about."

The left the bathhouse and hot springs in the state that they had been in when Naruto had first arrived. They traveled the outskirts of the village where only few other signs of human life could be sensed or found. Naruto found that only on the upper lower class to the elite were the ones celebrating, while the rest of the lower class citizens and civilians alike had chosen to remain wherever it was that they lived in.

It was these fence sitters, as most of them had been while Naruto was growing up or while Naruto was an academy student, that he chose to use for the purpose of bringing some of his creations to life. He'd thought of quite a small number and wanted them with him as soon as possible, lest he forget about them.

He used his special brand of henge no jutsu to spread his voice among those hiding in the rattier residences. It was special in the sense that he didn't put himself under and illusion but performed an actual transformation, while keeping his mind intact.

He had clones of himself transform into all manner of pest that he could think of that were within the boundaries of what was normally found around such people. He had them scurry and crawl about while bringing with them his voice as he spoke through them. Their combined little voices forming what sounded like a whisper on the wind, a few tales that were whispered almost directly into the minds of his listeners who were half-asleep and thinking that they were experiencing nightmares.

He wanted these men and women punished for what they had not done, which was chose. Being ignored, that was what hurt the most for Naruto when it came to these people, these people that in most cases or ways were very much like him. They had all hit rock bottom at some point in their lives, but unlike him hadn't tried to get back up. They also ignored him. It was really the fact that they, most of them, ignored him.

They shared each others' pain and suffering, but not his. Never his.

He told them tales of the dead rising up and claiming the idle. They being the idle and knowing it, easily believed the tale that was being spun using them as members of the character cast, and it even became even more believable when skeletons did begin to rise out from the ground, wearing all sort of different manner of clothing, some of which wore things that these idle recognized. Their own imaginations fueling Naruto's creation's or summonings.

Naruto actually forgot about his precious people while he tormented the living souls of those that were in the same boat as he was yet chose to ignore him. It was rather fun, bringing these skeletons and zombies to life. It was refreshing to be the one in charge this time 'round.

He only stopped when people were passing out in terror at the things that were stalking them, chasing then, hunting them down. One by one they fell, and when these night terrors slunk back into the ground, Naruto was finished with that tale, a tale of the unforgiving dead.

He went home, to his little white hideaway, which he hoped to find a suitable story to keep it that clean. His creations followed him there, and set up shop in a number of abandoned hideyholes nestled about the sewer system. No one ever bothered to check there, and since they were basically monsters of a sort, they didn't really mind the smell all that much, not yet anyway.

The last of his servants to arrive, the last of his subordinates, was the very first one he brought into the world as one of his own. Kurama was the last to arrive as he had allowed a small eight to ten year old to lead him away into the festivities as they both looked for the girl's father and sister. Her guard was sure to receive hell for not keeping a better eye on her, but the man probably hoped that she got lost forever or something to that effect.

Hyuga Hiashi, patriarch and head of the Hyuga clan, had found Kurama as a rather peculiar yet interesting fellow. For one thing, the androgynous looking man had returned to him his daughter without asking nor demanding any sort of reward. For another thing, his byakugan could not even see Kurama, he believed that either Kurama knew of a way to block the sight that could see through and see almost anything, the man had more chakra than anything Hiashi had ever seen, or the man didn't have an ounce of chakra in him. All three theories didn't really sit well with the clan head.

Kurama knew of the things that were going on in the clan head's head. He knew for he would think such things as well had he been in the mere man's shoes. Kurama was being of chakra, at least he had been when he started out, but Naruto had changed that about him when he turned him into a character of his first tale. He had found an additional power source within him, one that had been born from the tale that he was a part of.

Kurama knew that he was more than he had ever been, something had changed within him, something irrevocable, and he liked it. He couldn't help but like his new master, for Naruto truly was a master to him now. He also didn't seem to mind this new form of servitude, for one thing he wasn't stuck in some cramped prison cell housed in the body of a mere mortal. He was now freedom to wander about as he pleased, so long as he answered the call or summons of his master.

He surmised that given the chance, Naruto might have changed the very heart of the shinobi world. There was something about him and his potential that drew people to him, all one needed to do to see him as a person, as Naruto was to just talk to him. Even a single phrase could change you, and Kurama knew that something in him had changed. He was sure that his compatriots had felt that difference between Naruto and other people.

He kept silent vigil over his young master as he slept and as the others shut what eyes they had and slept. He had slept already for a good many years while they had just awoken. Though in Hyosube's case it was probably the allure of the water that had gotten him to sleep. He didn't really seem to be bothered by the quality of water he found himself sleeping in.

The celebrations in Konoha lasted for a solid week, the original reason being lost to the people in that length of time. Most really did forget what had started everything, what had gotten the ball rolling. But through it all, those that saw Naruto not as his burden but as Naruto searched high and low for any sign of him and his survival and for evidence that the small dose of Kyuubi chakra had been some kind of fluke or training mishap that hadn't been so serious, or as serious as some others wished.

It was only after that week long celebration did the Hokage and the Civilian Council members hear tales of monsters rising from the grave, as well as of a single low rank nuke-nin being found headless in a watery ditch. No one really paid any mind to the thing about monsters as the complainants or fearful people were the ones at the bottom of the barrel and would usually try and find ways to find sympathy for themselves, even though they were the more useless elements of society as they didn't even try to rise up from where they had fallen.

But the news and findings, as well as evidence of the dead nuke-nin was something to be worried about. The security of the village had been rather lax for an entire week after all. A majority of the population had been focused on partying while the rest had been devoted to locating just one individual that could have really been dead for all they knew.

The nuke-nin was unidentifiable without the head, the only reason the Konoha forces knew that he was such was the hitai-ate that had been left behind. It showed that it had been one of their minor ones, but without the face, no one could be sure of the identity of the dead guy.

A week later yet another one turned up, the Anbu were pretty sure they knew who it was. The Chunin traitor Mizuki had been found floating in a stream under a bridge, the only reason they knew it was him was because of his prisoner outfit, the very same one he had been wearing when he had escaped and been labeled as a bounty'd traitor to the village.

Two more weeks passed and two more bodies were found. What all four bodies had in common was that they were found near some form of source of water.

Then a fifth week passed.

An Anbu team had been dispatched to investigate the source of some fleeing vagabonds that refused to return to their slums due to some kind of monster invading their home. What the team of four had arrived to was a bloodbath. There was literally blood eveywhere. There were also bodies and blood everywhere. Internal organs and limbs had been strewn about.

There were a few children in the area, all of then had their eyes shut tight and their hands clapped over their ears. When shaken by one of the Anbu they scooted away shouting 'Go away!' or 'Don't touch me!'. It was highly disturbing, especially considering that they had not a speck of blood on them. There were thirteen of them in total that the Anbu could find.

They didn't know what was going on, but it seemed that the only clue they had, aside from all the blood and body parts, were those children.

Two of the team members were sent away to get some back up while the other two remained to investigate the scene some more and maybe find the monster that the fleenig vagabonds had been talking about.

Walking around a bit and peering into shadows, they eventually chanced upon a whole body, a quivering and shaking one at that. Its dressed state looked to be rather similar to their own, an Anbu, but one whom they were sure was not one of theirs.

"B-Brothers...r-report to D-Danzo-sama," the Anbu that was not an Anbu said, his eyes told the regular Anbu that soemthing was definitely wrong with the man, and that the man was a bit dellusional, "T-The mission is a failure...It c-came out of nowhere...f-flee while you s-still can..."

"What was the mission?" the regular Anbu asked.

"Recruitment..." the irregular Anbu replied without hesitation, the eyes telling the regular one that this one was seeing something, something that could not be seen, "Tell Danzo-sama...tell him..."

"Tell him about what?" the Anbu tried asking.

"Flee!" the irregular Anbu shouted while pushing the regular ones away from him as he sprung to his feet.

The two regular Anbu that had been sent to investigate the area were shoved away by something with inhuman strength, one of them was knocked unconscious as he was forcefully slammed into a brick wall, the wall falling painfully on him. The other remained conscious as he watched the irregular Anbu he had been speaking with was torn to literal pieces by something that moved far too quick for the eye to follow.

Whatever it was was not only strong but very fast, like some sort of demon.

Then he saw it, it came into view, as if it could only be seen by it's victims or next victim in his case.

Time passed by slower than a snail's pace, slower than anything that the Anbu had ever come to experience. He wondered if what he was experiencing was what dying was like. But before his life could even flash before his eyes the beast or whatever the humanoid thing was stopped moving towards him.

"Stop," a single word that did wonders for the health of the Anbu.

The beast did indeed stop, it then seemed to forget about the Anbu as it rushed to the side of each of the thirteen children. Taking them away to parts unknown as the Anbu helplessly watched. But he couldn't help but notice that each child seemed to go willingly.

When the last child was taken away, all the blood, guts, and body parts, seemed to seep into the ground and buildings, as if they were being absorbed by some large sponge. It was enthralling to watch as it was one of those things that just didn't happen without the aid of chakra. He was an Anbu and thus would have been able to feel even a sliver of the energy being used due to the scale or area of effect.

"*"

_The roots of the great tree tried to coil around and suffocate the orphaned children. Thirteen children were to be devoured. But each one had been told some days prior that should they ever feel threatened by a foe that their elders could not or would not defend them from, then all they would need do was close their eyes and ears to the world, while insisting that the threatening ones 'go away' and not touch them. _

_They were to call out with their hearts for one to punish the wicked that would do them harm. They were to dream up a beast that would pull apart the roots from the ground itself and use the broken things as fertilizer to envigorate the great tree they called home._

_So the roots came for them, trying to coil around them and take them away from the sunlight. So they heeded the words that had been spoken to them as if in a dream, they closed their eyes and ears to the world, and chanted in their minds and hearts the things that they were supposed to._

_They knew not what it was exactly that appeared that night, only that they were protected by it, as they felt its movements via the movement of wind against their skin and the stench of dying roots filling the area around them. _

_The beast that appeared to defend the children wore the skin of a man, but could be anything but that. For it was far too strong to be a man, and far too fast as welll. There was also the fact that while the children's eyes and ears were closed to the world, it could only be seen and heard by its victims. Those whose lives were in its hands. As the children's lives had been in theirs. _

_It toyed with them as any predator would its prey. Stalking them from the shadows, while briefly appearing before them before vanishing from direct sight once again. Before finally pouncing and tearing their victim to shreds, spreading their remains around as fertlizer on the soil. _

_When all attacking and clinging roots were shredded into pieces, the beast turned its attention to each of the thirteen children that had wished and dreamed it to defend them from those that would snuff them out, as they were taken from the light of day. Never to return to it as they had been, again. _

_It whispered words of comfort directly to their minds, and assured them that they were safe from harm, before taking them away to those that would rather see them protected than harmed. From long lost family that thought them dead to simply those that had wished they had the courage to bring them into their homes._

"*"

The lone conscious Anbu told his fellows what he had witnessed while the _story_ had been shared with him as he recounted the events that had transpired to the reinforcements that his other two teammates had managed to find. The others didn't hear the words, the words said by some foreign presence at the edge of his mind and subconscious. But someone he had heard the words spoken as if they were for him and him alone to hear.

He made a mental note to put every single word he had heard into his written report though. Line per line, word per word, and secretly hoped that he could share the tale with any unfortunate that he might find that would or might need such protection.

Anbu were the elite protectors of the village, and while they could not be everwhere at once, ensuring that all the innocent children were safe from abuse or harm, maybe this monster could. Brutal in its methods, but its intentions were blatantly clear. The children's safety had been its first priority. For the lone Anbu that was good enough for him, for who was he to complain about methods, when just a team or two of them could raze a small village to the ground.

The Hokage had found that story quite interesting, and since he was the kind and caring grandfather that he was, she shared it with his grandson, or at least the part about what to do when nearly all hope was lost. He just hoped that his grandson didnt' have to resort to such a measure, for what grandfather hoped that his grandson would come to a rather difficult situation.

It was with that story that he wished he shared some stories of his own with Naruto, when he knew and whole heartedly believed that the blonde was alive and relatively well. It was a regret he hoped didn't become a permanent one as he kept his most loyal Anbu searching for the young blonde. Any hint of the blonde's whereabouts would be a welcome blessing.

He had all but given up on the blonde by the time that Hatake Kakashi's team 7 was sent out on their frist C-class mission. An escort and protection mission for some bridge builder with the potential of a trade agreement in the future.

He called off the search teams, it had been a little more than three months since the blonde's disappearance from the above world. The Hokage knew that he realistically could no longer keep searching for a blonde that could not be found. He just hoped that the blonde was well no matter where he was.

There was also the number of tales of monsters suddenly popping up all over his village, of drunk being found half-drowned yet still alive, and nuke-nin found with their heads missing, their bounties yet to be claimed though. There were also tales of Danzo's members being reduced to ash or worse, air, this left no evidence that could be used to prosecute the bandaged man for working behind the Hokage's back.

Then there was also talk about a compound a few miles away from the village being constructed, the symbol at what could only be the main gate of the compound being the Uzumaki spiral. There was talk in circles that knew of the importance and historical significance of the clan finding some more survivors of the attack on their homeland finally coming out of hiding.

He'd sent some of his people to discreetly spy on this construction site, only to return unable to report anything or even find the exact location of the compound. It seemed that it was being concealed from view by not only some sort of illusion ward but seals and barriers too, since one of the Anbu sent had been a Hyuga, one of the very few permitted to join the Anbu ranks.

It was disturbing that an important ally from times past, a clan that could and should be considered as a founding clan of the village did not deem the village worthy of communication of any sort, regarding their resurfacing. The Hokage theorized that the reason for this was that it was found out how Konoha's last Uzumaki had been treated.

He didn't want the peaceful relations of the past to be treated as a burnt bridge by these resurfacing members of a long thought nearly extinct clan.

Just after team 7 had left the main gate, the Hokage heard the tell tale knock on his door that would usher in even more paperwork. He didn't know what sort of paperwork or how much of it was going to be delivered to him, there was also the fact that his present batch wasn't even finished yet, and there was a lot of back log that he hadn't been able to go through yet.

What he got instead of the actual paperwork was one of his elite jounin panting as he nearly collapsed before his leader. It was Ebisu, the jounin in-charge of tutoring and guarding Konohamaru, the Hokage's only grandson.

"Ebisu! What happened?" the Hokage demanded of the nearly unconscious man that had been moving on nearly autopilot just to get to the village military leader, "Where's Konohamaru?"

"T-Taken..." was Ebisu's faint reply, "He...He's gone mad..."

"*"

Danzo had lost far too many of his chess pieces. He'd been driven into a corner, one that he couldn't really find a full proof way of escaping from unscathed. A majority of his forces had been lost to some mysterious assailant when they went recruiting around the village, snatching orphans from orphanages and off of the street had been easy back in the day, but after the incident with the Kyuubi charka, things had changed. Drastically changed.

Then he had tried recruiting the old fashioned way, those forces were taken down by some other unknown and mysterious force.

In his delluded mind everything came back to the conclusion that his old rival for the position of Hokage was the one at the head of all his problems. The other old man was finally fighting back. And it was thanks to this theory that Danzo finally snapped and got far too sloppy for even his own liking.

He had sent out his own people to destroy some of what his rival had set up, from good relations with other places or small villages, even allies, to removing some active shinobi from the field. Those missions had not gone well as his state of mind had not been sane and calculating enough o input all of the variables that would make his spotless record continue to be spotless.

Something just always interupted his plans. He'd even lost some good people to the mysterious forces that thwarted him at every turn.

Two of his best people had not returned, not even daring to send a message about his dealings and orders for them, unlike some of the others. He was still wondering how they could betray him after all the conditioning they had been put through, and barring that, how in the world the seals that prevented them from speaking about secrets that were not theirs to tell had not worked as they should have.

With every man, woman, and child, he sent to out into the field, one secret at a time was being revealed, at least it had only been words and no hard evidence that could truly be traced back to him that was being presented to his old rival.

The only thing that did or would lead his old rival into finally being able to condemn him as some treasonous criminal was his most recent and personal action which was the kidnapping of the Hokage's sole surviving grandson. Not one of his most brilliant ideas, but it was the only thing he had left. He'd even performed the kidnapping himself, since he was so low on pieces that could perform such a task with getting back to him unscathed.

Though he did take pride and pleasure in making that poor excuse for a jounin suffer under his numerous nearly debilitating techniques. It was fun to be able to pour out such pain and suffering on one individual.

Another problem that he had found himself facing was what to actually do with the child. He had to worry about being found before he could go to breaking the child of his innocence and then molding him into being the perfect successor, since his other tool for such things was out of the village and far from his grasp due to his want to find some means of controlling and gaining of the sole surviving wielder of a natural Sharingan.

He couldn't even use his transplanted sharingan eye on the brat since the brat refused to even open his eyes or uncover his ears for some odd reason that he could not fathom. Then he remebered some weird report that he had glimpsed his old rival reading, one that contained some weird fairy tale or tall tale. The Anbu that had submitted the report had been given a psyche evalution and been forced back into being just another chunin.

_Instead of the beast, it was something else entirely. Many warnings had been given, but all of them ignored. So he decided to come himself. Present himself before this foe, this weed hiding and pretending to be one of the roots that supported the great tree. He came with his many tales..._

Those words echoed in Danzo's mind, and he couldn't help but wonder what manner of genjutsu could do that to him with his transplanted sharingan eye out in the open and operational.

Danzo's office was a small cramped space, everything in it had its uses and purpose, nothing was out of place and nothing was there simply to be there. The space gave Danzo, normally, all the advantages with dealing with any foe that dared face him within his very own domain. But not this time, since when one deals with reality altering, bending, and shapnig powers, such things as reality are even more flexible than a fresh condom.

To the old warhawk's shock and dismay his small office vanished, all of his precious documents and data seemed to disappear from his sight. Actually the whole of the office seemed to have vanished leaving him in some sort of endless void. He was not afraid of the dark. No. What he was afraid of what not knowing everything he could know about the situation. He was fearful of being unprepared.

But the one thing that freaked him out the most, was the fact that surrounding him were a number of things that his logical mind could not comprehend being real. Sure he had seen many normally supernatural things in his career as a veteran of more than one shinobi world war. But none of those sights and bloodline limit wielding warriors could prepare him to come face to snout with the nine tailed fox itself. Along with a number of much smaller cohorts ranging from a Kappa to skeletons to a zombie version of the Nidaime Hokage.

But what really nearly caused him to faint was Naruto standing in front of all of those horrors and night terrors. He just stood there with arms crossed over his chest, like a disappointed parent or something.

"What are you doing here?" he calmly asked, even though he was panicking in on the inside, "I didn't believe the theory that you had died, but to have allied yourself with demons and monsters. I was right when I believed that you should have been given to me to turn into the perfect weapon."

"_I am Hyakumonogatari no Naruto," Naruto introduced himself using the voice he used to tell his more meaningful and reality altering tale, "I have been watching you, observing you and your actions. More especially due to Kurama sharing with me the fact that you had tried to kidnap me when I was a child and failed thanks to the malevolence of his chakra leaking out unintentionally at the time. Then I heard whispers of your illegal dealings in our world, of how you had alliances with enemies of the village. Of how you robbed the innocence from the innocent."_

"What does that have to do with anything?" Danzo demanded, not really liking his odds at the moment.

"_I don't like, you," Naruto stated, "Never have, you always gave me some bad vibes. Even as a kid I knew you were bad news. The old man was always too forgiving of you, or anyone, but that's what makes him what and who he is and was. You were a friend after all, and so long as you continud being a visible ally of the village I would not come for you, and was satisfied with dealing with your lackeys."_

"So why come after me now? What grave sin have I committed agaisnt the village and against someone that couldn't even make genin," Danzo stated, hoping to get a normal reaction from the blonde, something emotional that he could probably use against he blonde.

"_That kind of taunting is beneath me old man,_" _Naruto stated, "I've gotten over not being able to see my original dream to fruition. I have come to understand that I don't need such a title and position to be acknowledged. It is deeds, actions, and choices, that get us such things. You should know this, since there are a lot of people in the world that acknowldge you. Not that many of them like you, mind you."_

"Get to the point, brat," Danzo said, the one losing his patience, he had more important things to do after all, like taking over the village while his old rival worried about his grandson.

"_You took an unprofessional pot shot at the old man and even left a witness,_" _Naruto, finally, said, "And the fact that I once babysat, unwillingly mind you, that brat that you took from his protector with nary a care in the world of any consequences. Well, that didn't sit well with me. My subordinates have orders to take out any hostiles against the village that they come across in their limited domains. You, I decided to visit personally."_

"You work from the shadows as I do," Danzo said, "What makes you different from me?"

"_I don't target my allies," Naruto stated, which was true, "I don't seek to harm those I swore to defend, those I pledged to protect. Your will of fire has burnt out old man. Your views and ways of doing things are far too out dated. There is a reason you cannot live in the same world as the old man, you clash far too often in everything that you do."_

"Where do you come in then?" Danzo asked, grasping at straws that were not even there.

"_We two too clash," Naruto replied, "I refuse to share the shadows with one such as you. You do not fit into any story that leaves you alive as a protagonist or antagonist, that I can dream up or would dare speak of."_

"You speak as if I am some character in a story that can simply be erased or removed," Danzo stated, thinking that the blonde was the one grasping at straws.

"_There once was a war hero that fell from grace, he thought the world should have moved at his own pace," Naruto began, "He sought to control from the shadows, hiding and biding his time til the perfect moment to strike made itself known.."_

"I am not some character that you can fit into some story," the old war hero stated, for indeed that was what he was.

"_He made decisions that he thought benefited the world, when in truth only benefited himself," Naruto continued, "It was all thanks to feelings of inadequacy as he had been passed over for one greater in heart than he. Heart the one thing he lacked, the one thing he could not hope to comprehend. Jealousy was his friend til the bitter end."_

"I don't see where this is going," the old warhawk stated, but his eyes couldn't help but dart this way and that as he felt a foreign energy take hold of his body.

"_He believed that his greatest failing was not being able to gain the one weapon that he would have used to shape the world into his own image and likeness, the one tool that could have been used for his name to go down in history as the one that brought peace to the lands," Naruto continued on speaking his piece, "He failed and it never did sit well with him. He always worked harder and harder just to prove more to himself that he didn't need that one piece to win the prize. He tried to convince himself that one day he would rise up above the shadows and thrown down his rival from the light."_

"Your reverse psychology is not working on me," Danzo stated while secretly wondering how the blonde could know so much about him and the secrets he kept even or tried to from himself, those things that could drag a man down, and keep him from performing at his very best.

"_The straw that broke the camel's back was thus," the blonde said as he moved his face close to the one that had befouled his own body for stolen strength to become his, the move had been an instantaneous one too, "'I'll never be yours old man' the perfect tool told the fallen hero, and added 'For I'm already his.'"_

Danzo would never find out whether his actions were his own or ones directed by the strings that Naruto pulled or had attached to him. All he knew to his dying breath which came soon after he had moved as that he had attacked Konohamaru, or tried to attack the blissfully unaware child, with a rusty kunai while screaming 'If I can't have you, Hiruzen can't!'.

He died just before his own attack would have hit the brown haired kid with a scarf as his old rival's borrowed ninjato went through his heart, killing him almost instantly. Though the maddened look in his eyes remained, even in death. It proved just how insane he had become. Not that anyone that had arrived could tell why the stable seeming man had become so.

"Konohamaru-kun," Hiruzen said firmly and lovingly as any worried grandfather ought to do once reunited with his kidnapped grandson, he may be the Hokage but he was far from heartless, he uncupped his grandson's hands from his ears, and his voice caused the boy's eyes to open, "Are you alright? Did he do anything to you?"

"I...I...jii-chan!" the little boy, the academy student, the victim of the scheming of an insane madman, latched onto his grandfather and cried his little heart out and about how he was so scared, but knew that his grandfather was going to save him, cause his grandpa was the Hokage.

"You're safe now, Konohamaru-kun, you're safe," Hiruzen said, "No one's going to hurt you. Not as long as I still draw breath, or anyone of the Sarutobi clan for that matter."

"Jii-chan I was so scared!" Konohamaru admitted, he was still a child after all and could freely admit such a thing, "But I felt them...like you said I would. Like you said I'd know, I didn't know they were friends of yours though."

"What do you mean?" Hiruzen asked his grandson, "The only ones here were you and...well the dead guy."

"Are you sure?" Konohamaru asked his grandfather, "I heard talking in my head. There was this story, and at the end, I heard 'the end' and you were here hugging me."

"What was the story about, Kono-kun?" Hiruzen asked his grandson as his Anbu moved around the office placing things in boxes and doing whatever it was that was their job to do while their leader tended to his grandson.

"It was 'bout some war hero that became the villain," Konohamaru said, "He protected the village in his own way, but it wasn't a good way... I think...and there was this part about a weapon, but the weapon was already someone else's. His rival I think. Whoever that is."

"I think I know what or who the story was about," Hiruzen told his grandson.

"Who?" Konohamaru asked curiously.

"The dead guy, and me," Hiruzen guessed right of course, for who else could it have been about.

There was a faint snickering which Konohamaru, and everyoen else in the room at the time managed to catch. It didn't belong to any of the visible people in the room, nor did it belong to the single Anbu that always remained invisible to better protect the village leader.

"Who's there?" Hiruzen demanded as he brandished a kunai he kept on his person at all times, while shielding his grandson from any would be attackers, his motions were fluid and swift, just as they were when he was at his prime.

"Shouldn't have snickered...damn," came a rasping voice from one corner of the room that had not been visited yet.

"Show yourself," the Hokage said, in protector of the village mode, and he was not asking.

"Alright, alright," the owner of the raspy voice said, and made himself visible to the human eye, to all of the human eyes in the room.

He had shoulder length messy black hair, a pair of completely black eyes that no light was reflected off of, a smile full of fangs, and a body of a homeless man that hadn't eaten for a good month. His clothes were what one would find on a beggan that had managed to raid a thrift shop of sorts. His face was unshaven as well, having more of a beard than just mere stubble.

"Who are you?" the Hokage demanded, "Why are you in here?"

"I have been named Yajuu by my master," the humanoid introduced himself, "I was here originally to remove that traitor that you killed, thank you very much, from the living world. But you did that for me before I could, not that I mind. Can I leave now? My master is expecting me."

"You're hiding something," the Hokage stated, "What is it?"

"I'm not one of your shinobi that you can simply order around you know," Yajuu said, "I'm not even human. So you'd better watch yourself..." he then pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against, "I'll be taking my leave now."

"Stop him!" the Hokage ordered, but as soon as the order was given, Yajuu vanished from the senses of the Anbu, only the Hokage and his grandson could see him.

"What are you waiting for?" the Hokage demaned of him men.

"They can't see or hear me," Yajuu stated as he approached the Kage, who refused to move since his grandson was behind him, "And I won't harm Konohamaru-kun. I was created to defend children, and thus I am not about to attack a defenceless child."

"He's still in here," the Hokage informed his men, "He's standing right in front of me.."

"They can't harm me," Yajuu stated, "None of them can...save perhaps for young Konohamaru."

The Anbu were about to strike, when their Kage held up a hand to stop them from moving. He didn't want to risk his own health in case the monster before him was not lying.

"What do you mean created?" the Hokage asked.

"I shouldn't have mentioned that," Yajuu said to himself, though admittedly aloud instead of internally, "I was not born, but created. Like a character in a story, a ghost story though. Any more questions?"

"Why is it that only Konohamaru has a hope of harming you, while myself and my anbu can't or won't be able to?" the Hokage asked, this time just asked to sate his curiosity.

"I have few to no defences against the ones I am charged with protecting," Yajuu admitted, for what could it hurt anyway, "If he were a genin, or an actual tween or teen, things would be different, but I'd still have a slight disadvantage since he'd still be or they'd still be minors."

"I see," the Hokage said, "Now tell me.."

But he was cut off by Yajuu simply turning to leave while speaking.

"I've answered enough questions and wasted enough time," Yajuu stated, "I'm leaving and there's nothing you can do to stop me. You and your men can't stop me even if you or they tried."

"But I can," Konohamaru said as he dashed from out of behind of his grandfather and latched onto Yajuu's kimono stopping him in his tracks, preventing him from leaving, since he could hardly move the child.

"Would you let go of me?" Yajuu asked the child, "I really have to get going you know."

"I'll only let go if you answer all of jii-chan's questions," Konohamaru argued, or threatened more like.

"I guess I could just stand here with you hanging onto my kimono," Yajuu said, "But I ain't answering any more questions."

"While I won't ask my grandson to try and hurt you," the Hokage said, "I would appreciate getting some more questions answered."

"I ain't..." Yajuu began to say, but someone else interrupted him.

"_This is probably the coolest thing I've discovered so far," Naruto said, not that anyone other than Yajuu knew that it was him as only his words were heard, and there was no other indication that it was him other than the way his words sounded, it was odd, but it was still rather cool that he had discivered this manner of speaking, it was how he had managed to affect Danzo after all, "Getting back on track, let them come to me. I've been meaning to have a word with the old man ever since that thing with the Kyuubi and all that. It just kept kinda slipping my mind. So take 'em along with you Yajuu._"

"Well it looks like I won't be needing to answer all of your questions," Yajuu stated, he made himself visible to the Anbu who were staring skeptically and disbelievingly as Konohamaru seemed to cling to thin air and floated a bit actually, "You can let go now Konohamaru-kun. You heard my master, you all get to tag along."

"To your master?" the Hokage asked, a bit unsettled how he had been referred to by the mysterious voice, then thought '_There's only really one other person that would call me that...It can't be...can it?_'

"Yes, I have a feeling you already have a guess as to who he is," Yajuu guessed, Konohamaru let him go and he just walked ahead of them. It took them a while to travel from the entrance of the underground bunker to the main gate of the village without being detected by anyone else in the village.

Upon reaching the gate they small group was met with a man with an oxless oxcart, with a missing wheel too. He had told the gate guards that he was waiting for someone, and they had let him stay, so long as he remained within their sights.

The guards had not been expecting the Hokage himself to be the one that the oxcart driver had been waiting for. Though they did wonder why he had a squad of Anbu with him along with his grandson, apparently news hadn't reached them about Danzo's treachery yet, which was fixed by the arrival of a fellow chunin who was about to inform them of the situation that was no longer a situaion since she was sent to report that the kid had been found and the traitor had been disposed off.

"Is he your master?" the Hokage asked the monster.

"No, of course not," Yajuu replied, "That's just our ride. Wanyuudo is his name though, and you are soon to be the first normal humans to learn why his name is such."

"Really?" the Hokage said before following the monster into the oxcart followed by his squad of anbu and grandson.

The gate guards were ordered to tell anyone that asked about him that he had gone out to speak with a potential addition to the village's bloodline wielding forces, he had a feeling that he didn't need to tell them to tell people that he was not there. He had a feeling that the people loitering by the village gate had not seen him and his group for some reason.

The Hokage and company did indeed find out why the oxcart driver's name had been such. It was because he was the flaming wheel of the oxless oxcart that the group rode to parts unknown since the scenery had a thing of being unrecognizable from a bird's point of view. They traveled not on the road or dirt path, but in the air, below the clouds though.

The landing had been just as bumpless as the departure from the ground. The group made their way out of the oxcart before Wanyuudo pulled it after him to where the other modes of transportation of the clan were kept, and where he was the boss of, or quartermaster of sorts.

Being there was all the confirmation the Hokage needed of the existence of an Uzumaki clan compound being constructed, or having been finished being constructed as the place looked nothing like it was unfinished.

"Welcome to the Namikaze clan compound," Yajuu stated as he led them to the central house that all the other buildings were connected to in some way or manner, be it by bridge, foot apth, or waterway.

"Did you say Namikaze?" the Hokage asked, his grandson and Anbu were too busy looking around the large compound to bother listening to the conversation.

"Hai, that is exactly what I said," Yajuu said, "We are of the Namikaze clan, through our master of course."

"Is your master who I think he is?" the Hokage couldn't help but try and get confirmation for his theories.

"Who else do you think it could be? Your semi-dead successor?" Yajuu said, "And yes, I did say semi-dead. The guy surprised us quite a bit, especially when he managed to break free from the story's flow. Must've really surprised the master when that happened since he cancelled the story to see what would happen."

The group continued to walk, until Yajuu led them into the main hosue of the compound, and into a room where seated inside were two rows of monsters, as they could only be such, with a single blonde teen sitting at one end of the room on a raised plaform, as if sitting above them.

"I'm home!" Yajuu said, his rasping voice still sounding that way even as he sounded quite happy to be back amongst family, his weird monster filled family, "And I've brought guests!"

"Hiya Sarutobi-Hokage-sama!" Namikaze Minato popped up beside the presently reigning Hokage, the old man nearly had a heart attack and his anbu were too shocked to move to defend their kage, while Konohamaru simply stood there wondering what was going on.

"M-Minato! You're alive! How? How are you alive?" the Sandaime finally asked as he was led further into the room, closer to where Naruto was sitting and waiting for the old man to begin berating him or something like that.

"Kushina-chan too!" Minato excitedly announced, "Naruto-kun tried seeing if he could get us freed from the shinigami's stomach, but since a part of each of us were living in him as a part of failsafe of his seal, we didn't need pulling out of there. We weren't even in there...for some reason that we can't explain too well. Anyway, it was a failed experiment on his part, but he did get us back to life...in a sense. We're alive and all that, but we're not human any more though. We're kitsune now, under the leadership of Kurama-sama...and Naruto doesn't really treat me as a parent...though he does treat Kushina-chan as one...sort of."

"Wait wait wait," Hiruzen said, "So Naruto-kun IS alive and well...and he's the blonde sitting just a few feet away from me isn't he."

"You betcha old man!" Naruto stated proudly as he sat upon his seat, his kimono befitting one that was the head of a clan, a growing clan to boot, "Its me, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit. Its just that I've been a bit busy, running around protecting the village and all that, like I promised I would."

"Yeah!" Minato said, "Like when Kumo tried to kidnap one of the two heiresses of the Hyuga clan again."

"And when we almost caught Orochimaru," someone else said, "He runs really fast apparently. Faster than any snake we've encountered."

"Who knew he was that scared of mongooses," someone added.

"Alright...welll...I won't berate you for making a part of me think you've been dead all this time," Hiruzen told his other _grandson_, "Though Iruka and the Ichiraku family might not be so forgiving of you that you haven't made it known that you've been alive all this time."

"Yeah I know," Naruto said, "So what do you think of my clan compound?"

"Its nice," the Hokage said, "Though I do have a question."

"Shoot," the blonde said as he offered the old man a place to sit in the obvious meeting hall.

"What did Yajuu meam by created?" the Hokage asked.

"It has to do with this power I have," Naruto said, "I am The Storyteller or Storyteller. It is what I am, and it is what gives me power. Every one you see around you, from Yajuu to Kurama over there by the door," Kurama was keeping Konohamaru busy while the Anbu were dragged away by some imps, "Were created by me. I gave them life, though in Kurama's case I did something that was like reincarantion while he was still alive. By my title alone you should be able to tell that I tell stories, I make stories. My power is a reality bending one."

"I see," the Hokage said, "Can you share anything else with me about this power of yours?"

"I make any story I tell reality, to a certain degree of course," Naruto shared, "I can affect, manipulate, to even control emotions. I can bring characters to life, but none of them can be entirely human, even if they are in the story. I can also talk to others from a far, like telepathy, like you experienced earlier."

"Anything else?" the Hokage asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Naruto said, "I haven't discovered everything about it yet."

"Is this power hereditary? Like a bloodline limit," the Hokage asked, wondering about it really.

"Not yet," Naruto said, "Though I could make it like that in the future, not sure about that yet. Haven't thought that far yet."

"I see," the Hokage said, "Well, snice I know you are well, and I have a feeling that even if I offered your clan a prestigious spot in the village you wouldn't accept. What can I do for you?"

"Uh...I dunno," Naruto said, "Hehe. Minato said something about getting the clan recognized somehow. I was originally going to send the daimyo some sort of dream eating monster to do something about it, but with you here, I guess it could be easier. I'm admittedly not to good with the political thing and all that."

"If you don't then how do your creations get their personality, knowledge, and all that?" the Hokage asked.

"Its an automatic thing," Naruto said, "I don't really get it myself. But I've been leaving the general day to day clan thing to Kurama and Hyosube. They seem to know what they're doing, not that I know how they know. They just do. Its like knowing how to breathe I guess."

"I see," the Hokage said, "Interesting."

"So is there anything I can do for you? I'm just asking since things have settled down some during the past week," Naruto said, "I've also got some bounties to collect on, and I guess you could use a favor from me for having the additional paperwork that the heads we've collected are gonna cause you."

"Have the heads sent to my office tomorrow, and I'll see about the bounties," the Hokage said, "But about the favor you're offering me, I'll have to think about it."

"Might I make a suggestion, Sandaime-sama," Minato interjected, as he had been thinking about something during the conversation betwee his old kage and his son-that-did-not-see-him-as-a-father-figure-at-all.

"Yes?" the Hokage said, willing to listen to his chosen successor who could not return to the post due to not really being...human..a ninja...or the same anymore.

"Mitarashi Anko," Minato said, "Even with all my knowledge, mastery, and the like, when it came to the art of fuuinjutsu, I was never able to find some way to get her curse seal off of her. Just keep it sealed away and not affect or poison her more."

"Can you do something about that, Naruto-kun?" the Hokage asked.

"I could," Naruto said, "I've already got an idea for a good story about it too!"

He was rather excited that he had a new character to join his family. A sealmaster too, not just some sealing expert, but someone that could spam seals during a fight. All it took him was story that was about a woman that studied and studied seals for the heck of it, one whose real purpose for studying all those seals was to seal away an unspeakably great evil away from the world.

The evil was not brought to life, but the sealmaster was. She was the reason for the story after all. It was quite the epic tale too, one which actually had some history in it, and made Konohamaru who listened to the story want to take his studies more seriously, especially if history was told in such a way.

To make the woman's appearance among them more natural, Naruto ended the tale by saying that after the true mission of the woman had been completed, she simply returned home, which was a compound hidden within the deep forests of Hi no Kuni.

"Tadaima, minna-san!" the woman in the story, or rather young woman from the story, entered the meeting hall of the main house, she looked the part of some sort of wandering monk, complete with shakujo and triangular looking staw hat. She, unlike most members of the clan, had red hair. Blood red hair, she could have passed off as Kushina's twin sister. The difference between them was that Kushina now had slit pupils and her eyes, when happy were more kitsune than anything since Kushina was kitsune, while the young woman whose physical appearance had been based off on Naruto's mother was the more human of the two now.

"Okaeri Sumitsuki!" the hall greeted back, as they gathered tales made some room for the new arrival and latest addition.

"How's that?" Naruto said.

"She'll do," Hiruzen said, "Though I do hope people don't mistake her for your mother."

"Oh well," Naruto said, "It'll be hard for anyone not to. Though her name, just like the rest of us is Uzumaki."

"But the clan name is Namikaze," Hiruzen said.

"Yeah," Naruto said.

"I'll have some paperwork drawn up for you and your ever growing clan," the Hokage said, "I'll also set up some basic manuals on politics and all that rot for you to study up on while I'm at it."

"Ok, and thanks old man," Naruto said, "Oh, and when you're ready to leave. Just inform Kurama. He's heading back to Konoha after he promised Hanabi he'd visit her."

"Hanabi? As in Hyuga Hanabi?" Konohamaru asked after hearing his classmate's name, he then asked Kurama, "How do you know her? She's like ice cold and stuff."

"That's just because you haven't bothered to try and get to know her," Kurama stated, "As for how I know her. Well, I rescued her from Hyosube."

It was during the evening when the Hokage decided that it was time to return to the village. He still had much work to get to and running away from it all was not the answer to solving his workload, not to mention that Konohamaru still had to get home and get some sleep since he had class the next day, and the Anbu had to have their psych evaluations after being subjected to several hours playing tea party with some rather bored imps. Kurama also had his visit with the Hyuga heiress, the younger one to get to too.

Traveling by kitsune fire teleportation was a rather interesting mode of travel. Hiruzen now knew what it felt like to travel at the speed of light and see everything from the perspective of a bubble made out of blue flames. He also had the privilege of blaming an experimental jutsu on how he had managed to arrive within the heart of the Hyuga clan compound of all places.

"*"

Hanabi had patiently waited for the man that had saved her from that monster in the hot springs. Kurama, he was the only person other than her father and sister, that she dared show that she was still just a little girl.

Her father had asked if he could observe this meeting between her and her savior from that night. That mysterious night when all these tales of monsters, spirits, and whatnot began. He was a jounin and a member of the shinobi village council, he was sure to have learned of such things cropping up from out of seemingly nowhere.

Hiashi could not figure out how such a visitor had managed to do it. Kurama just seemed to appear from out of thin air and no matter how many security and alert seals he had installed in his clan's compound, none of them managed to ever pick up on the arrival of Kurama. He just appeared as if out of a dream, for he normally would come out from behind a tree or stand from behind a bush. He had even at one time, according to Hanabi, been sitting on her bed waiting for her to return from her bath or her sister's room.

"Good evening, Kurama-sama," Hanabi greeted her otherwordly savior, "I though you weren't going to come."

"The clan had some unexpected visitors today, and I had to entertain a young aspiring shinobi," Kurama explained, "I also played escort to a very important political figure before visiting you."

"Really?" Hanabi asked, "Who was it?"

"Why do you want to know?" Kurama asked the little girl who still liked playing with his nine tails, something that she hadn't shared with her father, she found it rather odd that her savior had them, but didn't really bother asking about them. She also forgot that her father would be observing this time.

"Kurama-sama," she prompted.

"Yes ojou-chan?" Kurama said, he could sense that Hiashi was nearby and was rather surprised when he brought out his nine tails, golden ones and not the red that would have caused the man to probably have a heart attack, "What is it?"

"Why do you have nine tails?" she asked his, innocently too.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would ask that," he said to her, but replied nonetheless, "I am a kitsune, that's why."

"But you don't look like a kitsune," she said, "You only have tails."

So he had his fox ears poke out from under his long hair in response to that.

"How's that then?" he asked her, he had them wiggle a little to get her attention.

"Ok...are you like the Kyuubi? The only Yondaime-sama defeated?" she asked him, it was an innocent enough question.

"You could say that," Kurama replied, "That bijuu died that day, in a manner of speaking. I am that kitsune's successor you could say."

"Really?" she said, "I'm so happy I met you, and I'm so happy you saved me too."

"My master wouldn't have wanted for you to get hurt," Kurama told her as he placed her on his lap as they sat underneath the star filled night sky, "I like the night, especially the moon and stars. What about you, ojou-chan. Do you like the night?"

"Uhuh," she said affirmatively, "Its because I met you at night, even though it was very scary."

"I'm glad I met you little one," he said, "You're very interesting to talk to."

"Do you have family, Kurama-sama? Like a wife or kids like me?" she asked him, she wondered secretly why she hadn't ever thought of asking him that, if was probably because he usually spent his time playing with her.

"I have no mate," Kurama stated, "But I do have someone whom I see as my own daughter. She'd like to meet you I think."

"Why?" Hanabi asked him.

"Why what?" Kurama asked.

"Why would she like to meet me?" Hanabi asked, Hiashi too wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Ah, because back when she was human, she knew your mother, at least from what I can remember she did," Kurama said, adopting a thinking pose, with a single tail under his chin as his hands caressed Hanabi's hair like one would a cat or furry animal.

"Is my mom a kitsune too?" Hanabi asked, she was far too young to remember her mother, unlike her sister who had fond memories of the woman.

"Not that I am aware of," Kurama said, "Why? Would you want her to be?"

"Yeah," Hanabi said, rather sleepily, it was getting late after all, and her father only let her stay up late since she was to meet this special friend of hers, "That way I could meet her like nee-san."

"Ah..hmm..." Kurama said, and began to think of the possibilities of such a thing happening, it could happen after all, he just needed to figure out a way to convince his master that it would be a good idea to do so, this was a reincarnation process of a sort after all and it wasn't like the woman in question had some kind of soul jar in the world like how Minato and Kushina did, in a sense.

"I'm sleepy," Hanabi said, "I want kaa-san..." she sleepily added, though more unconsciously though.

Kurama lifted her into his arms using his tails to keep her from returning to the land of the waking, and delivered her to her father whom he had managed to locate thanks to his chakra sensing abilities.

"I wouldn't get your or her hopes up," Kurama told the patriarch, "I'll see about getting a hold of her mother, for a short talk or as a kitsune as her daughter wishes. Though I daresay that I hope that my adoptive daught doesn't learn of this."

"My daughter never told me you were not human," Hiashi said, non-confrontaionally, "It seems not all fathers can be like the Yondaime when it comes to defending their children. Tell me, this daughter of yours, what is her name."

"You seem to have already guessed her name, by the sound of your inquiring voice," Kurama said, "As for the identity of my master, I believe you already have an inkling, after all, you know the significance of my very own name."

"I will keep your secret then," Hiashi said, "No need to deprive my daughter of one of the few people that bring authentic joy to her life."

"I'll see about your wife and the possibility of her return, in a manner of speaking," Kurama said before departing in the very same manner by which he arrives, Hiashi's byakugan still couldn't figure it out.

Later on that night Kurama arrived just outside of Naruto's room. It was the farthest thing from their former sewer hideout, that was now used as some sort of outpost by some of the extended members of the Namikaze clan, namely the former Ne operatives that had willingly joined Naruto for some reason that they themselves could not comprehend.

He waited outside Naruto's room until morning which was when he made his petition, as a favor to his young friend. Naruto said that he would do it, only if Kurama could find the specifics of the woman's death, he needed a background story or something like that in order to pull the right soul into the new body that he would be creating for her.

Kurama went on his way to investigate the life of the mother of the little Hyuga that had managed to worm her way into his heart somehow. He didn't mind gaining another pseudo daughter after all. He dared not reveal what he was going to be doing to Kushina, she would surely cause him more problems than give him aid in his newfound endeavor.

Naruto himself had a meeting with the Hokage, the old man had decided that they get to removing the curse seal from Anko as soon as possible. The young woman didn't deserve the shit she had to go through on a daily basis due to the burden she unwillingly bore, after being the only one in ten that had survived the first and original application of the curse seal that her sensei had developed.

Naruto walked his way to the Hokage Tower, in his new clan head style outfit no one really paid him much mind. He had even gone so far as to hide away his whisker marks by way of a story of sorts, his whiskers would only come out if he was in a battle. So he ended up looking like a mini-Yondaime, he really did get his looks from his father.

Beside him, as he walked was Sumitsuki, who got some weird looks and some people actually pointed at her. Both of them could hear whispered conversations and the word 'habanero' was mentioned quite often. She was in her wandering monk garb, deciding not to disturb Asaito and Nuibari for some new clothes, that needle and thread pair were busy enough making clothes and costumes for the other members of the clan as it was.

Gekkou Hayate had been a student of Kushina's when he was younger and she was alive. He had been to her what Kakashi had been to Minato, the prized student. So it didn't really come as a shock that he would confront his sensei's look-a-like before she could enter the Hokage Tower.

"Stand aside Gekkou-san," a pair of Anbu ordered as they appeared in swirls of leaves between the two Uzumaki and the jounin, "They have an appointment with the Hokage."

"Wha...but...how...she looks like my sensei!" he couldn't help but act like a child, Kakashi would have if his sensei had a sudden look-a-like pop up realtively unannounced.

"I have an inkling what you are thinking," Sumitsuki said, "But I am not impersonating anyone. I was born with the looks that I sport, if I look like some person you must have known, then it is merely a coincidence of fate. My apologies if my physical appearance brings you some discomfort."

'_She may look like sensei, but she sure doesn't act like sensei.._' Hayate mentally noted, "I apologize for my brash behavior."

"Apology accepted," Sumitsuki said, "Now if you will excuse me, I am running late for my meeting."

She bowed politely to him before returning to her walk to the Hokage, Naruto hadn't bothered waiting for her, but he did slow down his pace so that she could easily catch up to him. Even after all her wanderings, that had become truth due to Naruto's power, she had never once found herself within the confines of the Hokage Tower, nor any Kage Tower for that matter.

As they made their way to the office, the regulars that worked at the tower couldn't help but wonder who the red head was and who the young blonde with her was as well. They didn't look like they were related at all, but any leers or perverted grins directed her way were met with a focused killing intent that could have killed hundreds if Naruto decided to use his storytelling voice.

It was the killing intent of a male family member, a father or grandfather of sorts, more than a brother that was for sure, and it was more than a cousin even. Though what none of them could figure out was how such a short blonde could be akin to her father or grandfather.

Naruto knocked, having gained some manners from his time creating havoc and monsters. It somehow made its way into his system and since he could now be considered as the main representation of his clan he had to act even a little bit more respectable.

"Enter" came the muffled reply, it was muffled only by the door of course, and as Naruto and his daughter of sorts entered the office they were met with the sight of the Hokage, his Anbu, and Anko already in the room and waiting for whatever the heck was supposed to happen to her since she had not been told of the reason for why she was in there in the first place.

"Ah good, we are all here now," the Hokage said from behind his desk, "I have all the documents you might need along with passports and other such things, as well as the bounties of the nuke-nin your clan removed from the world of the living all in this scroll," which he tossed to Naruto, "Now let us get this show on the road."

"Sumitsuki," Naruto said, "The woman with purple hair is Mitarashi Anko, she's the one with the seal. Remove it or modify it to aid her, its your choice."

"May I see the seal, miss," she said as she approached Anko who had a gobsmacked look on her face since she only realized why she was in the office. She had actually thought that the Hokage had given up on getting her seal removed, and now here they were with some girl that was probably about her age who was going to try removing something that Jiraya of the Sannin had failed to even figure out how it had latched on to her much more how she had survived the process.

"Um sure," Anko said as she took a seat on the offered chair that one of the Anbu pulled over and placed near her.

She lowered her collar and exposed the area of skin where her seal was located and waited with baited breath as this other young woman looked over her seal. Poking and prodding at the seal with her fingers and making tsking sounds and jotting down notes on a notepad that appeared from out of nowhere, and if her peripheral vision was anything to go by, the notepad and pen eventually just hung in the air, held up not by charka but by some other force.

"Controlled anti-gravity seals," Sumitsuki replied to the unasked question that was clearly on the minds of all that were present, including her master's, "That's how they're floating and moving like that, though the pen has a few more things on it that let's my brain waves and patterns make it jot down the things I want to remember."

"Oh," was the collective comment.

"Please continue with whatever it is you were doing," the Hokage said, then after awhile asked, "Can you remove it?"

"Sure," Sumitsuki said, not really paying attention as she was marvelling at the masterpiece right before her very eyes, and to her the thing wasn't even half-completed, "This is some piece of work, I'd really like to examine a completed version of it."

"Err...can you remove it now?" Anko asked, pleaded really she was so close to having it removed she didn't need the one who could remove it getting sidetracked, "Now? Please?"

The world was definitely about to end, or so the Anbu thought, since when the hell did Mitarashi Anko say 'please'?

The Hokage had to blast them with some Killing intent as they were ready to run for the hills already.

"Eh..sure," Sumitsuki said, then simply pinched Anko's skin where the seal had bonded to and removed the seal just like that.

What no one had seen was that over a hundred tiny seals had formed at those two fingertips and had been the ones to remove the seal in its entirety from Anko. While at the same time keeping the seal intact as it was merely transferred to one of the pages in the floating notebook.

"So..." Sumitsuki said, "You guys got any more seals I can look at?"

"Err...sure," one of the anbu that were there said, sure he had spoken without the permission of the Hokage, but after seeing something like that, it shouldn't have really mattered, "We've got a closet full of seals at headquarters that we haven't been able to figure out for years."

"Can I take a look at them Hokage-jii?" Sumitsuki asked, causing the Anbu and Anko to freeze in shock at the audacity and gall of such a young woman, daring to call the Hokage that, as far as they knew only two people could get away with it, one was Naruto and the other was Konohamaru.

"Uh..sure," the Hokage said, "Would you like a part-time spot in my military too?"

"Sure, whatever," Sumitsuki said, not really caring much for the position, just wanting to get her hand on those seals, she practically ran on seals forget food and water, all she needed was a paintbrush and ink and she was happy.

She was escorted out of the office by two Anbu who were eager to see what she could do with the back log of unfigureoutable seals.

"So..." Naruto began to say.

"I can't really do anything about your situation you know," the Hokage told his other grandson, "She's a different case entirely and I very much doubt that the council would mind having such an addition."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Naruto said waving away the statement, since it didn't really matter all that much anymore.

"I'll have her registered within the day, so you don't have to worry about waiting for that paperwork, and I have a feeling that my anbu might be the ones to process it all for me and her," Hiruzen said, "You don't mind do you?"

"Not at all," Naruto said, "If I can't, that doesn't mean that others can't either. So..anything else?"

"Uh..excuse me," Anko said, getting their attention.

"Yes?" the two of them said.

"Thank you for not giving up on my case," she sincerely said and even bowed to the two of them, the Hokage for obvious reason, and Naruto since he seemed to be the one that Hokage had contacted for a solution to her problem, the girl was just the one to do the actual solving and would get a very nice thank you for her services if she ever got out from Anbu headquarters.

"Your welcome," they both said.

"I'll take my leave now," Anko said, bowed to her Kage and left the office to celebrate, hoping that her best friend Kurenai was in the village and not out on a mission with her team of brats, and also hoping that Iruka was also in the village and not teaching his classroom of brats. Her having her seal finally removed was a cause for celebration if there ever was one.

"She sure seemed happy," Naruto noted, "I think I remember her from before."

"I'm sure you do," the Hokage said, "She was one of your watchers, until the council discovered her involvement in your protection and strong armed me into having her replaced."

"Ok, I can really see them doing that," Naruto said, "So...you got anything else I can help you with?"

"Don't you have a clan to run?" the Hokage asked him.

"I've got that covered," Naruto said, "Its called Kage Bushin, you should try it with your paperwork sometime."

"Hold that thought Naruto," Hiruzen said, before leaving the room and entering his ajoining sleeping quarters before erecting silencing seals, but Naruto could hear and feel the curses that were being thrown around in the sealed and protected room. He pitied the Anbu that had to listen to it all, but at the same time wondered if any of those words could be used in a story he might concoct one day.

"Thank you for patiently waiting for my return," the Hokage said, done with his self-punishment and ranting, "Now where were we?"

"Finding me something to do, even though I'm not a shinobi," Naruto prompted.

"Ah yes," the Hokage said, "Well, Kakashi, you remember him don't you?"

"Inu," Naruto said, "Yeah, he was a watcher too. The one that replaced the dude that shouted about the Flames of Youth every now and then."

"Yes," Hiruzen said, "Well, he sent in a report about the mission his team is currently on. Thanks to his stubborness and that of his genin, he has not requested aid, even though I have a feeling that he could use it. I'm a little short on available teams right now, so how would you like to work as some kind of mercenary for the time being?"

"Sounds like fun," Naruto said, "So where are you sending me?"

"Nami no Kuni," the Hokage said, "The original mission was to escort the bridge builder Tazuna to his home and protect him while his bridge is being built and finished. I suspect that he didn't tell us everything and team 7 has bitten off more than they can chew. You'll be playing backup and Kakashi has no power over you of course. Feel free to bring as much firepower as you wish."

"If you mean Kurama, I'm not taking him with me," Naruto said, "I'm having him investigate something for the Hyuga. Hyuga Hanabi managed to convince him to ask me to see if I can get her mother to become a Kitsune like mine got turned into."

"Oh...well, you've got others," the Hokage said, "How about Minato, go scare Kakashi into getting serious why don't you."

"That thought did cross my mind," Naruto said, "I think I will do that, but.."

"But?" the Hokage asked.

"You have to watch over Kushina-chan," Naruto said, he didn't dare call her mother since she too acted like a child most of the time, unless he did something even more childish, that's when the line between parent and child blurred between them since they were both each other's child in some way. It was a weird family dynamic that ruled their clan.

"I think I can handle that," Hiruzen said, he didn't know how much trouble a kitsune that had already been a prankster as a human could be, "Anyone else I'll have to take care off?"

"Sumitsuki of course," Naruto said, "Good luck dealing with the confusion between those two. Ever since meeting one another, they've been acting like some weird set of twins. They have this mother-daughter-aunt-grandmother-sister thing going on, that still confuses me, and its only been a day or so!"

"What have I gotten myself into," the Hokage said as Naruto bid him farewell.

Once Naruto was out of his hair, Kushina poofed into the office wearing a cream colored kimono, she had a pair of fox ears atop her head, and a bushy tail poking out of the back of her kimono too.

"Hiya Jiji!" she greeted the old man, "Where's Sumitsuki-chan?"

"*"

Naruto had dropped off his clan documents and all that in his study in his house, and left a new batch of Kage Bushin to take care of things. It really was like he was there completely, or maybe he was just a special case when it came to the clones.

He decided that his clan head garb was not fitting for a mercenary-storyteller and so had Asaito and Nuibari come up with something new for him before he left. They gave him some hunter-nin clothes, but added a rather long light orange scarf to the thing. He didn't get a mask though, since he didn't need one.

He had Hyosube, Asaito, Nuibari, and Yajuu accompany him, the skeletons, zombies, and imps, were far too many, and his other clan monster clan members didn't really feel like they should come along.

Hyosube wore the same outfit, but for men, as Sumitsuki. Asaito and Nuibari wore plain brown traveling kimono, while Yajuu remained looking like some homeless guy that got the best of the lot after raiding a thrift shop.

They made their way to Nami no Kuni without really wasting much time. Hyosube in the lead since he could easily sense where the land of waves was which made him the best to lead since Naruto didn't know where their destination was.

The group reached Wave within two days. Upon reaching the edge of the land's territory, instead of riding a boat across, They walked on the water's surface, or at least Naruto and Hyosube did, both of them carrying one of the two women with them.

It was faster that way after all.

They didn't have much in terms of belongings with them, since the world was one bit storage scroll after all, all Naruto needed to do if they needed something was to come up with some sort of short story of how something came to be somewhere.

It was or could be considered as an abuse of power, but who really cared.

It was hid and he could do with it as he pleased.

They managed to track down Tazuna by just asking people politely where the old man lived. That and some people just didn't feel all that comfortable being in the presence of Yajuu for some reason, not that Naruto found it odd since the monster was rather intimidating in a homeless person that could kill you at a moment's notice sort of way.

They arrived just after Kakashi and his team arrived for the evening. The door was just about to close when Naruto called out to his old watcher, the more silent one compared to his predecessor that shouted about youth and all that.

"Yo Inu-san!" Naruto shouted as he and his four companions approached the house of the old bridge builder, "Your backup has arrived!"

'_It can't be.._' Kakashi thought to himself, he was one of the ones that had thought that Naruto and his burden had fallen that day, peering out of the door he saw Naruto, '_So it really is him...but I thought..well he's not wearing a hitai-ate...so why's he our backup?_'

"Naruto? That you?" Kakashi asked as he fully opened the door, "Why're you here?"

"As I said," Naruto said, "I'm your backup! I bugged the old man into getting me something to do! So here I am, and I've got some additional help with me!"

"I see," Kakashi said, "So who's the leader of your motley crew?"

"I am of course," Naruto said, "They're my subordinates, though I guess only one of them is suitable for combat. Two are support, and the other is an ambush predator."

"Oh really," Kakashi said, "Well welcome aboard I guess. So tell, me, since you're not wearing the village symbol, what are you?"

"Mercenarial backup that you can't simply order around," Naruto said, "Plus, my own backup will be arriving tomorrow, after the sedatives wear off."

"Why is your backup under the influence of sedatives?" Kakashi asked.

"His mate found him irritating, it was just the tail end of her time of the month after all," Naruto explained.

"Oh," Kakashi said, "Well come on in, and I'll introduce you to my team and the client we'll be protecting."

"Alright," Naruto said and motioned for his companions to follow.

Upon entering, team 7 and Tazuna's family wondered who these new comers were and what they would be bringing into the mission.

"Team, Tazuna and family," Kakashi said, "May I present to you, our back up. Uzumaki Naruto and company."

"I don't think that's how you're supposed to introduce someone," Naruto said, then moved forward to introduce himself and his companions, "I'm Naruto, and they're my subordinates and family, Hyosube," who waved his shakujo in greeting, "Asaito and Nuibari," who bowed in greeting at the exact same time like twins even though they didn't really look like twins, "And Yajuu," who waved from by the door, intimidating the adults, while making the skin of the genin crawl.

"Ah yes," Kakashi said, "Well, these are my cute students, Uchiha Sasuke," who grunted, "Haruno Sakura," who waved a bit, "And Sai," who tried to politely smile.

"Ah so that's where the last member of Ne ran off to," Naruto stated in realization, "Just so you know Sai, Danzo is dead. Excecuted for crimes against Konoha, so you can forget any orders he gave you prior to your assignment to team 7."

"You tell the truth," Sai said, as he found no lie in Naruto's words of body language, "I serve Hokage-sama now."

"Err..ok," Kakashi said, "I don't really know what's going on, but anyways...our client and his family are Tazuna," the old guy, "Tsunami and Inari," the young woman bowed to them while the kid just glared at them for his own reasons.

"Now that introductions are in order," Naruto said, "I'd like nothing more than to burden you less, so my people and I shall be taking our momentary leave now."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"We'll be out gathering information on the situation of the country," Naruto replied, "There is a puzzle in this picture and I intend to solve it."

"What are you talking about deadlast," Sasuke demanded of the person he saw as the idiot of the batch who hadn't been able to produce even a simply bushin.

"I am so tempted to make you impotent," Naruto snarled, and the only thing keeping him from doing just that were his four subordinates slowing pulling or dragging him out of the house, "Maybe I'll just do something worse..."

"Now now master," his subordinates tried to calm him down, "Now's not the time for such unprofessional thoughts."

"What are you four incompetents talking about? Why does he deserve to be your master," Sasuke arrogantly said, "I'm the Uchiha here. I'm far more superior to that trash, so you should be serving me."

"Let me at 'im! I'll sew his mouth shut!" Nuibari growled out as it was Naruto's turn to hold his four subordinates back.

"I'll make his clothes so tight he'll suffocate in them!" Asaito threatened.

"I'll drown him in his own body's water!" Hyosube tried to get his hands free to command the body fluid to do just that.

"I'll tear him limb from limb!" Yajuu threatened as his canines lengthened and his claws starte to form, he looked even more menacing than before.

"Hold it you four!" Naruto shouted, "If you won't let me at 'im, I won't let you do as you please! Now let's go, we have information to collect!"

"Fine," the four said, then collectively told Sasuke, "You got of easy this time. Bad mouth Naruto-sama again in our presence and we'll kick your ass so bad your ancestors will feel it! All of them!"

"Tch, like losers like you could really beat me," the last loyal Uchiha stated arrogantly, "Be off with you before I change my mind and kick your asses for daring to threaten me."

"Whatever," the four collectively say and leave the house followed by Naruto who simply gave a wave in Kakashi's direction.

"Sorry about him," Kakashi said, "I guess if he didn't have that stick up his ass, my team'd have an even better team dynamic."

"It's alright," Naruto stated, "He's always been an ass after all. Pampered prince, probably never really experienced the true meaning of loneliness. Unlike one such as I that lived a life similar to his, yet vastly different."

With those words Naruto truly departed, he had elements of a story to collect after all, and a story to either retell or create, one that would benefit the mission and the country that he saw was in a deplorable state.

"Go forth and find me everything you can about this place!" Naruto commanded his subordinates.

"Yes master," the four said and went their separate ways.

Nuibari and Asaito walked at a leisurely pace heading for town, while Hyosube dived into the waters of the sea, leaving Yajuu to vanish from sight and travel at incredible speeds looking for a fight (preferably against someone older than 18).

Naruto on the other hand calmly walked into the forest. Even though he was the storyteller now didn't mean that he would be neglecting his shinobi heritage, he still had some training to do. He already knew how to water walk thanks to Kurama's help along with his parents, even though he barely recognized his father as such. The man simply took to the kitsune's mischievous nature to be taken seriously, unlike Kushina who had more responsibly bones in her kitsune body than her mate.

He reached a clearing deep within the woods, a clearing where he was sure that no one would be bothering for quite some time. He had a feeling that the foe of the mission wouldn't be rearing their heads for quite some time based on the noticeable injuries that Naruto didn't bother pointing out when he saw Kakashi.

While he could cheat his way into becoming god-like, in the shinobi arts that is, he felt that there was a big difference in the pleasure of knowing that one actually worked hard to get strong instead of taking the obvious shortcut. There was just something about working toward a goal and reaching it that was just so fulfilling.

So he practiced, the only shortcut he allowed himself to use was Kage Bushin, it was available to him and in a sense it was him, just multiplied by a good thousand. He made exactly one thousand clones of himself, ones that did not disrespect him or require orders to be verbally given to them. They were him and he was they. They were one and he, the one, was all.

Practicing a single motion, but a thousand and one times all at once was just as good as him practicing it himself those thousand and one times. All the memories would return to him after all, and so would whatever chakra in the clones that remained when he dispelled them.

Another cheat that he had decided to use was one where his mind was more organized than the most well organized archive or library. Thoughts being added as well as memories would be catalogued and arranged instantly as soon as they entered his mind. Dispelling vast amounts of clones in a single instance would not cause him any headache or problems in battle.

He practiced taijutsu first, after all even though it was muscle memory, it was still memory. But he had to practice too so that his body would grow accustomed to the things he would be putting it through. Even if he did manage to master a style of fighting or a school, it would be useless if his own body was unfit for such movements.

That was how he spent his first day in Wave.

He created clones every two hours to check in on Kakashi and receive reports from his subordinates who had collected some information from the townspeople as well as some of the mercenaries that worked for the short bad guy in the land, the one responsible for all the shit that had befallen the small nation.

By the fifth day, Naruto had a feeling that his time training had finally drawn to a close. His people had also run out of information to gain from the townspeople and foreigners. There were no longer any pieces to the puzzle that Naruto had stumbled upon. He noted that all places seemed to have legends and tales, not just the scary ones that kept children indoors at night, but ones about heroes of light that came during the darkest of days.

Wave was no different from all the other lands. It too had its fair share of tales worthy of being told by the storyteller. He just had to pick one that would suit his needs. His choices ranged from the Storm God Susanoo to that young man that had fallen due to the inaction and cowardice of a people that, in a sense, justly suffered at the hands of a short tyrant, though Tazuna was exempt as he did try his hand at fighting the corruption that plagued the land.

He walked back to the house as he felt some sort of disturbance in the net of ill-intent alert seals he had placed around the structure. Only to arrive and find the most peculiar of situations. The two mercenaries, which he assumed had come to take a hostage as a precaution, were arguing with one another as to who would be the one to get to bang Tsunami, since Gato apparently just wanted her relatively unharmed. Inari was to be disposed of if he showed his crybaby self though.

_In times of great peril, a hero would always arise. Taking up sword and shield if need be, or even just a simple carving knife. But all the same, a hero rises up when there is great need._

_Such heroes exist even today, in many different forms, not all of them human. They can come in the form of pets, or even a spirit from the great beyond. _

His voice washed over the four people whose fates were now intertwined with one another. Inari's first reaction was to hide under the covers of his bed in his room on the second floor of the small house. Tsunami was to simply stand stock still in shock, she'd never thought that she'd hear such words again. The two mercenarial swordsmen too stood, stopping their argument between one another since it wasn't everyday that one heard a voice coming from just about everywhere.

_A passng fisherman, with nary a place to call home, came across a little boy, one who even though did not really know how to swim had dived into the sea to save the puppy he had been trying to keep while some other boys, bullies no doubt, had tried to bring it harm or drown it. _

_Thrashing and splashing in the waves, the boy had no other option but to try to call out for help. _

_It was a cloudy and gusty late afternoon when this happened, and no other adult was present to witness the event. Only the lone fisherman who had been traveling via a small boat that he had made for himself when he had left his original home to go find a place to call home or seek some sort of adventure. _

_He did not bother to really think about his own sefety, he only thought of saving this little boy that was obviously in need of aid. Taking the boy to shore, and losing his boat, the only thing left for him was to wait for the boy, who had fainted due to tireness, to wake. _

_Upon waking the boy thanked him profusely, even offering him a place to stay as thanks. It was from then on that the lone fisherman gained a strong bond with the little boy. _

_The fishing town that the man had stumbled upon had fallen upon difficult times, which he had only learned about after living with the boy's family for a few days. Even though they were repaying him for saving the youngest member of the family, he sought a way to thank them for their extended kindness. He went above and beyond what any stranger would do and sought out ways to make life for the townspeople better._

_The townspeople were like one big family to each other after all, and soon, thanks to his efforts, the man became one of them._

_But there came a time when a greater evil rose up against the town. The small nation's rulers did not have enough strong fighters to combat this latest foe, thus leaving the fishing town on its own. Lest this evil set its sights on the capital of the small land. _

_With only himself and his courage, the man that had come to be a hero to the people had fought hard against this enemy, but as fate would have it he eventually fell._

_What can one man hope to do when others chose to look away. The hero fell, and the townspeople's hope was lost. _

'_Tou-san.._' Inari couldn't help but think and miss the man that he had come to call father, as well as the man he knew his mother had fallen in love with, '_Why did you have to die?_'

'_Kaiza-kun, I wish...I wish you were here,_' Tsunami wished with all her heart, missing the man even though she knew that it wasn't very likely that he would return to her.

It took a few moments of silence for the two mercenaries to decide that that was it. There was nothing more to the ethereal tale that was told from all around them, echoing in their minds more than the outside world really.

They barged into the home and made a grab for Tsunami, when she was finally pinned down, one of them ran up the stairs to finish off the boy that had the potential of keeping them from returning to their employer. The boy could also do something that could cause his mother to do something that the two mercenaries couldn't have her do.

_That's the thing about heroes_. Naruto chose the time before Inari was to be struck down and Tsunami was about to be violated, it was a bit cruel of him but necessary for his tale. _They arrive when the villains least expect it, though in some cases they just do something that the villains least expect. Winning being one of them._

It hadn't taken much for Naruto to bend reality to his whim, even the shinigami dared not oppose him. There was just something about the one that had gifted Naruto with his power that caused even the higher powers to tremble. Kaiza the fisherman of Wave's soul was given to Naruto for his story, he needed a hero and what better hero for Wave than a recognized one. Though the man would be returning as something more than a man.

He had to be, just like every other character brought to life, or back to life, by Naruto.

_The man that had a sword raised to strike down the boy was unprepared for the hands that threw him out the window, causing him to land in the water only to be pulled under by something that was more than just a strong current. _

_The boy opened his eyes as the pain of death that he had expected to experience had not been felt only to find himself face to face with someone he never thought he would see again. _

"_I'm sorry I'm late Inari, apparently fighting my way back to you and your mom was harder than I thought it would be," Kaiza said to his son in all but blood, he had fought his way from the afterlife against those that sought to keep him there, for no soul that had passed on was supposed to be allowed to return under normal circumstances, "Now be a good boy and stay here while I help your mother."_

_The first mercenary's partner wasn't so lucky to be thrown to the fishes, this was in the process to doing something that was not and should not be done. Defiling such a flower with his thorn. Kaiza was pissed off that was for sure when he came upon the sight. _

_Grabbing hold of the beast, he dragged it out of the house and into woods, where the man's screams of mercy were silenced permanently. The tale of his life and death were not important in the greater scheme of things, and his role in the Return of the Hero of Wave would be forgotten in the future._

With his latest tale ended, Naruto walked into the house just as Tsunami regained control of herself as well as reigned in her still swiftly beating heart. It was quite a rush going from helpless to being helped by the most unlikely of persons. She might have moments ago only wished it to happen, but she didn't really expect it to happen.

Inari came running down the stairs as soon as the cries for mercy were silenced, he wanted to confirm that what he had seen was not some dream or flight of fancy or anything like that.

"He'll be with us shortly," Naruto stated as the mother and son pair looked at him with questions on their minds.

Not a moment passed before Kaiza walked through the door. To be enveloped in the embrace of the love of his life, one whom he loved even in the afterlife, and his son. Both of whom had been the main reason for his timely return.

"Thank you for the help, Naruto-sama," Kaiza said when his family released him from their embrace, then said to them, "Sorry to cut our reunion short, but I've still got to rescue the old man from that evil midget Gato."

"But you just came back," Tsunami said, then her common sense returned to her, "I'll be wanting an explanation about all this when you get back with tou-san. Got it?"

"Hai!" Kaiza said, he'd challeneged the shinigami that held him in the afterlife, but he wasn't about to disagree or argue with the love of his life.

"Get a move on them, Kaiza," Naruto ordered, "Nuibari and Asaito are already waiting for you by the bridge, unseen of course. They will provide you with more suitable clothing than those white ones you're wearing now."

Kaiza raced to the bridge that his father-in-law was almost finished building. The rebuilt hope of the Land of Waves. Upon getting there he noticed that his white garments, that he had brought with him from the afterlife were instantly replaced by clothes befitting a warrior, but instead of getting a katana or spear like he had expected he got a staff that was attached to what appeared to be a chain with a hook at the other end of it.

He didn't really bother dwelling on the weapon he had been given and just continued rushing to where the battles were taking place. The ones between the Konoha team and the Nuke-nin duo.

His appearance caused Tazuna to do a double take and nearly faint in fright, surprise, and shock. There was no way in his alcohol addled mind that Kaiza could be alive and well. The only rational thought was that he was too drunk to care anymore or he was dead and still seeing things.

Kaiza hurled the hook in the direction of the nuke-nin named Momochi Zabuza, ensnaring the man's pants with the hook end of his weapon and pulling the man toward him, as if pulling a fish from the water. Sure the man struggled, but when the pull was stronger than the chakra hold on the bridge, there was very little that Zabuza could do but let himself get pulled away.

Kakashi had not expected what had happened at all. He had been caught completely off guard and just stared into the space of where his death had been standing and pushing against him only a moment before.

'_What the hell just happened?_' Kakashi asked himself and ended up scratching his head in confusion, he then remembered that there was still another battle going on and moved to help his cute students, only to come across a needle riddled Sasuke and Sai who were gaping in shock at thin air.

"So...your foe vanished on you too huh," the jounin commented.

"..." all they could do was nod and look around for their foe, moment later spotting the two of them bound and gagged with seaweed of all things between what looked to be a soldier with an odd fishing rod and the client plus Sakura.

"Sorry I'm late!" Kaiza apologized, "I got lost on the road to life!"

Kakashi could do nothing more than facefault upon hearing a varitation of one of his excuses.

"YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!" Gato's voice cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter, "I SAW YOU DIE WITH MY OWN EYES! WHAT THE HELL?"

"Yeah well," Kaiza said as walked toward Gato, "I guess my will to live and protect my precious people was stronger than your will to oppress people, ne."

The short man saw that his paid mercenaries were just staying on the boat instead of protecting him and killing people.

"What are you still doing in there!" Gato shouted, "I don't pay you to cower in fear! I pay you to kill people! So go kill him, if he can die once, he can die a second time!"

"Hai!" they shouted and got off the boat.

"I'll pay double to the man that brings me the heads of that bastard, the Konoha-nins, and that useless good for nothing Demon of the Mist and his little bitch who I was never planning on paying in the first place!" Gato added.

"Now that what I'm talking about!" one of the mercenaries said, before he was thrown into the sea courtesy of Kaiza who got the hang of fishing and releasing his catches of the day into the sea where Hyosube was waiting for these new fishes.

By the time that the mercenaries were all little more than fish food or actual fish, all the townspeople arrived at the end of the bridge that Tazuna could be found on. It was also about this time that Gato was face to face with a frowning Kaiza.

"I can forgive you for having me killed the first time," he said, "But what I can't forgive is what you have done to my beloved Wave! To my family here and friends! For all that you have done, you shall pay!"

"Please! Spare me!" Gato whimpered and pleaded for his life, "What do you want? Riches? Land? Women? Anything! I'll give you anything, just have mercy on me!"

"Like you had mercy on all that defied you? I don't think so," Kaiza chillingly stated, "You tried to have my wife kidnapped, my son killed, and tried to stop an old man from rebuildnig the hope of Wave. Now be gone!"

He hurled the midget into the sea with such great strength that the midget flew and flew and flew.

'_Looks like I'm blasting off again!_' it was the only thing that came to mind as Gato verbally screamed his way into oblivion, only to open his eyes even wider when he came face to face with the chilling visage of the Shinigami.

~I have orders to obtain your signature on a few documents before taking your soul with me to your eternal damnation~ the Shinigami stated as she held the short dude by his leg, upside down and handed over a pen and showed the midget where to sign ~Now that that's over and done with. Welcome to hell, cannon fodder!~

"*"

Kaiza had his own explanation for how he had come to be there, alive and all that. But he couldn't really help but keep Naruto's involvement in his version or point of view of events. He explained that it was some kind of reincarnation of sorts. He was reborn more than just simply returned to the land of the living.

He was even given a new body, one that looked like his old one, but had some differences to it, like the fact that he was stronger than he had been in his first life.

He also reintroduced himself as Uzumaki Kaiza, which did surprise Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari. They knew of the Uzumaki, through stories and the sheer reputation of that powerful clan whose homeland lay just a few miles out at sea from Nami.

He explained that the only reason why he was now an Uzumaki when he hadn't been one before was because he had been reborn thanks in part to Naruto's power, whatever it was.

"So..if you're not human anymore, then what does that make you?" Tazuna asked.

"I'm not really sure myself," Kaiza admitted, still in his soldier garb, his fishing rod leaning against a wall in a corner of the dining area.

"You're a mix between a dragon, a kappa, and a ghost," Naruto answered, "A son of the sea. The waters of Wave give you power, just as much as your determination to protect what is precious to you. The ghost part is related to what you would have originally been returned to this world as, a ghost that would influence those that needed hope, by forcing people to remember the good that you had done in life, instead of how you had fallen in death."

"If you had this power all along," Sasuke butted in, "Then why didn't you bring back my clansmen? WHY? You selfish little bastard!"

Sasuke tried to pummel Naruto into submission, but since after his little statement he found himself bound in linen thread, he really didn't have much of a choice but not move.

"For one thing," Naruto said, "I only unlocked my powers after failing the graduation exam. For another thing, bringing people back isn't that easy. If I had some greater connection to your clansmen or a greater need for them, I might have an easier time of it. But I don't, so I can't. There's also the possiblity that they don't even want to come back. Have you thought about that?"

"Mmph," Sasuke tried to speak but his mouth was full of seaweed.

"Oh remove the gag Kaiza," Naruto said.

"Why wouldn't they want to return?" Sasuke said, heatedly.

"How would I know," Naruto said, "Though I could bring back your mother...but not as a human of course. So how about that for a compromise? I'll see about bringing you back your mother, and you don't get to ask or demand anything else of me."

"Deal!" Sasuke said and reached out a hand to shake Naruto's once he was released of Asaito's threads.

"Say, can you bring back.." Kakashi began to ask but was interrupted by a flash of yellow light near them and a humanoid yellow kitsune fell face first on the ground before them.

"S-Sorry I'm late!" the yellow kitsune said from the ground, he was wearing a Konoha jounin outfit save for the lack of a hitai-ate, "I ate too much ramen on the way here!"

"S-Sensei?" Kakashi said in disblief, then asked Naruto, "Is that really sensei?"

"Sort of," Naruto said, "He's more kitsune than the Yondaime at any rate. He's actually my first failed experiment at contacting the dead. I've learned from my mistakes though."

"Oh hey Kashi-kun! You gotten laid yet?" Minato asked his gobsmacked star pupil, "Uh...you ok Kashi?"

"..." Kakashi could not answer for he had fainted.

"That's the Yondaime..." Sakura said in awe.

"But with fox ears and a tail," Sai noted, "So he really is a kitsune. Was this a side effect of the Kyuubi?"

"Kind of," Naruto replied, "I mean, who knew the guy was only half-dead. There was still enough of his soul floating around for him to be brought back, but with so much kitsune energy around where his soul was, he ended up coming back as a kitsune."

"I see," Sai said, "Would it be possible to become a monster like him?"

"Why?" Sakura asked her weird teammate, "Why would you ask that?"

"I feel that I require an upgrade to better serve Hokage-sama," Sai stated emotionlessly, "If I can become more powerful to serve Hokage-sama somehow, then who am I not to try?"

"Err...I could do that," Naruto said, "Though you'll have to get the old man's permission first. I don't want to be messing with his shinobi without his permission after all."

"I'll do that," Sai said.

"So...now what?" Minato said, "I'm here, so when'll the fighting start?"

"You suck at being late," Naruto said, "You missed it all."

"Damn..ramen.." Minato moped, though e regretted his words as soon as Naruto had Yajuu kick him sky high.

"No one bad mouths ramen," Naruto stated coldly, the air about him chilling too.

Everyone present took mental notes to never bad mouth ramen while Naruto was within hearing distance. Things would not end well.

With the mission a success and the bridge finally fully built. Kaiza alive, and who had gotten persmission from Naruto to remain with his family. Team 7 and Team Naruto began their trek back to Konoha.

Sasuke was happy that he would be getting at least his mother back, though he did regret not asking for an upgrade to his sharingan, but he couldn't really do anything about it now. Kakashi was happy that he had his sensei back, sort of since the kitsune didn't act like his level-headed sensei that much. Sakura was happy that she had found a reason to become more serious and also found two role models. Then there was Sai who was hoping that he could become more and that Naruto would be able to make him more human by turning him into a monster.

As for Zabuza and Haku...Kaiza offered both of them a place to stay, away from their lifestyle of constantly being on the run. Which Zabuza turned down stating that he still needed to do his part with regards to the rebellion in Mizu no Kuni, but he did say that Haku could stay. Which the apparently female unregistered kuniochi didn't want happening.

So Kaiza offered an alternative, since Zabuza didn't want his precious protege to come with him, and she didn't want to stay idle with Kaiza, so she was offered up to Naruto. Being offered like property wouldn't have sat well with any other female, but she was quite used to being referred to as a tool so went willingly with the guy that decided that he didn't have a problem adding a Yuki Onna to his list of monsters.

All he had to do was retell the girls life story up to the point of her meeting Zabuza for the first time. Though he did change a few things to suite his needs, like making him the one to give both her and Zabuza a purpose and family, which was what the intention was really. It also gave Zabuza his own transformation, which he didn't mind when he found out. Though having to change his name from simply Momochi Zabuza to Uzumaki Momochi Zabuza was rather surprising and an honor for him.

Zabuza the Demon of the Mist, became a literal demon that could become mist. His Kirigakure no Jutsu was his transformation from the form of a man into his demon form which was a killing mist or fog. Anyone caught inside of his water-wind form could be killed at a moment's notice.

Sadly, his giant meat cleaver couldn't transform with him, thus it had to be left somewhere in his mists. Though he did suppose that he could use it as some sort of scare tactic.

The trip was rather uneventful other than Kakashi getting the group to tell ghost stories around the campfire during the only night of the trip back to the village. Though they did do it only when Naruto had fallen asleep, since Kakashi didn't know what he would do if they were suddenly surrounded by a hundred monster of all shapes and sizes all of a sudden.

Even the monsters didn't know what could have or would have happened if Naruto had been awake while they were playing their little game. Though Hyosube did notice that his master seemed to gain a kind of glow or aura about his person after each story was told. Then he could have sworn that he felt the world shake a little after the hundredth tale was ended.

When they got to a fork in the road that Kakashi could have sworn hadn't been there when his team had left, Naruto's group bid them farewell before walking down the road that did not lead to Konoha.

"Well, see you guys whenever," Naruto said, "Though I'd ask one of the Hyuga to get you in contact with Hanabi if you want to visit me, Sasuke."

"Why the Hyuga?" Sasuke asked.

"Well...my second-in-command, Kurama, is a very good friend of one of the heiresses," Naruto replied before he returned to walking home.

"*"

Sai had indeed gotten the Hokage's permission to shed his human self and become one of Naruto's clansmen. It had the bonus of not only making him stronger, but also gaining him a family and a place to belong. He might even one day be able to get married, have children of his own, and forge a new bloodline for the village.

Naruto had done something rather odd, different to his band of creation when it came to Sai, the story revolved around an artist that had become obsessed with his craft. Eventually his drawings came so close to life that they devoured him in order for him to become one with them. This resulted in the creation of a monster that was made entirely out of ink, one whose ink drawings or any painting even would, come to life and serve him.

He stayed with the two other former Ne guys who lived in the sewers. The place was very liveable, and made trespassers not even think about going there. The underground series of tunnels and rooms was also where Kushina and her pseudo-twin Sumitsuki also stayed while in the village. Though only Sumitsuki and Sai were part of the military.

Kurama had managed to get all the details about Hyuga Harumi's death, it wasn't sickness like most thought it had been. She had not died of a weak body either. What she had died of was assassination, someone in her very own clan did not like her, or the fact that she could not bear Hiashi a son.

It was sabotage from within.

Naruto could work with that. He had a feeling that her spirit was still with both of her daughters, watching over them, which was why nothing really bad had happened to them.

Kurama had also stumbled upon Hyuga Hizashi and his fate.

It would be two birds with one stone. He could really work with that.

Two spirits that had not wanted to leave their family, one who did not want to leave her daughters alone with a father that could not act like the father that he wanted to be, and one who did not wish to leave his son alone since the son's own mother had been forced to forget him.

The root of all this was the Hyuga's elder council, who in a manner of speaking held more power than the clan head regarding some things, or at least that was what the clan seemed to have accepted as the way things were.

Naruto used Kurama as a medium for his voice and power when it came to giving back the two spirits and one additional soul some bodies to inhabit for them to live again. The Shinigami was once again only too glad to hand over a soul, since she would be getting some old ones that she really wanted to have a snack with.

A parents love for their child was a powerful thing, and thus was at the core of Naruto's tale.

It was at night, under moonlight were the three kitsune born, or reborn. It was also on that same night that the hateful members of the elder council found themselves pissing themselves in fright, horror etched on their faces as the Shinigami appeared before them to take their souls for her enjoyment, all thanks to Naruto's softer said additions to his story.

Sasuke had been present for the thing, since his mother had been returned to him after all. She told him some things about their clan in secret after they returned to the still blood stained Uchiha district. She shared with him the things that his brother had wanted to keep hidden from him and take to his grave as well. Itachi was not the traitor he portrayed himself to be, it was the rest of the clan that had been the traitors.

Sasuke didn't really have much love for his father since the man showed very little toward him. It was his mother that really led him down the path of wanting to utterly destroy his brother, as well as led him down the power hungry path which made him quite the heartless ass that he was. His mother managed to straighten him out, though he did still want to feed the Shinigami three old fogies that were more meddlesome than they were helpful it seemed.

Uchiha Mikoto was a black furred kitsune that decided to inform the Hokage of her return to the land of the living, though she did ask that her return be kept a secret. The less people knew about her the less problems her _father_, Naruto would have. Or so she claimed.

She was more herself than Kushina was, but not more than Harumi and Hizashi, those two were white kitsune though.

Sasuke promised her that he wouldn't tell anyone about her unless she gave him the go ahead. She would stay with him, and would tell him if she needed to go home. Home being the Namikaze/Uzumaki compound.

Harumi and Hizashi had their own family, or rather, clan make the same promise after the Hokage was informed of their return. The village just wasn't prepared for kitsune to be among them, even though many had already encountered Kushina walking around acting more like an exciteable teenager than Sumitsuki did.

Neji found it very very odd to have his father with him, and his mother too, she had regained the memories that the elders had sealed away which actually caused her to be moved to the mental ward of the Konoha hospital, only the Twins knew where she was and Hizashi never did bother informing his son about the kid's mother's mental predicament. Though he had been unaware of the cause of her 'bout of insanity.

Neji also found it hard to slow down his change in personality due to the sudden return of his father. He was happy that the man had been returned to him, and that he finally got to know his mother, who thankfully didn't have a caged bird seal on her since she had been a main house member apparently. It was rather weird for him though.

Hinata was happy too that she had her mother back, and Hanabi was even happier since she was the one that started the ball rolling in the first place.

The Hyuga clan and Uchiha family had daiy visits from the Kitsune branch of the Namikaze clan so that the kitsunes could hone their skills when it came to their kitsune-borne abilities.

Kurama enjoyed the growing of his family, adoptive family, but family nonetheless. He actually was starting to give in to the thought of finding himself a mate, preferably not one of his master's creation. He didn't think he could find it in him to love one such a creature quite yet.

This was how he found himself wandering the village at night, letting his feet just take him wherever.

One night, he eventually stumbled upon the ramen stand that his master used to frequent, the blonde still hadn't been able to find the time to visit Iruka and the two that ran the establishment. It was a good thing that the three of them were there. It appeared that the Hokage had also fogotten to inform them of Naruto's survival.

"Excuse me," Kurama said, he looked rather out of place what with his expensive looking kimono and all, "I was wondering if I could get a decent bowl of ramen here, this is a ramen serving establishment is it not?"

"It is," Iruka replied, "Uh, you new here?"

"No, not at all," Kurama replied, "Its just that I have never really been given the privilege to taste the famous Ichiraku ramen before. My former host used rant and rave about the stuff, that I just found myself wanting to try it."

"Former host?" Iruka asked, one hand reaching for a kunai, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm not here to harm anyone," Kurama stated, "My name is Uzumaki Kurama by the way, I'm just here for ramen and to extend an invitation to visit my master. He's been rather busy of late and seems to have forgotten to come see you three."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Teuchi asked, "What's so special about your master, and what do you mean by host?"

He had an inkling of course, but speaking about such things could still get a person killed. The law had yet to be repealed after all.

"I speak of Naruto-sama, of course," Kurama said as he took a seat by the bar, "Do you know of any other Uzumaki?"

"He's alive?" Ayame said, happy and surprised at the same time, not really knowing how to feel since the blonde had yet to personally let them know that he was alive and well.

"Of course he is," Kurama said, silkily, "Did you think for one moment that his release of me would or could have really killed him? Hah! The gods would weep should any such harm befall upon him! My master's soul is far...or was far too pure for it to befall such a pitious fate..." they stared slackjawed as their thoughts and theories were confirmed, "Now about that ramen?"

"Err..sure," Teuchi said, "On the house even, what'll you be having?"

"Chicken," Kurama said, "I am a fox after all."

It was early the next morning did some of the Ichiraku regulars find the stand/bar closed for the day, making them have to go elsewhere for cheap breakfast food.

Iruka had also requested the day off from his duties which the Sandaime had agreed to, the man had piled up quite a large number of vacation time that had never been used until that day. The Sandaime didn't subtract the day either since he did forget to inform the man that saw Naruto as some kind of younger brother and friend about him still being among the living.

The trio made it to the gate where Team 7, their escort apparently were waiting for them. It was considered as a C-rank mission too, they had been hired, not by the Ichiraku duo, but by the Hyuga head family who would be heading in the same direction as everyone else.

"So we waiting for anyone else?" Iruka asked, since the group was still standing by the gate.

"Yeah," Kakashi said, "Hokage-sama said something about a tokubetsu jounin and her twin-something, and two retired jounin, would be joining us...and Anko."

"Any one else?" Kurama asked as he appeared before them, walking out from behind a pole, behind him were the missing people.


	90. D 2

It was a horrible thing to do to a person that had already gone through a really bad childhood already. It was a rather cruel joke, had it been one that is. But it had to be done, there was nothing else to do at the time therefore it had been done. It was a kind of cruel and unusual punishment.

Harry James Potter died, or rather his soul was taken into the great beyond where his parents would be, unless the great beyond wasn't like what most of us thought or think it is. The body was not left alone though. Shoved into it was the soul of one Tom Marvolo Riddle, none other than the self-styled Dark Lord Voldemort. The entirety of the man's soul was shoved into the tiny body that used to belong to the Chosen One of prophecy, a prophecy that was now nullified and voided due to the fun that five almost bored individuals wanted to have.

There were no more horcruxes, no more soul jars, no more anchors to keep a soul from crossing over or through the veil to the realm of the dead. There was just Tom Riddle stuck for the rest of this life in the body that once belonged to the child that was supposed to have the power to vanquish him.

There was nothing he could do about it, he was stuck in there, stuck as a 15 month old baby or toddler or whatever the heck a person at that stage of development was called. He was now officially both Tom Marvolo Riddle and Harry James Potter all rolled into one.

Just to make the transition all the more bearable and less fraught with problems, the five nearly bored individuals bound the majority of his magical might and memories for a time. They would need to be set aside in order for this new lifeform to grow, mentally, physically, magically, and emotionally. His old life would serve as a power boost of sorts, as well as a means to complicate his already to be complicated and complex life.

It looked to be an interesting new life that one former dark lord was going to lead, what he did with this odd second chance was up to him, but the five that made it possible wished that he went around and went down the path of the dark side all over again, and this time win...losing to a one year old was a bit pathetic really.

So that was how Tom Riddle ended up living with his now Aunt Petunia "Magic-Hating-Muggle" Dursley, his now Uncle Vernon "I-Hate-Freaks" Dursley, and his now cousin Dudley "Too-Few-Brain-Cells" Dursley. He clearly hated his three relatives, but found that he could not do anything about it.

He also hated his oftentimes babysitter Arabella "Crazy-Cat-Lady" Figg who lived at the corner of Magnolia and Crescent with her far too many cats and weird cat-something else hybrids, he didn't know what they were but he was sure they were the oddest cats he had ever seen. Some of them were far too smart to be normal house cats.

He had on occasion thought about the many ways he could end the lives of his relatives and collect their life insurance, but he also thought that it would be too troublesome. He didn't want to have to go live with a foster family, all the changes would prove to be too much for him at this stage in his life. So he decided to wait for when he could live on his own and just kill the crazy cat lady's numerous cats one at a time from a far with the strange abilities he found that he had after one day accidentally deep-frying one of the crazy cafeteria ladies at the public school he went to.

When he wasn't making his cousin look like the dumbest person in the world, and when he wasn't being forced into performing slave labor, or when he was not being used as a human punching bag by both his uncle and cousin, he trained in that gift that he found he had. His goal was to be able to do more complex things with it before he turned or by the time he turned eleven.

By the time his eleventh birthday had finally rolled around, he had managed to send the crazy cat lady to the insane asylum after she had caught him skinning one of her precious cats, the last one of them all, alive in her living room while she was supposed to be babysitting him. She had simply gone off the deep and and tried to kill him then and there. What happened after that involved most of Privet Drive watching as the crazy cat lady that a lot of them had babysit on occasion their children chase after the supposed delinquent nephew of those upstanding citizens, the Dursleys, who was quite amazingly not getting himself killed.

Arabella Figg was taken away rather forcefully kicking and screaming, some of the things she said didn't really make sense, but between the nonsense, the spittle, and a bunch of other things that made others see her as some kind of raging mad dog of a sort, no one really cared at all about her well being other than the fact that they had left their children in her care not knowing whether or not she did or tried anything with them.

While their perception of Harry Potter didn't really change all that much, since he still sometimes went out of his way to show that he was one of the nastiest sorts that society could produce and that his relatives must have had hearts of gold to still consent to his living with them. There were a few teenage girls that would have a hard time explaining to their boyfriends or future husbands how they had come to have the name of a Harry Potter tattooed just above their most private and precious of places.

There had also been that one time that he had blown up one of the neighbors houses while said neighbors had been out of the country on vacation. No one could really find any evidence to officially claim that it had been all his fault. He was far too good at covering his tracks at that point int time. He did of course make sure to gather all the valuables for later.

By the time that his eleventh birthday did roll around the corner, he was known throughout Little Whinging as the worst case of delinquency the neighborhood had ever seen. He did everything that he could think of to make not only his life, but the lives of all those around him, miserable or at least hard. While no crimes could really be pinned on him, even the local police force knew that he was bad news. Everyone was looking forward to the day that he was shipped off to St Brutus or some other such school, or simply just away from them.

The beatings his uncle and cousin delivered, served as a means for him to get physically stronger since it was a lot like exercising, his magic made sure that his body healed, and of course his bones, muscles, and everything that was broken received an upgrade in order to be harder to break the next time around. Same went for whatever his aunt had him do, her treatment of him prepared him for a life independent, one fraught with all kinds of evil things, or so he sometimes dreamed.

His birthday was especially special. There were so many fun things for him to do, such as killing his Aunt Marge "The Real Bitch" Dursley's favorite bulldog when they arrived unexpected. Of course the family cleared out of the house to console the woman as well as figure out how the heck the dog had managed to get itself stuck up the asshole of one of the elderly neighbors of the Dursley family, the particular old fart had a tendency to shout at him and complain about him being a waste of space and trash. He didn't like being called trash, and he didn't like Ripper.

With his relatives out of the house he received a letter of invitation to some exclusive school, he replied that he was delighted to be invited and would be attending in the fall. It was also with this letter did he get everything that had been bound unbound, such as the power that rivaled Albus "Too-Many-Names-And-Titles" Dumbledore, which made him more powerful than the old man due to having an equally grand supply of power due to a now nullified and voided prophecy. For a very short while Tom and Harry had been separate and the prophecy had still been in effect and thus the prophecy made the two of them equal in power.

With his power and his full memories at his beck and call once more, he decided that he would still be going to school. It was a new life after all, he still had all that rage and hate inside him, but he found that he liked this second chance of his. He could and would do things differently, maybe. He wasn't really all that sure.

What he was sure of was that around nine or so years of not being in contact with the magical world was something that made him lean towards not acting right away, he needed to get a feel for everything before deciding on a more solid course of action.

That and he really didn't get to enjoy his childhood and teenhood all that much his first time around. He had his chance and he was not going to squander it, not that he really could squander it due to him not needing to go and do a lot of the things he had done the first time around, like create horcruxes, they were unstable pieces of work, or perform dark power boost rituals, he was even more powerful than the headmaster whom he had feared already.

He left his loving relatives a note that they wouldn't be seeing him until next summer since the school they had planned on sending him to have come and picked him up, he claimed that the men in white ordered him to write the letter explaining to them how he would be treated and a bunch of other things, such as that he would be brutally trained in how to be a more productive member of society.

It was a very good thing that he didn't need a key to get to his personal vaults, he had left explicit instructions that no key would be used, but a password as well as his unique magical signature. The goblins agreed to let him try to get into the vault, even though he didn't look a thing like the person the owned the vault. But instructions were instructions, and he passed and now was four vaults richer.

He had gained access to the Voldemort vault (or Riddle vault), the Gaunt vault, the Slytherin vault, and one of a set of three Peverell vaults. He didn't really bother with the Potter vaults, or trust fund at this point really, he did instruct his, now, account manager of his serpent vaults to coordinate with his Potter account manager to periodically transfer funds from his trust vault to his Voldemort vault.

Once done with his business at the bank, he proceeded to procure the listed items required for school, though he didn't got with the standard student stuff, he was above such simple things. He had the money, and thus he spent it. It felt good to have money and be able to buy things with it, he never really did bother going shopping in his last life.

It was during this time that he found out that through one of his ancestors, in this life and body, he had gained a shape shifting ability, in short he was a metamorphmagus, which was a very very good thing. Especially when it came to meeting the Malfoy family, he really did a number on of of his inner circle members that had dared to betray him in some way, shape and form.

He greeted Lord Malfoy with his serpentine English accent, had his eyes bleed into crimson, gaining some serious serpent slits in his eyes, and well, freaked out the man when he activated some of the magic in the Dark Mark. It was good to be him most days.

The rest of the time before September the first was spent in Knockturn Alley where death, chaos, and destruction were relatively normal things and the aurors didn't really care all that much about what went on in there. This allowed him to practice all those spells that he had been wanting to practice for a long long time now, or ever since he regained his memories.

Once he finally found himself on the train the Daily Prophet reported massive dark creature and wizard casualties had been found in Knockturn Alley, a Ministry investigation was underway as to the cause or culprit. Not that anyone really cared all that much that the world was short a number of vampires, werewolves without much backbones, hags, banshees, drunks (Mundungus Fletcher), and a bunch of other unmentionables.

He had had so much fun, he compared it to all of his previous exploits and it was easily the most fun he had ever had in both his lives and bodies. There had been no rhyme of reason for what he had done, he just went out and did his thing.


	91. Evolution

He was three years old when his uncle had dropped him off in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on his back. He was a clueless boy back then, but that did not remain so for very long as there had been someone waiting there at his drop off point for him.

It was a man with only one distinguishing feature.

He wore an immaculately white lab coat. Everything else seemed to keep changing with every glance, every look, every angle. The man's face, age, body type, everything save for that lab coat changed.

The man, who didn't share any name, brought him to a lab, as he would later learn of what it was called, and began ordering him to do all sorts of things, and when he either refused to do them or did not know how to to them, the man would somehow make him do these obscure and odd tasks.

He had food enough, clothing enough, shelter enough, and a whole host of other things that the cousin that he could clearly remember would probably take for granted.

Clearly remember. He could remember everything that he had managed to see, hear, feel, smell, experience. He had a perfect memory, a mind that could not only retain vast amounts of information without forgetting anything, but could process that information as well. At astounding speeds too.

He wasn't quite sure on how long he had remained in the lab setting of wherever the man in the lab coat had taken him. All he knew was that time progressed ever forward and within each day there were numerous tasks for him to accomplish as well as numerous bits and pieces of information for him to digest.

The true passage of time was two years, at the end of those two years, when his routine was finally changed, he was a walking talking modern day version of the Library of Alexandria. That was how much information was crammed into his skull.

After having all of that knowledge and know how crammed into his skull, forever to remain there for him to call upon, he was forced into unconsciousness, coming to several times within the span of two more years but never staying or remaining awake of his own volition for more than a few scant minutes.

He did not know what had really gone on during those two years of his being forced into a nearly vegetative state. All he knew was that when he woke up, finally, and without being forced back into adventuring in Slumberland, his body felt very different.

He had memorized what his body felt like, and this body of his that he had woken up to was not like the one he had had when he had first been forced to fall asleep.

It was after examining himself, using all of his senses that the man in the lab coat came into view once again.

The man then explained, without prompting, what he had done to him, the boy turned lab experiment. He was like Frankenstein's monster now, just not hideous at all and not as susceptible to destruction by fire or any other means for that matter.

The man went on to inform him that he was the first of his kind, he was a progressively, passively, and actively, adapting and evolving individual. Not in the social or emotional sense, but in the physical sense. His body was that of evolution.

He was told that his body had been changed to the point that he would be able to survive even at the deepest and darkest of depths of the oceans of the world without having to worry about the pressure or breathing for that matter. His body would adapt to the changes of all the external forces around him.

Of course that hadn't encompassed all of the potential changes that his body could undergo.

The lab coat wearing man explained that the boy could evolve or adapt or simply either turn into or gain the characteristics of other living and even non-living things.

All he would need to do is absorb some of their essence, or something that made them what they were. For anything within the animal kingdom it was very simple. Blood.

For non-living things, it was a combination of immersing himself in whatever that thing was, knowing the ins and outs of that thing, and also his body just adapting or becoming that thing.

The man then went on to explain how everything worked as well as all the biological tweaking that had been done to the boy without his express permission, not that the boy had it in him to really mind for this lab coat wearing mad scientist was the only semblance of family that he had.

The two of them continued to remain in the company of one another, the lab coat wearing man playing the role of observer of the initial stage of his experiment while the boy just explored the possibilities for the next two years.

It was at the age of nine that the boy was let go.

He was freed from the leash or chain that had tethered him to the lab coat wearing man. The man claimed that the boy no longer held any interest with him. It was time to move on to other things or people, and thus he left the boy with the complex that the two of them had used for the past six years, that and a substantial amount of resources for the boy to use for the remainder of his days, which were quite a lot based on the lab coat wearing man's calculations.

There was one thing that he had not learned or gotten any true experience with while being in the constant company of the lab coat wearing man, that being social interaction. That was not to say that he didn't know anything about it, just not how to accurately go about it. The only interaction that he had had so far was with his relatives that dumped him in the middle of nowhere, the lab coat wearing man, and his parents and their friends back during a time that such interactions did not and could not count as real experiences.

With the lab coat wearing man performing a perfect disappearing act, as in leaving without nary a trace of his previous presence, the boy went exploring and went about familiarizing himself with the rest of the home that was now solely his. He hadn't had the chance to familiarize himself with it all within the past six years.

Now with the chance and the need, that's what he set out to do for the next two months of his first year of independence.

The complex was far larger than he had imagined. It sat upon the top of a mountain surrounded by a dense forest. The complex itself resembled some sort of modern day fortress and not a simple constructed set of buildings made out of stone or wood, but of metal and a whole host of technologies. The likes of which the rest of the world had yet to stumble upon.

It was after the first two months of independence were up that he decided to venture out of the complex and explore the world that he chanced upon an instruction manual of sorts that the lab coat wearing man had left him. It informed him about everything that he had yet to discover of his new home as well as where in the world it could be found.

He was quite astonished to discover that the complex, the mountain, the forest, and the waters that surrounded all of it, were not of the world that he had been born to. They, he included, were all located in a separate yet connected dimension. It was like a pocket dimension but couldn't be referred to as such due to the sheer size of the place.

The manual also contained detailed instructions as to how to get in and out of the dimension, as well as how others might either be brought into or out of the place.

There were even suggestions on what he could do to make the place less devoid of non-plant life.

One of which was to re-peruse the science fiction and fantasy sections of his mental library, as the complex had the facilities to bring to life almost anything. Almost.

Dead parents were among the bullets in the not-possible list.

So he went about fiddling with the controls of temporarily artificial intelligent lifeforms, temporarily because they would eventually gain full intelligent life status through some means that the manual did not explain. Not that he really cared for the explanation. He just cared that he'd have company, albeit company that he could boss around.

He briefly wondered where that thought came from and chalked it up to his time with the lab coat wearing man who just kept ordering him around.

He went with Star Wars, not the clones, but the droids. He didn't think he could handle ordering around people just yet.

He had the device that could create such things make him all sorts of droids from simply spy drones to the more complex types like medical droids or security droids.

He knew how to give out orders, he knew about organization, he knew quite a lot of things, which included what he lacked in knowledge. The main point of which was human interaction or social interaction, which he decided to rectify by venturing back into the world of his birth.

He took a single droid with him as a precautionary measure. It wouldn't do for him to be without some form of protection, that and it would be rather suspicious of a nine year old to be wandering around without adult supervision.

#


	92. F 001

They threw him into that hell hole after he had served his purpose. They had charged him with murder of all things, and didn't have the honor to even give him a false trial. He was literally thrown into his own little hell on earth since somehow the idea of him becoming the next great threat to peace had entered their minds.

Runes of all sorts and complexities covered the walls, floor, ceiling, and door, of his cell in hell. They had fitted him with magic suppressing cuffs as well as a number of other bindings to make his stay in hell all the more painful.

He was cut off from a part of himself, a rather large part of himself too. If that wasn't enough, he was also left to the tender mercies of his greatest fear which were the physical representations of fear themselves.

Dementors.

The days dragged by, the betrayal that he had experienced when a whole world had turned its back on him after he had sacrificed everything for them to get their peace was quite a blow to him and his mental state.

The separation from something that was a large part of himself, the betrayal, as well as the effect that dementors had on him tore at him from both the inside and out. What he was not aware of during his stint in this hell was that even though he was being torn piece by piece apart, he was also growing stronger and stronger.

What didn't kill you was supposed to make you stronger. This was exactly what was happening to him. The world that had betrayed him made sure that no matter the torture he experienced he would live on, it was believed that his punishment needed to be a fate worse than death.

As he suffered this seemingly eternal torment, he subconsciously continued to fight against his bindings. Magic was like a muscle, the more it was used, the stronger it became. But it wasn't only magic that was being used and was like a muscle, his physical, mental, and spiritual energies were being strained and used until they broke from the strain only to be rebuilt anew better than ever only to be broken again to be reformed stronger than before. It was a cycle that was unlikely to stop.

He didn't know how long it took before the weakest of the bindings started to actually weaken, or how long it had been before that weakest link in the chains that bound him began to break apart.

While it seemed like an eternity before the first sign of weakness in the bindings reared its head and made him aware of something other than his suffering, to everyone else only around a hundred and fifty-five years had passed since his imprisonment. Most had actually forgotten about him. He was that forgettable since he had been thrown into hell before he could actually do anything more memorable other than save the world and bring peace that is.

Bring peace, end the fighting, or most of the really bad fighting at least was all he had been remembered for, but what had become of him had eventually become something that no one cared to remember or think about. What he had done was swept under the rug more or less.

Since the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort at the combined efforts of the Heroes of the Battle of Hogwarts the magical world, all over the world, began to actually have some advancements. Eventually even what they used to keep prisoners in prison and compliant had undergone an upgrade, the dementors were eventually deemed as useless things of the past, and since they could not be destroyed they were sealed away in Azkaban fortress in the part of the fortress where the one that actually ended Voldemort was being kept.

Another hundred years and a half passed before the first of the links in the chain finally eroded away, which was what started the chain reaction of all the other bindings to rapidly decay. It only took half the time it took the first binding for the rest to follow in decay.

It was at about the time that the human race decided that it was time to take to the stars that he finally awakened. It was a reawakening of sorts, he had been a shattered mess for hundreds of years, and thus it was only right that one day all the pieces would fall back into place and he would be whole again.

His very own cell crumbled as he stood on shaky legs, legs that had not been used in hundreds of years. He practiced walking, or crawling at first. He was like an infant once more, having to relearn how to move about.

It took him a year to remaster his body once more, and several more years to master the rest of himself. That rest of himself being his mind, his spirit, his magic, and of course his soul. His immortal soul, that which had absorbed everything that had been keeping him alive and had essentially turned him immortal.


	93. F1

He had been born Harry James Potter, the son of Lily and James Potter. Or at least that was what was recorded officially in the ministry files and his birth certificate. But such things contained human errors in them, this was the magical world after all where DNA was unknown just as was the rest of anything to do with genetics. Had anyone bothered with the mundane side of determining who a child's parents rightly were, it would have been discovered that Lily had done something she shouldn't have done.

Not that anyone could have stopped it from happening.

She had been drunk at the time, James had done it in order to get her relaxed enough for him to properly operate and do his own bit of magic. There were some things he wanted to try with her that he was sure she would have objected to had she been sane at the time. The plan had backfired on him marvelously since he too had gotten drunk, too drunk to do anything other than snooze the night away.

Lily had known about her husband's plan and decided to go along with it, and make him think in the morning that he had succeeded but had not been all that happy about it. But in her delirious and drunken state she had failed to notice that the being that she lay beside was not her husband in the slightest.

It had been a member of the Tredecim, a group of thirteen individuals not spoken about in polite circles or at all for that matter. They were only mentioned scarcely in old and decaying dark tomes, they were rarely if ever mentioned as even those dark and evil wizards and magic users of old feared them, though not as much as they each feared death.

The Tredecim were just below Death himself, the anthropomorphic personification of death, the final and inevitable truth. They were Death Reapers, those that guided the souls of the living to the afterlife, or so most thought that was all that they did or what happened to the souls of the departed.

They were immortal in their own right, and powerful to boot. Though rarely prone to mischief, there were those times that anything to alleviate the monotony of their existence was needed and opportunities presented themselves.

Had she been sober she wouldn't have become a means to an end.

The Tredecim hadn't been expecting anything to come of the adulterous act, but something had been conceived that night. An apex predator like no other on the planet. The lifeform conceived from such a union would be brought into the world without a need of the nurturing of a parent, not that it would not welcome it. It just wouldn't need it.

Harry James Potter, was what had been conceived that night.

From the moment he first drew breath, the world around him shivered in unexplained, yet expected in a way, fear.

He had been born with a full set of teeth, the fearful thing about them was that one moment they could be as sharp as the sharpest of knives and the next they were as brittle as sandstone, but could just grow back. The Potter couple also later learned that their child had a slight shapeshifting ability, but for the life of them they couldn't figure out why their little bundle or...trouble...could only shift his appearance into dangerous or horrifying things.

He'd skewered Peter Pettigrew once he first got home from the hospital and the man had to be raced to the hospital post haste just to make sure that the portly man survived the injury.

It was then that it was decided that he was absurdly powerful, by Albus Dumbledore standards and needed his core and the majority of his tapped and untapped powers blocked or sealed away for the greater good. Not that it did anyone any good, since his powers weren't exactly magic-based.

Healers had given up trying to compile a medical dossier on the child. They had found it too dangerous for themselves. They just chalked it all up to the boy being either cursed at birth for some reason, or some kind of family magic was at work.

James hoped it was family magic of some sort, as he didn't want there to be any complications in his little family in the future, for if it were family magic of a sort, then there wasn't really anything to worry about. Other than the fact that he had grown to wishing that something would come and take away the little demon that had taken the place of the son he had hoped to one day have. His wife was almost of the same mind, but she just couldn't find it in herself to hate her son, her own flesh and blood.

Not that he had much blood flowing in his veins for that matter. To anyone other than himself, or in the future anyone he chose to trust or not harm or to protect, his blood was more corrosive a poison and acid as basilisk venom. Just one drop of it could burn a hole through the hardest of diamonds.

He was death given life in a way, fear given form. He was a little monster, that was what he was.


	94. F2

He had been hurt, absorbing the Killing Curse had been a very painful experience, especially when it shoved a piece of his attacker's soul into his soul and tried to stitch the two of them together. His body and soul rejected the foreign magic and soul, and only managed to shove out the killing part of the curse. The foreign soul on the other hand was not shoved out, nor was it stitched to the dominant soul. It was swallowed up by the dominant soul.

It was absorbed, it was assimilated into the dominant soul, making everything that it was the dominant soul's own. Tom Marvolo Riddle's hold on that piece of his soul, of that accidental horcrux was severed and it no longer served as one of his anchors to the world.

This soul of the Dark Lord Voldemort was all that it took to unseal and activate something that had been forced asleep by Albus Dumbledore when the dominant soul's mortal shell was born into the world. A block had been placed on a majority of the soul's magic and powers, as well as categorized as dark heritage.

It was at the moment that his heritage was unleashed within him that he became more than all those around him envisioned him to be and was. He was no normal wizarding child, he was a scion of magic on a whole other level. He was a classification unto himself.

He was not even entirely human to begin with, something that no human magical would have been able to tell.

He was a Potter, that was still true, what he was not however was a child of James Potter, the man his mother married. His biological father was born from the power of another Potter, an even older and could even be considered as ancient one.

Primoris Tredecim was a Potter in that he had been created by one, everything that he was had been created from the power of a Potter.

It was not that the Peverell brothers had tricked Death, in truth they had been given late birthday presents by Death himself, the Being that had created Primoris Tredecim and the rest of the Tredecim. They were the Generals, Lieutenants, Commanders, or Leaders of the Death Reaper Corps, they who guided departed souls to their after lives, their next great adventures.

Harry James Potter was a lie, the truth was Harry James Tredecim, but still remained a Potter. He held more right than anyone amongst the mortal and the living to one day wield the title of Lord Potter.

His mother was a mortal muggleborn witch, but her magic had to come from somewhere which was a distant memory found in her blood. She had the blood of the House of Acerbus in her veins, as well as the blood of Iunctio. Though she didn't know it, she had been powerful and her blood heritage had helped her protect her son from the Killing Curse as well as break the barrier which Albus Dumbledore had placed restraining his powers, which would have stunted his growth in the future.

With a mortal for a mother and an immortal for a father, he was surely not human or could be classed as a regular mortal either. He was like those children of the Greek gods from ages long past, who were more than the mere mortal man. Though in this case he was definitely more monster than man.

With the, what would later be termed as, rebounded killing curse slamming into its caster, Harry James was left along in his room, in his partially destroyed house. Only to be rescued by his godfather only to be abandoned in the care of Dumbledore, both directly and indirectly.

This treatment lead to him being left on the front stoop of Number 4 Privet Dr and ending up causing the unexplained **Massacre of Privet Drive**, which would occur four years later.

His mind, body, and soul, immediately began solidifying his control and hold of his inherited powers from the moment that they were unleashed within him.

Being that his mother had been human, he had a human form, but seeing as his father had not been human and didn't really have a single solid form he had an unstable one. His default form was human, the one which every human that he had met up to the point of losing his parents would associate with him, while his other form was that of a shapeshifter's, it changed depending on his mood or wishes. But most of his forms revolved around death and violence more than anything else.

He was born an Apex Predator, and it had taken Albus Dumbledore believing that his powers could be a danger to his young body to seal that part of him away for a year or so.

He had been abused from the moment that his mother's sister took him into her home. The woman made sure to mistreat him emotionally, while his uncle and cousin made it a point to make him as physically weak as possible as well as physically damaged as possible.

It was some months after his fifth birthday did he finally snap, his human mind and sentience making way for the more terrifying aspect of his being, he let his inner monster from beyond the veil take over. His mortal shell gave way, ripping and tearing in places as his inner and still slightly unstable monster form tore its way out.

He had been in his cupboard under the stairs, he was more than starved, he was more than thirsty. He was on the verge of death, and his heritage demanded that he live on, that he survive, therefore it took over and the more human part of him let it. It was the more powerful of the two after all. It also had a different diet.

His human form ate what any human would eat. While his monster form ate about the same, but also had the added ability of assimilating souls, or a part of them since departed souls still needed to go to the afterlife, these ones weren't guided they fled while some others would be sent directly to All Hells for some reason.

As far as extraterrestrial lifeforms went xenomorphs were considered as being at the top of the food chain, but Harry was something else, he was half way beyond the veil, that separated the world of life from the world of the after life, and thanks to magic he was way more dangerous than some old alien life form.

Once free of his mortal shell, it was more like the shedding of a skin like a snake or an insect shedding an exoskeleton, he attacked the first living thing that came into contact with him.

His uncle.

His uncle had just unlocked the cupboard door to drag out his freak of a nephew for yet another beating, he expected bones to be broken thing time and hoped that the freak finally died.

What happened was that he had been pulled into the cupboard screaming in fear and pain which attracted the attention of his wife and son. They came running and tried to get him free, before failing and resorting to calling the authorities for help. They came and that was when things went even further downhill.

Once Vernon had been freed, it was revealed that half of him was already eaten, it was like witnessing the aftermath of a shark or piranha attack on land and from a cupboard under a stairs rather than from a river or open water. These firefighters and police officers then tried to get to whatever it was that had done so much harm to such a large man.

Their flashlights lit up the small quarters and showed signs of abuse, but it wasn't all that obvious what with Petunia sobbing and Dudley looking fearful for the very first time in his life. They dared not speak about what lay within the small cramp space for fear of attracting attention to themselves.

The next thing anyone knew was that whatever was in the small space sprung out and proceeded to rip all the people in the house to shreds before leaving pieces of flesh strewn about, bones littering the floors, and blood littering everything else.

The neighborhood would have to be evacuated, but before anyone could begin to move, it was already too late.

Harry was like a cloud of pestilence and death, he was like the black plague reborn, as he covered the whole of Privet Drive with his smoke like form, consuming all that he could get his smoking self on. None were spared the horror of his hunger and his need for nutrients to heal and be whole again.

By the time that backup had arrived it was far too late to save anyone, and Harry was already gone. Gone to his next meal.

He was out for revenge, from what he had gained from the fragmented soul he had consumed upon the activation of his inheritance, he knew just who were going to suffer and provide him sustenance next.

The Death Eaters, the ones that got away.

Since he had already had his fill, he solidified his form, hardening it like a new skin, reforming his mortal shell. His first victim was Peter Pettigrew, tracking down such a rat was easy especially since he had some personal experience with the rat animagus. He knew the scent of the traitor well.

He snuck into the home that the rat resided in, and snuck around, using what he knew of stealth both instinctive and not. He located the rat and proceeded with the extraction.

He almost got caught, but managed to get away without being seen for who he was, only that he had stolen the family pet, and only the family pet.

It would be a few days later that the family would discover the half transformed remains of Peter Pettigrew at the edge of their property. The remains were also half eaten, Harry not really enjoying the taste of traitor that morning.

He had gotten quite a lot of information from the rat, like who were truly loyal to the temporarily fallen dark lord as well as who were cowards. He also found out a lot more about the world he had been born into. His role, what was expected of him, and a bunch of other inconsequential and consequential things.

He went after those that no one would really miss, those who didn't have any family to speak of that needed caring for. He had some morals and something like a conscience after all. So he avoided people like Lucius Malfoy or the Crabbes and the Goyles.

He would appear at the home of one of the _imperiused_ Death Eaters in his human form and claim that he had run away from an abusive home. The person, either living alone or living with a husband or a wife that was equally as guilty of joining the Death Eaters, would then welcome him in.

They would take care of him, show him kindness, while at the same time plot ways to use him for their own gain and plan out how they were going to get rid of him.

After a month or so of such treatment, they would make a show of their goodwill by making him heir apparent to their titles, if any, and everything else. He was the sole benefactor in their wills. This was the usual ploy to get the goblins to surrender control of his accounts to them.

When the ink was dry, and all were promised to him, he betrayed them and their beliefs of him by devouring what he could of them. This usually happened before a goblin representative that turned the other way, but proceeded with transferring everything to Harry's name.

Such a trend continued to until Harry was around ten years old. Many local and foreign Death Eaters and a few dark sympathizers had fallen to Harry.

Some goblins in their greed had tried to steal from him or wrest some of his riches from him. They had all failed. Those loyal to him were rewarded, while those that betrayed him in most any form were never seen alive again. Only some form of their remains were ever uncovered.

It was by their deaths did the goblin nation know to be extra cautious of Harry. It was also only after the first hundred deaths of goblin kind did one of their number, a certain Griphook, notice that Harry that visited their banks wasn't entirely human. Something had always nagged at the goblin's senses, something had grown in him telling him to flee. He, a warrior, of the working caste had fear crawling deep within him. It was only when Harry had spoken him face to face for the very first time about betrayers and traitors that he realized that there was just something in the child's aura that was particularly well beyond the realm of sinister.

After that meeting he delved into the nation's local archive of knowledge that could possibly shed some light on what manner of monster Harry's mother could have possibly mated with to produce such a sinister aura in one so young.

He chanced upon the information by accident. Tredecim. It was the one word that that stood out among the great list that he had compiled.

It practically reached out to him, as it did catch the attention of one of the archive staff that had chanced upon him at the time of his research. The goblin had died after reading that one word, that one name. He hadn't panicked as death was a part of life, he did panic when a cloaked figure that resembled a Dementor appeared beside him over the fallen goblin.

It was the one that shared what it knew about the Tredecim and about the young mortal half-Tredecim Lord. It was quite a shocker to find that the child was still a Potter, though through an even more ancient line and not James Potter.

All the goblins could do with the knowledge of just what dangerous blood Harry had flowing through his veins and coils was keep it to themselves and hope that Harry didn't find a reason to attack them, in the near and distant future.

Dying was normal, death was to be feared.

They benefited from his being one of their most prolific of clients, his numbers soared with each passing month. He had them in his pocket, and there wasn't anything they could do about it. Unless of course they wanted to meet their maker that badly.

From the goblins that he had taken into himself, he learned quite a lot about the goblins as a whole. He was even more knowledgeable than even the goblins themselves, thanks to piecing an even bigger picture about the race from so many points-of-views.

The goblins weren't the last magical race that became more or less under his thumb. But they were indeed the first.

The next race that couldn't help but remain on his good side were the vampires, they were as much alive as anyone of the world of life, and thus feared destruction. Some of their allies and sources of nourishment had been among those that Harry had consumed. They sought retribution for what they believed to have been unwarranted attacks.

Those that had gone off to remove Harry from the world of life never returned to their own clans. All except one. She had been the one hundred first that had gone after Harry. She had been particularly fond of the wizard that had provided her clan with sustenance as well as game, which was the reason for her attack. She had also been the first and only female to do so.

She had been spared, barely though as he had used her to deliver as message to the rest of the vampire race. Cease hostilities or find out what a true monster was capable of. He also used her to track down the governing body of the vampire race.

When the elders of the race refused to stand down, especially after they had lost a hundred of their best warriors to him, they learned why it was not wise to mess with one whose blood could become even more corrosive than basilisk venom.

He took down one of the elders with so much ease that they wondered what manner of monster's blood flowed through his veins. Not that they could find out with how poisonous he could make it. Blood was sacred, he knew that from Tom and the goblins. He would not be sharing it with the likes of them.

All he had done to make his point had been to slam a hand through the vampire elder's chest and absorb said vampire in that manner. Nothing had been left, not even the vampire's fangs.

Harry had been standing on the opposite end of the meeting hall from the vampire that he had devoured through his extended appendage. By this time he had mastered how to be in a half state.

He moved on from vampires to werewolves, all he really did was kill a certain Fenrir Greyback and he gained dominance over most of the European werewolves. Fenrir who had been the strongest had been taken out of the picture by a nine year old at the time that the deed had been done.

Greyback had learned how to control the transformation, and even how to keep his mind during the transformation. Being the new leader of these children of the moon, Harry taught a few how to make their curse a blessing, before having them form their own power structure amongst themselves while he went off to do whatever it was that he wished. They only approached him when they absolutely needed his decision on something.

When he was eleven years old, he received his Hogwarts letter, he returned the invitation with a reply of two letters: NO.

Rubeus Hagrid was found dead, half eaten inside his pumpkin patch a week after the first letter had been returned to sender. Harry didn't really like stupid people, especially those that decided that it was a good idea to leave babies or toddlers in the care of abusive Dursleys or trusted old men who did things for the greater good.

After that, well, it took three more bodies to be found leading up to the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry before the letters finally stopped being sent.

He spent most of his time doing self study on a number of subjects, literally anything that caught his interest got him wanting to know more about it. The rest of his time was spent either hunting for food or sleeping. He didn't really do much else, especially after he had run out of cowards to consume in the name of revenge.

His twelfth year alive was spent hunting down and finally gulping down another fragmented piece of the soul of the former man or monster that had taken his family away from him. He had also managed to acquire for himself a lot of basilisk related things. Tom's teenage self hadn't stood a chance against Harry Tredecim.

It was also during that time that Harry managed to make a friend, of sorts. Ginny Weasley didn't really know what to make out of the twelve year old boy that had could turn into a pitch black dragon that looked closer to being a member of the undead rather than of the dragon race.

She had been sworn to relative secrecy about what had happened down in the Chamber of Secrets. Though she did share with her parents and friends that she no longer had a crush on the Boy-Who-Lived. She now wanted to marry a dragon.

No one had ever really encountered a dragon that could turn human, and so the headmaster had sent word to Romania where he had some contacts in the dragon industry about such a possibility. Word was sent back that it could be possible that such a dragon existed, as there were many things about dragons that even the experts didn't know about.

Though there was still one question on the headmaster's mind, which was how such a dragon had managed to enter the castle and go into the Chamber of Secrets undetected, there was also the question of how the dragon even knew about the Chamber.

Harry's thirteenth year was spent mostly doing what he had been doing when he was eleven. With the exception of making sure that his godfather left him everything in case the man died. He did not really deserve the title of godfather after he had prioritized revenge over his responsibility as a godparent. The man's only worth to Harry became his wealth and political power.

Once Harry managed to get that from the man, he did as he had done to Pettigrew. No one really cared about some escaped convict since the Ministry of Magic hadn't deemed Sirius Black important enough to proclaim innocent since no one bothered with motioning for something like that to happen after the body of Peter Pettigrew was found.

When Harry turned fourteen he received an invitation that he had not been expecting at all.

He wasn't really much of a fan of anything, so it came as a surprise to him when he received a letter asking him if he would like to attend the Quidditch World Cup finals. The invitation had come from Ginny who had finally worked up the courage to ask her crush out, in a sense.

He had been rather surprised by the invite and decided that it wouldn't really hurt if he were to accept, and accept he did. He reply of acceptance was accompanied by him informing her where she could find him. Gringotts since the goblins _loved _him.

The Weasley family had been rather surprised when they received a reply to the invitation. Molly Weasley, Ginny's mother, had thought that there really wasn't much of a chance that such an invitation would be received and accepted even. Since there was a letter which stated that Ginny's crush was willing to attend then she could not go back on her word regarding her daughter's attendance of the game.

The next day found the Weasley family walking into a busy Gringotts Bank where security looked to be even tighter than usual. After informing a teller what their business with the bank was, they were escorted by a platoon of goblins deeper into the bank where they also met up with the eldest of the Weasley brood, Bill who had been transferred from the Egypt branch to the London one.

They finally reached a cave, deep beneath the earth's surface. It was barred like most of the older and higher security vaults. But unlike those vaults which had a goblin-type of dragon guarding it. This one just had the vault door, a door that only a goblin would be able to open. It wasn't a prison, but it did serve Harry's purpose as a home.

Solid walls could not stop him from moving, since he was part of something that lived in the afterlife.

The goblin guards ran as if their lives were on the line once the vault door had been opened by the goblin in charge of them, Griphook, who remained with the Weasley family and escorted them inside.

The interior of the cave-like vault could fit at least two Quidditch pitches. It was filled with a number of knick knacks and a bunch of other things in between. The place was lit up by a river of fire that lined the walls.

But even with all the fire, it was rather cold in there. As if imitating the touch of death or the presence of a dementor.

"He has been expecting you," Griphook said, as they reached another vault-like door, "He awaits inside, hopefully already wide awake and having already eaten. I care not to find out, so good luck.."

The goblin then bolted away just as the goblin guards had done before him. Leaving the Weasleys along in front of the unknown.

Displaying her Gryffindor courage, Ginny was the one who knocked on the vault-like door. The family waited for a minute or two before Bill confirmed that he could hear numerous locks and the like clicking away, as a number of locks and gears began moving to open the thing. It wasn't that it was a large door, but that it was rather thick, and he was sure that it was of the kind that was meant to keep things in rather than out.

There was only inky blackness that met the family upon the vault-like door opening fully showing its contents. There was just no other way to explain it, they were looking at blackness, at darkness.

It was Bill who first got out of his stupor, he started taking a few steps back, something which caught the attention of his family.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked his older brother.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," Bill admitted, as he continued to move back, "And I'm pretty sure that's not a dragon, of any kind."

"Guys", Ron, said.

"Yeah?" the rest of the family minus Ginny, said.

"Its moving," he said, and pointed in the direction of the blackness.

Harry was sleeping, and hadn't been expecting the goblins to not wake him up for the meeting. They probably wanted something from the encounter, either that or they were really scared after what happened the last time one of them had woken him up.

He gave a kind of roar as he woke up. He didn't really like being disturbed from his slumber, and so did what the goblins had expected him to do. He rushed out of his sleeping chambers like a flood of black water. He sought out all living organisms big enough to provide him with breakfast and latched onto them.

"Its me Ginny! Stop!" he heard a girl's voice shout, it had a hint of fear in it, that was normal, but the name wasn't so he stopped. Then became fully awake and aware. It was a good thing he hadn't started to eat yet.

He retreated his dark self back into his sleeping chamber, the family that had come to visit or pick him up had enough sense in them to make a break for it and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction that he was in. All of them except Ginny.

She stayed where she was and waited for the one she thought was a dragon to come out and greet her or something. He came out a few minutes later, sort of. It was only his human head as the rest of himself was still compressing into himself and reforming his human body, including his clothes.

"Sorry about that," Harry's head said, "I wasn't expecting you to come by so early, or for the goblins to not wake me instead of have you wake me up. I'm rather grumpy in the morning and haven't eaten yet."

"Um..." she didn't really know how to react to that statement, as well as see him as just a human head attached to something that looked like liquid darkness and smoke.

"I thought you were a dragon," she then decided to say.

"I can be," he said, and began to shift into that black dragon form of his that he had used to rescue her from the basilisk.

"Um...I think it would be better if you...um...were human," she said, not really sure if she was insulting him or not.

"I can do that," he said, "I'm a bit sluggish in the morning, so it'll take me a moment."

His head moved forward and the next thing she knew, the head was attached to a teenage boy's body wearing pitch black robes. His robes and other clothes didn't really have any designs or things that made them stand out other than the color. They kind of reminded her of the dementor's clothes from her last school year when the Ministry had had them guard the castle from the late Sirius Black.

"Its nice to see you again Ginny," he told her, after brushing his lips against her knuckles she had blushed a bit at that, "I take it your family must have run away."

"It looks that way," she said, "Maybe we should go look for them? Or we can wait for them to remember that I'm still here."

"I guess we can go look for them," he agreed with her and lead her in the direction he was sure his family was running back from. They had probably discovered the herd of, visible to anyone's eye, thestrals. He didn't eat any of them since they were his pets, of a sort. They were the ones that ate the goblins that the goblins of the London branch threw in his home as their death sentence.

The pair ran into the fleeing Weasleys a few minutes later, the thestrals were immune to most spells, even ones that could be used to control them. It had something to do with living with Harry for so long. His powers kind of bled off onto them.

"Stop," Harry stated, holding out his hand in the universal sign for stop, "They're not food, I'm sure there are still some goblins running around or hiding. Go eat them."

There was a demonic whinny, and the thestrals were off hunting goblins.

"I apologize from trying to eat you earlier," Harry told the still fearful for their lives Weasleys, "I'm not much of a morning person, and I also haven't had breakfast yet."

"A-apology accepted," Arthur said, stuttering slightly, "Why did you stop, if you don't mind me asking."

"Your daughter managed to stop me," he replied, "What happens now? I don't normally interact with humans."

"We were hoping that you'd stay with us until the Finals," Arthur said, "We were originally going to take you with us.."

"Its fine with me," Harry said, "The goblins won't mind that their waste disposal specialist leaves for a few days."

"Ah, that's good to know," Arthur said, "Well I guess introductions are in order. I'm Arthur," he then motioned for Molly, "My wife Molly," then pointed out his children, "Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron, and of course Ginny, whom you already know."

"Nice to meet you," he politely said, "I'm Harry."

"Um..Harry.." Ginny said.

"Yes?" he said.

"If you're not a dragon, what are you then?" she asked him, somewhat shyly.

"I am a half-Tredecim," he answered, "Which I'm sure you have no idea what that is."

"I know what it is, or they are," Bill spoke up, he worked around things that could kill a person and thus could have gained some know-how about them.

"Oh? Do tell" Harry said.

"You're something like a demi-god," Bill said, "You're half-immortal. The Tredecim are immortal, and also are not of the world of life. Griphook shared that he learned about them after a fellow goblin died near him."

"Is that all you know?" Harry wondered.

"I also know that in all the world, you are one of a kind at the moment," Bill stated.

"True," Harry said, "I am a human-Tredecim hybrid. You could say that if the Ministry of Magic knew about me, they'd class all of their current stock of dark creatures as solidly in the light to make room for me in the dark category."

"I see," Arthur said, "Well, that doesn't change the fact that you are still welcome to join us, and stay with us."

"I'll come with you then," he told the patriarch of the family of redheads, "We can go now if you wish."

Harry didn't take anything with him anything he would need could be found within himself, his body was kind of like hammer-space in a way as it was.


	95. F3

Harry Potter died that Halloween night, that night that his parents had tried to protect him from the Dark Lord Voldemort. No one knew that fact, no one had known that the prophecy that lead Voldemort to the Potters was also fake. No one knew, yet its contents still came to pass in the minds of those involved.

What no one knew was what exactly had transpired within that home in Godric's Hollow, or what was the real identity of the child that Sirius Black had managed to rescue from the house, the very same child that Severus Snape had also stumbled upon which also distracted him from the corpse of the real Harry Potter.

Albus Dumbledore had been fooled into thinking that the child he had left outside of Number 4 Privet Drive was Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Savior of the Wizarding World, the defeater of Lord Voldemort. He was a fool in trusting a prophecy predicted by a fake who used her grandmother's fame to boost her so-called abilities. She had an the eye, it was open, but barely, her gift was not strong enough to speak of something so crucial to the shaping of the world.

Petunia Dursley, she was no fool, and she knew instantly that the child she had been left with to care for was not her sister's son, the child wasn't even related to her sister or her sister's freak of a husband in the sense of father and son or anywhere close to his blood. She knew, which was why she had convinced her husband to take the child to an orphanage, the blood wards that in the letter explained how they would work would not work with her and the child. Something had told her that they weren't related at all, and she listened to that something, for she knew that it usually gave her the right advise.

He was, in truth, the child of a monster, not some run-of-the-mill magical creature or scientific mishap that had escaped from where it had been kept. But the child of actual monsters, things that were not meant to roam freely in the world of life, as they were normally confined in the world of the dead where they performed their duties regarding the state of death.

The child was the result of the union between two sides of existence, the world of life and the world of the dead. He was a child of the Veil that separated the two worlds. He was the son of a chaos goddess and an immortal.

His mother was Tiamat, the Babylonian chaos monster and goddess of the sea, in her mythos she was the mother of the gods. His father was Primoris of the Tredecim, the leader of the Tredecim who were the leaders of the servants and soldiers of the anthropomorphic personification of Death otherwise known as Death himself.

There wasn't really much to say about the child during his early years, he was just as immortal as his own parents, he was everliving which meant that he couldn't die of old age, but it did not mean that he could not be killed if his head was cut off...not that it was easy to determine whether or not the head that one say on top of his shoulders was his real head.

When he was old enough to think for himself, make his own decisions like whether or not he wanted to be alone, he spent most of his time isolated, like a hermit, away from the other children of the orphanage. He wasn't very sociable, keeping to himself most of the time and only interacting with others when asked or forced to.

He wasn't much of a people person, it was just that he didn't or couldn't really find it in himself to relate to him. Their problems were only similar to his own. He wasn't like his peers in the orphanage, he wasn't abandoned or anything of the sort. He even knew who his parents were, they hadn't left him and weren't in any condition not to take care of him. It was just that he was no longer of an age that he really needed them.

He chose to leave his parents' care. He chose to move into the world of life. He chose it. He also chose to be the one to deliver the nearly killing blow on the Dark Lord Voldemort that night the Potters had all perished. It was an offering to the god that he worshiped as even immortals and gods had gods of their own, though very few knew that little fact.

His god wasn't really a god, per se, but one of the primordial elements of Imagination, which was the canvas on which the painting that was everything had been painted on. This particular element was Death himself, who was the creator of the Tredecim, which kind of also made him the boy's paternal grandfather.

He really didn't stand out in the same way that others at the orphanage he stayed in stood out, he wasn't one of those attention seeking or lively children, he was the one that sat in a corner or by a window and seemed to stare off into space. He didn't really care for much of anything during his time spent there.

Most of the time it was as if he wasn't even there. He was easily ignored or overlooked and in some cases, forgotten.

His name was indeed not Harry Potter, no amount of magic would make it possible for him to be recognized by that name. Magic would not acknowledge such a claim as it was not powerful or old enough to supercede his original and birth name, the one his own parents had given him.

He was Harold Abzu Tredecim. He was named Harold in homage of his more-or-less paternal grandfather, Abzu after his mother's first husband, and of course Tredecim was his surname for that was what his father was 'Of'.

The orphanage hadn't really had any problems with finding or figuring out who he was, since when he had been dropped off, he had with him his birth certificate along with a letter that contained a different message from the one that Dumbledore had left for Petunia and a different one from the one that Petunia had left for the social workers.

It was a letter that had taken the place of the one that had been originally left with him, it was a letter than had slipped through one of the tiny cracks that could be found in the Veil that separated the two worlds from one another. It was a letter from Primoris, and simply stated that his child should be taken care of until he turned _eleven_.

Harold was already older than eleven when he had taken the place of Harry Potter. He was already a teen, so it was that he was a teen trapped in a slowly aging human body, something which he had been given by his parents as a gift before he was allowed to live a life in the mortal world. It was a physical form that contained what he was, which was a nearly formless entity.

He was a child of shadow, smoke, steel, and soul, as well as a child of the primordial waters of Babylon. His human form looked similar to what Harry Potter had looked like and would or could have looked like, but with a few similarities and differences.

He had the lightning bolt scar, but that was more of a parting gift from the Being known in the world of the dead as Letum, sometimes called Charon. He had black hair, but it wasn't messy but neat and long. He could usually be found with a ponytail hanging from the bank of his head. His hair was like silk, but at the same time had a quality, consistency, and color of shadows.

He had enough mass on him to not be seen as underweight or overweight. He was where he needed to be for a child his age, physically. It was strange, but he kind of did look like a combination of what Harry Potter would or could have looked like and James Potter.

Just like Harry Potter, he had green eyes, but instead of emerald or killing curse green, his were seaweed green, but were he ever angered or feeling any sort of strong negative-like emotion, his eyes would turn completely black.

His mortal shell and human skin were easily discarded for his true form should he have need of using his true form or a part of his true formless form. His true form was formless only because there was no such thing as a permanent of base shape that it took when he was idle.

But that didn't mean that he hadn't acquired his own favorite forms. He had a wraith-like form, which might remind most mortals of the grim reaper, it was based on his father's default form which was that of a wraith. He had a winged form, his physical human form merely sprouted wings from his back, black feathered ones. He also could turn his formless self into a half man half serpent, from the waist down he was serpent from waist up was a human, but with a few more serpentine attributes.

His favorite forms could be mixed and matched since they weren't permanent forms.

While for most of the year he spent his time isolated from everyone else, he did interact with others freely and voluntarily during Holloween. It was the one night of the year that he could freely go about wearing whatever face or form he wished, and no one was the wiser. It was also a night when he had no problems spending time with his parents, and extended family.

One Holloween he had _dressed up_ as Charon and had crossed the Thames, ferrying other children from one side to the other. It scared the life out of some people, since no photographs or video could be taken of him, as if he were a ghost himself.

Another Holloween saw him as a Dementor, he had terrorized a medium security prison while masquerading as such. It had been the most frightful of Halloween's that the prison had ever experienced, as well as the most hellish. Not even the guards were spared from the effect of a dementor's presence.

On his eleventh birthday, he was released from the care of the orphanage. In a way befitting the son of one of Death's finest Death Reapers. The orphanage burnt to the ground, the names of all those that perished had been slated to die that night, they were written in that part of the world's Book of Life.

The only survivor of the fire had been Harold "Harry" Abzu Tredecim, who had been found by firefighters sitting just out of the reach of the fire. It really creeped them out when they realized that he was not terrified or sad or looked to be feeling anything.

They had some police officers watch over him while they continued to work, but later on found the two officers that had been watching him gone, as if they had never existed in the first place. Harry Tredecim was nowhere to be found. Not that anyone knew exactly what his name was.

All records of his existence, were suddenly placed under the classification of classified, and to even view just a tiny portion of the first page required an absurd amount of time and patience to even achieve or acquire the proper forms to request the ability to even view that tiny bit.

He found himself staying in the Choco Chugger, which served as a pub and inn for wayward souls in need of a place to stay while in the haunting cobblestone pathways of Knockturn Alley. The owner and proprietor was a friend of his father's and thus room and board was on the house.

It was there that he received his Hogwarts letter, a letter he had been anticipating. He sent back a positive reply using cursive, the ink he used wasn't really ink as much as it was the blood of a basilisk, something which he could easily acquire since he could turn himself into one.

He didn't have to worry about a professor coming to take him on a tour of a world he was a part of. He knew all the ins and outs, and he didn't require any guidance from a mere mortal who would probably fear or feared more than half of the rest of the magical world.

His first visit to the Wizarding Bank of Gringotts, goblin territory had been an interesting one. The goblins didn't know what he was, but they did know that he wasn't exactly human, he just looked the part and felt the part, but something about him was just off. Goblin guards were on him like stripes on a zebra as soon as he crossed the threshold of the bank.

They were more than wary of him, especially when their wards detected that he was a danger to not only them but to the rest of the world. Which was true, being the son of a goddess and a death reaper and all.

He was escorted to a teller, which was quite the spectacle to behold due to the importance that the goblins seemed to give him. Though any that asked were told that the goblins were not protecting the child, but protecting everyone else from the child.

Goblins were already known for being quite against wizards, so it came as no surprise that they didn't like even children. But to go to such an extent sent a few people reeling in shock, for them to view a child as some sort of threat sent ripples throughout the community within the bank's territory.

The bank was on high alert, security was heightened and tightened. The goblins were secretly preparing to defend themselves from something that they could not hope to comprehend or understand.

"I am here to make a withdrawal," Harry said, "Not shed the blood of goblin kind. No rivers of crimson shall flow, unless your kind deals the first blow," it was said with such ease and veiled threats that the goblins sent secret messages to their comrades to be even more prepared, it seemed that it would take only one of their people to cause the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of goblins.

"From which vault shall you be making your withdrawal?" the goblin teller inquired politely, or as politely as one could.

"From this vault," he placed an obsidian key on the teller's desk, and waited for the goblin's reaction.

It was the first time that anyone at the bank, client and employee alike had witnessed a goblin turn stark white. The goblin teller knew which vault such a key would open, the goblin guards had an inkling which caused them to shake with a bit of the case of the nerves.

It was the key to the vault of Azkaban, not the Ministry accessible one, but the one that was open to those with the specific key as well as any of those that in a way ferried the dead off to the after life. They knew about the Tredecim, it was a tale to remember for their race, having decided to go off to war with Azkaban Fortress for riches that they thought could be found in such a heavily guarded stronghold.

They had failed in their invasion, something which had cost them dearly, for they had gone against one of the armies of Death himself, and only a few of them had lived to tell the tale how the afterlife had ripped a tear so big through the veil that separated life and death just to defend their domain in the living plane.

Azkaban Fortress suffered no losses, but the goblins knew that they could have become extinct that night.

Now, here was a child bearing a key to the vault. Such a nightmare inducing vault, it was a peace offering to Azkaban, one which the guards and living undead inhabitants rarely ever bothered withdrawing from. In the vault were the riches and treasure troves of all of the goblins that had fallen that night, along with interest. It was quite a trove.

It was also guarded by quite some powerful and unexplainable protections. To be near even just the vault door was as if one were in the very presence of Death himself. His presence lingered there.

A thief had tried to break into the vault, he was a goblin, a greedy one, and knew that any goblin could open the vault. He had tried to, but his intentions were clear. The next day his body was found, or at least his husk was. It had been drained of all fluids.

"What are you?" the teller inquired curiously, peering down at the child.

"I am Harold Abzu Tredecim," Harry said, "Remember it, and my name should answer your questions as to my parentage. I would also like to claim the Potter, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Peverell, accounts."

"How can you claim such accounts?" the teller inquired, "They rightfully belong to Harry James Potter, who all know still lives."

"Walk me down to my vault," Harry said, "And I shall share with you this information which you seem to seek."

"Very well," the teller said, and called over a replacement for himself and personally escorted Harry to the carts.

Since it would not do to offend such a high profile and dangerous client, the teller slowed down the cart to a manageable speed, until he received a glare from the client and thus sped up the cart to faster than it normally went.

"Harry James Potter, son of Lily Evans and James Potter, is dead," Harry said, "He died that Halloween night by Voldemort's Killing curse."

"Then how did the dark lord die?" the teller said.

"I killed him," Harry stated, no hint of a lie, "On my life and magic, what I've claimed is the truth."

There was a brief glow of light around Harry, which confirmed that he still had magic in him, and he was also still alive.

"I see," the goblin said, "And what of the claims?"

"I have a higher claim over anyone else alive to date," Harry stated, "On those four full accounts and inheritances. My father, Primoris of Tredecim is the creation therefore son of an ancient Potter who goes by the name Contristo Acerbus while in this world of life. The Gryffindor and Peverell lines are simply older names of the Potter name, therefore having no real difference. The Hallows were gifts for three mortal descendants of Death himself, much like I, in a way, am. Slytherin I claim my right of conquest from when I destroyed his mortal shell and sent his fragmented spirit from within it, wishing for death to claim him."

"Are you willing to swear to that?" the teller asked as they neared the dark depth of the bank's catacomb-like underbelly, which was also where the Azkaban vault had been situation.

"I am," Harry said and was about to when the goblin held up a clawed hand.

"Your word is good enough at this point," the goblin said, "I shall inform those in-charge of those accounts of your claim and shall personally set a date for things to be finalized."

"Very well," Harry said, "Shall we?"

They had reached the vault's platform by that time, and walked up to the formidable vault door. There were several dried up husks and skeletons littering the outside of the vault and the platform itself was made out of the bones of the fallen goblins that fell during their invasion of Azkaban.

They key was inserted, twisted, and Harry was rewarded with the sight of the contents of the vault. It had been enchanted to never run out of space, and therefore was a bit like hammer space in that it could go on for forever, and hold that much mass in it.

He took a step into the vault and sucked in one of the smaller mounds of gold into himself, his own body serving as his money pouch. The goblins escorting him had found it eerily fascinating that he could perform such a feat.

"I am a Tredecim and a son of Tiamat," Harry stated, as if it explained everything, then walked around the vault for a good half hour before deciding to just come back at a later date, but he did ask that a list of the contents of the vault be made for the next time he visited the bank, for easier perusal.

Upon reaching the surface once again, he politely thanked the goblin teller for his help during his visit of the bank and wished that his coffers overflowed, and was wished the same in turn.

"...May the souls of your enemies bring a smile upon the visage of the final inevitable truth," the goblin teller had told him before leaving him to his own devices just outside of the bank.

With funds in hand, Harry made his way to the wand shop to get himself a wand to use for show, since he didn't really need one to perform magic, his brand of magic didn't even require any kind of movement whatsoever. He could just whim or wish something to be, and it would be.

Getting his first wand didn't really take very long, as soon as he entered the shop all of the wands didn't want to get near him. Not even the one that was tailor made, more or less, for the Boy-Who-Lived. So Ollvander sent him off with his personal recommendations to a wand crafter's shop in Knockturn Alley.

That was where a wand was fashioned for him, one that didn't fear him or its own future. It was a wand that could turn into a staff if Harry so chose. It had a bone casing, instead of the usual wood, and powder for a core. It also had a kind of focus inside it to concentrate the magical flow and direct the magic.

The powder was of a purple and blue color combination. All the materials had come from a care package of sorts that had been left in the wand crafter's care. The only identification of the one that had left the materials was a note that read 'the Purple Grove'.

The wand had been a perfect fit. It was made from a carved leg bone of a Tredecim, the focus was a donated eye of a devil, and the core was the blood, of sorts, of magic.

After getting his wand, he stored it away within himself, just like his money and everything else he was going to be getting during this shopping trip.

He bought all of the things that he was supposed to get, and then some. The only thing he refrained from getting was a pet or familiar. He couldn't really get one of those, since just stepping near the shop had caused many of its inhabitants to try and get away from him. The only thing that could even possibly want to get close to him would be a phoenix, but something like that was not likely to happen. Or a dragon or basilisk.

Being a member of an extensive family that expected the unexpected or at least were supposed to expect such things, he had not expected to even find a familiar, by accident too. It was in the form of a raven of all birds. Harry didn't really mind and simply accepted the bird that instantly became attached to him, and even allowed it's self to be stowed away somewhere in the pocket dimension that was Harry's ever changing true form.

When he was done with his shopping, he returned to his room at the inn, and remained in the inn until it was time for him to make his way to Platform 9 ¾, he knew where it was, having visited the platform in the past already. He had accompanied his father in picking up a soul of a person that had been unknowingly run over by the Hogwarts Express. The Ministry of Magic had deemed fit to obliviate everyone that had witnessed the gruesome event.

He got onto the platform and made his way to the train, he bypassed everyone that he passed. He didn't bother with anyone. He was hermitic in that way. It suited him, and the other people didn't really seem to mind all that much.

Most people didn't even pay him any mind. It was more due to the fact that he was unconsciously making himself blend in like a chameleon with his surroundings.

He didn't want to be disturbed or his personal space to be invaded in any way. Though he did pity some people, those that were looking for a dead baby, the ones that were looking for Harry James Potter.

He found himself an empty compartment and settled in, letting his raven out to perch on his shoulder, while he let tendrils of darkness take up posts by the door and windows to alert him to the approach of anyone. He then went to sleep.

He was woken from his slumber by loud talking or more like arguing. The noise coming from the mouths of two fellow first years. It grated on Harrry's nerves, and thus he woke and took hold of the two that had disturbed his slumber. His raven cawed loudly in indignation as it too had been woken from its own slumber.

The two eleven-year-olds didn't really know how to react to their limbs being bound by black octopus tentacles and being glared at by a black haired fellow eleven year old.

"You will speak with your indoor voices or I shall keep you restrained as you are presently," Harry said, then waited for their dual nods before letting them go. The pair dropped to the ground, from which they had previously been separated from via the tentacles which receded back into Harry.

One was a blonde blue eyed boy, while the other was a hazel nut eyed redhead.

"When did you get in here?" the two boys asked, their voices held the hints of fear that they were feeling.

"I have been here since before you two probably entered," Harry replied, and motioned to where he had been sleeping a moment ago.

The couch really did look slept in, so the pair didn't comment on how they had been unable to sense his presence. He slept like the dead, and was as overlooked as them.

"Ok," the pair said, "So...uhm...what are you?"

"I am a freshman," Harry replied as he sat back down and motioned for the two to do so as well, "You may continue with your discussion, but keep it down."

Harry went back to sleep, almost instantly.

Instead of getting back into the grove of their argument, they decided that they still knew nothing much about their companion within the compartment, and decided to disturb him again, but this time with wands drawn. It was likely the first time that they had ever willingly decided to work together.

They tried to shake him awake, but only ended up getting themselves suspended in the air via the same tentacles that had held them in the air the first time. They struggled to get free and were only let go when the food and snacks trolley cart lady knocked on the compartment door.

They landed with a thump on the floor, just before a tendril of darkness slid open the door.

"Anything off the cart dears?" the trolley lady asked.

The two on the floor scrambled onto their seat and purchased something each, to get the memory of what had just happened off of their minds. While their freaky companion bought a few of this and a little bit of that.

"Why did you think it was a good idea to try and wake me?" Harry asked them calmly.

"Well, we didn't really get much information from you the first time," the blonde said, "I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy, by the way."

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," the red head said, "We two don't usually get along, but...well.."

"Fine," Harry said, he sighed in slight defeat, "I am Harry, Harry Tredecim. I would say that it was nice meeting you two, but that would be a lie."

"Err...alright then," Draco said, then asked, "Are you pureblood by any chance," he did not think that potentially insulting someone with unknown gifts and powers was a good idea.

"Who's definition of pureblood?" Harry inquired, "I know of a number of definitions of the word, and if you are referring to wizard, well, I'm not entirely that or one at all for that matter."

"Then what in Merlin's name are you doing onboard?" Ron asked, he didn't know whether to act surprised, cautious, or anything along those lines for that matter.

"I received a letter of invitation, and therefore decided to partake of the education offered to myself," Harry replied.

"Surely your parents must have had something else in mind for you," Draco asked, he knew that his parents had considered sending him to Durmstrang, but had chosen Hogwarts since it was nearer and had a tad bit more history to its name as well as reputation.

"Oh, by the time I had received my letter, my parents had already taught me all they believed I needed to know," Harry informed them, "This Hogwarts education is just an adventure for me, something to do, to pass the time. I care not for the supposed benefits of getting a Hogwarts education will bring me."

"I see," Draco said, "Well, whatever. You're here, and we're here. Might as well make the best of it."

"What he said," Ron said, jutting a thumb in the blonde's direction.

"Are you proposing something?" Harry inquired.

"Not really," Draco said, "Just that I personally think we could be of use to one another, all three of us. Make this Hogwarts experience more worthwhile."

"I don't really mind being in cahoots with the two of you," Harry stated, "I guess, you could be called a gain."

"I'm in too," Ron said, "I'd like to think that I did something of my own volition once I leave the school."

"Then it is settled then," Draco said, "No matter which House we end up in, we'll be...allies of a sort."

"Its good to know that you're thinking with a clearer head than I would have pegged you to," Harry said, "Now if you will excuse me, I shall be going back to sleep."

He promptly dozed off once again, this time with no tendrils of darkness hovering about. It showed both his boredom and slight trust in his new compatriots. His raven took one last look at the two eleven year olds before diving into Harry's slumbering form.

The pair of humans gaped at what they had managed to witness, it wasn't everyday, even in the magical world, that something like that happened.

Some time after Harry had fallen asleep, approximately two hours after that event, the compartment door once again slid open. Not by a prompt of 'enter' or 'come in', but was just opened. It was rather rude of whoever was on the outside, or that's what Draco thought of it. Ron didn't really bat an eyelash at the action since his brothers had a habit of doing so with him whenever they were all at home.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" was the question that was asked by the interloper, "Neville's lost one."

"Have you no manners?" Draco one third asked, a third demanded, and a third insulted her upbringing.

"Who cares about a toad," Ron said, "If I had one, I'd lose it as soon as I got it. They're lame."

"No toad would be foolish enough to come within a meter of myself," Harry stated, sitting up, "Lest it had a _death_ wish."

"Fine," the female interloper said, "You could have just said no."

She slammed the compartment door shut and continued on her way, searching for the toad of whoever Neville was.

"I'm wondering why she doesn't just summon this toad to her," Harry said, "Or ask an upper year to do it for her. Barging in on everyone without knocking...if she weren't a girl, I'd hang her by her ankles out the window for the remainder of our journey."

"You sound like you don't like her already," Draco noted, Ron nodding in agreement.

"Aren't we supposed to get to know a person first before deciding that they're not worth the trouble?" Ron asked, he didn't want to be thought of as stupid or ignorant by these two. One was still a relative, yet dangerous, unknown, while the other was a former rival.

"Normally yes," Harry said, "But first impressions count for something. I don't like her already."

"I agree with him, I guess," Draco said, "Irregardless of her purity."

"I'm not into that blood purity thing, but I'll agree that she has atrocious manners," Ron said, "Just a fair warning, I do too."

"At least you know," Draco said.

They then lapsed into a comfortable silence.

#

Only two students had dared to stand near Harry while they waited to be welcomed into the Great Hall. Draco and Ron, their peers would later praise their bravery and stupidity for their decision to remain by their _friend_.

Harry Tredecim was an imposing force to be reckoned with, and a figure not to be messed with. His aura alone caused the majority of his fellow freshmen to keep their distance, they didn't like the feeling of violent death that permeated the air around his close vicinity.

When they were called to enter, Harry and his two companions remained at the rear so as not to scare their year mates even more than necessary.

The sorting was done in alphabetical order, with the A's being first, and the Z's last.

There weren't that many of them..

Draco had been dumped into the House that he wanted to be in.

Ron would as well.

When the name Potter, Harry was finally called out the whole Hall shushed, and the waiting to be sorted students parted like the Red Sea. The only ones not to move were Ron and Harry, since they were both in the rear.

Some students expected Harry to be the Boy-Who-Lived since he looked so much like the James Potter some of their parents described or showed them in pictures, which was who the savior was supposed to look a lot like.

Harry didn't budge.

Instead the double doors of the Great Hall parted to reveal a confident Harry Potter, a twin of James Potter including the eyes, eye color of children could change after all.

Harry knew that the person behind where he stood was not the real deal, this was just an orphan that Dumbledore had stumbled upon who had the exact name of Harry James Potter. Wizards didn't really care for DNA verification, and thus it wasn't known that the person that looked like how they perceived their savior to look wasn't the real deal.

Dumbledore had found his golden boy, even though he didn't live with the Dursleys. The boy trusted Dumbledore, like the old man had hoped. So no one was really the wiser..

'_Until the kid finds out that he can't block the Killing Curse,_' Harry thought as he remained in his spot, not even giving way to the Potter that the goblins would not permit to claim anything related to the Magical Potters.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the sorting Hat shouted out loud for all the Hall to hear.

Gryffindor was happy, the staff were happy (most of them), HJP was happy, they all were satisfied that their expectations had come to pass. Harry didn't really care.

"Tredecim, Harold," the deputy headmistress and Transfiguration professor called out.

Once more the remaining first years parted like the Red Sea, looks of fear etched on their faces replacing the awe.

He walked up to the raised platform where the ceremonial stool sat and the hat rested upon.

The hat lifted off of the stool and landed on his head without much fuss as it didn't have the necessary appendages to run away screaming, though it could perform the screaming part.

'_WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU HERE? HOW DID YOU GET HERE?...NEVERMIND DON'T ANSWER THAT!_' the hat hollered into his head sounding nervous and scared and panicky, '_AS MUCH AS I DON'T WANT TO SUBJECT THIS SCHOOL WITH YOU, I CAN'T DO THAT! ARGH! PICK A HOUSE!_'

'_Hufflepuff,_' Harry mentally demanded.

'_Are you sure?_' the hat asked, rather surprised, he had been honestly expecting a demand or request of Slytherin or Ravenclaw even, but not Puff.

'_You are made of magic, you live through magic. Magic is alive, and therefore you can still die,_' Harry stated mentally. It was a threat, obviously.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the Sorting Hat shouted, this earned Harry some applause from the Hufflepuff table, but the clapping soon lessened due to the first years sharing their feelings about him. The House of the loyal and the hardworking, were having second thoughts about their being loyal.

He stepped down from the platform and headed for his House table, his fellow badgers took gave him some room. Lots of room. Not that he even cared or minded, he did catch a disapproving glance that his new Head of House gave the rest of the Puffs.

The rest of the sorting was more bland than those two incidents.

But the feast, the Opening Feast was something else entirely. It wasn't just the food or the chatter, but also some of the strange and unusual things that happened around Harry. Some of his food, specifically the meats, came back to life, growing back what they had lost along with some of their life, and it was then that they were devoured by mouths the size of a small dragon's maw sprouted from Harry's hands or arms and downed them whole. It was like watching tar or simply darkness feasting on the resurrected flesh, blood, and bones, of the feasted on food.

It was a rather disturbing sight to behold, which caused the Gryffindors to instantly label him as dark and evil, when he was just dark but not evil.


	96. H1

He didn't think he could spend another second doing nothing. He had been granted a free pass straight to heaven by Death himself, yet he didn't think he would be regretting the decision of going and receiving his eternal reward with all of his memories intact. He didn't see what the big deal was, he was told that he had that option being one of the souls that had obtained and managed to hang onto the title of Master of Death.

Other souls only retained what was necessary and not everything else, but he had retained everything including the trash. It was a part of his eternal reward. He never knew that it could be so empty. He wondered how it could be heaven, if he had all of his memories and have no one to spend eternity with. Weren't his parents supposed to be waiting for him in the great beyond, wasn't all of the rest of his family supposed to be there with him as well.

He wondered why it was so empty.

He then one day found the most interesting and infuriating note. It lay on some pedestal that he had apparently ignored existed.

'Chose reincarnation, heaven too boring, waiting for you, whoever you are, got boring,' the note read. It was infuriating. Apparently choosing to retain even some memories was like having an eternal punishment since one still remembered what it was like for time to pass by or flow forward.

He didn't enjoy his stay one bit. He didn't or couldn't find anything to do, and the things he did find he could do he needed someone else to do it with else it got boring real fast. Apparently all those forms and documents and choices he had been so impatient to get over and done with were really important especially what to expect in heaven if it was chosen.

He wondered if perhaps hell would have been a more interesting and alive place. He had heard some other souls jovially rejoicing the chance to return to hell and serve in those unholy armies once again. He really had to wonder why they were so happy, it was hell, where the sinners and general bad people went.

He really didn't like it. He thought heaven was what one made it or perceived it to be. But if this white all encompassing space of white void was supposed to be heaven, what was hell supposed to be like for him.

He wanted out of the boring expanse that was supposed to be his eternal reward.

He tried calling out for someone to hear him. He didn't like all this loneliness. There should be something more to all this emptiness than just himself and a white void that had the occasional blemish.

"_Fine, fine, shut up!_" Death himself said materializing out of shadows that he didn't even know were there, "_Heaven not like you though it would be?_"

"Why's it empty? Why is only myself here? Where are the friends and family that are supposed to greet me upon my arrival?" the raven haired old man asked.

"_Your perception of Heaven, what is it?_" Death asked him.

"I...family, friends...isn't it?" the old man asked, he wasn't so sure anymore, now that he had to think about it he really didn't know, was it possible that the only reason why there was nothing save for him in heaven was that he didn't know what heaven was for him.

"_I would have been easier if you didn't have all of your worldly memories...heaven would have been much simpler to attain if you didn't have all hat baggage, the Mirror of Erised if you looked into it now would might show nothing actually seeing as you believed that you were content with your life, long and happy as it had been,_" Death said, "_Heaven is different from life, and what true heaven is for you...well...you'd have to be innocent, a cleansed soul or a free one to find this heaven of yours. You have many conflicting thoughts, and many memories influencing what you perceive to be real and not. Many things are keeping you from seeing __what you want, desire, and what your heaven could still be._"

"Is that all you can tell me, about this barren heaven that is?" the old man asked.

"_Well...as I understand it, or as how I understand you, the one thing in your whole life that you might have perceived in life as heaven and peace, would be for no one to be there to bother you,_" Death said, "_In life you did not ever enjoy being in the spotlight. It is what caused some of your closer friends and family member to grow a bit distant from you as time wore on. They were still there for you but they eventually all grew to accept the fact that you were as close to an actual hermit that they would ever get to find in their lives._"

"So...since I was the closest thing to a hermit as anyone I knew could find, my perception of heaven was solitude?" the old man asked, Death nodded almost imperceptively, "That...had I not had the garbage still in me, had I left all that behind in the Halls of Judgment, would I have been able to see all those that I loved in life and those that still love me in death?"

"_Hard to say, I'm not you after all, but perhaps you would not be stuck in this emptiness,_" Death stated, "_I admit that back when I wasn't Death himself, I didn't really enjoy the spotlight, but at least I didn't take it to the level that you did._"

"You were alive once? There was a time that you were not Death himself?" the old man asked, it was a curious thing.

"_Oh yes, I was a dark lord destroyer, a weapon or an old man whose ideas shaped the end of everything,_" Death elaborated a bit, "_I'm not much of a fan of manipulative old men hell bent on becoming immortal in one sense or another. So what do you propose to do now?_"

"What do you mean?" the old man asked, "I want heaven! Not this emptiness!"

"_Can't give something I don't have the power to give,_" Death stated, "_If you want it...well...it takes more than want. But I can offer an alternative._"

"What?" the old man asked.

"_Reincarnation," _Death offered, "_Instant reincarnation. More like I'll merge you with a yet to be fully formed soul. Your virtues and sins won't be weighed, and whatnot. You'll have some of your memories from your life and afterlife up'til the point that I send you on your way, but they'll be dormant until something triggers them awake and accessible. How about it?"_

"Just my memories?" the old man asked.

"_Well, I guess all the power you have amassed up to this point as well if you so wish," _Death said, feeling generous, "_I'll even add all the material wealth that is in your name that is not tied down. So how about it?_"

"Will I get to chose heaven again?" the old man asked.

"_Depends on your choices in the new life of course, you'll be starting from relatively scratch, a clean slate...sort of," _Death said, "_This life you are still in a sense living will not influence the outcome of your next life, should you chose to live it._"

"Fine, I accept this instant reincarnation thing," the old man decided, "Anything's better than this void."

"_Thank you for just making my century,_" Death said, "_Now just one word of advice before I send you on your way...or hmm...nevermind. Heaven is how you perceive it, make it, and all that jazz. See you on the other side kiddo!_"

#

He was being chased by his cousin and his gang of bullies around the school after school again. It wasn't his fault that he was so scrawny and that his uncle more or less gave his son the go-ahead to make his cousin's life as uncomfortable as possible. He was fast for his age, seven he thought or believed his age to be, he wasn't really sure since he never really got the chance to celebrate his birthday and his aunt never bothered to tell him when it was.

There was a lot of things in his life that he was unaware of.

But the one thing he was very well acquainted with was pain and hardship. He knew the value of hardwork as well as making sure that everyone around him underestimated him.

He tried to avoid trouble as much a possible, which was accomplished by doing everything that was expected of him as well as everything that he was ordered to do. If he was told to jump, he jumped, if he was told to stab himself in the eye...ok maybe not everything. That was a little bit extreme and his uncle had tried to get him to do something as stupid as that.

He thought that today was just gonna be one of those days where his cousin would eventually catch him and beat him within an inch of his life where he would somehow heal so fast that he wouldn't even have a bruise by the time he got back to his relatives' house for his daily dressing down and insult session.

He was wrong when he thought that it was gonna be just one of those days, another normal day in the life of a kid that really couldn't do anything about his fate since there was apparently some guy out in the world that wanted to make sure that he remained with his relatives irregardless of his treatment there. It was sad really, he had seen several police officers come and go, several child services people come and go, all of them eventually ended up on the news after visiting him. The news reports claimed that they had gone insane or gotten amnesia so bad that some of them had even forgotten to breath.

His cousins were pursuing him in what was not their usual route, it lead to behind the school at first but somehow ended up with them heading for the front of the school where there were sure to be a lot of witnesses to his beating if he was caught there. He didn't want the humiliation and thus willed himself to run faster. He made sure to look like he was having fun, it would not do for his cousin and his gang to get in trouble if other parents began to think that they were bullies or something like that.

He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going which eventually led him to the middle of the street. The red light had just turned green and thus he was ill prepared for what happened next.

Slow down school zone and all that was not enough to save him from getting smacked around like a pinball. Some irresponsible college students had dared to drag race passing in front of the school. Beat the clock or something like that, or maybe they were playing chicken with everyone else. He didn't really care to know. All he knew was that it was possibly one of the most painful experiences of his life. He was hit by one 4x4 then by a regular family car, followed by a motorcycle, then a truck, one, and so on and so forth. Who knew a kid could ricochet off of multiple speeding vehicles and still come out alive.

It would have been comical had it not been for the seriousness of the situation. A kid had just run onto the street and been hit by multiple vehicles while his _playmates_ just seemed to laugh at his predicament not knowing that their parents would be getting an earful about their behavior.

Sure Harry Potter was viewed as some kind of delinquent, but what kind of person would wish such a fate on any child. Bad influence on other children or not. Seven and already a no good little boy that refused to be grateful that his aunt and uncle had taken him in after his drink and drug addicted parents had died in some car crash.

It was some kind of scene out of a Saturday morning cartoon.

His battered and beaten body was finally located by paramedics on the other side of the road between two buildings. It was one of those kinds of spaces between buildings that only the skinniest of kids could ever hope to somehow get stuck in.

Paramedics didn't know how to get him out or even tell if he was alive or not.

The parents of the innocent bystander type of kids took their children home so as not to get even more potentially traumatized by what had just happened in mere moment.

Parents and teachers alike noticed how Petunia arrived, picked up her son and his friends as a favor to their parents and drove off not at all caring what had happened to her nephew, not even caring to know why there were paramedics and other social workers and government workers suddenly arriving at the place. While she normally would have loved to get in on the latest gossip, she had to look like a responsible mother rather than just some gossip.

The neglect she had shown her nephew was lost on her but not on everyone that recognized her.

Teachers quickly informed on scene officers of the trapped and heavily injured boy's identity as well as that his next of kin had just left him in school not caring at all to question where he had been. They couldn't believe that the boy's aunt expected him to walk home, a seven year old walk home. It was very irresponsible and they wondered why child services and social services had not done anything about such treatment.

HE wondered why there were so many people that kept peering into where he found himself stuck in. Sure it was painful, and his eyes were swollen shut, but he was awake and once again his threshold for pain had shot up. He couldn't feel any of them pain that should have knocked him unconscious or killed him.

But there was something that was keeping him alive, alive enough to be aware of his surroundings and the fact that he was stuck. He felt a bit uncomfortable. He was stuck between two buildings, he was sure of it.

He wondered how he was going to get out of this jam. He still had some chores to do at home.

What he didn't know or wasn't aware of was that he was mumbling not so incoherently, and the people that were keeping watch over him had managed to hear him. They found it a miracle that he was still alive and doubled their efforts to figure out how to get him out from where he was stuck. Some tried to record or jot down what he was mumbling.

They caught the words chores, aunt, disappointment and cupboard.

Why in the world would a child of seven be mumbling about such things, save for he aunt bit, in his painful looking predicament.

It was troubling.

The Dursley family was contacted once it was confirmed that they were indeed the guardians of one Harry Potter, the boy trapped between two buildings and should actually be dead from what exactly it was that had happened to him. The authorities imagined that it must have been a very painful experience.

In all reality, everyone that was involved with his little experience or predicament believed that for all intents and purposes he should have died upon impacting with the first vehicle. But he was alive and mumbling almost incoherently or coherently.

It was odd what a normally life threatening experience could make people experience other than what the experience was supposed to make them experience.

"_Tis not yet your time old man,_" Death appeared before him in his mind's eye, while he thought that it should have been a frightening experience, meeting Death himself like that, it wasn't scary at all.

"Old man? I'm seven," he spoke in his mindscape where Death stood before his mental body.

"_Old soul then,_" Death said, standing with his scythe in hand, but in no way pointing at the child, "_As I was saying tis not yet thy time old soul._"

Then before Death could say anything more another voice and figure entered the conversation. It was a man cloaked in the polar opposite of Death. If Death was a black cloaked skeleton or shadow of cold and ice, this new arrival was a white cloaked Being of light and warmth.

"Budge over Death, you are right tis not yet his time," the new arrival said, "He hath caught mine attention since you deemed him worthy to visit at such a time even though his time in the living realm is not yet up once again."

"_Stay out of this, _Almighty," Death stated, scathingly, the title or name Almighty was said with such venom that it sounded more like an insult, "_You are not welcome here._"

"Who are you to say who is welcome and who is not, tis not thy mindscape now is it," the Almighty stated, then fixed his attention on the young body and old soul before him, "I am, as this," he motioned to Death, "Primordial Element has decided to state in a manner of insult, an Almighty. A Lord of Heaven so to speak, the generic kind of course and not one of those True Heavens that his kind offers more than half the souls out in Everywhere."

"What does...why does...why are you two here?" Harry asked, he didn't have all of his old memories yet as not all of them had awoken fully yet.

"I am here to make you a deal kid," the Almighty said, "I'm tired of my lot in Afterlife, and therefore am offering it and all that comes with it to you. You seem to be the responsible sort after all. So how about it?"

"Why?""_Why?_" both old soul and Death asked.

"I've been hearing news after news of the War, I intend to do my part, but having all the things I have on my plate I am unable to join the fighting," the Almighty said, "I don't want to leave my Heaven unattended while I am away, so I'm willing to hand it over to you kid. So how about it?"

"_You have yet to answer my own inquiry," _Death stated, impatiently, which was unlike him.

"I'm a Soul of action! Also, I don't want to work for some upstart Devil if he somehow does manage to overthrow the Golden Throne!" the Almighty said, "I know you'd like nothing more than the Golden Throne to lose, but are unable to do anything other than send your people over to aid that upstart. Whatever, I don't need to justify myself to one such as yourself."

"_Whatever,_" Death said, and gazed upon the old soul in a young person's body and mind, "_Make your choice child. As I said before, tis not yet your time. But should you chose to accept the insane Lord of Hosts offer, then you will be slightly beyond my reach, slightly since even immortals and gods can die._"

"How does a god die?" the child asked, "And just so you know, I don't believe in god. No god has ever helped me out of the good in his or her heart. Like now."

"I'm here aren't I?" the Almighty said, "What am I? Chopped liver?"

"You want something in return for your help," the child said, "You want freedom of a sort."

"_He's got a point there,_" Death stated.

"Kid, if you accept my offer you won't have to worry about believing in god or gods, you will be one of 'em or us," the Almighty told the kid, "You'll be taking over for me, permanently most likely too. Though I'll be keeping my knowledge and wisdom and stuff."

"_I dare ya to say 'shit',_" Death teased the Almighty.

"Shut the fuck up you god damned malnourished bundle of ass raping rags," the Almighty said, a bit irritated with Death already.

"Isn't cursing bad? As well as taking the Lord's name in vain?" the kid asked the Almighty.

"Kid...just accept my offer so that I can get out of Death's hair and your hair," the Almighty said, trying his best to ignore Death, which was difficult.

"Um...ok?" the kid said, and without any warning felt all sorts of things come together within him, his soul was morphed or given some sort of upgrade, and it manifested in his mindscape, he felt all of creation bow to his will while at the same time keep their individual free wills.

"How's it feel to become One of Us?" the Almighty without a Heaven asked.

"If I don't have your knowledge and infinity of wisdom...how do I do your former job?" the kid asked.

"_Some things are automatic, like some of what I do,_" Death said, "_Parts of your soul will subconsciously do the things you don't consciously know how to do or acknowledge you know how to do. For a better explanation, I'd recommend watching Meet Joe Black, nice movie, good explanation of how we go about doing our designated jobs and tasks while still being able to go about and have fun, get married, have kids, grandkids, and fight in wars._"

"What he said," the Almighty said, "There's a copy in my old study somewhere."

"I'll watch it then," the kid said, "Uh...how do I get there though?"

"_One simple rule those like us must and can and actually should abide by is 'To THINK is to CREATE' you are only limited by the limitations you place on yourself and your imagination_," Death stated, "_Faith, trust, belief, imagination, and all that. All of them are important tools you can and should use. Will too. Free will, that's a mighty powerful tool right there._"

"I'll agree with him on that," the Almightyy said, "Back when I was real young, when my creator, not parents sorry to say, were training me up as an apprentice Almighty, I was taught all that and more of course. But the gist of it is to just use your imagination, believe that it is possible, and will it to happen. Any more questions?"

"How will the angels react to me taking up your...umm...role?" the kid asked.

"They shouldn't have any real problems with you suddenly taking the reins," the Almighty said, "At least I don't think so."

"_How about this, as a compromise, you need help with them feel free to call on me," _Death said, "_If you still have problems while I'm already helping, I'll fetch your predecessor._"

"I can agree to that too," the Almighty said, "I'm willing to come should you bite of more than you can yet chew."

"Ok...so what happens now?" the kid asked.

"Well...I could get going now, Death is sure to linger of course, he does that a lot after all," the Almighty said, donned some shining armor, pulled out a flaming sword, and had a door appear and open up to a war torn reality, "See you later kid! Have fun!"

"I will," the kid said, smiled at the quirky Almighty who waved to the two, Death and the kid, and charged through his door and into battle against powers beyond normal human comprehension.

"_Now what do you want to do? Time stands still while you are in your deeper mindscape,_" Death said, "_Same goes for being in my presence. I have that effect on people, sometimes._"

"Erm...I guess getting back to the mortal world would be a good idea, though how do I get out from where I am is the question that's in me right now," the kid said.

"_Kid, as your first holy act you are going to be in two places at the same time, should give you a headache later but you'll get used to it,_" Death said, "_What I'm suggesting or saying is that you make a clone of yourself, an exact replica of yourself and have it or him or whatever appear near you in that small cramped space. This one's gotta a be heavenly looking, like how your now jobless guardian angel would have looked._"

"You just want me to perform or be a part of some new age miracle, don't you," the kid said.

"_You asked for help or a suggestion, I gave it,_" Death stated, "_Now, you gonna do that or are you just gonna let Magus heal you as he's been subconsciously doing all this time._"

"Magus?" the kid asked.

"_Magic himself,"_ Death explained, "_He goes by the name Magus Iunctio or Harold Hogwarts...I think._"

"I get it I guess," the kid said, "I think I'll go with your idea."

"*"

Up in Heaven, Harry's former guardian angel entered the Guardian Angel Headquarters' Mission Hall where assignments were handed out and some angels were dispatched to aid Guardian Angels that needed backup of any sort.

"What are you doing here? You do know that primary guardian angelship is supposed to be a full time job, you're supposed to shadow your charge until their soul passes through the veil between life and death," the Chief Guardian Angel, a seraphim, stated sternly.

"Yeah.." Harry's former GA said, "About that. You know that link we're all given to our charges?"

"Yes?" the Chief GA said.

"Well...mine snapped, vanished, went kaput as if it was never there in the first place," the GA said.

"That can't be right," he CGA said, "Someone from the Life Records Office would have come over to request your charges records as well as your own records for evaluation in the Halls of Judgment's Soul Guides or whatever the heck they're calling themselves nowadays."

"Well...I can't find my assigned charge.." the GA said, "You think a seven year old could have gone over to the _other _side?"

"Take a seat while I look for your file," the CGA said, as he began rummaging through the numerous cabinets that filled the Mission Hall.

It took several run double checking and getting other officers to help in the search before they all decided that it was a lost cause. The soul had probably forsaken all innocence and was taken over by the _other _side.

"Yep...you're assignment less," the CGA said, "Sorry...for your loss. I hear yours was supposed to save the world from some great evil or so the Fate and Destiny Department claimed when I assigned you to the kid's case."

"But that still can't be right," the now jobless GA said, "What I mean to say is...do we have any records of tampering, I mean the kid was a relative saint during the whole time that I watched over him."

"Nope, nothing of the sort.." the CGA said, but could not continue due to some of the higher ranked angelic officials almost breaking the doors down.

"HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN HIM?" one of the seraphims shouted, panicked, it was as if they were facing the End of the World or something like that and the Gates of Heaven were being stormed by the forces of Hell or something.

"Who?" the CGA asked, while the jobless GA stood up from his seat to await orders.

"The Almighty! HE, HIM! He's gone missing!" the highest ranking seraphim that barged in shouted.

"!" everyone in the Mission Hall began to run around like headless chickens.

"EVERYONE STOP MOVING NOW!" the CGA shouted over all the noise and chaos ensuing in his Mission Hall.

Chaos halted as all eyes and ears were trained on the CGA who was holding up what looked like a printout of a very recent report of sorts.

"What's so important that you had to shout?" one of the seraphims asked, "What could be more important than finding HIM?"

"Unauthorized Guardian Angel Manifestation in the Living World," the CGA stated seriously, it was a statement and situation that could mean anything.

"What?" the jobless GA said, "Could that be related to my situation?"

"Tell me," the CGA said, "Does the name Harry James Potter ring any bells for anyone?"

There was a general chorus of negatives. It was as if Harry James Potter being a mortal had been erased from the archives and memory banks of any that would have known him in the afterlife as a mortal. It was a very special name in the world, in the reality, it belonged to one individual and one individual alone.

"According to the printout a Guardian Angel just manifested and performed what can be termed as a miracle in the living world by helping an otherwise helpless child," the CGA said, "I did not authorize such a manifestation, and while there were good intentions behind the act...Any seraphims willing to go down there and assess the situation?"

Several hands shot up. How the CGA wished they still had the angels from almost two thousands years ago, but many had retired and a lot more had gone on to fight in _THAT War_. The volunteers took flight and headed for the gate that angels used for going on missions and not the one that souls used to get into the place.

"*"

He did as had been suggested. He believed with all his child-like ability, he was a child though, and willed what he wanted into happening and it happened. He didn't feel any sort of power flow from within him and form the angelic clone of himself, it just happened. Though for the people watching there were some additional special effects.

A clone of the seven year old appeared behind the kid and took him up in his arms and took him out from between the two buildings as if they were not there.

Harry was then laid on a stretcher that was just laying there by his clone, his other body.

He was a fledgling god in two bodies and it was weird and he began to understand the headache part of what he had been told to expect and that he was told he would get used to. He had a feeling that Death himself had more than one body or personality anyway.

"I'm visible aren't I?" his angel clone said out loud, as pretending that being visible wasn't part of the plan, same with being seen by all the people there and the media too. He looked around and found a lot of gaping and disbelieving people.

Since he did tell his predecessor that he would be having some fun now, he had his core body, his formerly just a mortal body get lost in unconsciousness as he took up residence mostly in the clone body. The mortals could treat his formerly merely mortal body while he had some fun and experimented with his angelic body.

"Hey paramedic people," Angel Harry said, "I don't know about you, but aren't you supposed to be taking him," he pointed as his other body, "To the hospital?"

That brought the paramedics out of their stupor and prompted them to begin doing their jobs as efficiently as they possibly could.

"What are you?" someone from the gathered crowd decided to get the courage to ask.

"Eh...what do I look like to you ma'm?" he asked, it was the kind of question that shouldn't need to be asked and answered.

"An angel.." the woman that had asked the first question said, "Is that boy special? Is he a messiah?"

Apparently the woman was overly religious or something, either that or she was high.

"Messiah? Not that I know of, special? You could say that," Angel Harry said, "He's special to me."

"Are you his twin brother who died and decided to stick around to watch over his brother?" someone decided to ask, it was in the realm of possible after all.

"Er..no," Angel Harry said, as far as he knew he had been an only child, "Umm...I'm not really supposed to be away from his side or hovering above him..so...I'll just take my leave now.."

He bent his knees and launched into the sky turning invisible from the mortal eye and followed his core body which was in an ambulance. Half way to the hospital he noticed that there were seven beings similar to his present form that were heading right for him for some reason.

He wasn't really sure yet since he hadn't yet thought of unsealing or unlocking or awakening his omniscient ability yet. The omnipotent ability was permanently active though, while the omnipresent ability was sub-subconsciously active.

When the seven beings finally came into view or peripheral view, he noted that they were what was known as seraphims, and that meant that they could put up quite a fight since he wasn't really all that good at fighting himself, just running and dodging.

Thankfully some of his memories from his past life decided to wake up and integrate their knowledge with his present ones.

These were the battle related ones.

"Halt!" the seraphims commanded, but who were they to command him, sure he knew that there was a big possibility that his Heaven didn't know about him being the new head honcho, but he didn't really care at the moment since well, he only tolerated his relatives since he didn't have anywhere to go, but since he was now more or less free to do as he pleased, he wouldn't be taking orders from anyone. If he could help it.

The seraphims noticed that he wasn't going to be complying anytime soon and so drew their swords, but did not activate the flaming function, and prepared to take down the guardian angel.

"For resisting arrest for breaking one of the laws of heaven as well as the rules of angelic conduct, we will take you to heaven by force unless you stand down," one of the seraphims stated, but at the same time enjoying the fact that he would be seeing battle once again, even against one of his fellows.

"Err.." Angel Harry said, "How 'bout no?"

He flew off even faster than any guardian angel should be able to fly, their wings not really built for the speed required to last in mortal combat. It surprised the seraphims but that did not mean that they did not give chase.

They flew through buildings instead of around them since structures and even people in the living world were intangible to those that existed on a different plane of existence from them. Or at least that was how things normally were.

Angel Harry, or just Harry, was after all not your ordinary everyday guardian angel. He was a fledgling Almighty, the kid was the higher power that the Norse, the Greek, the Aztec, you name it set or singular god or gods, worshiped or referred to as Boss or something like that.

All he had to do was think and will it or just whim it and it was. Which was what he did to the buildings after a while.

The angelic game of tag caused quite the commotion in the afterlives of the reality, since every action was being monitored by heaven, some spies from hell relayed what was happening to their superiors in hell.

The seraphims only knew of two possibilities why the intangible were becoming tangible to them. One was that their Lord Almighty was making things such, and the other possibility was that the forces of hell were at work. They chose to believe it was the latter instead of the first possibility.

Hell was in a frenzy, the spies had informed the demons and devils down there that heaven was without its Lord Almighty. Some thought that it was their chance to rise up and challenge heaven, while some of the smarter ones realized that there were forces at work here that they should not be challenging yet.

There was no Lord of Hell due to an assassin from another Heaven taking out their Lord of Hell before he could mobilize a force to aid Devil himself.

The leaders of hell that had decided to take command of hell until a Lord could be found decided to send some of their nephilim, or that Fallen Angels, which were on par with the seraphims that were up above in the living world chasing what was thought to be some sort of rogue guardian angel of all things.

The three sides eventually spotted one another, or at least the seraphims believed they finally found their foes, while the nephilim spotted the cause of the chaos in London.

Harry just shook his head momentarily and zoomed away while the new arrivals and those chasing him decided to clash against one another. When he was far enough away from the two groups, he vanished his angel body and returned to his still injured human body. It was time to rest from all the excitement, he would deal with his godhood another time.

From how he understood his predecessor and his predecessors relationship with, his now, heaven. Heaven could run itself, it was like a human or mortal government with a figurehead or monarch of sorts that was really there as either a symbol or as one who made the really important decisions. Or the one who had final say in things if he so wished. He also believed that his predecessor could have left his heaven at any time and things would continue running smoothly without him there to oversee everything.

His memories from his previous life were awakening and integrating themselves with the new him while he slept.

#

"That GA was definitely a rogue," a department Head of one of the departments or divisions of Heaven said, "You all saw how those damned nephilim stalled our own forces from catching up with him!"

"How can you be so sure of that? For all we know, they were just there for a fight and knew nothing or had nothing to do with that GA!" another department head said.

"We need to hear the side of that GA to get all sides of the story," the CGA said, "I'm not saying that I'm taking a side in this argument, but I spoke to the angels that bore witness to this rogue as we're terming him. They all claimed that our rogue only had good intentions for his charge, there was also a feeling of newness, like a newborn. While I haven't assigned such a young GA in a good long while, it is possible that things are more than they seem."

"Is there something you are holding back from us?" another head demanded, more than asked.

"This GA, my department has no idea what his name is, all we know is that the one he manifested for is named Harry James Potter," the CGA said, "At one point in time I would have said that the Fate and Destiny departments had records about him, but as things stand and based on records of my own department, such a soul does not exist in the mortal realm."

Before the meeting of department and division heads could continue further, a tremor shook the whole of heaven, that even the pure and innocent souls felt in their corners of heaven, those receiving their eternal rewards too felt it, which was not a good sign at all, for only the Lord of Heaven and the forces of Hell could cause such a disturbance.

"What in Heaven's name was that?" someone exclaimed.

This statement was followed by yet another equal in strength tremor.

The meeting chamber was a large domed area in the administrative area of heaven, where other similar structures varying in architectural design could be found.

There was a contingent of seraphim and regular angels outside due to the number of important angels holding a meeting within. This made it easy to order some of them to investigate the tremor and find out what was going on.

A few minutes later an angelic soldier entered the chambers and announced that the cause of the noise was the rogue that was the topic of discussion. He had been trying to get someone to mind him since, as he claimed, he was stuck on the outside and he didn't know how to open the gate.

They asked which gate, and the angel replied that it was the one that souls entered through, which meant that it was the main gate.

"Well, since it is one of yours you might as well go investigate further before the rest of us send our divisions and departments over to subdue the rogue," one of the department heads directed his sentence to the CGA.

When the CGA arrived at the gate, there were already several hosts waiting in front of the gate, which was the only thing keeping them away from the seven year old on the other side.

"And what are you doing making such a racket?" the CGA asked the seven year old looking angel.

"I was knocking," Harry replied innocently, "I didn't know I was making too much noise, but those other angels didn't look like they heard me. I'm sorry," he ended cutely. It bellied the innocence he still had in him.

"I don't recall ever assigning an angel such as you a soul to look after," the CGA said.

"Oh, you didn't assign me," Harry said, "I did that myself. Sorry..."

"Hmm..." the CGA said, he didn't really know how to proceed, "How about this, if you tell me why you were knocking on the gate, I'll see about letting you in. How's that?"

"Well...when I was coming up here I passed by some souls and they were wondering why no one was coming to pick them up, some of them have been waiting for what seemed like forever too," Harry said, "Some asked me if I was going to be the one to take the next one of them up into heaven, and I said that I wasn't but I was going there so I could ask why the line wasn't moving. So here I am asking you why the gate's closed. Is heaven full?"

"Ah..I see," the CGA said, "Heaven is not full little one. See we were having a very important meeting and there were some other reasons, but the souls wouldn't want to get bored with all those details," he then motioned for one of his subordinates to open up the gates and have someone begin to re-oversee the souls that were coming up.

The gate was opened and a contingent of angels rushed forth to continue their assigned jobs, while the CGA and his own subordinates surrounded Harry, who cutely and innocently looked around.

"So mind telling us why you've abandoned your charge all of a sudden?" the CGA asked.

"Well...umm...its hard to explain and I don't think you'd believe me," Harry said.

"How about you tell us about it and we'll see," the CGA said.

"Um can I ask a favor first?" Harry asked.

"Let's hear it first," the CGA said.

"Can the guardian angel that used to look after the kid I..uh..saved go down and watch over his recovering body while I'm up here?" Harry asked, he didn't need the extra protection but it wouldn't be bad if he had some.

"I don't see why not," the CGA said and motioned for the jobless GA over, "This is Hugo, he was the one you displaced when you manifested yourself."

"Mister Hugo..can you remember the name of your former charge?" Harry asked.

"No, sorry, its like his mortal name was erased from my mind along with all records of him up here in heaven," Hugo replied, "But I do remember what he looked like, and you kind of remind me of him, minus the wings and really clean clothes, and long hair."

"Ok, can you look after his body for me while I'm up here?" Harry asked.

"Sure, got nothing better to do," Hugo said and began to walk out of the gates, but his boss stopped him.

"Hold on," the CGA said, "I think you'll have to go as a human, or pseudo human. The kid's in bad shape, recovering even. From what your fellows reported. I'm going to have to ask you to...lie."

That caused quite a commotion among the angelic ranks.

"Enough!" the CGA roared, "Twist the truth a little. From what some of the other GA's said, the kid's guardians are not likely to spend that much time with him. He'd do well to have someone there for him."

Harry walked over to Hugo and handed him a small photograph. It was of himself during a class trip that he had been allowed to go on. The photo was taken at some photo booth for free. In the photo Hugo was standing protectively behind him, trying his best to make him feel not alone, since no one wanted to have a picture with him.

"Where did you get this? How did you get this, and why am I in the photo?" Hugo asked, he was really confused, "How am I even visible in the photo?"

"Well the way I see it with this you won't need to lie or twist the truth too much," Harry said, "Since you have a picture with him, you can claim that you're his friend or something, godfather or guardian even. They shouldn't investigate or whatever. Make something up if you can't think of twisting the truth. I dunno. I'm just a kid you know, you're the adult here...sort of."

"Heh," Hugo said, "Fine kid. I'll go be the kid's adult friend or something, I've never seen where the kid kept this picture though. Do you know?"

"I know, how would I be able to give it to you for safe keeping if I didn't know," Harry said, "But I'm not telling."

"Alright," Hugo said, "Fine. I'll be going now," he then saluted to his superior and took off or down to the living world.

Upon arriving at the hospital he made himself invisible and with his angelic powers he changed his clothes to look more modern and walked into the hospital. He showed the picture to reception and made up some story of being Harry's friend and saying that while he might not be a guardian he had been watching out for the kid since his legal guardians didn't really like him or something like that. Anyway, his story was believable enough, and he was shown to Harry's room where he returned to what he did best. Watch over the kid.

Heaven and Hell could twist reality if they had enough reason to, which was why the photo which was left at reception for some reason was altered to show the other third of the photo. The devil assigned to Harry upon conception, with Death himself in the background unseen by the other three occupants.

This was done so that Hugo's rival could keep an eye on the kid that had too vanished from Hell's own records and radar. Harry was a rather interesting anomaly for a leaderless realm of the afterlife.

It was rather surprising for someone new to enter the room of the sleeping and recovering Harry Potter. Hugo didn't know how to react, especially when the telltale signs of a devil the stereotypical black wings made a brief appearance.

"Oh don't act so surprised," the devil said, "I was there that day too you know. Though loathe as I am to admit that I was standing on equal ground doing something good for the kid. So remain seated, I'll stand and keep watch with you. Hell knows the kid has enough on his plate as it is, he doesn't need our meddling too much in his life. Crummy old man and his manipulations."

"You don't seem like such an evil dude," Hugo said, "Name's Hugo by the way."

"Harod," the devil introduced himself as he leaned against a wall, "I think we might be expecting a third someone to arrive. Not really sure, cause I saw what looked like the outline of someone else in that photo."

"Oh? I didn't notice," Hugo said, "Though it might've just been that rogue who handed the photo over to me in the first place."

"Oh? Rogue huh," Harod said, "My higher ups said something about some rogue guardian angel manifesting in front of a lot of mortals."

"You guys have spies in heaven?" Hugo asked, "Never mind. I shouldn't really underestimate you after all, you're all underhanded and all that after all."

"Yeah well," Harod said, "When you're leaderless like we are, you need to do anything and everything possible to keep from getting kicked out of the game."

"Leaderless?" Hugo asked.

"Yeah, might as well share," Harod said, "We've been leaderless far longer than you guy misplaced your own leader."

"I didn't know about that," Hugo said, "Was wondering why so little really bad stuff has been going on between our two sides."

"Yeah, well," Harod said, "Let's just watch over this kid like we've been doing all these years."

"You're odd for a devil," Hugo told his counterpart.

"Yeah I know," Harod said, "Haven't really found a logical way for the kid to do any bad things by your standards."

Back up in Heaven Harry was being led by the CGA, while surrounded by the rest of the GA department to the administration area. Harry had said that he had a mission to get to somewhere there. There was a single residence in the whole of the administration area, and that was the residence of the Lord of Heaven.

The CGA thought that it wouldn't hurt, it wasn't like one small angel that really did feel very young couldn't do anything to the boss of heaven.

He claimed that he had something to do in the Hall of the White Throne, which served as the seat of power, literal seat of power, of the Almighty of the Reality. It wasn't like the little angel, who could be some kind of rogue, could take control of Heaven by sitting on the throne, only the Lord of Heaven could actually sit on the throne. There had been, in the distant past, a few traitorous angels that had tried and failed to so much as touch the throne.

When they got there, Harry surprised the CGA by not only walking up to the throne but sitting on the thing. The thing even shrunk down to be more comfortable for the kid. As if it had been made for him.

He cocked his head to one side as the jaws of the angels that had accompanied him seemed to hit the floor in shock and surprise at what he had done. Something which they had all thought impossible.

"What..how...I'm lost," the CGA said.

"Yeah," Harry said, "I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to explain this either. My predecessor didn't really explain much about everything, he just offered me the job so he could go off and fight in some epic war or something like that. Then Death himself made the suggestion that I make this angel body that I'm using right now to help myself out of that predicament I was in.."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up," the CGA said, "You're saying that you're the new Lord of Heaven? That HE handed everything over to You, so that HE could go off to war? You're also saying that you don't know how to explain things?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "I haven't really gotten the hang of everything yet. I'm only seven years old you know. Old soul or not."

"I see," the CGA said, "Hmm," he rubbed his chin in thought, "Well I could go gather everyone else and have them come here to see for themselves that you're not a rogue and are our new boss."

"If it'll help I could ask Death to come over and explain things," Harry said.

"I think that would be best," the CGA said, "Umm...it just crossed my mind, but since you're Lord of Heaven, shouldn't you have omniscience?"

"Omni-what? What's that?" Harry asked.

"You really don't know much about what you are now, do you?" the CGA said.

"Not really," Harry admitted, "I've still not gotten everything in my head from my previous life organized."

"I see..." the CGA said, "Well, you just wait right there and I'll be back with all the other higher ups."

The CGA then left the Hall and headed for the meeting chambers that housed all the others of his same rank. Leaving his subordinates with their new boss who sat on his throne swinging his legs back and forth.

When the CGA returned with all the other officers of Heaven's government and army, the others refused to acknowledge that the kid on the throne was their new boss. Chosen by HE who did not give the kid his name in the first place.

It was only as they began verbally attacking the kid to prove to them that he was who he claimed he was did Death manifest within the Hall, and with him was the kid's predecessor and a number of retired members of the Holy Hosts. The Archangels, the original ones.

"_Next time I oversee such a transference of power, I'll remember to suggest some sort of ceremony to be performed,_" Death stated as he slammed the butt of his scythe against the ground to shut everyone in the Hall up, "_Speak up former Lord of Heaven and former He Who Sat Upon the White Throne!"_

"Countless times in the past, traitors within your midst tried to usurp me by way of trying to sit upon my former throne, none were able to even so much as touch my throne," the now Heaven-less Almighty said, "Maybe it really wasn't such a good idea to do things without some sort of ceremony...anyways. The kid on the throne is my successor. Serve him as you served me, maybe even better. Is that understood?"

Fists over hearts was the saluted reply of the mass of angels in the Hall.

The original Archangels were just there just in case someone decided to still deny the truth that sat before their very eyes.

"_The kid's mortal body, the one being watched over by Hugo and Harod is very important. He is like Devil himself, mortal and at the same time Lord of an Afterlife,_" Death said, "_He is also similar to myself in that he can occupy more than one body at the same time. Though being conscious in both will take some practice on his part. Serve him well, and if any of you even think of betraying him, I will personally send you to All Hells to serve as meat shields!_"

He didn't wait for a affirmative response that he was understood, he simply turned to the kid on the throne.

"_Have fun old soul," _he said and vanished from the reality, sort of, Harry's predecessor and the original Archangels of the reality leaving as well.

#

Harry had been informed by the CGA, who he just called CGA since the angel himself didn't remember his name but was used to being called CGA so stuck with that name and title, of everything the kid needed to know about Heaven as well as confirming the kid's theory about what his predecessor did as the ruler of the place.

The Omni stuff was also explained to him, but that was only after getting familiar with all the basic things that CGA decided he needed to know without a shortcut of any sort, god or not.

Harry didn't mind learning about things the normal way, he enjoyed it really, and the angels were very good teachers.

CGA also forced him into spending all his waking moments in both his mortal body and his angel body, no one referred to either as his god or Almighty body since he hadn't made one for himself yet.

The Dursleys were investigated, everything revolving Harry Potter and his history in their care. But before anything could be done about or to them, someone in purple robes fixed everything and removed any sort of evidence that would prove that the Dursleys were the not all they made themselves out to be. Sure their reputations were tarnished, but not beyond repair.

Harry remained in their custody, but that didn't mean that the old man tried to do anything to the two _people_ that served as Harry's guardians while he stayed in the hospital.

He had to be transferred to a different school though, but once that happened the government lost track of him as he disappeared from their map. He just seemed to vanish without a trace and a certain bearded old man didn't really seem to care since there was nothing going wrong with the Dursleys, he thought everything was alright.

Harry had been transferred alright. He got transferred to a grade school in heaven. He didn't find his parents there since they had apparently chosen reincarnation, he didn't know how to feel about that but decided to forget about it since it wasn't all that important since he seemed to have so many people caring for him. Though a small part of him wished that his parents were with him. The copies of their memories just weren't the same as his actual parents.

In the living world he had two guardians of sorts that watched out for him and kept him from blowing the world up. Hugo and Harod. In Heaven he had CGA who finally decided to give in and have everything in his department upgraded so that there wasn't so much clutter. There were computers there now.

Harry went to school with others his age, or others that looked his age. It wasn't really for the general understanding of things since he could just turn on his omniscient abilities, but more for the social interaction bit. His companions in school were not informed of just who he really was, no one that wasn't an officer or part of the guardian angel department knew of who he really was, and it wasn't like he flaunted such information.

His classmates just thought him to be the kid of some higher official, some suspected him as being the child of CGA since he was often seen in that seraphim's presence.

Heaven was like the living world but at the same time different. The Heaven where the White Throne could be found was central heaven of the Harry's reality. There were lesser heavens, or sub-heavens which were the heavens of the different religions, the older and more archaic ones and the ones that belonged to the less populous magical peoples.

The leader of the gods of the religions answered to the White Throne which was Harry. While in Central Heaven they retained what they looked like and did not conform to what the denizens of Central Heaven looked like to avoid discrimination as well as to make their identifications easier.

Central Heaven was filled with angels, but that did not mean they spent their time flying, as most of the time the wings were kept hidden in one form or another. This way it was harder to tell the difference between angels and regular souls.

Harry didn't really make any close friends just a lot of acquaintances. It was almost like back when he had been a normal boy, with the difference that he didn't have a Dudley hounding him. He just had CGA and a bunch of really important people picking him up from school.

A year passed by and he went up a year.

He was 8.

Another year passed by and he went up another year.

He was 9.

Same as the last last sentence.

He was 10.

He got a cellphone and a laptop with permanent Wifi, even though Wifi hadn't technically been invented in the living world yet.

He didn't go to school that year, he wanted to travel the world, and since he didn't really have any close friends in school, that's what he did with his trusty guardian angel and devil at his side or frantically running or flying after him.

He was not really missed at the school he went to, since Central Heaven was bigger than Earth...or Jupiter even...there were a lot of schools.

It was during this year that Hell decided to act. With Harod as their ambassador the higher ups of Hell managed to schedule a meeting with Harry, the meeting place was not the Vatican, it was on the Great Wall of China, on one of the more restricted sections.

"So...whatcha want?" Harry asked as he sat on a white foldable chair, his guardians leaned against the walls of the Wall.

"We, the leaderless legions of hell, seek to come under your banner O Lord of the White Throne of Heaven," Mathias Cronqvist, an aristocratic looking man with silver hair and teal eyes, said, he was by all means the most powerful of the devils in attendance and of all of the reality's Central Hell.

"That all?" Harry asked.

"Yes, sir," Mathias replied, "We are leaderless and only wish for the vacated Gray Throne to once more be filled. Our former leader was assassinated shortly after the War began."

"I see," Harry said, "You know, its gonna be pretty weird ruling the polar opposites, but since Heaven and Hell both have systems in place...hmm."

'Agree! Please agree!' both Hugo and Harod mentally chanted, as it would make things a whole lot more interesting and also so that the armies of both realms wouldn't have to worry about an invasion force suddenly marching upon their front gates or doors.

"So...what say you?" Mathias asked, he was hoping for a positive reply from the 10 year old.

"Ok," Harry said happily and even smiled, "I accept."

"Thank you, my Lord," Mathias said, "I look forward to the rest of eternity serving you."

"First order of business, I want you to speak with CGA, a.k.a. Chief Guardian Angel, about how things are in Heaven, like how I do business up there so we can do the same in Hell," Harry said.

"At once, sire," Mathias happily said.

It was an interesting meeting. Harry got to meet the world's assigned Death Reaper, which was the boss of all of the Death Reapers of the reality really. His name was Grim or at least that's how he introduced himself. Death himself also came for a visit just to update Harry on Grim along with the structure of his own forces, Death's forces.

That visit was just so the child god understood how things with Death himself worked along with his own subordinates' subordinates. Grim being one of those, he was like a sector chief or something.

Harry spent the rest of the year traveling the world, but with one addition that being Adrian, Mathias's son. Adrian could relate somewhat with Harry, though only because he was a half human and half immortal, not a demi-god though. His mother was human, one who became an angel upon death, while his father was a devil a powerful one that masqueraded as a vampire lord every hundred years or so.

The group eventually arrived back in England for Harry's eleventh birthday. It also happened to be the day where the Lord of All, which was what he kind of was, received a letter written in green ink. It was addressed to Harry James Potter and the address was really exact. It read 'Third Step from the Leaky Cauldron's Diagon Alley exit/entrance.' He quirked an eyebrow at that and showed it to his three guardians.

"Oh, I didn't know you were a wizard Harry," Adrian said, he knew a lot about wizards it was why they were in Diagon Alley, he wanted to show Harry Magical London without realizing that his friend/boss was _THAT_ Harry Potter, "I didn't know you were _THAT_ Harry Potter either."

"What do you mean by _THAT_ Harry Potter, Adrian?" Harry asked.

"Savior of the European Light Magical World and Light Wizarding World," Adrian, with a bored tone, said, "You."

"So...he's a celebrity isn't he," Hugo said.

"Yes.." Adrian said, "Why?"

"I didn't think that time was so important," Hugo and Harod commented.

"What time are you referring to?" Harry asked.

"Oh...your mother dabbled with forgotten magics and...placed a powerful deflection and absorption ward in you...which successfully bounced back a Killing Curse of Tom Riddle," Harod said, since his memory wasn't as gappish as Hugo's.

"Spot on," Adrian said.

"Hugo," Harry said.

"Yes?" the GA said.

"Who is Tom Riddle?" Harry asked.

"Perhaps we could continue this conversation over some ice cream," Adrian said, they were in the middle of the street after all, and human traffic was about to congest in the alley.

"I suppose," Harry said, and motioned for Adrian to lead the way.

Florean Fortescue's served as the venue for the discussion and lecture about the rise and fall of Tom Marvolo Riddle, whose soul was still in the living world apparently.

When the lecture and discussion was over, Harry had Angel Harry and Devil Harry make their brief appearance before heading to both Heaven and Hell to dish out some orders regarding investigation of Tom Riddle and his fate.

"You know," Adrian said, "You could just will him to pop up before us and explain himself."

"Then what would be the use of the systems in place be?" Harry said, "Its better this way, the soul in question won't have anything to complain about and he can't claim that I'm hauling his ass for judgment just because I hold a grudge against him."

"If you say so," Adrian said, "So have you decided to open your letter of invitation yet?"

"Should I?" Harry asked.

"If I said no, what would you do?" Adrian asked.

"I'd act like every other kid and do it anyway," Harry said, and thus opened the letter and read through it's contents.

"So..?" Adrian asked.

"I'm going," Harry said.

"The owl's still around here somewhere," Adrian said, "I'd advise you to add that you will not be needing a guide into the magical world."

"Alright Adrian, you know what's best," Harry said, wrote his reply the pen appearing from out of nowhere, and handed the reply to Adrian who called the messenger bird over and gave it it's instructions before watching the thing launch.

"So what do we do first?" Harry asked Adrian.

"We go to Gringotts Bank," Adrian replied, "Its run by some allies of mine, you should have an account or three there."

"Lead the way," Harry said, who followed after the pale aristocratic man, Hugo and Harod following behind them.

The trio were led to a white building, a whitish bank anyway. It was guarded by what the angel and devil could only guess were goblin guards, short little buggers that looked mean enough to have really caused a lot of trouble in the past.

It was a nice place really, it was a bank. There was also a lot of people in the bank that morning, none of whom had been able to identify that Harry Potter was in their midst, not that any of them would have been able to since he didn't want to be unnecessarily recognized. Thus he wasn't.

Adrian approached a free teller, letting some of his more natural features make their presence upon his visage, such as gathering shadows and having them dance around his form. His ears grew a tiny bit pointier, and his canines lengthened a little bit. His eyes gained a more blood red tint to them too.

"Goblin," Adrian said smoothly, his voice as silk, "My master would like to make a withdrawal."

"And who might this ma..." the goblin then realized whom it was speaking to and changed its tone from disrespect to outright fear, "M-My Lord," it almost sounded like a squeak, "Forgive my rudeness."

"My master is none other than Harry James Potter," Adrian stated, their conversation was impossible to listen in on of course, "I believe he has several accounts here."

"Indeed," the goblin said, going into serious business mode, "Do you happen to have his key, my lord?"

"We do not, though I would assume that you have other ways of confirming his identity," Adrian stated as he knew that they did.

"Indeed we do," the goblin said, "Right this way, please."

It wasn't everyday that a goblin would use such a word when speaking with one that was not of its kind. But Adrian was an exception, the goblin didn't even think to ask why Adrian would call a wizard master though, the goblin was more preoccupied with money matters and its life.

The group was led to a ritual chamber in one of the lower floors of the bank.

"Mister Potter, if you would please drop a single drop of blood into the bowl on he pedestal and state your name and any titles you have already made claim to," the goblin instructed, "If you are who you say you are the magic will confirm it, if you are not who you claim to be you will be forcefully ejected from Gringotts and possibly lose your magic."

"Simple enough," Harry said, and stepped up to the pedestal and pricked his thumb with a ritual dagger that lay beside the bowl, he dropped the single drop into the bowl and stated just who he was, "I am Harry James Potter, Lord of the Heavenly and Hellish Hosts, Lord of Heaven and Lord of Hell, Master of Death."

The goblin that was with them gained a bug eyed expression upon hearing the claimed titles, it had been expecting lord something or other of a mortal house. What it had not been expecting was something that no mortal would ever dare claim, lest one wish the wrath of both the heavens and of the hells.

He looked to his Lord, the Adrian the Prince of the Night, Lord of Darkness in his father's stead, and found a broadly grinning Being. On either side of him he found two other Beings, both of whom he mistook for mere humans, but there was something about them that at that point made them seem even more supernatural than any goblin could ever hope to be.

Harry knew about the Primordial Elements, Death himself being one of them. He knew of Magic too, Magus Iunctio being another. So he waited for what Magus had in store for him for surely such a Being would take great interest in his claim, it was so very similar to Devil himself after all.

He spun on his heel very much alive and unaffected by anything that would deny his claim, not that anything was denying such. He felt a prompt within his mind, from Magic himself telling him that he could for once cut loose.

And so he did.

He was suddenly bathed in light and shadow, his clothes shifting from the robes that Adrian had had him worn to a robes that were split down the middle in two different and distinct colors, even his body was split with such shades. A white so pristine that no shadow dared touch it lest it be dirtied in any form, the other was a black so dark that no light reflected off of its surface nor sucked into it.

The skin of his body which was visible was one side pale, paler than the moon, whiter than white marble. While the other half was darker than the darkest of obsidian, of pitch of starless and moonless and light-less night.

One would think that only two colors would be seen on his Being, one would be wrong as there was a single color that actually stood out. Emerald green, shining even more brilliantly than a thousand suns.

Away from those four pairs of eyes the White Throne and the Gray Throne pulsated with power, with emerald light. No one that saw the phenomenon knew what it meant, but both CGA and Mathias quelled any negative thoughts on the matter and assured all those worried souls that everything was alright.

"**Does this suffice as proof of my claim?**" his voice was that of twins, interlaced with one another. Both bellowing with raw untapped power or power being held at bay. One authoritative, the other imperial. One caring, the other malicious. One virtuous, the other malevolent. Two sides of the same coin, wound around one another, both were one.

"Yes sir! Yes O Omnipotent One!" the goblin exclaimed before dropping to the floor to grovel.

The goblin chanced a glance as its three other companions in the presence of this particular Almighty. His Lord, Adrian, stood tall but had a light submissive air about him. There was a slight change in the Prince of the Night's appearance, that being a pair of


	97. H2

For as long as he could remember he was different from everyone else, everyone in his family included. After first discovering these gifts that made him different, he at first tried to forget about them, but after falling in love with the game of chess, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that such things should be used and abused. They were tools, and tool were meant to be used.

He was special, and even though they could make him out to be some sort of monster, like the witches and warlocks burned at the stake centuries ago, he would use these talents when he needed them.

His special abilities, while not making him an immortal warrior, made him rather difficult to deal with. Thanks to all the training he put himself under, he did not have to worry about his physical weakness, though he hid the fact that he was not physically weak. It would not do to be feared too early in the game.

His mind was already that enough to match any monster, he didn't want any potential foes to know that his body was also a monster's.

He wasn't like Merlin whose powers could bend, possibly, all of reality to his will and imagination.

His abilities were more specific. He could interface with technology, by just touching a computer console he could more or less become one with it. With technology came energy in all forms, in a sense making him an elemental of sorts, one who could manipulate energy, gravity, and magnetism. This made him telekenetic to an extent as well.

But the one gift that he found the most useful was a chameleon-like ability, but instead of simply blending in with his surroundings, he could literally transform into anything. Not just transform into another person, but into animals, and even objects. It was his favorite ability.

He could go anywhere and go any place, nothing in the world could really hinder him from reaching anywhere he pleased. Nothing save for his mother, while she was alive, and his sister whom he loved more than life itself, at least he believed until he probably found a real girl that he could have relations with, and not just share a familial bond.

His mother had fallen, it was an assassination plot, one that was well orchestrated. He suspected that his own father had something to do with it, for the life of him he couldn't really figure out why. The palace guard had been recalled that day, sent away on other business, such that no one was really sure what it was exactly that they had been ordered to do.

The assassins were never caught, and there was a possibility that they never would seeing as the investigation of the event only lasted for less than a week before forces were made to focus on other things. Things like conquering the rest of the world, or trying to.

He had let his anger get the better of him which had cost him and his sister their place in Pendragon, the capital of the Holy Britannian Empire. Not that he really minded, but he also understood and knew that their exile was just a farce. He had hacked into restricted files to see the real plan, they were to be used in propaganda to incite war with the country they were to be sent to.

Which is precisely what did happen.

The siblings served as political hostages, and when the war started the first target of the bombs had been where the siblings had been staying. While the siblings had managed to survive no one knew of the reality of their survival save for who he, Lelouch, allowed to know of their continued existence amongst the living.

Long standing political allies of their mother, the Ashfords took the two siblings in doing what they could for the children as if they were family.

It was with the Ashfords that Lelouch and his sister Nunnaly stayed, and studied since the family owned the most prestigious Britannian only school in the island nation of Japan, which shortly after her surrender was stripped of her identity and given only a number to identify herself with. Area 11.

While he was not keeping an eagle eyed watch over his sister, he took pleasure spending time with some of his classmates, a select few of them. The members of the student council of which he was a part of. Vice President in fact, a tiresome position as he was the one who ended up in charge of multiple tasks that should have fallen upon the president's shoulders to accomplish.

But being the gentleman that he was, he had volunteered to take the load off of her shoulders, receiving a simple thank you for his efforts.

He didn't really mind, he ran part of the school anyway being the only mysterious sponsor of the school. He spent a part of his time disguising himself as different older gentlemen, since he was rather hesitant to become a girl, and did business with the rest of the adult and unsuspecting business world. He could apply his strategic mind to so many things and thus gaining him a lot of capital.

He gambled some of the time, played all sorts of games where the stakes were usually high, his winning streak would have been legendary if he used only one form.

Part of his winnings and what he gained from investing went to the school, part to his personal accounts, and the rest went to his sister's care and her own accounts which she got an allowance from since he was the one in charge of the accounts until she was old enough or until he managed to get her to see again. Walking too would be great.

While he could heal himself from almost any injury, when it came to other people it simply wasn't that easy. Though he supposed that if he spent an entire week hacking the medical databases, and research facilities of the world, he could find the solution. Then it would only take him how ever how long to get everything he needed together to perform whatever the operation would need.

He did just that and actually found some interesting things, one of which were some experiments that look promising but he didn't want to put his sister through something that would not work. He would wait until the experiments and research made more progress.

While he hid his physical ability, and his powers, he didn't hide just how much of a genius he was. He could sleep through or simply skip classes and he would still get perfect scores on the oral and written tests. He could even answer in his sleep which he did do one time, one of his closer friends had noticed that he was sleep answering an oral test and the following written test.

He still got perfect scores irregardless of how deep in sleep he was.

There was a chess match that he had promised to help the headmaster and head of the Ashford family in winning. There was a lot of money at stake in the game, it had been a mistake on the old man's part thinking that it was easy money, but he had failed to take into account that the noble he played against liked to play for such high stakes with certain rules regarding time.

Lelouch arrived just in time, and won the game with minutes to spare.

But on the way back to school and home, he was separated from his companion who had to look on and watch as hell was loosed upon the world.

He found himself somewhere in the Shinjuku Ghetto. With a green haired girl laying with a growing pool of blood at his feet. Barrels of several guns pointed at him, and which he could heal from most injuries several bullets to the head was possibly something that he could not heal from.

His way of thinking at the time stopped him from thinking that he could just have the bullets stop before they even hit him. His powers were the farthest things from his mind, unfortunately or fortunately.

An otherworldly voice fell into his mind, merging his with the owner of the voice for a moment, but a moment was all that was needed to convey the message that he could gain a power unlike what he already had, or thought he didn't have. He accepted a contract with the owner of the voice, gained yet another power, and found a solution to his problem.

This new power was instinctual in use. The ease of its use made him laugh, maniacally. Causing the soldiers that had been threatening his life to think again.

"Die," he stated, plain and simple as that, no dramatics, and the soldiers followed.

He turned to find that the green haired girl or young woman was not there. He didn't think too much on it, but he made a mental note to try and locate her later.

He was found mere moments later by one of the knightmare frames.

After claiming to be Alan Spacer, a son of a duke, he got the surprise of his life. Time stood still just before the knightmare pilot exited her frame.

He remained as still as he possibly could be as he saw a glowing blue tear in space and time, or at least that's what he believed it to be. He didn't really know much about what could possibly come out of such a thing. It could go from being some sort of monster to being some sort of heavenly being come to bestow upon him some...something.

Out of the tear was something that he didn't think he wanted the attention of. It was a being that was perhaps just an inch shy of touching the ceiling of the abandoned building he was in.

It had three heads, like a cerberus or the monster frozen at the center at the last circle of hell, that frozen hell where traitors resided. Each head had three faces each, one with a different emotion etched on its features.

It's body was covered in what looked like a knight's armor, almost human-like save for the large size. It had a pair of arms, each arm had three additional forearms jutting out of the elbow, ending in five fingered hands. The finger tips ended with the sharpest of claws.

It's legs were covered with what looked like a dress really, a black one...or possibly hakama pants.

It's multi-faceted gaze focused upon his form, all those eyes seemed to be able to see through him. They seemed to be able to peer right through him, through his physical form, and into his very soul.

It was a most frightening, yet, at the same time humbling experience. He didn't know why, but he felt himself change in some way as the creature continued to gaze down and at him.

One of the forearms pulled something out of the armor that it wore. It threw whatever it was in Lelouch's direction, which he caught unintentionally. The creature seemed to know that he was faking being paralyzed in time.

The being gazed upon him for one last time before departing through the same tear in space and time which it had come out of.

'_**Win your war with everything you have,**_' an otherworldly voice spoke within Lelouch's mind just as the tear was healing itself, '_**This gift from me to you should help you. Your gifts were an accident of fate. Use them well.**_'

Time did not immediately resume itself, it seemed to want to give him enough time to figure out what the gift was and find some immediate use for it.

It was a book, which he realized once he took a look at what he had held in his hands. There was no title on its leatherbound cover. There was also no title within the first few pages of the book, though there was a brief introduction of the contents of the tome.

It was a book on the anatomies of a great number of things. He wasn't sure how much information the book possessed, but seeing as it had come from a dimension walker, it must have contained quite a lot. He thought that since it seemed that time was still at a standstill, he might as well peruse the book for something that he could use for the time being.

He wondered if there was any information on what he had used, instinctually, on the soldiers that he had had kill themselves. When he reopened the book he didn't need to search through an index, it was as if the book had some kind of mind reading ability of a sort. The book had opened to a page one that upon reading its contents lead him tobelieve the at it was exactly what he was looking for.

The chapter was dedicated to his newly granted power. The Power of Absolute Obedience. It listed its general and specific abilities, as well as downsides to its use, and a whole bunch of other useful information which he would or could use in the future.

It was an interesting read, as if the information was directly uploaded into his brain without him really thinking about it. The words and information simply flowing into him and being ingrained into his memory banks.

But with the cons in place, he knew that he needed something less powerful for the time being, as well as something less limited in a sense. Turning the page the book provided another chapter. This one about yet another eye ability, but one that didn't actually require an external force to activate, he could simply transform his eyes into a pair, or even just a single eye into one with the abilities listed and described and such in the book. It was just as comprehensive a chapter as the one about his Geass.

It's name was Sharingan.

He liked its abilities, like its hypnosis ability and the fact that it could be used an unlimited number of times. It was similar to the Power of Absolute Obedience, but unlike that absolute, it could be countered by a strong enough mind.


	98. It's A Good Life

When he was 5 years old, Harry Potter had managed to watch a rerun of episode 8 of season 3 of The Twilight Zone. This also just happened to be after he found a book that contained a story by Jerome Bixby that he wrote in 1953. After watching the movie and falling asleep he had a dream about the kid in both the episode and the book having a kid that was more powerful than him and could even bring back the things that had been banished or removed from the world.

Three things, and all of them connected unmistakably by the presence of that boy. He put two and two together that perhaps the universe was telling him that he was special like that boy in the episode and in the book, that he was like the father and daughter in his dream. He was special and that he had a special power too. He just had to find out what it was.

Unfortunately, before he could go about exploring, an old man stopped by the house he lived in and did something to him so that he wouldn't be able to remember the book, the episode, or the dream. He didn't know why and wouldn't know anything that was related to that one day in his life that he was forced to forget about until the block on his memory was broken, as well as the bindings on his powers were released.

The old wizard had been none other than Albus Too-Many-Names-And-Titles Dumbledore, he had been the one to place the bindings on the boy as well as block the boy's memory. Both had served two purposes, the first was so that he boy could fulfill a prophecy, the other was so that a repeat of what Dumbledore had borne witness to would never happen again. For there was indeed a town that had gone by the name of Peaksville in Ohio, Dumbledore himself had visited the town, and would have been stuck there had it not been for his experiences with the rest of the magical world.

He couldn't do anything about Anthony Fremont or help the town as that would have broken several rules and laws and had not yet the political clout to perform such rule breaking. He had followed the boy to adulthood, and even managed to track the man down only to find out that the man had a daughter with similar powers to him.

Fearing what could befall the world, and having just imprisoned his Hitler supporting ex-best friend, he felt a sense of justice and need to save the world from would-be monsters. Thus he killed Anthony Fremont when the man was unaware of him, but the daughter had escaped, it was likely that she had banished her own power from the world so as not to be found by one that could apparently hide from her and her father.

Thinking that all was right in the world, relatively speaking of course, he had put any thoughts of the father-daughter pair far from his conscious mind. Up until the day that young Harry James was born, born with a pair of amethyst eyes and a shadow that felt more than what it appeared to be. He had felt something then, the return of something that he had banished himself.

So he bound the boy's powers, his magics, even tighter than any case in recorded history, he wound the bindings so tight that it would take quite a lot of external power or force to cut the bindings free. The world was safe again.

Then the boy almost discovered what had been forcibly kept from him. The means did not matter, all that mattered was that the alarms that he had placed on the boy had gone off, ones that would alert him should the boy discover even a sliver of that part of his heritage.

So he arrived at the residence that was to teach him humility and blocked the memories of the event and everything that he had to do with it, while also binding his powers even more. Restricting his growth in the process as well.

He left the boy, and prayed that such an incident would not happen again. He feared that he might end the boy and lose his weapon against the dark should he try a binding a third time.

There was just one problem, truly, he had forgotten to reapply the spells that would alert him of something unplanned happening.

The bindings had three four layers of thickness, and four different layers of application. The thinest layer was supposed to have been removed by a healer just before the boy was to attend his first year of official schooling, as it had been put in place to keep the child from harming others too much with accidental bursts of unintentional magic.

The second, third, and fourth, layers were all there just to restrict the boy's, Harry's, power. All of his power. The one that had placed them, hoped that they'd never be released even though it held back the boy's potential by at least 90%. He hadn't remembered that magic was like a muscle in some, the more it was used the more powerful it became.

In this case, the bindings were fought by the magic that they bound, the power that they bound. In doing so they grew stronger, more potent than they had originally intended to be, as decreed by whoever set their levels in the first place.

When Harry first entered the magical world, he did not have that first layer of power bindings removed, no one had bothered to take him to a healer to have it performed, and Hagrid wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, the man was a simpleton as far as half-men went.

So he entered his first year of schooling and faced off against a troll, and a possessed professor with nothing but 10% of his total power, which at that age was above average compared to his peers, not that anyone commented on it, as it had been an expected thing for him. He didn't comment on it nor did he boast about it, since he didn't really know how. He preferred keeping to himself, and only ventured out into the social world at the prodding of his sidekicks, his friends.

Friends that reported his every action to the professors, he was a famous person after all, and an orphan and thus needed to be looked after. They were doing it for him, and not for any rewards or prizes that they might have been offered. They were also there to steer him in the right direction, whatever that may be.

The battle had a good side to it though, his confrontation with the murderer of his parents had loosened the first and second layer of the bindings, but not released them.

Then came summer, which wasn't all that much fun for him. This was followed by a second year that left much to be desired, it showed just how little people actually thought of him, or how little people actually thought period. Without any evidence, or motive on his part, they accused him of being the one behind the attacks on the school. He did wonder though why law enforcement hadn't gotten involved, there were lives on the line after all.

He faced off against the one responsible for the attacks, without any real training at all. Having his blood mixed with one of the most corrosive of poisons followed by one of the most potent of healing elixirs really did a number on his body. Such a relatively unstable mix of magical elements caused the first, second, and third, of his bindings to loosen even more, but not enough to fall away.

The balance between poison and cure added not only some modifications to his body, but also added to the potency and strength of what magic was available to him and was continued to struggle behind the bindings.

The summer before his third year was quite the stressful affair. His uncle's sister verbally abused him and insulted his parents, this had the result of him making her blowup like a balloon. Had his full powers been active, the woman and her dog, along with Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley, would have found themselves in an endless expanse of cornfields, or whatever someone like Harry Potter might dream up.

But he didn't have access to his full powers, nor to the blocked memories, which had yet to be shaken lose or shaken free.

He tried his hand at running away from home, not that he had ever really considered Number 4 Privet Drive as home, it hadn't really ended as he had wanted it to. He did end up somewhere familiar to him of course, but had also been turned into the center of attention.

His godfather, a man that must have sworn some magically binding oath to look after him and bring no harm to him or something like that, had escaped from the so-called inescapable prison called Azkaban. The man was supposedly after his head, or so everyone believed.

Harry didn't know what to believe though, he couldn't recall the man after all, he couldn't really recall much of his time before the Dursleys.

That little thing changed after his first meeting with a Dementor, those emotion vampires whose ultimate feeding technique was sucking out and consuming a person's soul turning their bodies into empty husks.

The Dementor had dislodged whatever had been blocking his memories of his time with his parents, as well as knocked loose the block that a certain white wizard had placed there, in his mind.

While it had been dislodged, it wasn't free to repopulate his mind. That would come later in the year before he could truly reunite with his godfather.

A swarm of over a hundred souls suckers had converged on their location as they fled to the castle having just run from a werewolf.

It was the very same werewolf that had been teaching him that one spell that could be used to repel Dementors, lethifolds, and to an extent Boggarts.

It was here that things changed, that some of the bindings finally fell away and the blocks in his memories were shattered.

His _friends_ and godfather were luckily unconscious when it happened, else they might have fainted and hurt their head at what he had done.

It was the betrayal that he felt at what he discovered that the headmaster had done to him, that triggered his Patronus. It wasn't like any patronus before it...TBC


	99. K1

His name was Cycle Ouroboros, an Earl of the Holy Britannian Empire, and one of the more successful businessmen of the empire. He had a hand in most major and many minor businesses and industries, as well as an accomplished artist in many fields, from writing to painting to music even.

That was what the empire knew about him, that was just his public face. To his closest friend, he could be referred to as the demon born from a hundred tales. He was the end result of a hyakumonogatari kaidenkai. He had literally lived one hundred lives before this present one. His 101st life had all of his memories of his first 100, along with all the abilities and powers of those said lives. He was a demon among men, as he had been in his very first life, a demon emperor to be exact.

His closest friend was one Lelouch Lamperouge, whom he had met at a chess meet when the teen was a mere 12 years old, and had not managed to best him, but the two had ended with several draws, taking home half of the trophy each. It was an unprecedented event.

From then on the two of them had become fast friends, age didn't really bother the two as they found that they had many similar interests. Physically the two of them were roughly 20 years apart, not that it looked that way on Cycle's part. But mentally, the definition of age really depended on what one would consider as old and young, as well as if things were based on intellect or memories or experiences.

They were quite a match. They also both utterly hated the Britannia of this day and age with a great burning passion. The flames of their hate were as black and as intense as the flames of Amaterasu. Their determination was unlike anything the world had ever seen in a around fifty of its lifetimes, a lifetime being the time between the rebirth of the world and its next scheduled armageddon if there was going to be one anyway.

They would topple the present world order one of these days, that was not some wish or dream, but a promise and a fact. A promise they dared not break no matter what, as it was the people's wish that it happen, and they dared not fail the people of the world as the granters of that one wish.

It was thanks to Cycle that Lelouch didn't spend a majority of his free time challenging nobility for money as well as risking his life against those that had the power to end his life and leave his sister relatively alone in the world. It was also thanks to Cycle that Lelouch wasn't inadequate when it came to the physical aspect of his being.

Lelouch was balanced physically and mentally. He was not a stain on his bloodline when it came to physical activity, unlike what could have become of him. He could hold his own in a fist fight, and he could hardly lose in a battle of wits.

Cycle was the best friend and influence that Lelouch could have ever asked for, as well as the best source of anything that the youth could ever ask for. His younger sister never needed to worry about any needs and had most of her wants, save for her want to see and walk again. The two friends were still trying to figure out a a way to get her those two things without causing even more chaos in the world.

They had the means to get her those two wants, but they just couldn't find a way to make it look legitimate and not have any other handicapped people knocking constantly on their door for the miracle cure. It was a necessary evil to keep the girl locked away in darkness.

Cycle, with his many abilities and powers, shared what he could with his young friend, and _cousin_ of sorts. He found that the youth could channel some of the energies that were available to him from past lives. Lelouch started learning and mastering his inner and the outer energies when he was 13, and only reached a near mastery sometime after his 17th birthday. He could channel chakra and magic to do wondrous and nearly thought of as impossible things. He was a telepath and telekenetic, and could even be called a minor pyromaniac. He could even commune with nature to an extent too.

He was by no means a one-man army, but he could command one impeccably well.

The two of them had practiced the more violent aspects of the things they knew how to do and could do against the more criminal elements of society, both local and foreign. It was a fun and life lesson filled thing.

"*"

"I have a small problem that I feel you could help me with," Lelouch said over a special frequency that only he and Cycle could access from anywhere in the world, "See... I'm presently trapped in the Shinjuku Ghetto and am in need of some assistance in a matter of military might."

"I hear you loud and clear," Cycle replied over the line, "I ask that we hold radio silence after this call. No worries, I know you as well as I know myself, and you know you can trust me even though I haven't shared all of my secrets with you. Just do as you think is best, and I'll have provide whatever you need when you need it."

"Thanks," Lelouch said and hung up as he was also nearing an opening from under the ruined passageway that he was traveling through with the green haired girl he and an old, and delusional, friend had encountered when the poison gas capsule had opened up.

"Who was that on the other end?" the girl asked.

"An immortal demon that I'm friends with," he replied, it wasn't all that far from the truth, and it was also doubtful that the girl would believe him.

"I see," she said, and they left the passageway only to be confronted by a group of soldiers with guns trained on them.

"Halt," the captain of the squad ordered, "Hold your hands up where we can see them, not that it really matters.."

"What do you mean?" Lelouch said, though he did know what the man meant, it was a no witnesses operation after all, he could tell that much, he just didn't know what gives with the girl that he was with, and what she had to do with everything.

"We have our orders to take the girl back with us dead or alive," a single shot was fired piercing the skull of the green haired girl, "and leave no witnesses," the captain said, "As I'm sure you're already aware."

"I am, unfortunately," Lelouch said, "I have no wish to do, and if the continuation of my life has you as an obstacle. I will have to rid my progress of your interference."

"Whatever," the captain said, "I've had enough with dealing with a clearly insane student, Britannian or not, time to die. Men, prepare to fire, we'll blame the terrorists for his death if he is the son of anyone important."

_Insert psychedelic mental conversation with C.C._

'_I accept the true terms of this contact!_' Lelouch mentally replied to C.C.'s offer, he felt that it was the right thing to do at the time, and after he felt something within him change, he began to laugh maniacally right before the captain of the squad was about to give the signal to fire.

"What do you find so funny?" the captain asked, feeling that something had indeed changed and that instead of being the hunter, he and his men were now the hunted.

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, order you to _die_," Lelouch ordered the soldiers, who happily did as were commanded.

He was not bothered one bit, felt absolutely no guilt, that he had sent a whole squad of soldiers to their deaths. He had grown used to it, very few things in the world could cause him to feel guilt or regret, most of those things were directly connected to the one source of true innocence in his life, his sister, Nunnaly.

It was then that the road to the destruction of the present state of Britannia began. Lelouch managed to capture one of the knightmares of the Purist Faction by geassing the pilot into obeying his direct commands, commands that would be given using a certain set of words.

With one of the Britannian's armored units under his direct control, it was time to use the terrorists to his advantage, and he performed splendidly well, up until Cycle gave him a call.

"Bad news," Cycle said, "Tell your chess pieces to dump their rides and hide amongst the civilians. The trump card is about to be released, if the king does not lead, how can he expect his soldiers to follow, right?"

"Sims are different from real life," Lelouch said, "I'm not that good, or good enough to take on an ace pilot."

"He's not an ace pilot," Cycle said, "Just do as I say, you'll gain a lot more than you will lose by taking on the ace. Once you're through with him, feel free to meet me at the G-1 mobile base to deal with Clovis."

"Fine," Lelouch said then began to order a retreat, but not really telling his forces that that was what it was, though he did mention that he would be covering for them while they made their escape.

The White Knightmare Frame Lancelot barreled onto the field destroying empty knightmare frames that had been used by the terrorists, up until it came face to face with the leader of the terrorists, or at the very least their master strategist.

Magic and machinery had no problem with one another in this world, in this existence. This was how Lelouch was able to turn his stolen knightmare frame into something that it had not originally been. He had transformed it into a suit of armor that he could control as if it were melded onto his own body instead of connected through a bunch of wires and nodes and other things to him.

It was an interface that had not been thought possible by Britannian scientists, manning a knightmare frame with one's body and mind, instead of a panel with keys and buttons and energy levels, of course no ordinary human had the energy levels or the energy to power one of such machines.

But Lelouch was far from ordinary, he was special, and using his chakra stores as the battery to power his knightmare, he stood his ground and prepared to engage the white knight with his now black one.

"Who are you? Are you a terrorist?" the white knight asked his counterpart that stood opposite him, challengingly.

"I am no terrorist," Lelouch replied, the voice of his frame was a deeper and modulated version of his very own, "I am above such tactics. But I am an enemy of the Britannia that you serve."

"Stand down," the white knight demanded, "I don't want to have to cause any more bloodshed."

"Same here," Lelouch stated, "But I cannot stand down. There are people counting on me."

"I see that there is nothing I can say that will change your mind," the white knight said, "Then so be it. Have at you!"

The white knightmare lunched at the black one, metallic fists meeting metallic arms. Both had no actual weapons other than the armored knights they controlled. It was a martial arts match that had not been seen for quite some time.

The white knightmare's creator cackled with glee at the combat data he was getting from the fight. Things were going rather unexpected, but he didn't care. What he did care about was where the Elevens had managed to get such an advanced looking frame.

'_This fight is taking far too long for my liking,_' Lelouch thought, then decided that there were times for honor and there were times for winning, he cared very little for honor at the moment and thus decided to use a bit more magic and transfigured some nearby rubble, from the fight, into a naginata and used it to take the legs out from under his opponent during an opening that had presented itself. This was followed by removing the head from his opponent's shoulders, he stopped there since his opponent was now incapacitated and no longer posed a threat to him.

The media had been forced to disregard the viceroy's orders to conceal the cleansing of the ghetto due to the fight between the two advanced frames. It was a fight that the world bore witness to, and the emperor was unfortunately in the dark about the origins of the black knightmare frame.

The cameras were unable to follow the black knightmare as it ducked into one of the collapsed buildings and disappearing completely. What had actually happened was that Lelouch had used an idea Cycle had given him some time ago about storing items in his cells or bones or blood or just his body. There had also been the idea of using hammer space, so Lelouch had combined the two. His body became something like hammer space.

He made his way to the G-1 Mobile Base where Cycle had said to meet him. They would be dealing with Clovis as well as insuring the safety of the civilians that lived in the ghetto, the ones that still lived that is.

It didn't take the two of them to meet up and calmly walking into the mobile base, geass the soldiers in their way into becoming loyal to Lelouch and finally getting all those close to Clovis under Lelouch's control as well.

"What do you want with me?" Clovis asked, shaking in fear just after ordering all of his remaining in the field forces to ceasefire and bring aid to all injured, irregardless of whether they be numbers of Britannians.

There could be a difference between their lives, so Cycle didn't stop Lelouch from interrogating his half-brother, but made sure to advise his friend to get his brother's loyalty like all the other Britannians before him.

Clovis proved to be just as much a clueless narcissistic pig as he had been before Cycle had killed off his own version of the sniveling little man. But this time, instead of dying, he would serve Lelouch in whatever way his younger brother saw fit.

"I may not have anymore reason to kill you," Lelouch told his brother, who was still quivering in fear, "But that does not mean that I can't rough you up a bit.."

What followed after that statement was the most painful beating that Clovis had ever been forced to endure in his life. Considering what a pampered prince he was, it was probably the first beating he had ever actually suffered through and lived to tell the tale, not that the tale he told his officers was a truthful one.

He spun a tale of lies, ordering the Purist faction to just arrest someone, preferably an Honorary Britannian. It suited that faction just fine, and they did as they were ordered, and as soon as news was permitted to be shared with the masses about Clovis landing in the hospital after being beaten within an inch of his life it became known or believed that the numbers could not be trusted.

The fall of the honorary britannian system was nigh, but of course Lelouch and Cycle would not be letting such a thing happen. They decided that justice was their calling, and so they, or rather just Lelouch, contacted the terrorists from Shinjuku for a meeting about collaboration regarding the rescue of an innocent Honorary Britannian soldier.

The terrorists were skeptical and thus needed a bit more convincing, especially after meeting a single masked individual that looked the part of the black king in a game of chess, who was accompanied by an obviously Britannian man.. Though when it came to Cycle, the terrorists began to realize that the face he wore was as false as any mask, since every few minutes he looked a bit different from a few minutes before. It was a thing that he could do, but his changes were so subtle that they were only noticed once he was finally wearing a totally different face.

"How can we trust you?" Ohgi, the leader of the terrorist cell, asked, as his other loyal members decided that it was just bullshit and had left, "I'm willingly to at least listen, even if the others seemed to have left."

"As the saying goes," Lelouch said, "Seeing is believing, so you'll have to trust me, as you did in Shinjuku."

"We're really just giving you a chance of joining something big," Cycle said, "We're going to go ahead with our plan with or without you."

"I'm willing to take the chance," Kallen, a classmate of Lelouch and a half-Britannian herself, said, "I trusted you in Shinjuku, and I admit I might have died there hadn't you intervened. So I'm in, whether or not Ohgi is."

"What'll it be Ohgi?" Lelouch asked, his voice different due to his voice modulator.

"...Naoto trusted me with your life, Kallen," he said, "So I guess I'm in if you are."

"Great!" Cycle said, "I guess I'll leave you three to it, I've got a meeting in a few minutes that I can't be late for."

"Just make sure you're there tomorrow," Lelouch said, "Zero can't be without his knight, Infinity."

"I'll be there," Cycle said, "Count on it."

Once Cycle left, Lelouch filled in his two new accomplices with the plan, as well as handing them some insurance in case something went wrong.

It was the next night that the plan was put into action.

Clovis was in his hospital room with guards all over the place to ensure his safety, while Lord Jeremiah Gottwald lead the Purist Faction on their delivery of the Honorary Britannian Suzaku Kururugi to his court martial, or death sentence.

Showing up in a copy of Clovis' very own personal transport was something only the very balsy would dare do. Lelouch was more than that, he was confident in his plan working, and if, on the off chance that something did go wrong, he had a number of contingency plans as well as Cycle to rely on.

"Who do you think you are?" Jeremiah demanded of him when the transport pulled up just a few meters away from the vehicle that held the prisoner, "And how dare you use Prince Clovis' personal transport!"

"I am Zero!" Lelouch introduced himself, it was his debut on the world stage after all.

"What do you want? Answer now while you still have the chance to," Jeremiah stated as he left the confines of his cockpit.

"I want private Kururugi," Zero stated, "I am willing to exchange him for.." he snapped his fingers dramatically overhead, which resulted in Kallen showing the capsule that they had been hiding underneath the false image of the transport, "This. So if you don't want Orange to be made public, I would hand over your prisoner now."

"Orange? I have no idea what you are talking about," the Purist said, "Even if I did, I am not about to allow the Eleven responsible for nearly assassinating a prince to go free."

"Then I guess I'll just have to release the poison gas," Zero threatened and acted as if he was about to gas the gathered crowd.

"Wait! Fine," the Purist relented and ordered his men to hand over the prisoner, but just as the exchange was made he ordered his men to attack, no matter what the terrorists could not be permitted to get away scott free.

It was a good thing that Cycle was in the audience, mixed in with the people wearing one of his many European faces. He quickly shifted his appearance, from that of a no name member of the crowed to a katana weilding, dark purple kimono wearing, amber eyed and red haired assassin, who moved at god-like speed dispatching the infantry first before taking on the knightmare frames while Zero released some colored gas to create more chaos.

The media were able to catch Cycle's form on video and presented his fluidity to the world, but they were unable to catch a glimpse of how Lelouch and Suzaku managed to escape along with Kallen who had been posing as Clovis' chauffeur.

Ohgi had been waiting under the bridge with something that would take the group away. As soon as he got his three accomplices he got them out of there, while Cycle made his own escape, but not before decimating the knightmare forces that were part of the convoy.

"Thank you for the rescue, I appreciate it," Suzaku told Zero, "But I'm not about to join you because of it. Terrorism is not going to change the world."

"I'm not about to recruit you," Zero said, "I wasn't planning on it. I view myself as a knight of justice, a defender of the helpless. You looked like you needed the help."

"Yeah right," Suzaku said voicing his doubts, "What do you hope to accomplish?"

"Accomplish? Why, the destruction of Britannia that's what," Zero said, "It is a diseased empire ruled by an Emperor who hardly cares for his own empire as he pursues grander things. I seek to destroy the present world order and bring about a new one."

"I still don't think violence and terrorism is the answer," Suzaku said, "I joined the army to force change from within. I believe it to be possible."

"That's your choice," Zero said, "Leave me out of it. I know Britannia, and how the system works, your way will never see reality. My way has a greater chance of something actually happening."

"Well, to each his own I guess," Suzaku said, "If you no longer have any use for me, I'll be taking my leave now. I have a trial to get to."

"Very well," Zero said, "But know this, should we meet on the battlefield I shall show you no more mercy than I would any other soldier of such a vermin infested empire."

"Understood," Suzaku said and made his way out of the place that they had hidden themselves in.

"Well that went well, didn't it," Infinity said, as soon as only the four that had gone out to save an innocent life were left in the place.

"It was his choice to walk to his doom," Zero said, "If he is too fool to see the truth, then let him be a fool. What really matters is that people now know what we are capable off, and... Ohgi. What do you think of our performance? I delivered what I promised didn't I?"

"Yes you did, Zero," Ohgi said, "I still can't believe that we managed to get out of there alive. So how does getting on the empire's most wanted list help Japan?"

"My introduction to the world shall serve as the prelude to the debut of the group that I have decided to found," Zero told the man, "The Order of the Black Knights, knights of justice, those who shall serve as the defenders of the powerless."

"I see," Ohgi said, "Well, I'm sure the rest of my cell saw what you managed to do, so I'll go speak to them about working with you."

"I thought I was going to die back there," Kallen admitted, "How'd you manage to stare down an armed military convoy like that? And with more bluffs than truths too."

"Practice," Zero replied, "We, Infinity and I, have been preparing for something like that for a few years now."

"Well, since you delivered, I guess I'll have to stick with you two until Japan is finally freed," she said.

"I was thinking more along the lines of until all the Areas are returned their identities," Zero said, "I'm not much of a fan of this numbers system. My ultimate goal is to bring about a better world, one where all the people are free from the oppression of Britannia."

"What about you, Infinity?" Kallen asked the other man, the one whose face was a perpetual mask.

"I fully support Zero in all his endeavors," Infinity said, "It is the duty of the master to support his student after all."

"Alright then," she said.

They parted ways then, and it only took three days before the rest of Ohgi's cell chose to join up with Zero and make up the core of what would later become quite the military organization. The Black Knights were then left to make their debut on the world stage.

#

"LELOUCH! WAKE UP!" Milly Ashford shouted in her vice-president's ear which had the effect of actually waking him, "What do you think you're doing sleeping while the student council is having a meeting?"

"Sleeping," Lelouch said monotonously, he hadn't been getting much sleep in the past few days due to his work as the leader of the Black Knights, a group that was growing in fame as the days wore on and as the missions grew in number. They still had yet to get the attention of the more important members of society like other already established groups had managed to already do, but they were getting there.

"Well don't! You're acting rather irresponsibly right now," she scolded him, like an older sister or mother would her younger brother or a child, "We were just about to begin discussing the budget! Its a right mess that's what it is! We're rather close to receiving complaints from the clubs about their funding and the like! We're practically in the red as it is!"

"If I promise to fix the budget and get us more funding, will you let me sleep?" Lelouch said before he stiffled a yawn.

"And how do you plan on getting us more funding? By gambling?" Milly asked him, scrutinizing him.

"I have a friend who has a lot of money to spare, and has been looking for somewhere to dump some of his excess," Lelouch said, yawning while speaking this time, "I'm sure donating some to the academy will do us wonders. Although you might have to go on a date or two with him."

"What? No way!" Milly said, "I'm not about to sell myself to make our lives easier you know."

"I wasn't saying that," Lelouch said, "Look, it was a joke, a poor one at that. I just haven't been getting much sleep, what with all the things that I've suddenly found myself doing. Sorry for implying that you'd be willing to spend some time with some rich old men for money."

"Gods Lulu! That wasn't funny at all!" Milly stated, rather disappointed in him and his lack of actual humor.

"That really wasn't funny man!" Rivalz said, "If getting into her pants was that easy, I would have tried it ages...ago..." realizing too late what he had said as he experienced what it was like to go blasting off again. Only to return a few scant minutes later sporting some additional bruises after landing in the one of the girl's locker rooms, somehow managing to slip through an open window to such a heaven right when one of the all women clubs were changing.

"Continuing from where we left off," Lelouch said, "I'll get us some additional funding if you'll let me. Though I personally would be willing to part with some of my winnings if you would be willing to go on a date with me. Say, tonight, since I'm free, and I know for a fact you don't have any plans for the evening."

"If that's you attempt at being romantic, its not really working," Milly said, deadpan and uncharacteristic of her, "If you really wanted a date with me you could have just asked."

"Regardless," Lelouch said, "The offer still stands, how about you agree, I part with some of my winnings, get us a sponsor, and I remain awake for the rest of the meeting."

"You really must want that date, huh," Milly teased, since she noticed that he hadn't said anything about sleep in his offer, "Alright, I agree."

"Thank you," Lelouch said, then announced, "Meeting adjourned, since the only thing remaining was the budget, now that that's sorted out. We don't have anything else to talk about, I'll take my leave now, since I still need some sleep."

With that said, he left the room, taking with him everything he would need to finalize the budget, along with taking out his phone to get in contact with Cycle to talk about sponsoring the Student Council.

He didn't really think about what he had gotten himself into until he found himself unable to fall asleep now that his nap had been disturbed.

Cycle didn't really mind being volunteered for sponsoring the Ashford Academy Student Council. He actually didn't mind that part of what Lelouch asked of him, he didn't even mind setting up the date that Lelouch had gotten himself into, what he did mind was how come he hadn't thought of doing what Lelouch was doing during his own run of a similar lifetime.

He set up his friend with a reservation at one of the restaurants he owned in the settlement, it was one of the more pricey ones that required an actual reservation made several months in advance. It also just so happened to be one of those establishments that Lelouch had unknowingly invested in, making him a part owner of, when he asked Cycle to make sure he didn't have to worry about money should the time come for him to stop his gambling.

A car was also arranged for Lelouch and his date, where Cycle himself would be playing the part of chauffeur though he did suspect Lelouch would know it was him. There was also the traditional flowers and chocolate for the girl, looking back into his rather extensive memory banks provided him with what the girl would appreciate rather than simply enjoy. He prepared them for Lelouch as well.

While it may have seemed like he was the one doing all the work, it was for a friend and so he didn't really mind. Though he was hoping that Lelouch somehow managed to spend some time with Kallen Stadtfeld as well.

It was an hour or two after classes had ended when Lelouch approached the private area where the Ashfords lived, which was still on the school grounds. In one hand was a bouquet while in the other was a simply box of chocolates.

He rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door for him. He was not nervous in the slightest, just a tad bit excited for the prospect of actually going on a date. It was to be his debut in the world of socializing.

Going to school and raising an army were different from socializing, as in joining the dating scene. It was a whole other battlefield and ballgame.

Milly answered the door all dressed and ready to go, though she did accept the flowers and chocolates, which she decided to leave at home. The flowers in a vase, while the chocolates she left within the safety of her room, she did wonder though how Lelouch knew her well enough to know what she genuinely liked since he hadn't seemed to really pay her that much attention in the past.

She was even more surprised when he led her to a limo, one which came complete with a driver, an actual pro and not some ruffian with a license like Rivalz. She bombarded him with questions as they traveled to their destination, him trying to answer as best as he could while still keeping his secrets.

She was dressed good enough for her station, while he matched her perfectly when it came to presentation. He was bringing to light all the lessons he had learned during the ten years that he had been a recognized prince of the empire. She didn't mind it one bit, though she did try to view his treatment of her as an apology for the lewd comments and suggestions and joke from the earlier council meeting.

She thought that he was going to take her to one of the easier to get into places, where a small bribe perhaps would be needed to get in, she had not expected him to have a reservation for the two of them at one of the premier restaurants in the settlement. IT was said that even Prince Clovis needed to make a reservation in advance just to eat there.

The only people exempt from the reservation rule were the owners, and there were only two of them. One was the well known Cycle Ouroboros and the other was some kind of secret partner of the well known Earl.

They were shown to their table with all the courtesy that could be provided, the staff had all been informed by the highest in the chain of command that Lelouch was to be treated as if he were the Emperor himself. Perfection was demanded of them, and their jobs were potentially on the line.

"How in the world did you manage to get a reservation here on such short notice? You practically only thought of asking me out to dinner today!" Milly half-asked half-demanded of her date, it was by far the biggest surprise that he had ever sprung on her, the list of surprises wasn't that long though, "Or have you secretly been planning to ask me out for more than a year?"

"Asking you out was a spur of the moment thing," Lelouch admitted, as he held out her chair for her before sitting on his own in their private area, "As for the reservation. I apparently have a permanent one here, I can come here for all of my meals if I so chose."

"How is that possible?" Milly asked him, curiously, "I mean, either you're very good friends with Earl Ouroboros or you're the secret partner."

"Before we see the menus," Lelouch said, he took out an envelope, from seemingly nowhere, and presented her with its contents, "I have here the signed agreement forms for the sponsorship of the Student Council, as well as documents regarding a generous donation to the school, plus an all expenses paid weekend stay at Lake Kawaguchi."

"Oh my god! You actually know Earl Ouroboros!" Milly said in surprise, she could hardly believe it, "Now the question is how. Well, aren't you going to share?"

"I will," Lelouch said, "But before that, why don't we look over what this place has to offer, order, then I'll tell you while we wait for our orders. How's that sound?"

"Fine," she said, "But this doesn't mean I'll forget about my question."

"I can accept that," Lelouch said as he was handed his menu and his date was handed hers, "Don't worry about the price Milly, order whatever you like."

That last statement gave Milly some more clues that she couldn't really believe could be true. She knew just how much Lelouch didn't like the nobility, the only exception being her family due to their loyalty to him, his sister, and their late mother.

"Well.. I'm waiting," she said after the two of them had given their orders.

"I met Cycle during that chess competition when I was 12," he told her, "Remember that unprecedented draw?"

"Yes, I remember that you didn't really seem to mind," she said, "You still have that half a trophy in your room after all."

"The other half of that trophy, a not that well known fact, is with Cycle," Lelouch shared with her, "Not only was he the only chess player I have never managed to beat, he has also become my best friend and partner in crime."

"Why didn't you say anything about this sooner! This is great news! Although...aren't you worried or weren't you worried that he could have reported your continued existence to your father?" she said to him, a bit concerned.

"He said that he knew who I was," Lelouch said, "Not as Lamperouge, but as vi Britannia. He also told me that whenever he plays, he imagines that he is playing against the empire. Be it as black or as white, he was practicing for a war against Britannia."

"Anyone like that was worth befriending at the time," Lelouch said, "Then as I got to know him, well...we truly became friends. He's also the one who informed me about my permanent reservation. I apparently am the secret part-owner of this joint."

"Anything else my family could use to our advantage?" Milly asked, anything to help her family after all, family first and all that unless you were related to the emperor like Lelouch was.

"Nope," Lelouch answered amused, "He'll do me some favors since I'm a friend, but anyone else. Well, you'll have to try and convince him to help you, the harder and more normal way, and just so you know. He's not all that into arranged marriages."

"Oh," Milly said, losing a bit of her steam, but brightening up at that last bit, "Well, at least I'm sure that my parents won't be able to get me into an arranged marriage with him."

"I suppose," Lelouch said, "Anything else you want to know?"

"Lots of things!" Milly said, regaining some of that lost steam as she steered the course of their conversation.

It really was a pleasant evening between the two of them, not counting the attempts made by Milly to get into some of the more delicate secrets that Lelouch had.

"Well, I had fun," Milly told him as he escorted her home, "Are you hoping to get anything out of this? I know a bit of how that mind of yours works you know."

"Nothing, aside from your company," Lelouch said, "And no, I'm not going to ask you to be my girlfriend. I can already imagine all the trouble that would get us into."

"Oh," she said sounding a bit disappointed, something which he did notice but decided not to say anything about, "I understand. In any case, I enjoyed myself and can say for certain that I know you a lot better now."

"I too enjoyed your company," Lelouch said.

"One more thing before this night must come to an end," Milly dramatically said, "Should I expect another invitation or was this a one time thing?"

"You'll have to wait and find out," Lelouch said, "Though I might be asking a few other ladies out, there isn't any law prohibiting polygamy."

He smirked and turned on his heel, leaving her gaping at him as he made his way home. He had a sister to reassure that he wasn't out causing trouble, and all that.

"*"

"I've already given Ohgi orders regarding the Saitama purge," Cycle informed Lelouch over their secure line, "Your sister doesn't know who she's messing with. I've also ordered the discreet evacuation of the civilians in that area, though I've said that it was on your orders rather than mine."

"So all I've got to do is show up, lead my forces, and see about humiliating Cornelia?" Lelouch half-asked.

"Pretty much," Cycle confirmed, "Though I'll be there as well in case you need a distraction or a means of escape. Cornelia'll be wanting to capture or kill me anyway, in my manslayer form of course."

"Of course," Lelouch said as he began to make preparations for his trip to the Saitama Ghetto, he was glad to have a friend such as Cycle, else he'd be more stressed than he already was, all things considered.

He arrived at the ghetto still in his student's uniform, Cornelia wanted everything as close to Shinjuku as possible, she would be getting everything as close as possible. This included Lelouch being in his school uniform and cutting classes.

Clovis was acting as sub-viceroy and advising Cornelia on making things as similar to Shinjuku as possible, while at the same time supplying as much information to the, as yet to debut, Black Knights as he could without getting caught. His men that were also made to be loyal to Lelouch did as well. All in all, the former terrorists and now freedom fighters had enough intel to actually get into the mobile base and had the potential to hold Cornelia herself hostage. The only thing stopping them was Zero and his plan for them.

There was also the fact that they didn't have the experience to fight close quarters with battle hardened individuals that had no qualms when it came to ending lives.

With Lelouch on the scene, he could direct his forces more easily as compared to relying on Cycle to inform him of the movements of both sides using the language of the chess board.

He ordered his forces to only use what Infinity had provided for the, which were mostly guns and rocket launchers, no knightmare frames were to be used by the Black Knights.


	100. K2

At the age early age of 12 he met a man who had almost the same goals that he did, a man that shared his passionate hatred of the corruption that had seeped its way through the years into his homeland and its rulers, the royalty and nobility. This man had also been the very first person in his life to not gain a single win nor loss against him in chess. It was a perpetual draw between the two of them, no matter how much more experienced the man may have been, when it came to the war game of chess, the two were on equal ground.

No matter the starting piece, or the first move made, or the color of piece chosen, the result was always the same between the two of them. Draw. Stalemate.

It was this man who also took the nearly forgotten and exiled prince of the Holy Britannian Emprire under his wing, teaching all he knew and could pass on to the youth, giving the youth as much resources as he could that his ultimate goal, the fulfillment of the people's greatest wish, to come to fruition.

The man improved upon what the youth already knew and could already do, the only thing that he didn't bother improving upon was the strategic and tactical mind of the youth, since they were on equal footing, they simply played game upon game of chess, on a number of platforms, boards, and variations. Moving from simply chess pieces to video games that simulated actual battles.

The man prepared the youth for war with his homeland, among other things. He held a grudge far older than the youth's for the empire, a hundred lives past to be exact. In another life, a life that he remembered and a life that was very much a part of him in all aspects, save for any weaknesses of that life, were his in this 101st life of his. He had failed in fulfilling the people's wish then, so he strived to make sure that his young friend, and student would succeed where he had in that first lifetime failed.

He was Cycle Ouroboros, or Infinity as he chose to refer to himself especially when he and his student Lelouch Lamperouge, formerly vi Britannia, played their war games or went out gambling. His student had also chosen the name Zero to complement his teacher. Infinite things, no beginning or end, while the other was simply nothing.

They met during the youth's free time, when he wasn't out with his friends, his sister, gambling for a living, or doing other such things that took up some of his free time. They always met, everyday in fact. But they always did so in secret.

Cycle was a moderately well known figure in the empire, having a hand of a finger in many businesses and industries, it would not do for his student's continued existence to be made known to the public at large. This was why they always wore a different face whenever they came together and went out to do their thing.

They could tell each other apart from every face in a crowd, it was as if they had been twins born from different mothers and being born at least 20 years apart. It was insane of them to think so, but that was the way they were.

Early on Cycle taught Lelouch energy manipulation, the energy being a number of different kinds from just regular electric energy to the very forces that kept the universe intact like magic, the Force (which wasn't quite as strong as in the Star Wars Saga existences, universes, and dimension), even the internal energies like the yin and yang energies that made up chakra, physical energy, mental, spiritual, and killing intent as well.

After the basics were down, the next lesson to be mastered was the art of transformation, and not just some illusion type of transformation but actual shifting of personal shape and composition, it was the skill which allowed the two of them to use a different face every time they met up.

Following that lesson and mastery, was the mastery of the art of absorption as well as the application of hammer space. Lelouch had a more difficult time accepting the fact that hammer space existed as compared to the possibility of transformations. Though seeing was definitely believing, since Cycle demonstrated putting away an elephant from the local, Area 11, zoo in his own dimensional pocket.

The art of absorption was turning one's entire body into hammer space. Lelouch eventually managed to store or keep large objects, complex objects like machines, in his body, from his cells to his organs, it didn't really matter where exactly in his body they were kept, all that mattered in the end was that he could put them there and he could pull them out when needed or wanted.

Cycle had provided Lelouch with his own knightmare frame, a black one that resembled a samurai, since the youth didn't really have that much of a healthy respect for the run-of-the-mill knights. It looked like an armored skeleton, white skeleton features with black armor, Cycle had dubbed it Susanoo.

This knightmare frame operated in an unconventional way, for one thing its controls were unlike most knightmare frames, it didn't run like some really complex computer, it was worn like armor really, it bled over from its storage space and onto Lelouch's skin, growing as needed from just a second skin to the large knightmare frame size that it could or would normally be if kept outside of his hammer space.

Once activated, no matter what size the armor took on, it felt to the pilot, user, wearer, operator, like it really was a second skin, just with some additional powers, abilities, and accessories. Though the downside of wearing the armor was that Lelouch couldn't take a piss if he felt he needed to.

The armor also didn't need to be used all at the same time, he could take out its head and wear only that if he wished, or just coat an arm in the armor, and other such parts if he so wished. It was what he used to enhance his body during a fist fight, along with the other energies that were made to be at his disposal.

Lelouch kept all this hidden from his peers and even his beloved younger sister. Just like his friendship with Cycle, others didn't really need to know about them, and knowing these secrets could cause a bit more uncontrolled chaos if released at the inappropriate times.

In school Lelouch pretended to be physically weak, he attended gym class just to attend, but didn't really participate in the activities, just giving the bare minimum or manipulating the teacher during that period. It didn't really matter so long as he passed. He didn't really need to study as his memory was nearly photographic, he rarely ever forgot anything, even the minutest of details was entrenched in his mind, most of the time. There were some things that he did forget, but they were usually minor things that didn't really matter in the greater scheme of things.

Thanks to Cycle, Lelouc had managed to become the head of a rather well connected underground organization that operated much like a crime family did, the main difference between his organization and a crime family was that for one no one that was no part of it knew that it existed and another thing was that they acted much like the Six Houses of Kyoto when it came to supporting freedom fighters and terrorists. They also ran a business, trading mostly. It was where a third of Lelouch's gambling winnings went, it was a business, an investment, and he had people depending on him to provide for them a living.

He dubbed his organization the Order of the Exiled, a name which reflected what he was as well as what his subordinates in a sense were. They were exiled from their homelands, robbed of their names. His members were mostly Japanese, save for himself and Cycle. Both of them using their symbolic names, Zero and Infinity.

There were only around 30 members, all of whom were orphans from the invasion belonging to families that could have traced their lineages back to some of the old world's samurai and assassins.

The duty they volunteered for themselves was to make sure that a majority of the freedom fighters were kept safe from harm or capture. They were the ones that provided the option of a quick death in case someone from the resistance was caught and wanted to die rather than serve some purpose for the enemy. They were also thieves in the night that acted in a sense like Robin Hood and his band of merry men, stealing from the nobility and, keeping some of it for their own treasury and coffers, dividing among their beneficiaries.

The group of 30 operated with all of its members for around two years, starting from when Lelouch was 13 to just after he turned 15. At that time 20 of his subordinates had been arrested for suspicions of terrorism by the Purist Faction and were executed without a trial. The members did not betray their organization, the only thing that actually slipped from their tongues was the name of the organization.

Lelouch sword vengeance for those 20 members that had been lost in roughly the same week. Cycle pulled some strings and used some favors for just that purpose, the ones that reported suspicious activity regarding the 20 members were taken out of commission permanently. Some of them had been friends of the members who were actually spies of the military within the organizations that benefited from the organization's kindness.

It was only then that they stopped operations regarding aiding the freedom fighters. They remained silent, vowing to return to the war, when the time was right or when their Lord, Zero, called.

Cycle did not teach them his ways, but he did provide for them whatever they needed to survive, even jobs at his companies and businesses. They were his extended family, and thus deserved his aid. The remaining ten members served not as guards or any kind of security personnel, but as regular staff. Their jobs were normal, relatively normal which would keep others from being even more suspicious of them. Since they were considered as Elevens working at Britannian owned establishments.

#

"Call a meeting," Lelouch said over a secure line that he shared with only one person, his one best and true friend, partner, second-in-command, and teacher, Cycle, "Our resurrection is at hand."

"Understood," Cycle said over the line, hung up, and began contacting the remaining ten subordinates who had integrated themselves in circles of their own, managing to bypass the usually reserved for Britannian's only line that separated the numbers from their Britannian conquerors.

When the extended family was finally gathered, together in an abandoned warehouse in the port area, Lelouch revealed a gift and a curse that he had received just that afternoon when he had ventured into the Shinjuku Ghetto and began his war against Britannia. He revealed that he had gained something called Geass, which Cycle was thankfully able to give a detailed explanation about, surprising Lelouch with such kowledge before the younger man realized that he should have expected his mentor to have known such things that were normally beyond normal or most human comprehension or care.

The members took everything they had been told as being true since that was just how much trust they had in their two leaders, there was also the fact that their leader had already previously shown them some things that most would have considered as impossible.

Like silencing their footsteps to avoid detection, making them invisible in order to pass by undetected, and a number of other supernatural things.

They had seen many such things, which was why being told that immortality was real didn't shock or faze them much. Though one member of their group did faint upon being told that the immortal that had granted their leader his Geass was a green haired teenage looking girl that should be wandering around the Area in a bondage type outfit.

"Britannia has suffered its first casualty in the form of Clovis," Zero said, "Our war might have begun, but for the mean time I want all of you to be on the lookout for this C.C., girl. Infinity and myself will handle the expansion and recruitment of our forces, but they will of course be in the form of another organization, unless a majority vote decides to invite someone else to join our exclusive ranks."

"Hai," the 10 members said in affirmation and confirmation of the orders.

"Keep in touch and be ready for action any time," Infinity said, "I'll provide some upgraded gear for you lot within the week, you need more heavy combat armaments."

"Contact your trustworthy friends in the remaining groups out in the field," Zero said, "We might be needing them in the coming operations, whatever they may be."

"I'll contact the Six Houses and inform them that we're resurrecting," Infinity said, "I'm sure Kirihara will be quite surprised at the news."

"I'm sure," Zero responded, then addressed the assembled members, "That will be all for now. Either myself or Infinity will contact you if anything comes up."

"It was nice seeing you again Zero," one of the members said after approaching their leader.

"Is something the matter, Ido?" Zero asked, a bit concerned since none of the other members had approached him.

"Regarding the unknown we managed to rescue," Ido, a brown haired young man with a noticeable scar on his left cheek, said, "He woke up a while ago... His memory is a bit spotty, there are gaps such as his identity, but he remembers a bunch of other things. A coma plus a mild amnesia. Poor fellow, I was hoping that you could look into his identity in the coming days, I'd do it but I'm not as well connected as you are, my lord."

"I'll look into it Ido, just keep our friend comfortable, but if he remembers something that might help with his return to his family, let me or Infinity know," Zero said, and proceeded to leave the warehouse.

It had been a rescue run that they had done a while back, where they had come across a badly beaten prisoner at the detention center they raided. There weren't that many living prisoners left, so they took every one that they could all the while leaving traces that the men and women that had been held captive there had either been transferred or somehow managed to escape without outside help.

When it came to the other prisoners identification was easy as cheese, but when it came to their unconscious turned comatose'd friend, they hadn't found anything that could have led to his identification. The detention center didn't have any records on him either, so they had to wait for him to wake up and tell them who he was before they could find his friends and send him home.

Later that evening, while Ido was tending to his patient, he was the medical practitioner of the organization, his patient bolted upright shouting the name of some girl. One Kallen, this was news, a name finally which could lead to the man's identity. So Ido contacted Infinity since Zero was usually out of reach at such a time, unless it was an emergency and such a discovery did not count as such.

"Sorry to disturb you at such a late hour," Ido said over the line, it was another one of those secure lines that the organization had, "But I've got some new information about our formerly comatose and presently amnesiatic friend."

"Do tell," Infinity said from his end of the line.

"He shouted the name Kallen all of a sudden, then began to try and get out of my apartment," Ido said, "I had to sedate him, to keep him from getting away."

"He's not a prisoner you know," Infinity said, "I hope you explained that much to him."

"I did, after he calmed down some," Ido said, "So...what happens now?"

"I'll look into the matter," Infinity said, "I'll get in touch with you if I find anything."

The call was ended, and Infinity didn't need to do any research. It may have been one name, but he now knew who the man that they had rescued was. In his first life he knew not the exact details of what had happened to the man, but here and now, he knew. It was a blessing in a sense, and would help Lelouch that was for sure. All that was required was informing his student and friend about their discovery.

Lelouch was informed via their shared secure line, and he was also informed about the identity of the woman in the glasgow that he had dubbed as his Q-1.

It was the very next day, the very next morning, just as the first class was about to start did Lelouch find his chance to speak with his classmate that feigned sickness and weakness, just as he in a sense did to a certain extent.

It was the first time in a long time that she had decided to grace the school with her presence, it was more likely that she had been ordered by her superior to lay low for a while. Her education was also a bit important too though.

It would surely spark some new gossip around campus, his next actions would.

He got up from his seat and walked over to her, making it seem all casual and all that. The eyes of the majority of the class zeroed in on him as it was an unexpected action from him. Their eyes followed him as he approached the gaggle of girls that were busily updating their friend of the going-ons within the school while she was away, only for them to shut their mouths or openly gape as the infamous and out of their reach Lelouch Lamperouge graced them with his immediate presence.

"Excuse me ladies, but I need to borrow Ms Stadtfeld for a bit," he told them, his voice smooth as silk, his charm overflowing.

It was with half a bow and an arm half outstretched did Kallen Stadtfeld allow him to take her by the hand and lead her out of the classroom and away from prying eyes and ears for him to share with her something that would either get him killed or her to be in his debt.

She had no choice but to go with him, he was the school's student council's vice-president, she had to act shy and meek, but her blush was genuine.

They passed by their first subject teacher who allowed them to continue on their way, since Lelouch had already geassed most of the staff into following his orders and being loyal to him, but they were not to make it obvious of course. Each of them had a phrase for him to use when giving his orders, it might seem odd at some times or circumstances, but that was the part of the specific instructions he gave them when he put them under his power.

It was a very useful idea for getting him out of class, was rather harmless too.

He led the _sickly_ girl to an unused classroom during that day, it was one of the ones that the student council used when their usual place was being cleaned or something like that. Once there he had her get comfortable, as he closed all entrances and exits, as well as cut the feed of the monitoring camera which he knew was in the room and could be found all over the school. But he made sure that a video loop could be seen by anyone checking in on the room.

Frankly, his actions were scaring the poor girl, freedom fighter or not, terrorist or not, his actions were more than odd and could be just a regular guy's ploy into forcing a girl to do some things that she would rather not do. It was one of those deer in headlights kinds of situations that even though she knew how to defend herself, her body just wouldn't move on its own.

"Right then," Lelouch said as he turned to face he, having finished his security and privacy measures, "Down to business."

"B-Business?" she asked him, her fright evident in her voice.

"I'm not going to do most of the cruel and unusual things your mind is cooking up right now Kozuki-san," Leluouch said, trying to reassure her that he meant her no harm, while at the same time snapping her mind out of whatever world she was creating in it.

"How do you know that name?" she demanded defensively, her mind instantly assessing her situation upon hearing the name she acknowledged more than the one she used at school.

"I am the student council vice-president, I make it my business to know such things," he told her, "But in your case, well. It was a need to know thing on my part really. I know about you and your illegal activities."

"H-how do you know about that?" she asked, fearfully, the number of scenarios flying through her mind were quite a lot, and she was quickly panicking and nearing hyperventilating on him.

"Now now, relax a little bit," Lelouch said to her, rubbing her back in circles to help calm her down too, "I'm not about to report you or take you in or something like that. If I did, I'd be quite the hypocrite or traitor myself to the cause of toppling Britannia."

"What?!" she said, surprised by what she had just heard, from what everyone around the school said, the vice-president was a Britannian through and through, she could hardly believe that he was part of some group that sought the destruction of Britannia.

"I'm sure you've already pegged me as a Britannian through and through," Lelouch said, "While my heritage may be such, it isn't that impossible for one such as myself who has lost quite a lot due to the empire and its politics to want to destroy such a thing. I too am a rebel, just as you are."

"Ok...so now what?" she asked him, calmed down more than before, "What did you need to talk to me about? Did Ohgi contact you or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Lelouch said, "This matter which I needed to speak to you about is regarding to your brother."

"What about him?" she demanded, she was still very defensive over the brother she thought she had lost and who she believed to have died in an encounter with Britannian forces, "Did you know him? Work with him? Or something?"

"Its the 'or something' option," he told her.

"What does that mean?" she asked him.

"My organization managed to rescue him from a detention facility, battered, beaten, and in a coma," he informed her, "One of my subordinates has been looking after him. I was informed yesterday that he woke up, and a few hours ago spoke your name with quite some amount of worry in his voice. He had to be sedated lest he do something everyone involved with his care would regret or suffer for."

"I... I see..." she said, "So...why are you telling me this? Other than the fact that I'm his sister."

"I need your permission for something," he said, "For you to be able to see him, and for my organization to acquire some compensation for taking care of him. I will be needing your full cooperation for an operation I have planned."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, asking for Ohgi's opinion on the matter was not a priority when compared to seeing her brother alive again.

"I will be having you kidnapped by terrorists," he told her, "I use the term terrorists since we will be causing some terror on some people's parts, innocents in the war we will soon be waging. So how about it?"

"I'm trusting you with my life here," she said, "So yeah, do your worst."

'_You're about to regret saying those words_' he mentally chuckled, as he led his classmate to their next class of the day, he did try to keep the creepy and scheming grim from remaining on his face, but found all the looks of curiosity and some hints of fear was a rather worthwhile experience.

"*"

She didn't know what to expect nor when to expect to be abducted, he didn't give her a time frame or anything of the sort. She believed that it was done in order for her to not only be on her toes, but for her reaction to also be more realistic.

It happened while she was on her way home from school, some of her friends from school had decided to accompany her home and see if they could get the scoop or truth about the rumors regarding her and Lelouch that had spread throughout the school by the first break. Milly Ashford was on a roll, or so she believed.

It was a stereotypical abduction. A black plateless van swerved onto the scene. Pulling up beside the gaggle of girls, the sliding door was opened fractionally an arm extended outward, belonging to a black clad individual, it encircled Kallen's waist and pulled her inside the thing.

It happened so fast that she hadn't even been given the chance to scream and her friends had not been given the chance to shout for help. They did though when the van was already speeding away making its escape from the scene of the crime.

She was knocked out by her kidnappers, somehow it made her believe that it was real, more real than the planned one her classmate had informed her about. She doubted that she'd be seeing her brother alive after the experience. She even started to believe that the boy had sold her out, had lied to her outright, and had some way to evade being arrested or something like that.

She woke up an hour or so later tied loosely to a bed in a dark room with a masked individual keeping vigil over her prone form. She noted that she still had all her clothes on, therefore nothing had happened to her physically.

"Apologies for the treatment and the bindings," the man said, for it was obviously a man judging by his physical structure, "Had to make sure you didn't escape, or hurt yourself, or hurt us for that matter. We were instructed to make sure that you wouldn't try anything rash. But since you're now awake and our demands have been sent, I'll be untying you and taking you to your brother. That is, if you'll let me."

"Uh...sure.." she said, then asked a question that began bugging her as he began to untie her, "Where's Lelouch?"

"Who?" he asked, then it dawned on him who she was referring to, "Oh, him. He's probably running errands or something. Why do you ask?"

"He set all this up and stuff, so I was just wondering where he was," she said.

"I really don't know," the man said, "I'm Ido by the way, I'm the one that's been taking care of your brother."

"Nice to meet you," she said as she stood up from the bed she had been laying on, "I'm.."

He held up a hand, prompting her to halt in her introduction.

"I know who you are, and everything that is needed to be known about you," he informed her, "We've been briefed on everything regarding our guest, or in my case, guests. You are presently in the settlement, in the apartment that I have been given by the company that I work for."

"Is this.." she tried to ask.

"It is not our base of operations," Ido said, "Truthfully, we don't have one. Our bosses have bases of their own or hideouts really, but that's about it. Well, we best get going now, that is if you want to see your brother."

"Lead the way then," she said, and stood up to follow him.

She found her brother, genuine article and all that, laying in a bed reading a number of books as he was getting up to speed with the world around him. He needed to know as much as he could learn before reemerging back into society. It was part of a plan that he had agreed to, Zero was going to make it possible for him to regain part of his old life back. The kidnapping of his sister was just the tip of the iceberg.

While he had been told who he was, after Cycle had deemed the information he had compiled on the young man was complete, he did not accept it since no memories of who he was sprung to the fore to confirm what had been told to him. But upon seeing his sister standing at the door with his caretaker, all those memories battled with one another to take dominance at the forefront of his mind.

"It really is you," Kallen said as she hugged her formerly lost brother, "I thought you died, the military even announced that you and whoever else was with you had been executed."

"Well I'm alive, and now you know what really happened," Naoto told his sister, "So, how's school been, and how's being held captive as a kidnap victim going for you? Do you have a boyfriend I should be threatening?"

"She skips class to fight for the freedom of Japan, resorting mostly to terror tactics, it hasn't yet sunk in that she is presently in a kidnap situation, and she does not have a love life to speak of," Ido answered for the girl as he half-listened to the duo's conversation, he also half-listened to Zero who was on the other end of the conference call he had become a part of as soon as Kallen left his side.

"Hey! Why'd you answer his questions?" Kallen said as she let go of his brother and rounded on the intruder in their private moment.

"I'm the guy assigned to looking after the two of you," Ido said, "I've also got nothing better to do at the moment."

"How old are you anyway?" she asked him, she was rather curious.

"Four years older than you," Ido replied absentmindedly, he then nodded upon receiving new instructions from the call which he ended as he closed his phone, "We've got to get out of here. There's been a new development, and all us members and associates are being called on by the higher ups for a meeting."

"Does it have anything to do with my reintroduction?" Naoto asked, he was going to be reintroduced back into society under the cover story that he had been in a coma but had been under the care of a Britannian medical facility in the homeland in secret, his father didn't want such a weakness to leak and thus had not deemed to inform anyone of it. He had just woken up and had survived a medical procedure that got him back up and running at a hundred percent. Which in a sense was true since Ido had more or less doused him with experimental treatments to keep his body in tip top shape.

"No, nothing to do with that," Ido said, "Your thing is a social thing, not in anyway related to this new development," he then addressed Kallen, "Would it be possible for you to have your people meet up with us at the former Kururugi Shrine?"

"What for?" she asked him.

"The higher ups would like your group's cooperation," Ido informed her, "Our leader would like to work with your group again for the coming operation."

"Your leader? Who's that?" she asked him, confused by what he meant.

"I was told that you would know him as the voice from Shinjuku," Ido told her before he walked around the room, got a bag and began filling it up with stuff, from scrolls to boxes, which surprisingly actually all fit into the small thing, "Naoto, get dressed, and Kallen if you can get your people to meet us there, it would be appreciated. If your leaders are hesitant you may mention that the Order of the Exiled is the one asking for their participation, most leaders of resistance cells and terrorist groups within the country should recognize our name."

"Are you a new group or something?" Kallen asked, she had no clue as to who they were really.

"The Exiled," her brother decided to explain, "Were like the Kyoto Houses, though they did more than just support the many cells and groups in the country. They went inactive roughly two years ago though."

"That only happened due to the sudden decrease in membership," Ido said, "It was a pretty low blow. Who knew just how many mistakes in friendships our past members had made during that time. Had we been more vigilant it might not have happened."

"Oh.. I honestly didn't know," Kallen said, apologizing for her ignorance in a way.

"S'alright," Ido said as he finished his packing, "We're a very secretive group... Made sure that only those we wanted to know about us knew about us. As for our past members that were caught, they got regular charges and never spilled the beans about us save for our name."

"Well, I guess we don't really have much of a choice," Kallen said as she got off the bed and off of her brother, "I'm ready, although I'd like to know where all my stuff is."

"In the van," Ido told her, "You didn't look like you needed all of those things."

"I'll need my phone," she said, "How else am I to contact the others."

"Good point," Ido said, "You can do that in the van, I'm sure you didn't get a good look around the interior."

"I was knocked out," she deadpanned, "You think I saw anything?"

"I suppose not," Ido said and escorted the siblings down to the garage and into the van that was no longer colored black, instead it was a dark gray with the logo of a computer store in the settlement, like a delivery van of some sort.

"So we're going to the Kururugi Shrine?" Naoto asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"That will be our final destination," Ido said as he got into the driver's seat while the siblings were told to get into the back, which was surprisingly devoid of any seats or anything for that matter, "You'll see what's so great about the inside of this thing in a moment, as for where we'll be going... We'll be picking up some of the other members on the way."

"Like my classmate?" Kallen asked.

"Your classmate?" Naoto asked, "What do you mean? There's a Britannian radical?"

"Yeah," Ido said, "He's the first one on our pick up list. Cover story is that he's working part time with me, if anyone outside our circle asks."

Once the engine had been started, the real interior of the back of the van emerged. Computers of all sorts, from radar to all sorts of other things began to rise or move out of the very walls of the van, while seats and the like began to rise up from the floor. One other thing that appeared from the seemingly almost flat surface were Kallen's things along with some uniforms and costumes of a sort.

"Put on the uniforms," Ido said, "It wouldn't do for you two to be recognized after all, and call me Z-1, its my codename in the group."

"Ok, Z1, but what about me and my brother?" Kallen asked as she found herself a uniform that looked to be about her size. The uniform was composed of black clothes, with a plain looking visor'd biker's helmet.

"You already have a codename Q1," Ido said, "As for your brother, it has been decided that he's to be I1."

"Alright," Kallen said.

"You want us to do anything back here?" Naoto asked.

"One of you can be the communications person for our trip, while the other can deal with keeping track of the news," Ido said, "Choose amongst yourselves as to who will be what for the time being."

Kallen decided to be the one to keep track of the news, there was a television and a regular radio in the van that she could use for that purpose. While Naoto became the communications officer for the drive, wearing a rather plain looking headset and was guided by a manual on the codes that the organization used.

The van stopped for a moment before the backdoor opened for a moment to let a student uniform wearing person to enter the van. It was Lelouch, and without really thinking about it, he had his clothes morph from school attire to his Zero persona.

He nodded in his female classmate's direction, pat Naoto on the shoulder, and took a seat in front of one of the computer terminals in the surprisingly spacious back of the van. It was like a whole room had been fit into the back of the van, and no matter how hard Kallen tried to rationalize it, she couldn't find an explanation on how it was possible for such a thing to be real.

"This is Zero," he spoke through a headset he also wore, though his way found on the inside of his helmet, "Meet up time has been moved to an hour to allow members of I1's group time to think over the meeting and to get there to sate curiosity's sake."

There were many affirmatives received.

"Kallen, did you call Ohgi already?" Naoto asked, as he had been asked if the group had been contacted. The person he was talking to over the headset was Z3, Rosuto Mizuki the intelligence officer of the group and also mad scientist.

"N-no," she replied and fished out her phone and began calling her friend and the on that had been looking out for her for the past two years.

As she stumbled across her words, the mere mention of the Exiled was enough to get Ohgi interested, who promised that he'd come, it wouldn't hurt after all. Especially since Kallen had her brother speak to his long time friend, shocking the man into momentary silence. The voice of a supposedly dead man would send anyone into the land of curiosity.

The van picked up two more members, Z4, the human resources guy, and Z5, the financial officer. Both of whom worked at the computer shop that Cycle owned and that Lelouch was a part-owner of, even though he wasn't really aware of it.

The group made their way to the meeting site, the Kururugi Shrine, which had formerly been owned by the Sumeragi clan had been bought, in secret, by Lelouch, through Cycle, since it held some pleasant memories for him. He even had the house that had stood there restored from the burned down husk that had been left in its place after the bombing of the place during the start of the invasion.

By the perimeter it looked as if some construction or something like that was going on. It was made to look that way in order for no one to trespass or stumble upon the completely restored site. No one questioned the legitimacy of the claims that no one without enough clearance was permitted within its borders, no one even cared that the place existed. It was a precautionary illusion that Cycle had set up, without Lelouch knowing about it though.

The van was parked in front of the main house, the equipment was unpacked, and the members greeted each other as everyone that was already there helped in the unpacking.

"Looks like we'll be having an HQ after all," Z6, one Miyagi Touji, said, he was just another foot soldier in the group and he didn't mind that he wasn't given some sort of special position.

"I might as well make use of this place," Zero said as he helped unload the thing as well, while Kallen and Naoto stood to the side and watched the small organization get to work on whatever they were doing, "Gathering dust isn't very productive."

"I agree, even though I've been taking care of the place as best as I could," Z10, Go Ranju, the escape artist of the organization, said, "I take pride in my cleaning skills after all."

"Yeah," Ido said, "All of your skills were clean ones. Not everyone can be a sniper like you."

"Just to remind you, I prefer a bow and arrow to rifle and bullet," Z10 said.

Once all the equipment was taken out of the van, it grew in size right before everyone present's eyes. It even shifted shape, as Cycle molded the thing and turned it into a smaller version of the G-1 Mobile Base that the Britannians liked to use as their command center while out in the field. The main difference of course was that it was colored black, the other difference was that it could not house any knightmare frames in it due to its smaller size.

"How the heck did you do that?" Kallen voiced her and her brother's question.

"Magic," was Infinity's simple reply, he didn't wear a chess inspired black outfit, instead he looked like he was a captain from the manga and anime Bleach, he did after live a few lives in that set of existences after all.

"Err...ok," the siblings decided that it was an acceptable explanation, and that probably they wouldn't be able to believe any other or more explanations that Cycle could give them.

"Now what?" Kallen asked of the members that sat around the outside of the mini mobile base, "I thought there was going to be some sort of meeting."

"We're waiting for your people to arrive," Zero replied as he began playing nine chess games simultaneously against Infinity, seven were board versions, one was a verbal match, and the other was a mental one since both of them were telepaths.

If one were to slip into their minds while they were having their little games, one would find countless number of continuously multiplying chess strategies, tactics, and scenarios playing out. Each one multiplying by each possible next set of moves by both sides. This was the first defense against mental intrusion that each one had, which apparently a Code bearer could bypass in order to implant the Geass. But that was about it when it came to a Code bearer's ability to bypass such things.

Ohgi and his crew were waiting for whom they believed to be a Britannian to leave his post in front of the only visible entrance to the Kururugi Shrine. It was really Z9, the security officer of the organization, he went by the name Ukiyoe Hotaru. He knew that they were there watching them and was finding it rather funny that while they did outnumber him they were scared of him.

"If you don't come out and face me, I'm going over there and dragging you lot out for making us wait," Z9 said loud enough for Ohgi and his group to hear.

When Ohgi came out of the forest that surrounded the perimeter of the base, he noticed that the sword that Z9 had on him wasn't the straight sword he knew to associate with the weapons that the knights or nobility wore on their person while on duty some of the time. It was a slightly bent of curve blade that he didn't think he would be seeing anytime soon.

"I know how to use it," Z9 said upon noticing the looks his weapon of choice were getting, "Even though my day job is a hot dog vendor, I know how to use it. Now if you would please follow me.."

He led the group to the meeting place, which was where the Exiled were sitting around playing games, no gambling games though, but two of the members were trying and succeeding in scaring Kallen and Naoto with a shorter version of a hundred ghost stories that they could think of.

The first thing Ohgi and his crew noticed was the miniature mobile base, followed by the Japanese style compound type of house, then the equipment and crates with things in them, followed by the assembled people in uniforms. Finally Naoto being there, alive and well, entered their minds and sunk in that it couldn't possibly be an impostor.

"Ah, it seems our guests have finally arrived," Zero said as all of his games with Infinity ended in stalemate instead of checkmate, "Welcome to the newly christened headquarters of the Order of the Exiled and, hopefully soon to be, Black Knights."

"Err...thanks for the invite," Ohgi said, "Its an honor to be here, sir."

"Let us adjourn to a more...comfortable meeting room, as I doubt that you're all comfortable as we are holding a meeting in out here," Zero said and began to lead the way into the house.

The two groups followed after the masked black king, and ended up finding themselves in a large room with mats upon which to sit for the meeting to begin.

"So..ah...why are we here?" Ohgi decided to ask, to get the meeting underway, "And how come Naoto's with you?"

"We rescued him from a detention center two years ago, which was actually close to the time that we went inactive, nursing our wounds so to speak," Infinity replied, "And before I forget, introductions are in order."

"Yes, our apologies," Zero said, "I am Zero, the leader of the Exiled."

"And I am Infinity, his second-in-command," Infinity added.

The other members of the Exiled followed suit, stating their real names and their designated code names. Once they were done it was Ohgi's turn, and since they kind of felt like something was missing, they used the code names Lelouch had given them back in Shinjuku.

"I noticed you used the group names I assigned to you in Shinjuku," Zero noticed it, "Would that mean that you are willing to work with me?"

"You were that voice?" Ohgi questioned, he couldn't believe his luck, but was a bit skeptical, since he didn't understand or know why such a figure would have done what had been done during the Shinjuku fiasco.

"I was," Zero replied, "Though at the time, I wasn't in the ghetto for the reason you were thinking. It was really just a coincidence that I came to be there."

"Oh?" Ohgi said, "Well thanks for the help anyway. Its greatly appreciated, but what do you mean by working with you? Is this an invite?"

"Not an invitation to join the Exiled," Zero said, "An invitation to work under myself until Japan and the world is liberated from the Britannia of today. I would like your group to be the first members of the Black Knights, an organization whose purpose will be to see that justice be done, and that the weak need not cower from the strong."

"I see," Ohgi said, "Well, I'm willing to join up, that victory over the Britannians in the ghetto was something else. Tell me, were you responsible for the ceasefire order?"

"I was," Zero stated, "I am also responsible for the death of Clovis."

"You did that?!" Ohgi said, sounding a mite bit surprised by the revelation.

"Which brings us to the actual reason for such a spur of the moment meeting," Zero said, "Due to my actions of removing a prince from the living plane permanently, the Purist Faction has decided that it is the perfect excuse to strike at the Honorary Britannian system. They seek to frame one of the the Japanese Honorary Britannians, this would be enough to abolish the system entirely."

"How do you know that?" Ohgi asked, he had been the leader of Naoto's group after Naoto got captured after all, "Where'd you get such information?"

"I have my sources," Zero said, "There is also the fact that I am Britannian."

"You're what?!" Tamaki shouted, he couldn't trust a Britannian, not yet anyway. The other members of the crew they belonged to couldn't believe it either and also were having doubts about the legitimacy of the meeting and the information they were being given.

"I am Britannian," Zero repeated, "My men have accepted this fact, and have no problem with it at all, and all of them, save for Infinity, are Japanese. Ones who are able to trace their bloodlines all the way back to honorable clans that served the descendants of Jimmu."

"We Zs are Japanese through and through," Z1, Ido, said and explained, "We were orphans of the war, losing all members of our families during the invasion. The only things we didn't lose were our names, and our identities. We were shunned by Britannian and Eleven alike when we held onto our individualities, pushed aside, exiled from our own people and the people that sought to govern us by destroying what we believed to be a part of and would always be a part of us."

"We then met Zero, who took us in, and with the help of Infinity, became more than we could have hoped to have been back in those days," Z2, Morino Ibiki (who was this existence's version of THAT Ibiki) the interrogations expert of the organization, continued, "There were thirty of us, the only thirty that somehow found our way into the family that the Exiled is. It also helped that Zero and Infinity hate Britannia as it presently is more passionately than anyone else in this very room could ever hope to."

"For different reasons obviously," Z3 interjected.

"So you all somehow managed to come together and form this family type bond due to your similar experiences?" Ohgi asked, "But...well...fine. I'm still willing to join up. I do have a question though, one more question before we all proceed with the meeting."

"Ask away," Infinity said.

"Why the masks?" he directed his question to the two non-Japanese.

"I'll share my face with you once you the secrecy seals have already been put in place," Zero said, "But as for Infinity, he's got a hundred different faces, plus his identity cannot be compromised, know that your fellow Japanese, members of the Exiled, know what he really looks like."

"What are these secrecy seals you are talking about?" Kallen asked.

"They're like tattoos that will be placed on your bodies, but unlike tattoos will fade away as they merge with your bodies and energies," Z3 said, "They will ensure that information on the group remains within the group. You know how government things that are classified are kept classified, but instead of killing off people that know the secret, we'll be placing something on you that will forcefully keep the secret, no matter what kind of torture you undergo."

"We really should have thought of using them all those years ago," Z9 said, "It would have saved a lot of lives, and our organization's name too."

"Oh, ok," Kallen said.

"I'm willing to have that thing on me," Naoto said, which got the ball rolling.

"I'm willing as well," Kallen said, "I like the feeling of winning, plus I already know what you look like."

"That you do," Zero said, which surprised Ohgi who was beginning to wonder just what did Kallen do to garner that kind of trust.

"Back to business," Infinity said, "We've received intelligence on who it is that will be paraded around the settlement on the way to the his court martial. One Kururugi Suzaku, the son of the late Prime Minister Kururugi Genbu. He also happens to be the pilot of that white knightmare frame that bested a majority of you in combat."

"He...what?" Kallen said, surprised, "He was good."

"Indeed he was," Zero said, "He used to be better at me in physical activities too."

"You knew him?" Kallen asked, becoming the voice of those that were still hesitant to speak more openly.

"I knew him quite well," Zero admitted, "We were the best of friends for a while, but due to a difference in ideals, hopes, dreams, ambitions, and all that, we parted ways. He hoped to bring about change from within the system, while I seek to destroy the system by almost any means necessary."

"Err.." no one really had anything to say or could comment about that.

"I don't take kindly for others taking the blame for my own actions," Zero said, "Which is why we are going to rescue him and humiliate Britannia in a way, while gaining some of the people's trust."

"We are not terrorists," Infinity said, "We are warriors of justice, protectors of the weak from oppression, as well as freedom fighters of the world."

"So...it seems like you already have everything planned out," Ohgi said, "What will we, your Black Knights, be doing?"

"You'll be the ones to hand over Kallen to her _loving_ father," Zero said, sarcastically mentioning the loving part of the sentence, "While at the same time working under Infinity to get Naoto back into the world, the two operations will transpire side by side."

"I can agree to doing that," Ohgi said, "What's the plan concerning Naoto and Kallen."

"Kallen's part is just for some additional war funds, funds for the Black Knights really," Zero said, "I'm assigning both you, Ohgi, and Naoto as the leaders of the Black Knights under both myself and Infinity. Infinity will take care of Naoto's part in the operation, while you'll be simply acting as kidnappers, and this time you will be able to get away with both your lives and the money."

With that said, Infinity motioned for the newly inducted Black Knights to follow him to another room for their meeting to get underway. It was also in that room that he placed the secrecy seals on them, placing them on their tongues, which they thought would be a painful process. Which it wasn't.

Z3 followed the group to the other room since he would be working under Infinity for the exchange of goods. Kallen would be handed over by Ohgi and company to her step-mother, Z3 would make sure that Ohgi and company could escape by running computer related interference. He could hack into anything that was related to computers. Infinity would be convincing Lord Stadtfeld to take his son back, and all that. A male heir was better than a female one after all and all that.

"Game," Zero said after the meeting when only he and Infinity were left in the main meeting room.

"Set," Infinity added.

"And match," they both said at the same time, "Draw", the added as their chess game once again ended in a draw.

"*"

The next day found the Black Knights performing their first run through under new management. It went the way it was expected to go, with a few minor adjustments such as Infinity managing to gain the loyalty and trust of Lord Stadtfeld, via the use of his first power. There was also the fact, one which he would not be informing the two involved parties about, that he had gotten those two people into an arranged marriage. The Stadtfeld's didn't really have a need for Kallen and her sickly persona didn't really attract any would be suitors.

It was a get rid of a useless thing, in Stadtfeld's view, while keeping Kallen safe, in Infinity's view. There was also the bit about getting Kallen's mother in the bargain which would surely make both Naoto and Z3 happy. Mizuki had been Kallen's mother's lover back when she was still with and loved by Lord Stadtfeld.

That operation finished faster than the one Zero was introducing himself to the world and saving his former best friend. Though all it took for him to gain the attention of the world and the wrath of the emperor, who wasn't sure whether he, Zero, was his exiled son Lelouch. It was thanks to Cycle that the emperor and his brother were blind to Lelouch and Nunnaly's actions and sure whereabouts.

Zero and his group managed to get off scott free from the Purist Faction's clutches thanks to a smokescreen and Susanoo. Suzaku was also knocked unconscious so as to not know about the special armored knight that Zero possessed underneath his skin.

There was some talking, and an attempt to convince Suzaku into changing his mind about how he wished to change things. The young man was as stubborn as an ox, Zero viewed him as a kind of lost cause, but let him walk away and divine his own destiny as was his right. The operation wasn't a failure since Suzaku joining would have only been a bonus. The purpose of the operation was to be recognized by the empire as a threat.

After that little stunt, and since no one was geassed during the operation, Cornelia was called in to oversee the country. Cycle managed to get that information to Lelouch once it was a confirmed fact and not just hearsay or speculation.

Zero didn't focus on the arrival of the new viceroy, but more on getting justice done wherever his slowly growing second organization missions and the like. Making the government look incompetent more and more day by day.

Zero was the name on those thankful lips of the people, the Black Knights were relatively unknown still since they had not made their big time debut.

#

"Soon," Zero said during a meeting between himself, Ohgi, Naoto, and Infinity, "Soon it will be the time for the Black Knights to make their official debut on the world stage."

"What are you talking about?" Ohgi asked, not really getting the statement but happy that the group which he co-lead was going to get their chance to be recognized.

"Intelligence has been gathered that the Japan Liberation Front will be performing a heinous act in Lake Kawaguchi, terror tactics that will amount to nothing more than the hate of the people being directed at them," Zero said, "Be they Number of Britannian, we will defend those that do not have the means to defend themselves."

"What's the mission then?" Ohgi asked.

"Hostage taking," Zero said, "General Kusakabe will be holding a building full of Britannians hostage. It will be our job to rescue them. The Exiled will remain in the shadows as we have always preferred to remain in, the Black Knight will be doing most of the work and therefore will be taking the credit, with myself, obviously, as the leader. Which I am."

"Acceptable," Ohgi said, "But how will we be going about doing this?"

"Kallen and Naoto will be in the building when it is taken over," Zero said, "Z9 and Z10 will be there as well, posing as employees of the building and will be helping our two knights with taking control of the situation before I and the rest of us arrive on the scene."

"Intelligence reports also state that Cornelia will be present during the operation but will not interfere with our movements and mission due to the variable of her sister being present," Infinity said, "Very few are aware that Euphemia is in the country. It will be your job, Naoto, to make sure that the JLF do not discover her true identity."

"I can do that," Naoto said, "Do I take any gear with me?"

"Just your uniform," Infinity said, "Keep it on at all times, even though wearing a double set of clothing might be a bit uncomfortable."

"If its for a good cause and a hopefully cute girl, I'm all for it," Naoto said, getting a chuckle from Infinity.

"We'll relay the rest of the plan via earpieces," Zero said, "While the operation is under way. The gist of the operation is that with our insiders doing what they can to stall and protect the innocent, we outsiders will get inside and capture the building in a sense, before returning the hostages to Britannian hands."

"I'll make sure the rest of the knights understand the importance of this act as well as why we will be rescuing Britannian's from potential allies," Ohgi said.

"I'll help," Naoto said, "Getting Tamaki to understand will surely be rather interesting. Him and his thick skull."

"I'll provide stun guns for the operation," Infinity added as an afterthought, "They'll look like real killing machines, work like real killing machines, but will only knock out anyone their bullets hit. No casualties are to be tallied in the operation. We are saviors, soldiers of the innocent, powerless, and generally the people themselves. We are not shameless, honorless, and senseless, killers."

"We get that already," Ohgi said, a bit irritated, but accepting that it needed to be repeated since some members took pride in their Britannian kills, few though they may have been.

"Kyoto still remains unaware of the Exiled's involvement in Black Knight matters," Infinity said, "I spoke to Kirihara the other day, he was not aware that we were taking a more active role in things, but promised not to say anything to his allies."

"That's good," Zero said, and the meeting progressed into more mundane things like the budget and other such matters and concerns, including Tamaki's tendencies.

"*"

It was a few days later did Kallen and her brother find themselves in the company of Milly and the rest of the girls of the student council. Rivalz had work and couldn't come, Lelouch had made some excuse about actually having a part time job, Nunnaly wasn't a full member and she didn't find the trip to be exciting enough to pester her brother into allowing her to go.

"So..Nathan (Naoto was far too obviously Japanese a name), why'd you decide to come with us? Don't trust your little sister to behave while you're not around?" Milly prodded.

"Something like that," he said, finding himself a bit shy around the rather exuberant blonde, "You girls needed a chaperone, so here I am. Plus Lelouch asked me to make sure nothing happens to any of you girls while he's away."

Which was technically the truth.

"He did, did he," Milly said, filing that little piece of information away for later. Blackmail hopefully if she found out he had the hots for any of them, "That's rather considerate of him. How do you know Lelouch?"

"I share the same part time job he does," he said, "That guy fakes being physically weak you know, just don't tell him I told you that. He'd probably kill me if that got out."

"Really?" Milly said, now that was interesting information, "Do you know why he does that?"

"Better to be underestimated rather than be expected to be able to do certain manly things in a fight," Naoto said, "Ambush or surprise tactics. That's guy's really smart."

"Really?" Milly said, her smile indicated that she was planning something, and when she was planning something it meant that there was the potential of bad things happening.

"Yeah," Naoto said, "I may have only known him for a short time, you know about my father keeping my existence a secret while I was recouperating from that medical thing of mine. But I've grown to become a trusted friend it seems. Just don't tell him I shared his secret with you."

"He's going to kick your ass again isn't he," Kallen said, deciding to speak up, it wasn't really a question but a fact since the sharing of that secret wasn't part of the planned conversation topics giving Lelouch enough reason to spar with the half-Britannian.


	101. L01

He had been wandering, or exploring, space since he was five years old. Or more like he had been living somewhere that was not Earth since he was that age and had started wandering or exploring space since he was six.

He was one of a select number of human beings that had been abducted by otherworldly beings or entities for various purposes and at varying times. He was one of the lucky or unlucky few that had been chosen, from his world, to do whatever he pleased with his life. He was lucky just because he could do whatever he wanted to, he was unlucky since he didn't have parents, guardians, or anyone with him.

His life as a space explorer or adventurer started out with just himself, after the one that took him from Earth left him.

The Being that had taken him from Earth had introduced himself as Magus Iunctio, and he looked every bit the part of a human male. But the child knew that this Being was no mere mortal man, that this Being was more than he appeared. Which was true, since no mere mortal man can simply hand over a space station coupled with a factory that can and will make any kind of piece of technology previously and futuristicaly imagined.

The child, at five years old, had been gifted with a space station in which to live in, it could house hundreds of individuals at a time and still have room for a hundred to five hundred visitors, and still have some minor breathing room. The space factory that he had been gifted could build the child with an army if he so wished, an army which would or could consist of robots to ships, and if the kid ever decided to use Star Wars as inspiration then he could get a Death Star, not that he would try that since he already had a space station that looked like a massive Earth satellite, while the factory itself looked like a larger version of the regular run-of-the-mill factories of Earth but floated in space, was propelled by rockets at the bottom of a platform made out of what appeared to be space rock.

Magus Iunctio revealed himself or claimed to be an emperor of a massive space empire that came and went as he or it pleased. The empire consisted of several worlds that orbited a moving sun and was of course surrounded by space stations and ships of all shapes and sizes. The Being also uploaded into the child's mind everything the child needed to know regarding the station and factory, along with things that the child would need to know to survive anywhere, like reading, writing, maths, sciences, piloting space craft, and other such important thing. It would not do for his tiny space traveler to sit around and decompose or something sinister like that.

It was once all that information was imparted did Magus leave the child, leave his chosen space traveler, but not before imparting some additional verbal instructions.

"Whatever you do, make sure you have fun," Magus commanded, "Whatever happens, remember that I will be watching, or looking in on you from time to time, I want your eternal record to have something worthwhile in it."

The child was left in the command center of his space station. Alone. In space, where no one would be able to hear him scream since there weren't any other lifeforms within light years of his position. He had a whole stretch of empty space to himself.

Now at the age of eight he found himself still in the space station, but with companions now, none of them human though and only three of them alive.

One of the first things he had done, after exploring his new home and his new and first toy that he could clearly remember owning, was to have the factory build himself around ten robots, droids was the more proper terminology, ones that had more domestic functions rather that what he would later create which would have more piloting and battle oriented programming.

While his factory couldn't create life, he found that it could create things that could point him in the direction of life and also create things that could somehow create life from the resources that he had at his disposal, which was the food that had been stored in a storage facility in the station.

He had his factory create space greenhouses, and had cloning facilities created in which he cloned the meats, poultry, and fish, so that he could have some livestock to get some fresh food from when he grew short on stocked food resources or just wanted something fresh.

It was a year later that he began exploring space or the closer planets, asteroids, and moons. It was one one of these ventures that he stumbled upon a seemingly dead planet that had several monolithic structures.

With space suit on, and accompanied by twenty battle droids and five information gathering droids, he explored one of the structures. What he found within the bowels of one of them was a vast expanse of nothing but what looked like eggs. Eggs that resembled flower buds, ones that looked to still be alive even in the nearly atmosphereless planet they were on.

He hung back as his droids explored the area, making sure that there weren't any other forms of life there, ones that could harm him, since the only thing he had managed to create, with the aid of his own flesh, blood, and bone, samples and around ten medical droids that had managed to tap into or hack into a passing ship from some distant galaxy and steal a lot of medical information, a serum that granted him an advanced healing factor. He had decided to create it in order to be sure that he wouldn't die from the loss of a limb or that he wouldn't loose said limb.

His body was a bit reptilian or amphibian now because of the serum, since he now only could heal from injuries faster, but could regenerate lost body parts but at a faster rate of regeneration and strengthening than say when a lizard did the same with its tail.

It was thanks to this that he survived the experience of being a pregnant or expecting mother in a very unconventional way.

For one thing he was a he, a boy, a kid that hadn't gone through puberty yet. For another thing there weren't any compatible females for miles or light years in any direction in space, except maybe that one passing ship but that had been months ago. And yet another thing was that the mode of impregnation had been thing jumping out of a discolored egg, discolored since it looked like a sickly version of the majority that were in the structure that he had entered, that latched onto his face after smashing through the visor of his helmet.

Emergency protocols in his droids had them converge on his still form and bring him back home, but keep him quarantined until he recovered. He did eventually recover, with the thing on his face falling off and seemingly dying in the process.

He was ever so glad that he could use his vocal chords again, and went about shouting orders to all of his droids. One such order was to find out what the hell had just happened to him and what the heck the thing that had clamped onto his face was.

The answer came from one of the most unlikely of places. It came an accidental search through a movie database, he had to have one so as not to get bored from just wandering around the station, his abductor had left quite a lot of inspiration and entertainment material in the station's databanks.

It was with dawning horror that he realized what had happened to him after reading the information that one of his research droids had found for him.

His medical team tried to find a way to get the semi-parasitic entity from their master's body without killing him, since whatever they could try and do would result in his death for some reason. It was like the universe was mocking the child or something.

So he waited until the thing burst out of his chest and could also kill him. When the time finally came, with droids waiting to capture the pinkish snake-like thing, his droids and himself didn't have to worry for as soon as the baby burst from his chest, his body swiftly repaired the damage. His serum had worked and he was alive, and had an even tougher skeleton than he had before due to the strengthening effect of his serum.

He didn't have the heart to being harm to the little thing that all sources claimed was close enough to being some sort of spawn of Satan or something along those lines. So he had his medical droids prepare something for the little critter, while he took his time seeing about taking care of it without it trying to eat him alive.

He later on thanked his serum for somehow altering the already oddly altered DNA of the little thing.

The discolored egg was a very special egg, the DNA material that it possessed for the new baby monster allowed the baby to absorb and or take on more characteristics from the host or the parent that it would have killed had there been no healing serum in play.

So the kid had a mutated baby monster that could, after some odd experimentation, shift between the form of it's or her monster parent to the form of a human just like her human parent.

The kid had a child at the age of seven or so, a child that grew to adulthood faster than even he did. This was how he had three living companions with him. One of the his daughter, who more often than not remained in her monster alien queen form, while the other two were semi-mindless drones that while she had laid their eggs could not be called children, or grandchildren by the kid. These drones were like droids but organic.

Had the kid been back on Earth and with people that were more like him than the relatives that he had been abducted from, he would have known that his daughter could have been called a humanmagus, which sounded a whole lot weirder than the more normal animagus or metamorphmagus.

In her human form she could pass off as either an older sister or young mother of her own father, while her monster form usually was in the form of her own mother, complete with all the things that made her maternal parent and maternal line so feared. Who knew that things in monster related space movies could be real. She was normally a black nightmarish creature that could hide in darkness perfectly seemingly like a part of it, but her body could change into different shades of red depending on her mood or if she wanted to sport a different color to the uniformed black.

That was his adventure in parenting, though while his daughter had grown faster in body as compared to him, he remained, strangely, more mature than her and more knowledgeable too. He was her only real form of social interaction, the hologram or virtual simulations one of the facilities within the station could produce were just not the same as actual physical and verbal interaction. He hoped that she didn't end up killing the first other living being that they managed to come across.

It was with the intention of finding other intelligent life in the universe that at this age of eight did he decide to board one of the ships he had had created and explore what of the universe he could explore. He of course took a bunch of his many different kinds of droids with him, his daughter and her two drones.

He also remembered to leave some defenses around his home in the form of an fleet's worth of ships and battle droids, no one was getting to his home without heavy losses.

The ship that he dubbed as his command ship looked like a cross between a Star Wars Star Destroyer and a Earth US Navy Battleship. Technically both of those ships looked the same.

When the thing that on neutral mode, it looked like a star destroyer, but minus the towers and other such things, as the outside of the thing was smooth save for the command tower, but in battle mode it resembled the battleship what with all the turrets, guns, and other such things that would make themselves known on the top of the shit, with torpedo shoots lining the sides of the ship. The hanger's entrance and exit was located at the bottom of the ship. It was large enough to hold up to around a thousand people, with enough smaller ships, of the fighter class, and other useful ships on board, along with a bunch of other tech.

The eight year old, named Harry Potter which made his daughter Amara Potter, left home with the ship in neutral mode or explorer mode. He wasn't looking for a fight after all, but he made sure that the battle mode droids and other functions were armed and ready for immediate action should a situation call for it.

He plotted a course to random, and was off.

It was a month of incredibly quick travel that eventually led his ship to what appeared to either be some sort of technological graveyard or what had once been a battlefield. He didn't know, and while he might have cared, there really wasn't much to go by in terms of finding out.

He brought with him a more mobile part of his factory which could produce small amounts of tech at a time. He had the thing produce salvage ships for him and droids that would pilot and man such things. They were space dump trucks, and he used them, ten of them, to salvage these scrap metal parts as any information bearing tech seemed to have already been taken.

While not that large of a ship, it was large enough to be looked upon suspiciously by smaller ships that were within detection range. And it was indeed within the viewing and detection range of several smaller ships, salvage ships by the scans that the ship's generally advanced technology managed to perform.

"All hands on deck," Harry ordered, he'd always wanted to say that after he watched those immature pirate flicks at home, "Prepare for potential battle."

It wasn't that he was activating battle mode, but it was always a good thing to be safe than to be sorry. His daughter set herself up in her personalized drone birthing chamber where tanks would force rapid growth in drones that she managed to lay, the eggs did not need to spew a facehugger but spewed live young that cranes picked up and dumped into growth acceleration chambers. The drones would then be put into torpedoes and shot into enemy ships as a form of boarding but with the intent to do incredible harm to organic life.

Biological warfare was Amara's specialty.

-Sir, we are detecting reinforcements for the salvage ships- one of the droids in the command tower reported -We are also detecting some form or request of visual and audio communication-

"Grant access for communication," Harry responded, "Let's hear what they have to say, have our researchers and analysts ready to add some more information to our databases."

-Sir, yes, sir- the communications droid responded.

After a minute a communication link was successfully established and a video feed scrambled into life in view of the majority of the command deck part of the command tower of the vessel. Humanoid was a good way of describing the otherworldly life that looked upon them, it was a video call after all. The language being spoken had to be sent through a translation program in order for it to be understood.

"Greetings," Harry said, after the language was uploaded into the databanks and someone uploaded into his own brain, "We mean you no harm, just here to explore and since there's a lot of scrap, we thought to collect some for ourselves."

"We believe your claim," the humanoid alien stated.

It had blue skin and could have passed off as some sort of elf had it been found on Earth instead of space.

"That's good," Harry said.

"Who is the captain of your ship?" the alien asked.

"Speaking," he received an incredulous look in return since the alien captain thought that it was a joke of some kind, "And I'm not joking."

There was a sinister-like smile as a reward for the reply, and Harry knew that something was wrong and that he was being underestimated.

"Then your parents will regret granting you this ship as we will be taking it now and will be swimming in credits thanks to your parents," the alien captain said, it seemed that it was used to seeing humans or whatever the heck he must have looked like and credits was the universal form of currency it seemed, when it came to the community that apparently existed in this part of the known universe, "Prepare to be boarded."

"Ah, salvagers, scavengers, and pirates," Harry noted, "That is what you are, isn't it."

"But of course you irresponsible child," the enemy captain mocked.

The communications link was severed, and the ships began uncloaking and appeared to have surrounded the destroyer.

Harry was not worried one bit. He was actually quite excited, it was to be his first ever space battle against foes that were not under his control. He had practiced with his droids and excess amount of ships after all.

"Activate Battle Mode!" was the physically immature captain's order.

-Aye aye, captain- came all of the droids' replies.

The ship transformed right before the pirate fleet's very eyes. They didn't think that they would manage to come across quite a find. Their thinking was that even with whatever loses they would suffer they would still be getting this hybrid chameleon kind of ship. It was worth the loses and that risks involved.

They sent out fighters and prepped their boarding ships.

"Light up the darkness that is the void of space!" Harry commanded in a loud voice that echoed thorughout his ship.

Pilot droids loaded themselves into their designated ships, the safeties of all of their weapons were taken off. They prepared to all launch, and when they did it looked like their mothership was taking a crap or taking a leak with the steady stream of fighters that scared the crap out of the attackers for a moment. Each fighter-class ship looked like a fighter jet, with rockets under wings, and guns at the wingtips and around the nozzle of the ships themselves.

They came out and were like flies. Most of the mothership's systems were automatic and didn't really need a droid to man everything. This meant that the majority of the thousand droids that were on the ship have flown out in a fighter ship.

The pirate fighter ships looked like crabs with after burners on their tails ends which flung them through space.

There were big ones and small ones. There were quite a number of them, and they looked like they would prove to be more than capable of taking down this one ship with around a thousand personnel.

They should not have been so overconfident, else they would not have lost so much within the span of just one battle.

"I want the larger vessels intact," Harry commanded, which meant that while shields were on full, his main weapons would not be firing upon the larger targets out and around him.

But that also meant that his torpedoes, the special ones would be seeing action for the very first time. Their special payloads would be dealing quite a lot of damage, and Harry was sure that with the minimal physical damage which they would be dealing, his opponents would grow to simply ignore these tiny armaments that were no threat to them.

All available torpedoes were launched at the exact same time. Their guidance systems brought them and had most of them impact and penetrate most of the larger vessels successfully, only a few of them were blown out of existence.

The fighters played their part as the distraction, while the big guns blew small ships up, ignoring the bigger ships, and the torpedoes that survived let their payloads loose upon the unprepared ships.

By the time that the shields were almost spent, the enemy ships were recalled to the vessels that had suffered at the hands of the biological weapon that had been shot into them.

There was an unknown threat and these enemies didn't want to chance anything. They continued to surround the destroyer of course, but kept their distance.

"Launch a second wave," Harry commanded, torpedoes were loaded and launched at the same time, and all of them breached hulls, they were deemed insignificant threats after all, this was a kid leading their prize after all, what could his amateurish attempts at scaring them do, especially since he didn't seem interested in harming the bigger vessels after all.

"Launch a third volley just to be sure," Harry commanded once again, "Keep track of our enemies' numbers, and inform me once they start dropping noticeably."

-Aye aye sir- the droids replied.

He visited his daughter and informed ask that she inform him once any of her drones was finally successful in wiping a whole ship clean of life.

He left her to her own devices, she seemed to be enjoying herself what with her drones being psychically linked to her and all.

While his droids took to monitoring the overall or overview of the battlefield, and his daughter monitored the actions and activities of the drones, he spent his time in with his research and analyst droids pouring over all of the information that they had so far collected from watching the battle unfold all the way to the recent retreat of enemy forces due to unknown problems, and also all the information that they had managed to steal from hacking the information systems of their enemy remotely.

It was several hours later that Harry finally decided what he would do when either he wiped out his enemy or they surrendered to him. He would either go out and look for some sort of bounty outpost and claim the bounty these guys had, or find something to do with his new captives if he had any.

He'd probably keep the ones that were pliant and sell off the ones that he believed he could not use or integrate into his forces. He was sure that some of the coordinates that he had found would prove to be useful very soon.

He was informed though the PA system that one of the enemy ships had gone silent. The drone had finished all of the life in it off while managing not to be injured at all. As he made his way back to his command chair, in the command deck in the command tower, more information was relayed to him regarding more ships losing any trace of life on them.

When he finally did arrive and sat down the same enemy captain requested they talk once more. The request was granted and the captain, looking a little paranoid, requested a ceasefire.

While other ships which requested to speak with him requested or was willing to agree any kind of terms of surrender.

He had his droids send over the terms of surrender, which was basically that they would permit a boarding party to board and tie up their personnel. Those that requested a ceasefire agreement had guns and more torpedoes trained on them.

"I don't like you," Harry informed his opponent, "You underestimate me still. I'd say prepare to be boarded, but you already have been."

"What are you talking about?" the captain demanded.

"Inform Amara to cut her connection from the ships that have requested a ceasefire," Harry ordered as he seemingly ignored the captain that was looking on in confusion, "But have her give a final order, Decimate."

-Aye aye sir- the communications droids replied and went to work.

"What are you..? Are you ignoring me?" the captain demanded.

"I'm willing to take prisoners," Harry informed the captain, "Just not ones that don't offered themselves up as ones firsts."

With that statement delivered, the captain found himself shoved out of the visual and the communication link was severed after the berserk drone came on screen briefly and continued it's rampage all over the ship. A ship that was soon to suffer the loss of its existence, it was one of many that were blown to smitherines.

He had managed to gain himself some two hundred prisoners whom, 75% of whom had been cunning enough to think that they could get away with attacking from within, leaving only 50 of their number alive when all was said and done.

These 50 were turned into maintenance personnel until they could prove themselves worthy of being inducted or promoted to another section or department of the crew. It was due to these prisoners that the number of living drones increased. They were of course stored into torpedoes in preparation for any more hostile encounters.

When Harry was finally ten years old he had managed to get himself a hundred more living personnel. These half of them had dark orange skin and elven features while the other half of them had seaweed green skin and looked like a combination of snakes and fish, in no particular order.

Even after these years of servitude the three races were still not given any important roles aboard the vessel which Harry had decided to dub The Hollow, which was an Explorer-Destroyer-class ship and the command ship of his formidable fleet which he had left at home.

It was during this tenth year of his life that he chose to return home, he had a small fleet at his beck and call, each ship was piloted by droids. There were several cruiser-class ships now, which were smaller than the Explorer-Destroyer-class but bigger than the fighter-class, they could hold from 300-500 personnel at a time.

Their approach to home-space was not met with any resistance but the cheering of the artificially intelligent battle droids and the other classes of droids that had been left behind, all were rejoicing that their master had returned.

Orders were sent out to them to spread out and form patrols around their home-space, no one that did not have clearance or permission to enter were to be kept out. Other droids were given the order to prepare living quarters or sectors for the around 150 additional living personnel and some additional space for all the additional drones that had been born due to the fighting.

The acquired ships were processed, studied, and whatever good they brought were added to the other techs, while all the things they were deficient in were added onto or upgraded.

The 150 were integrated into other department lessening the need of droids, which were placed in storage or reprogrammed for later use. The 150 were trained in things that were more than just maintenance adding to their already existing knowledge. None were given military positions though, and all were monitored whenever they went to areas in the space station or factory that had sensitive or confidential material or information, or other such things and places.

Life continued, Harry learned more than he had already known during this down time in space while being unaware that back on Earth his state of not being stuck at earth-level was causing quite a stir in a certain hidden community. His disappearance from Earth was causing a certain bearded old man some problems, or a lot of problems, messing up plans that had been in the making and in place for several years.

He was ignorant of the fact that another person around his age, when he did turn eleven, suddenly found himself in the spotlight, pushed or forced there by the community as well as an old man still clinging to his plans and ideals.

All that didn't really matter to Harry, he had his space station, his ships, droids, and a growing mixed community of his own. He had also managed to tap into that gift, that power that he had always had within him. But unlike other children like him back on Earth, he did not learn from books, but from experimentation, practice, repetition. And unlike those other children that learned from teachers and books, he learned from and embraced a single belief: To think is to create & anything is possible.

He learned to believe that belief in and of itself was a very powerful thing, that belief and imagination could make the universe move or bow to his will, so to speak.

When he turned twelve he finally permitted those of other races that were not human or of the blood of the House of Potter, to join the military and exploration departments. He let them man the ships that had formerly been under their command.

He gave them orders or missions, small ones at first that led to those with greater importance, greater gains, and greater all-around rewards.

Each Exploration-class ship, which could hold up to 150 personnel comfortably, were escorted by at least two Cruiser-class ships manned by a mixture of droid and alien. None had any of the Blood of the House of Potter with them though.

Each Cruiser had its own small fleet of fighter-class ships, while the Exploration-class ships had around 5 shuttles for when personnel needed a smaller ship to go exploring or to pick up things.

He took a leaf out of Magus Iunctio's book and took up a more formal title, one that his citizens decided to accept, and it wasn't a problem with his daughter since she was used to being called a princess already or a queen by her own drones. He took up the title of Emperor, even though his empire wasn't all that big yet or resembled an empire even.

Upon his thirteenth birthday his exploration ships returned, each one of them returned from their long term missions with news of an alliance of planets that had chosen to remain neutral in an intergalactic war. No one liked a fence-sitter and thus this alliance of ten peaceful planets, whose military might wasn't anything to worry about were caught in the crossfire or simply attacked on purpose for their resources.

They sent out distress signals and stored communications, requesting immediate military aid, and in exchange for aid they would gladly join up with whatever power happened to help them.

Harry jumped at the chance for expansion. He raised his fleet's alert level to the highest it could go and had his ships all form ranks and prepare for defensive war.

At the very heart of it was the space station which he had also dubbed Olympus.

It was the first time in his life that he had ordered such a thing to happen, ordered to many ships to get into a formation of a sort.

It was the first time that he was commanding his fleet, his armada, and all their smaller flights and formation.

The coordinates of where the planets were, it was a whole star system's worth of planets apparently, were inputed in all of the navigator's or helmsman's consoles and once that was done the whole fleet of ships moved as one. They traveled swiftly to the closest of the set of coordinates that had been broadcast.

Upon arrival all sensors detected that a battle was being waged, the conquest of the planets that had requested aid had begun and it looked like several planets had already fallen.

Out of the ten planets only three did not look like they were in a battle for continued liberty or already under foreign rule.

With his armada under invisible thanks to a combination of technology and magic, he had his communications people to patch him through to one the nearest planets to get a more detailed briefing on the situation, watching could only get one so far.

Earlier on Harry found out that most of the known universe that were capable of interstellar travel had adopted something like English, a language that borrowed words from the many languages and dialects that decided to use it. It became Basic, the interstellar-intergalactic language. Basic was the one language that all those that took up space travel needed to know, thank Magus Iunctio for actually keeping an updating copy of the language in the databanks of the space station which Harry had stumbled upon and had uploaded into his head.

It was sometimes good to have these shortcuts or Deus Ex Machina in play.

"We are extremely grateful for someone finally responding to our requests for aid," it was radio communication, an audio only thing, "We had almost lost all hope that a fleet would willingly come into this kind of situation."

"Yes, yes, we're here to help," Harry said over the link, "We just need to be briefed on what's going on here."

"Well, the invasions started about half a year ago, five of our number has already fallen, two are being sieged, and three of us remain free...we don't really know much about the warring factions, but this is only one side of the conflict, the other side does not seem to be in on the action."

"If that is all, then sit tight, we'll handle this," Harry told the person on the other end.

"Wait! Where are you? Where's your fleet?" the voice asked, a bit worriedly, "Are you near?"

"We're very near," Harry said as he gave a silent order for his factory to begin producing ships and droid pilots.

"We'll keep watch then," the voice said.

The comm link was severed, and it was time for yet another battle to be waged.


	102. L02

He hadn't expected to find something quite like this in someone's last will and testament. He was fourteen years old and the magical bank had summoned him regarding some wills that needed him to be present for them to not only be read but carried out as well.

He thought that it was his parents' wills that he would be hearing about but was told that that was not the case but seeing as he asked they would look into that matter since the wills should have been activated upon his parents' deaths, the goblins had measures in place that would be sure to make sure that no will was left unactivated.

A quick looking into found that there had been a severe breach in protocol and thus the one that had made sure that certain valuable clients' last wills and testaments were not carried out in full was or were swiftly dealt with. Those two wills were summarily added onto the to do list for the day's summons.

He was led to a more secure office within the bank since the will that needed him present for its reading was of a very important client, one that the goblins of the bank and of the world in general held in high respect. There wasn't a goblin that would dare not call this particular client friend or brother even.

'_I, Solarius Iunctio, adopted son of Magus Iunctio, of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath all of my material, financial, and other possessions to one Harry James Potter upon the time of my death, whenever such a tragedy should finally occur. _

_I further bequeath unto one Harry James Potter not only the title of Lord of Jupiter but also the right to rule over Jupiter and all it holds within it._

_Lastly, if one Harry James Potter is as of yet not yet recognized as an adult, then I demand that he be made one. Should any stand in the way of my last wishes to be fulfilled in their entirety, may these obstacles be struck down and burned to ash, and may their ashes be dispersed by the winds.'_

Papers were given to the fourteen year old for him to sign, he didn't really bother reading any of them and just signed with a blood quill as blood was more powerful and more significant than mere ink would ever hope to be. The documents were just his acknowledging all that had been written and were to be carried out in the will of this Solarius Iunctio that he had never ever heard about before this day.

Then went his parents' wills readings which were basically the same things, he inherited everything from his parents except for a sum total of 500,000 galleons which were to be divided in certain ways to a couple of individuals, most notable of which were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape (in his mother's will). There was also the admission or revelation of who exactly was the secret keeper of the Potter family, Peter Pettigrew, and a few other things that were sure to cause a lot of chaos.

He had been left with the inherited titles of Baron Potter, Earl Gryffindor, and Duke Peverell.

Being already declared an adult he gained access to everything his parents and ancestors had left him.

There was also being the defeater of the Heir of Slytherin, the goblins picked up on that when one of their other account managers came storming in with a smoking metal box which upon being opened the family ring held within teleported its way from within the box onto the finger of one Harry James Potter, merging with the other House rings which did the same thing. Thus granting him yet another Barony title.

From his mother he also acquire a most peculiar of titles, it was from yet another will that demanded activation upon Harry being recognized as an adult due to being the last of several lines, there being a demand in a will for him to be declared an adult in all eyes, and of course his acceptance of the titles he had inherited or gained via Right of Conquest.

The title that he had gained from his mother was from yet another Iunctio will, another adopted child, an adopted son of Magus Iunctio by the name of Luminaria Iunctio. The title was Lord of Enduri, he didn't know what it was supposed to mean though, what it entailed for him. What everything he had learned and gained meant for him.

"Any questions?" the goblin that headed the meeting asked, it was curious to know what this one special human, one important human wanted to know, wanted to make clear.

"I understand everything except for the Iunctio titles, and who they were," Harry James Potter said, "Could you explain those to me?"

"The titles of Lord of Jupiter and Lord of Enduri are the chosen titles of late Solarius and Luminaria," the goblin explained, "But they are not ordinary titles for the Jupiter spoken in the will is the planet you would see in the sky and Enduri is the name that Lady Luminaria gave the planet you know as Saturn. Thus you are the ruler of two planets in this solar system."

"How is it possible that I've inherited two planets? Gas giants even! There's no way that those two planets could sustain life what with today's technology or even the technology present during the time that those two people must have been alive!" Harry disbelievingly said.

"Which shows how much you know about the universe," one goblin said, "You live in a magical world, what's to say that it was not magic that made living on another planet, two gas giants to boot, possible? Hmm? Did you ever think of that?"

"Well..no," Harry said.

"It is probable that you do not even know the significance of the House of Iunctio," a goblin said, it didn't matter who spoke as they were all account managers, and equal in standing and knowledge goblins.

"Well no..The only thing Binns talks about are your 'rebellions'" the human teen said, complete with air quotes.

"I take it you don't fully believe those cock and bull stories about our so-called rebellions or wars, there are some truths to those tales but of course wizards have a lot of pride and prejudice," a goblin said, "Back to the House of Iunctio. That House was the very first one in our world to wield the energy known as magic. For it was Magic himself that first opened the connection. That first granted the first of the House of Iunctio to what He was, which was Magic himself."

"Magus Iunctio meaning Magic Connection," another goblin continued, "To be adopted by Him is to be the first to connect with magic and thus becomes the rat that spreads the disease that is magic, or at least that's the best explanation I can give at this time. Once the House of Iunctio's first adoption has been completed they are then in charge of founding the magical races, from the wizarding and witching stock down to the lowly Brownie."

"There would be those that would have you believe that nature got bored and decided to evolve some of her children, thus the world gained magicals," another goblin yet once more continued, "That is not the case, she only helped in the birthing of the magical races, and what they looked like and look like today. But the access to magic itself, that was through the intervention of Magus Iunctio."

"That is very enlightening and interesting, are there wizards aware of this creation story?" Harry asked.

"Very few, and among those few even fewer believe it," a goblin replied, "Any more questions?"

"So of these adopted children, what significance does Jupiter and Saturn hold?" the teen asked.

"Even way back then, back before the rise and fall of Atlantis and all other dominant empirical races, the House of Iunctio knew a lot about the future of the world, solar system, galaxy, and universe," a goblin explained, "Magus Iunctio, being a Being or Entity from a whole other dimension or plane of existence entirely, already knew things, and thus gave His children several advantages. One such thing was space travel, you should be surprised to know that us goblins do not call Earth home, it is a mere colony for the very first goblin chiefs were born not on Earth but as miners of Jupiter."

"So...what happens to me now?" the teen asked.

"You claim it all, you must unless something that no one in this room wants to happen might happen," a goblin shrewdly said.

"How do I..?" the teen began to asked but was interrupted.

"Simply say 'I,' state your name of course, 'do hereby claim all rights and titles that are mine to claim and own'," a goblin informed him, "Then firmly state 'So mote it be', and you're done."

"I can do that," the teen said, even though he had a feeling that the goblins were somehow pulling his leg, "I, Harry James Potter, do hereby claim all rights and titles that are mine to claim and own. So mote it be."

NASA and all of her sisters all over the world found themselves working over time to determine the source of a shockwave that exploded from the general direction of both Jupiter and Saturn. The whole of the solar system shook with quite a lot of force, as if some slumbering beast had been forcefully awoken and it's roar had pierced more than simply the heavens.

Within the bank, within the meeting room for the will readings and all things that transpired directly afterward there was also a shockwave the shook the Earth the source of which was the individual teen that had made such a proclamation and claim. It was thanks to the shockwave that exploded out of him that the solar system did not find itself blown to smitherins.


	103. L03

Oh the press definitely was never his friend. They blew everything out of proportions so long as it would make their sales go through the roof. He was a media darling of a sort, always had been, and he hated it. He hated all the attention that he was given, all because, at first, of something that his parents had done as well as because of some cock and bull prophecy that had done him more harm than it had done him any bit of good.

The press decided to paint him in a very bad light, and apparently his now ex-girlfriend had only been with him for the fame, his money, and a bunch of things that he didn't personally care about but apparently other people that didn't have them wanted them or wanted to have them. His ex-girlfriend didn't want or love or even just like Harry James Potter, she wanted, loved, liked, the former Boy-Who-Lived, former Chosen One, and presently in the history books the Defeater of Voldemort.

They painted him as some sort of arrogant son-of-a-bitch that saw himself as above the common man or some such bullshit, so what if he didn't like giving interviews, or talk to the press in general, or the fact that he didn't like his fame, he didn't even like being in the spotlight. He was a private person, he didn't want anything that had to do with being famous.

So he had quit his job as an Auror, stopped being a part-time Quidditch player, he even stopped seeing his so-called friends who sided with his ex-girlfriend who had been secretly feeding them lies about him, since he rarely ever saw them due to his work and their work and their schedules clashing.

His life had been a real crap fest after the whole Voldemort thing, not that anyone in the world really seemed to care about him, Harry Potter, at all. They all thought that he lived a luxurious life and didn't need to work a day in his life, that he only became an auror as a hobby so he could go out and capture or kill more dark wizards.

What they didn't know was that he had to take drastic measures just to get everything he owned that was within his vaults in Gringotts Bank out of the place before the goblins got wise and decided to claim his property as just compensation of breaking into the bank and more or less stealing one of their security dragons, forget the fact that it was old and heavily mistreated, it was still theirs. From that day on, he found several spells in the Black library which, apparently Kreacher had been able to save every single tome from Molly 'Foghorn' Weasley's fingers, helped in the breaking into the bank without anyone being the wiser until it was too late as well as getting out with everything that was his and his alone.

Any revenue from investments and the like were canceled or stopped. He lived on what he earned and what his ancestors had managed to accumulate.

It was also with these funds that he decided to travel the world, as a backpacker of sorts, but instead of taking just the bare essentials, he took all of his moveable worldly possessions with him. What he could not physically take with him, he sealed away under wards and other barriers that ranged from light to dark to decidedly evil.

He was not aware of it at that time but he not only left the magical world and all its varying headaches but was embarking on an adventure that was sure to take him farther than anyone else he knew or had ever heard of going before.

He followed his gut feel as he walked his way around the world, finding long lost secrets and hidden alcoves that time seemed to forget. It was as if the world was opening up to him and him alone, as if deciding to reward him for what he had apparently done for the world as a whole, not that he was aware of what it was that he had indeed done. All he knew was that with everything he did he did it for the right reasons, and only one of them had been a selfish reason.

It was either a reward for the good, what little of it he had done or tried to do, or a going away present for him. He would in later years think of it as having been a going away present of sorts.

Just like the things he had inherited and gained, he also took whatever was not tied down with him from all those hidden and secret places that were revealed to him.

He suspected that the only reason that he could take so much with him was that the bottomless pouch that he had found or had found its way to him had come with him being the fabled Master of Death. This was proven to be more factual than anything else he could think of when all three of the legendary items presented themselves before him. Each item gaining a spectral humanoid form in order for it to bow to him in reverence and for each item to swear eternal fealty to him.


	104. Lasting Impressions 001

There was a frantic knocking at his door, he paid it no heed as to let the person or Being on the other side grow even more frantic. The knocking grew in intensity and there were added pleas for aid. The voice of a woman, a woman deathly afraid or fearful of something or someone, or even for someone.

He knew of course, he knew many things. He had eyes and ears and senses in every part of his domain, and beyond for that matter. He was Crius Crossworld after all, the second-in-command of all of Imagination. He was practically the most important and powerful Being in all of Imagination, though he had to admit that there seemed to be one more omnipotent and omniscient than even he.

That one Being was that annoying journalist that popped up every now and then, documenting events in his own little way, before slipping off to places unknown. Even the Archivist and Librarian couldn't find him in their records when he didn't wish to be found.

It was the knowledge that there was this kind of Being lurking around that prompted him to ignore the woman that was practically wailing outside of his door, painting him in a very bad light should anyone come across the sight. It was quite a good thing that no one was going to appear there for quite some time. Save for that one Being that he hoped would alleviate him of the problem of one crying and frantic woman.

A woman that had more or less caused her own problems. If only she had stuck to her job, to her profession, to her purpose, none of what has and had befallen her would not have occurred or at least she would not have been affected so much by the turn of events that she had caused by her meddling.

He was well aware of her circumstances and just what she was. So he ignored her, for when Fate and Destiny, for that was who and what she was, much like how the End and the Void was the name of that smoky and hazy wolf-like creature that accompanied Nul Nusquam wherever that child-like Being went so was the case with the woman.

It was with a delighted sigh that he returned to work once he heard the one voice that he actually wanted to hear come from just beyond his office's doors.

That of that annoying journalist and documentation specialist, that other Being that possibly had just as much power, if not more, than he did in all of Imagination.

"Dry your eyes and cast aside your fears," Crius heard that usually dreaded and annoying voice speak to the woman, "For I have heard your cries and pleadings of aid, and have come to offer my services. Leave the master of the crossworlds be, for you already have me."

Some mumbled words were barely heard through the door, but Crius did not need to hear the words with his own ears to know what was said. He had other means of course, and thus used them. It was mostly an unimportant conversation between a man comforting a woman with heaped problems on her, as if she was carrying the fate of the worlds on her shoulders. Though technically she was carrying the weight of a world, one world, her world, on her shoulders.

She was after all Fate herself and Destiny herself of her world world, reality, dimension, existence. Much like how Devil himself, Magic himself, Time himself, and so on and so forth were what they were, but hers was to a much smaller extent. She could actually be considered as the one that gave the Norns, the Fates, and so on and so forth their powers and abilities, she was the source of what made them what they were.

Her problem that needed external aid, was that she had had one of her lesser creations, a seer, spout a prophecy that spoke of one that could end the reign of terror that had befallen a great nation. This was because of the hundreds of voices crying out for aid, silent prayers to whatever deity was listening, she was one of those higher powers so of course with so much belief or forced belief, but belief nonetheless, she gave in and gave them a way out.

The problem with that thing that she had done, in a sense orchestrated even, was that she had joined the equation a little bit. She was, as unoriginal as it sounds, drunk.

She had gotten drunk after losing a bet made among friends of her status in the grand scheme of things. What she had done after that was jump into the river of time and was somehow born into the mortal world several years before her seer made that one prophecy. She had gone by the name Lily Evans, then Potter later on in that mortalistic life.

She had the prophecy be spoken, and cemented the fate of her own biological son when the dark lord marked him with a lightning bolt shaped scar, and as per several unspoken rules, laws, and oaths, she was unable to interfere or aid her mortal son, save for bride Ladies Luck and Chance into aiding him.

Her role was of fate and destiny and thus was not permitted, unless she just happened to occupy a mortal body with very little to no access to her godly or higher power powers, to interfere with the affairs of those lower than her in station. It was a tricky and troublesome thing.

There were those that could get around such rules and laws, but those that were able had to be in the really good graces of those that were higher than the Powers That Be.

Her problem now was that she didn't know what to do, she needed help with the care of her son as she had already witnessed the flow of events pertaining to his immediate and semi-distant future, and no matter how many different fates and destinies she witnessed viewed, none of them eased her mind or her mother's love.

Her love for her son was the greatest deciding factor for her panic and problem.

Thus it was a good thing that that annoying and sometimes irritating individual appeared to aid her. He knew that the journalist was going to do it, which was why he could return and continue working without any real pause.

"*"

His ID, which was usually pinned to his khaki colored jacket read 'FM'. It was the name he insisted everyone he met call or refer to him as.

He led the woman to his own office, he had one, as was his right as the Journalist, who sidelined as the Writer.

Titles and names were mostly the same thing when it came to the usually nameless ones that worked in the background and made sure that Imagination was kept running smoothly.

There were so many other somewhat anonymous positions held throughout Imagination, all of which were essential for things to keep going as they were.

There was the Conductor who manned the train or express that travel through the gaps between existences and floating ideas, transporting those that knew how to get on board to where they needed or wanted to go and be.

There was the Archivist, who kept track of everything that required having a record, which was practically everything. The Archivist was assisted or worked alongside the Librarian, who kept track of information, and not literally everything.

There was the Secretary, who basically handled all the secretarial duties of _Those Five_, though she, yes she, wasn't usually all that appreciated for her work, not that she cared at all.

There was the Engineer, the Janitor, and a whole host of others, named after the professions and purposes they performed.

He was FM, the Journalist, the Writer, the Mediaman, the Manipulator and Instigator of Change, that last one only the top brass were aware of, which included only two Beings, aside from himself. Crius Crossworld and Shadow Shaijo (Guardian and Master of the Gate of Entrance from which all new ideas flow into).

So they arrived and were, in his office, it was a crammed little room that anyone else would wonder how in the world he could work in such a tight space and still feel comfortable. Those anyone-other people would also wonder how was it that they too felt comfortable in the office.

Since the woman had decided to keep silent, FM decided to open up the conversation.

"Do you know who or at least what I am?" he asked his companion.

"FM," she replied, "It says so on your nametag."

"Do you know what I am?" he asked her.

"The Journalist," she replied, she had done her homework before coming to this place, this nexus of worlds, or existences, the center or epicenter of all of Imagination.

"But do you know what it is that I actually do?" he asked her.

"No," she replied, since no one really did know exactly what his purpose was.

"My Purpose is to monitor all of Imagination and jot down or document any of the really interesting and or important events that happen within it," FM shared with her, "At the same time I also keep up with the trends of the interests or main focuses of Imagination, or rather the interests of the Imagineer, please keep that last bit to yourself."

"I will," she said, "Just as long as you can help me, help my son."

"Are you aware of who the father truly was? The identity of James Potter?" FM asked her, he wondered if she did indeed know that the James Potter she knew, had fallen in love with, married, and had a child with, was not all that he appeared to be, that he was akin to what she was.

"I am aware, yet he is not or so it seems," she stated, "And I care not, I fell in love with James Potter and not that which his soul truly was."


	105. M1

He didn't think he would ever consider much less do what he was about to do. All for the sake of power, he thought that he had discovered every way feasible to gain more power, he had even stumbled upon the reality of the Deathly Hallows. But none of the things he had chanced upon or sought out could compare to what one little book could grant him.

One little book that he had discovered in a library of all places. He had thought that it was nothing special, but he had been drawn to it for a reason. It was a rather odd book at first, it wouldn't open for him, no matter what spells or words he used. He even tried 'open sesame' but that didn't work. He even tried using the word 'please' but he wasn't sincere enough for that to work out.

Finally, when he was about ready to give up, the blasted thing opened on its own volition. It was like a scene from a movie where some artifact of power just glows or radiates said power.

To onlookers it would have seemed as if he had succeeded in opening the book, but to him it lasted far longer than that and he saw more than just a book opening on its own before his very eyes.

He saw everything from different perspectives. He saw the world for what it was in its many shapes and forms, and even times. He saw the history of the world unfold, followed by the history of the solar system, the galaxy, the universe, everything.

He saw many Beings, ranging from the lowliest of the low to the noblest of the noble. He saw those with power and those who chose not to seek it. He saw those that grabbed at it any chance they got and those that let it slip away without a care.

He saw many many more, like wars being waged, fought, and ended. He saw peace talks that succeeded and failed. He saw the rise of tyrants and the fall of heroes.

He saw it all.

And was humbled by it.

Then he felt it, felt it in his very soul. There was no other way or manner by which he could have heard what he had heard after all the images finished passing him by.

There was a voice, as clear as the cleanest of airs. It was like a choir of every voice in existence, but at the same time the voice of one. This singular yet multiple voice spoke only one word, but with that one word he knew how to gain the power which he had been searching for ever since he was but a lad.

_Power_.

It was just one word, but the manner by which it had been spoken gave it so many meanings, so many different interpretations. But it also told him one thing, while not spoken in words, it was spoken still in some way. It spoke of how he could gain this power, this ability, this strength.

All he had to do was change the course of history, alter the flow of time, disengage the hands of destiny and fate from more than just himself. He was to act in such a manner that was not of or in his character to act.

He didn't know how he was going to do it at first, but once one of his most loyal informed him of some prophecy, he knew just how to do it. Prophecy was something that controlled the flow of time, they were the instruments which the hands of fate and destiny controlled the world. He decided to use the prophecy as his own tool.

When one decided to confront prophecy, a powerful tool or instrument in its own right, one should be prepared for an uphill battle, unless of course someone had a weapon, tool, or instrument, of even greater power. Luckily he had such a tool. The book was such a tool. Prophecy kowtowed to such a tool.

There were very few, scare few, rare few, almost non-existent few, things in this world that could stand up to the might and power of the book that he had been drawn to. It was a simple leather bound looking book, at first it looked quite simple, but once it was opened it revealed its true appearance.

The thing was colored gold, and was probably made out of the stuff even though it still felt like leather. Chiseled on the front of the book was a mural like image comprised of the different things that he had seen when the book first opened for him. It was rather supernatural, even more than he was used to when he thought about it. While he had seen and knew how to make paintings and portraits move, he had never encountered something like the cover of the book. A book which held untold knowledge, and could channel untold wisdom, while at the same time could grant untold power.

It was impossibly possible to see all the events that he had witnessed within the span of a moment depicted on the cover of the book, the cover's main image was that of the Auryn, an ouroboros symbol but with two snakes instead of one. This symbol of infinity or never-ending, was not the only thing that made up the general image of the cover.


	106. M3

Unfortunately he had been caught by the false Madara during the fight between the true one and the five Kage. He had been a bit weak, and had not been prepared for a surprise attack to just come at him from out of nowhere, and in the middle of a battlefield where ambushes weren't likely.

He'd been knocked out, and taken to some the closest extraction chamber, and woke to find the lifeless corpse of one of his friends, Killer Bee. He could hear the explosions of the fight that was still raging in the distance, he could feel the earth shake and quake as well.

He didn't know how much time had passed, all that he knew was that he was moments away from being forced to endure a pain unlike any other, as well as finally succumbing to the so-called fate a friend of his had once believed in.

No last words were asked of him, what he was dealing with was not a man with honor after all. The pain, while expected, was still sudden and a surprise. It wasn't something that built up like a crescendo, but a sudden inexplicable overwhelming pain that raced up and down in a seemingly ever continuing loop within his body. He could feel the effects of the seemingly unending cycle of hate course through each and every kind of pain receptor he had.

He felt the seal that helped keep the beast within trapped begin to creak, but was a bit surprised despite the pain that his prisoner helped in trying to keep the gates closed. It would rather keep its present lot rather than have to become the unwilling slave of another Uchiha, a slightly more insane than the norm Uchiha at that.

He fought through the pain, and latched onto his prisoner with all of his might. Part of him couldn't allow the eternal Tsukiyomi to reach fruition, part of him didn't want to give up, couldn't give up even, since he had many people counting on him to win, part of him also wanted to keep that promise he made to the mass of sentient charka that resided in his gut.

He didn't know how long he had been suffering, but it was quite the game of tug-of-war. Nine ethereal dragons latched onto the nine tails of the beast, yet he kept as firm a grip as he could onto the beast, even employing ethereal chains that he didn't think he had in him.

It was a battle of wills, of life or death, of attrition, one that each side's win would definitely change the world. There were numerous explainable and unexplainable forces at work during the battle. Two of which were space and time. Another being that thing called the Will of Fire.

Through the intense maelstorm of pain, a single thought remained firm, rooted to the spot, unyielding.

'_**I **__will __**NOT**__ give up!'_

That single resounding thought that rippled across dimensions, planes of existence, worlds, universes.

It was truly a battle of wills as only one man was behind the technique that was meant to extract the prisoner from its prison.

Even as his life began to leave him, and his strength began to fail him, his mental determination, his resolve, his will, held fast. Iron will had nothing on him. He was the mountain, the ocean, the volcano, the sky. He was space and time.

Then it happened, after such a long battle, the tug-of-war shifted from there being no clear victor, to one where a victor could be chosen, could be seen or divined.

Instead of pulling something out, the nine dragons were pulled inwards. Their hold on the other eight forced those very same eight to follow the dragons into the young adult. They were drawn quickly in, like how a blackhole would draw anything close enough to its personal gravitational pull.

There wasn't anything that the false Madara could do but try to escape. But he found to his horror the impossibility of that actually happening as he felt some otherworldly force keeping him from using his own abilities to escape whatever fate had in store for him.

With that otherworldly intervention, Madara's side of the tug-of-war slackened and the youth gave a gargantuan tug which sent everything crashing into him, merging with him, and becoming him. From the nine dragons to the nine beasts that had plagued the world for centuries since their creation. He was more than just the most unpredictable person in the world, but became something much much more.

It was really a reward for performing his designated duty to the higher powers, for performing his prophecy delegated duty to the world.

With this new found power, he knew that he could no longer remain in the world. As much as he wished he could remain, he knew that his remaining in the world would hinder the path to peace. He created a super-powered clone behind, filled it with enough chakra to last it a lifetime, and not go poof after one super-strength hit.

He was the second coming of the Sage, but he knew that the world would benefit more if he just left.

The clone had been instructed to live as he would, but also to refer to itself as himself. It was also not to share the true events that had transpired away from prying eyes.

With some additional parting instructions to the clone, he called forth a golden black hole, he didn't know how he knew how to do it, but he did it. He saluted his clone, who once it finally perished would transmit its memories to its creator, allowing him to experience the life that he had left behind.

The last sight he saw of his green world was that of his clone's return salute.

#

He didn't know how it had happened, but he had found himself laying on a mound of parched earth, it was brittle and crumbling with every breath he took. He hadn't really given much thought to where he would land, just that he needed to get himself out of his birth world. He needed to leave it without the powerhouses or power sources that could give any single nation what it would take to subjugate the world.


	107. N1

Most children at the age of four were tasked with just being happy and of course making their parents happy with their actions and in-actions. That's what most four-year-olds were tasked with, a simple job and purpose, but something entirely worthwhile.

That's not to say that all children were created equal, as there would always be those that were more than the exception. There were those that had expectations mounted upon their shoulders from day one, and of course there were those few that had more than just expectations but also accusations. Those with accusations were the few and far between souls that had the worst lots in life, the ones that suffered the most, but they were the very same ones that could say at the end of their lives that it had been worth it, that the rewards far outweighed the hardships they had faced.

Naruto was one of these few and far between souls that had been handed the worst lots in life. He was lower than the bottomost rung on the ladder of life. He had the least bit of say in his life, a life that he had been living since he was three years old, more or less. That's what one gets after human nature kicks in after a noble deed is done and a hated enemy is revealed to being held within one child such as he, a defenseless one at that.

He had no one to defend him against the world, against the society who hated him by association with the monster that had ruined so many of their lives. He was as much a victim as any of them, truthfully he had lost probably a lot more than anyone that night that he had been born and become what he had been turned into. He had lost his childhood, and his parents.

Every other day or night was a smaller version of the larger game called life. It was a constant fight for survival for him, the law of survival of the fittest was the one rule that ruled his life. He lived each day as if it was his last, as each day actually could realistically be his very last.

It was sometime during his fourth year of life, alone in a world that he tried to be more a part of rather than more separated from. He was once again running for his life, using his eidetic memory he navigated the streets and back alleys to his advantage, but his pursuers had more mature bodies compared to his still developing form. It was mind over matter, brains versus brawn, and usually brawn would eventually win out due to the lack of experience on his part.

This time would be different, vastly different on a whole other level.

In this life of his he hadn't managed to make any connections, any that wished to form one with him had been snatched away by a variety or a plethora of external factors, those blasted things that were way beyond his or their control, like responsibilities, duties, and other such things.

Having not managed to form any of those kinds of connections, even after months of trying, he would not be missed should he just fade away or instantly vanish from the world.

He took a wrong turn in the red light district, most people there were more or less more tolerable of his presence, not that they went out of their way to show him that they didn't really care for his presence. They didn't go out of their way to harm him either, which was more than fine with him.

He knew the place best, like the back of his hand really. He was 99% sure that he couldn't get lost in that veritable maze of back streets and alleyways. But like most other people, even with his eidetic memory, he was still fallible. He made a mistake, and it potentially cost him.

He was cornered, finally, trapped, and this time his pursuers didn't look like they cared much for any potential consequences their actions might bring them. It was usually light anyway, like writing lines or some minor community service. It wasn't like the Sandaime's Law was really enforced, not even the Sandaime himself enforced it, believing in handing out second chances whenever he had the chance to, as he saw mostly the good in all people, which on a couple of occasions had cost him and those he had been sworn to protect dearly.

"Time to die demon scum," one of the approaching mob growled as he held onto a steel pipe, ready to deal a lot of physical damage.

"Time to finish what the Yondaime started," another one added, a broken bottle gripped tight.

When the beating was just about to begin, all those that intended to do harm on the cowering creature that was the child of four years were thrown forcefully backwards. They slammed not only into each other, but onto the ground, walls, and other hard surfaces.

The child on the other hand was engulfed in a wavering cloud of liquid blackness, a darkness that was cool to the touch but warm for the heart. It was a comforting presence, yet at the same time obviously otherworldly.

'_What's going on?_' the child wondered.

"_This world deserves you not,_" a thousand voices could be heard coming from all around the child, speaking to and only to the child, "_Thus it has been decided that one such as yourself be taken away from here and be given the chance to start over, in a world similar but at the same time unlike your original own_."

'_Why now? Why not the first time? Or the second or the third?_' the child mentally asked, as he figured out that the voices could understand him even if he spoke in that manner.

"_We thought to give the world a chance, but it had used up it's second chances, so here I have come,_" the thousand voices spoke up, and tightened its hold around the child, "_Though before I take you away, is there anything you wish could happen?_"

'_I want them to suffer as I have suffered,_' the child mentally requested, '_An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, nothing more and nothing less._'

"_So mote it be,_" the thousand voices intoned, and the child felt something in the world he had been born into shift. He also felt something within him quake and shake, something in him was being separated, released.

In another realm, yet still in the same world, the Gama Summon Clan experienced a change themselves. It was a change that only the oldest of their lot could relate to, it was something that had only ever happened in the world one time in the past, and one time alone.

A scroll toad cried out in pain as it's burden was forcibly ripped out from its storage space. The energies that it had been given the duty and privilege of keeping until the right time that it was called to be relieved of its duty, were taken from it by an otherworldly force, one far greater than the Shinigami of the world itself.

The Shinigami was a mere ant in comparison to this entity, this older than ancient times power.

The child was engulfed fully once the entity he had been entrusted with had been fully separated from him, was engulfed fully by the shadowed darkness once the original fate and destiny set aside for him had been taken from him and been discarded. The world had been left finally on its own, it was to fend for itself from all the forces that were upon it that sought to either take it over or destroy it.

Nothing was going to remain standing in the way of change, of true chaos and true peace.

All it takes is just one person to tip the scales in either victory or defeat. Just one person was all it took to plunge the world into uncertainty, and it would have also taken just one successful person to have kept the child from invoking such a kind of revenge, while it would save some, the world would lose a lot more from his leaving.

As soon as the child left his birth world, the hidden village known as Konoha was subjected to the Kyuubi once again being released, but this time well within the walls of the village instead of beyond it.

As it powered up a Bijuudama, its most powerful attack, numerous cloaked and scythed figures began positioning themselves defensively before the innocents and those that had tried to reach out a helping hand to the one that had decided this fate of the village and indirectly the world.

There were many panicked cries and shouts for their village protector and leader to do something about the most recent threat to the continuation of the village's existence. But all these please for aid fell on deaf ears just as the old man's words for the villagers to see the sacrifice and the hero for what he was and not for what he contained and had become.

He silently wept for the thousands of lives that were to be lost that night, but knew deep down that they deserved it and that there was nothing in the world he could do to keep them safe from such fates. He had tried his best, but it had not been good enough. They had only themselves to blame as their very existences were erased from that world of life.

The few hundred or possibly slightly more that remained after the Kyuubi lost interest and left the village, were happy at their decision with regards to the former container. They too wept for the massive losses to their village's population. They were also the lucky few that witnessed the cloaked figures that flew off into the night sky blending with the black blanket that shrouded the world in its twinkling splendor.

It was more than just one large village that had suffered that night, but all those that had been associated with it and with that one child. All that had turned a blind eye suffered some form of malignant fate, while those that had extended a hand or tried to were spared such things.

#

In another world, very much like the first world and very much like our own, yet at the exact same time vastly different, the child woke up to find himself in one of the most dreaded, hated, and in some cases feared, places in all of known creation: a hospital room.

It was one of those pristinely white rooms where patients were forced to remain until their captors, also known as medical practitioners, released them from such horrifying captivity. It was a maddening experience, finding oneself day in and day out inside such a plain white room. Some would even dare to call it the worst limbo.

He looked around the room he was trapped in, he had had the privilege of finding himself in several of such rooms, as well as finding that those that had sworn an oath to aid any and all of those in need of medical attention doing the opposite of their oaths and trying to kill him, but failing each and every time.

He knew instinctively that this time was different. He knew that this time there was nothing to fear other than the insanity of remaining inside such white branded walls.

"Finally awake I see," a lab coat wearing old man said observationally as he looked over a number of machines attached to the young blonde strapped to the bed via the blanket that shielded him from the cold of the air conditioning, as well as writing something down on his clipboard.

"Err, yes?" the blonde said, not really knowing how to interact with a nice doctor for once.

"Responsive, good, good," the _doctor _said as he noted it down on his clipboard, he then looked over some sort of print out attached to one of the many machines attached to the patient, "Readings are normal...hmm...hmm..."

"Uhm..." the blonde patient began to say, trying to figure out how to formulate a question.

"You are presently in a pocket dimension which is serving as your hospital room," the _doctor_ said, "I am presently your...doctor...I am concerned for your well-being, more than as just some medical practitioner, but also as I was the one that brought you here, even under the combined orders of everyone else."

"So.." the child began to formulate a sentence or question again, but was interrupted even before he could voice his thoughts.

"Based on your readings, results, and the fact that you're already awake," the _doctor_ said, "I can see you being relieved of this limbo very soon, but before that time comes you'll just have to go back to sleep so that you won't have to consciously experience the pain of your more recent transformation."

"Wai...t Zzz," the blonde patient was unable to really say anything as he had promptly fallen asleep.

"That's _better,_" the _doctor_ said in his more natural thousands of voices in one, "_Rest now as you change into one of us...or as close to one of us as you can become._"

It had been decided by _Them_ that the little one that had been pulled from his birth reality, from his birth world, would be inducted and included, otherwise known as being changed into one of the primordial elements of imagination, but due to the age and the circumstances in which he had been taken, kidnapped in a sense, he could not be remade into one of the big guns, so to speak. He would instead be a sub-element or a mere manifestation of a primordial element.

The child began his change, his transformation. It was not a regular transformation from one age to another, from childhood to adolescence. It wasn't even merely a molecular alteration. It was even further from an existential change.

It was a tweaking of his soul, more than anything else. He became something that he, and most other mortals, were not supposed or intended to become.

The child awoke a few weeks, relatively speaking since his time was in another dimension entirely which separated him from _regular_ time, after being drugged to sleep by the one being that spoke with a voice made of a thousand voices more.

The first thing he noticed was that he was in a room more like his former apartment, which his world's Sandaime had given him as aid in making his life easier. It was just like his old apartment, with a minor difference. It was clean.

Getting out of bed he found some day clothes and put them on after doing the other things he did to get ready for the day. Walking out of his bedroom found him standing as still as a statue for sitting on one of the only two chairs in the place was the same _doctor_ that had put him to sleep however long ago.

"_I'm not here to harm you, you know, I am your personal physician after all,_" the lab coat wearing entity stated, trying to calm down the rising panic that was gradually surfacing within the young man, or kid really, "_I am here to see how you have adjusted to your changes._"

"Err...what changes? I don't feel any different," the blonde said.

"That's good to know," the _doctor _told him, he then stood up and motioned for the blonde to take a seat, "Have a seat, I need to have you undergo a complete and full check-up, we wouldn't want you finding out later on that something went wrong with your transformation, now would we?"

The blonde didn't need to be told twice and rushed to the chair and sat down, perfectly still, and subconsciously began gathering nature chakra into himself. Not only did he had an eidetic memory, he was also a natural sage, not that it really mattered in comparison to what he had become.

"Do you have any questions for me?" the _doctor_ asked his patient, he pressed and poked the blonde and did a number of other medicine related things.

"Why does your voice change?" the blonde asked, he wondered about the odd change.

"I, like you, am not normal" the _doctor_ said, "We are in a manner of speaking, freaks. Not of nature, but of something else. Although I stand on a higher plateau than you do, we are still rather similar to one another."

"What are you talking about? And what's this change that I've supposedly gone through?" the blonde asked, "Also, what do I call you?"

"You can call me...hmm...Doctor D," Dr D said, "It will have to do for now, wouldn't want to scare you with who and what I really am after all. As for what you have become, among what ranks you may now count yourself among...well... I'll get to that later, when I'm done seeing if anything's wrong with you."

"Ok," the blonde said and patiently waited for his check-up to reach its culmination before speaking again.

"Well, everything looks to be in order," Dr D said, "Now I shall be explaining what you have become."

"Alright," the blonde said, "But do I have to do anything? Write anything down or something?"

"No," Dr D said, "All you have to do is listen, since I know you have an eidetic memory, and I know you know what that means."

"I do," the blonde said, as he had stumbled upon its definition in someone's thrown away journal.

"Alright then," Dr D said, "I am your physician. I am Dr D, I'll update my file later, we all have files just so you know. My concerns are both the world of life and the world beyond. That's what I am, in vague terms at least. We are of a tier in existence which is above even the gods, we are that which makes up Imagination, found in all things, but given consciousness."

"So...since I'm like you...I'm some kind of thing that makes up imagination?" the blonde asked, he didn't really get it.

"Not imagination, with a small I, but Imagination, capitalized," Dr D stated, "Imagination is the canvas upon which we all exist. We are the paint that gives it color and form. Everything is the picture, the image, the form. We are the paints, the brushes, and other tools used to paint the bigger picture."

"Oh," the blonde said, "That's nice. So what color am I? Or am I a brush of some kind? Or what?"

"You are a combination of all the tools that are used to paint the bigger picture," Dr D said, "As I said, you are all those things, just as I am, and more. But slightly lower on the scale as compared to myself."

"Why as compared you yourself?" the blonde asked.

"Because I have the honor of having the title 'himself' to my status, so to speak," Dr D said, "I am a primordial element, while you are a manifestation of a fraction of such an entity, such a Being with a capital B."

"So you're like 'life himself' or something?" the blonde asked.

"Something like that, but that's not what and who I am exactly, a part perhaps, but not the whole," Dr D stated, mentally applauding this little addition to the fold, "Back to what you are, and what I am not. You are a fraction of the a greater whole, a more elaborate whole. You are simpler, yet still unique, smaller yet still highly complex. You are a piece of the more elaborate pie."

"So what am I? Are there going to be things that I'll need to learn?" the child asked.

"This transformation that you have undergone has granted you a multitude of new powers and abilities," Dr D continued as if not hearing the blonde's question, "The use of them should come naturally to you, but that is not to say that you shall not be receiving the briefest of explanations or given the smallest of tips."

"Ok," the blonde said, and waited for the continuation of the rest of the explanation and elaboration of what he could now count himself as.

"You are an element or sub-element of a generality," Dr D continued, "You have been handed the post of being the Manifestations of Desires and Fears, more specifically dealing with the ones that can take a more physical form."

"I don't understand," the blonde said.

"With your powers, you could cause a man to gain a deathly aversion to leaves," Dr D proposed as his form of explanation and elaboration, "The man could be the most fearless person in the world having already faced and conquered his fears, but you could change that, you could instill this fear of leaves in him. The same would go for a man who was already content with what he has, you could have him desire more than he already had. Do you understand?"

"I think I get it," the blonde said, "Though...wait...why do I seem a bit smarter? I know I'm not an idiot, but I also know I'm not normally this smart."

"That's one of the side effects of entering the fold, so to speak," Dr D said, "You, just as I, am connected to the vastness that is the Library of Imagination, for lack of a better term or name, this library is the combined knowledge and wisdom of all of Imagination, past, present, and future."

"Oh," the blonde said, then asked, "So why do I still need you to tell me all this if I'm connected to this repository of know-how?"

"Because you are merely connected, not always accessing such know-how as you put it," Dr D replied, "It is a library, and in a manner of speaking you will still need to visit it to gain the knowledge which you seek. Can we return to our original topic of discussion?"

"Err..sure," the blonde said, as a part of his curiosity was sated.

"Now then," Dr D said, "Now that you know of what you are, we shall move onto who you are."

"But I already know who I am," the blonde insisted, even though he was unaware of what Dr D truly meant by the terms he had used.

"_No you do not,_" Dr D stated firmly, with almost all of his power back his words. A thousand or more voices echoing from everywhere and nowhere at the same time falling upon the blonde like an avalanche of sound and conviction.

"Alright, alright," the blonde said, he couldn't help but visibly cringe upon hearing the tsunami of conviction directed his way, it was rather overwhelming even though it was stated in something akin to a whisper, "I understand. I don't know who I am."

"Good," Dr D said, his voice returning its individualness, "You have been reborn in a sense, and therefore are in need of a new identity. Just as I once went by another identity, I now go by another one, or rather a couple of additional ones, Dr D being the latest. So tell me, _WHO ARE YOU_?"

The blonde tried to access the vastness of the library that he had been told about, he tried to think of something that called out to him as he could feel that that was the way to go. He eventually gave up trying that route, and went for stringing words and meanings together to form something new that would or could be associated with him. That too eventually or swiftly failed.

He didn't know how to name himself, he didn't even know how to start, how was he to finish without such simple instruction. Not even an example was given.

He was faced with a single simple question.

But each and every guess or answer he could give dared not leave his lips. They all seemed wrong, and he knew that he had to follow his gut feel when it came to this. He had a feeling that this new name, his new name, his true name, would have an affect on how he would proceed to write this sequel to his past and former life.

"I don't know," the blonde said after some time.

"Well then I guess we'll have to dub thee... Nanashi Yuurei," Dr D dubbed the blonde, "That shall be your name for now, until you find one that you believe suits you better."

"Unnamed ghost?" the blonde said, "I guess it does suit me for the time being. So what happens now that I've got a pseudonym?"

"Beyond the doors of this apartment is a world unlike any other, yet at the same time is like a number of others," Dr D explained, "It is even similar to your birth world."

"So...I've just traded my old world for a new one that's just like it was? What's the difference?"

"Well the main difference is that you _are_ the world, the soul of the world in a sense," Dr D replied, "When it comes to this new world, new to you at least, you are everything that has to do with this world, or a part of everything that has to do with this brave new world."

"Are you saying that I'm more than just a kami?" the newly minted Yuurei asked.

"That's precisely what I'm saying," Dr D said, "This world will be your plaything, you can literally do anything you want with it and in it. From the mountains and seas to the Kami and everything else, they shall all call you father and god."

"So I could say that the sky was orange and pink and it would be orange and pink?" the blonde asked, already imagining the possibilities.

"Yes, yes you can," Dr D replied, "Though I have to ask, would you really want such a change?"

"Well...not really, it was just a thought," the blonde said, "So what happens now? Now that I know what to expect once I leave this apartment."

"Whatever you want to happen," Dr D said, "Why? Are you ready to leave? Are you ready to walk the path of your next great adventure, though I guess first great adventure would be more apt in comparison to your first life."

"I'm ready," the blonde said, "Do I just walk out the door?"

"Yes, actually, yes you do," Dr D said, "But before that, I have a few parting words for you."'

"What?" the blonde asked as he positioned himself within reaching distance of the door.

"To think is to create, belief is a powerful thing, the only real limitation you have on yourself are the ones you place on yourself," Dr D said, "And finally, don't forget to have fun. That last one's the most important thing."

"Thanks for the advice," the blonde formerly named Naruto said in thanks, he steeled himself for this brave new world that was himself, took hold of the knob, twisted it, and walked into the light.

#

He watched over his world from upon a cloud, it was usually an orange-pink cloud as he didn't want to spoil the sky for anyone. He had experimented with the world a few times, erasing what had been created a total of ten times already, his living vacuum cleaner being a titanic being he dubbed Juubi.

Juubi was his constant companion and pet, as well as faithful servant. It was in charge of destroying the world that was in place, in order for a new slate to be put into place and the cycle of life to be rewoven and reconstructed once again.

He was a selfish child playing at being god, which he was higher above. His kami and their godlings constantly sought out ways to stay his hand, keep him from destroying the world that they had fallen in love with and hoped would live on. Most of their plans and schemes failed to succeed, it was only when they finally figured out that it was not him that they had to stop, but Juubi.

So they plotted and planned and waited for the day that their father and god gave the order to his most loyal of servants to bring about the end of yet another version of the world.

They struck fiercely and swiftly in the form of a man that legends would call the Sage of Six Paths.

Being a former human, Yuurei was still prone to bouts of human nature, in that he could be distracted and not use his ability of being omniscient, he didn't really enjoy using that feature of his new self all that much. His thoughts on it was that it wasn't all that fun, and he had several underlings to do everything else for him.

He loved the feeling of omnipotence though, since he had always been weak in his past life, he never wanted to feel that way ever again.

He focused on the imprisonment of his most loyal of servants, Juubi, and forgot to think about why it had happened, why had something that had never happened before happened. He didn't really think about it, and thus the end of the world did not happen.

The mortals didn't know what to make of the years after the defeat of Juubi. All they believed was that the Sage of Six Paths was the chosen one of the gods, which was in a sense true, this belief was given more power due to what they saw.

Disaster upon natural disaster struck the world at random intervals. Earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etcetera. But none of them ever occurred wherever the Sage was. That was mostly because Yuurei dared not do anything that could potentially harm his most faithful and loyal servant.

While he had the power to release his servant from captivity, he dared not to as he figured that it was the safest place for his servant to be. His servant's enemies could hardly harm him if he resided in the one mortal that no other mortal dared to cross.

Time wore on, and the Sage lived the rest of his life, preaching and teaching. Yuurei eventually calmed down and chose to wait out the Sage's life before freeing his loyal servant, who even in captivity patiently waited for its master's words or orders. It knew that it had been trapped by the kami, and that its master had nothing to do with its imprisonment, so it remained loyal.

Then when the Sage's time finally came, something unexpected happened. Something which caused the world to once again shake and quake and rupture. The Sage and his patron kami had one more trick up their sleeves, Juubi would not be able to roam free, it was split into nine pieces and more or less flung to nine ends of the world, sealed or put to sleep for a time.

The world could no longer end. Yuurei knew that, and accepted it.

This new breed of mortals had managed to survive the end of the world, and thus deserved a chance to live a whole lot longer. Yuurei sat back, and left his world in the hands of his subordinates and _children. _

Nine beasts, which the mortals dubbed as the Tailed Beasts, monstrous masses of living destructive chakra left by ages long past. Several times did these beasts try their hand at returning to being one, but never had they failed as they were never complete whenever they tried.

Eventually gaining separate and individual consciousnesses of their own, thus leading to their inability to bond back together once again. Yuurei didn't really mind all that much, he had more loyal servants that way.

Each one of them still awaiting his orders, ready to serve him once again.

Then he watched as once again the mortals decided to seal away his servants into various containers ranging from a teapot to an actual person.

Jinchuuriki, the power of human sacrifice, it was something he was intimately familiar with. He hadn't really given it much thought back when the Sage had done it, but now that he was witnessing their recreation once again, he thought that maybe this time it would be different, maybe he could still curse their lives as he tried to do the Sage.

He was proven wrong, the majority of mortals treated the first jinchuuriki in the same manner that he, himself, had been treated, it were only those whose secrets weren't revealed managed to live peaceful or trouble free lives. They were very few.

He thought about ending the world once again, an end of the world the second coming, but in order to do that he would either need his Juubi or Bijuu to do it or make a new one, which didn't really sit well with him.

It wasn't fun anymore. He had forgotten all about fun and had taken life far too seriously. It had cost him. But upon seeing those that he could, in the past, count himself among, he remembered the concept of fun.

He reached out to his Bijuu with his voice...

"I once lived the life that your human hosts now live, and can sympathize with them," Yuurei told them, "Guard them, and make them strong, for only when they are strong enough, will they be able to find happiness."

Each of the nine heard his words, and it was the first time that their hosts had ever shown powers gained from their tenants.

It came as a surprise to those that kept watch over these living weapons, their charges suddenly gaining these abilities. They didn't like it, and treated these weapons even harsher than before as they thought that their tenants were trying to get out.

Only one of the nine had not been sealed, that one being the ninth of them. The most powerful piece of the once god-like Juubi.

When it was sealed for the very first time into a human, it felt too much pride, for its host to be stronger, the ninth tailed beast rebelled. It would only help willingly if it was dominated.

He watched the world and all that happened in it, though more focused on his bijuu and their hosts and succeeding hosts.

He eventually chanced upon, in what could have been a blink of an eye, the creation of the third incarnation of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. It was then that he understood the significance of having a new name.

It was a jinchuuriki that he could really relate to, and he voiced such a thing with Kyuubi. It tried its best to aid its latest host, without that battle for dominance that it usually had, but found that all it could do was heal its host since half of its power was sealed elsewhere. It was infuriating to both Kyuubi and Yuurei.

Though Yuurei had seen that the host wasn't as helpless as he had been in his past life.

He saw the bigger picture for once in his long immortal existence. He saw all the hardships those that tried to help the host faced in their attempts to aid the host. He sympathized with them. Then he made a choice.

Since he knew that the host's seal, a superior one to all the rest, was created with the aid of one of the kami, he couldn't possibly use his own power to shatter it as it would draw some unwanted attention. He believed in free will as it made things interesting and wasn't about to shut such a function off and take control over everything.

It hadn't been all that much fun the first time he had tried running the entire world all by himself. He didn't want a repeat.

He descended down to the world of life, leaving his orange-pink cloud. He would be taking matters regarding the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki into his own hands.

It was the very same day as when his life had been changed for the better or for the worse. He chased after the mob chasing after the jinchuuriki, there wasn't anyone watching from the rooftops which was how he traveled.

He landed between the kid and the mob once he was trapped in a back alley. It was the very same dead end that Dr D had found him in. But instead of the mob being blown backwards they were stopped in their tracks by each and every one of their fears made flesh, from giant spiders crawling out of the woodwork to the release of the Kyuubi.

Since there were so many of them, he pulled out a small ruby, and held it before him but not before throwing a black blanket over the kid. He couldn't have people doubting his authenticity on the scene with their conflicting views and fears once someone began to shout out a fear.

"This little ruby is the most terrifying thing you've ever encountered," Yuurei stated, he really didn't need to say it to make it come true, but it sounded and looked better when he did, "If any of you don't start running I will move this ruby," he indicated toward the ruby, "closer to you."

"No!" some began to shout and back away.

"Keep it away!" some others shouted as well.

Yuurei took a single step forward, the ruby held before him, all of the mob's eyes plastered onto the tiny jewel.

"Boo," he simply said and watched as the mob ran away screaming as if the devil was upon them.

He turned around to face the curled up and cowering little boy that he could have become had Dr D not come for him.

He crouched down and tapped the bundle on the head..

"Its alright, you're safe now," he told the kid, "No one's going to hurt you anymore, if I have anything to say about it."

The kid peaked out from under the black blanket, and peered as his savior, and found himself transfixed with what Yuurei looked like. It was like looking at an older version of himself, except this older version had pale blonde hair with two tips looking like horns and four barely visible birthmarks on each cheek.

He had on green cargo pants, the kind with more pockets than necessary, a blue long sleeved shirt, and wore tabi socks and sandals.

"Thanks mister," the kid said, a bit shakily, he didn't really think the danger was over since on some past occasion some people had tricked with him being nice to him before beating him up.

'_**Yuurei-sama!**_' the kid heard the yell from within his mind, and it scared him since it was the first time it had ever happened to him.

"Who's there?" the kid exclaimed in surprise, looking around for the origin of the shout only finding his savior with him in the dead end.

"That would have been the voice of your tenant," Yuurei informed the kid, "A secret that wasn't kept very well. Do you want to know why all the glares and beatings?"

"Yes," the kid said, hopefully. He hoped for the actual reason and not another distraction or half truth.

"On the night you were born, your parents sealed Kyuubi into you," Yuurei shared with the kid.

"But Kyuubi's dead, Hokage-jiji said so," the kid argued.

""I am Nanashi Yuurei," he told the kid, "My servant, or one ninth of my servant is housed in you, tied to you at the soul level or close enough to it. Imprisoned into you due to the machinations of power and protection."

"Why...what...so I'm the Kyuubi? I'm the monster that everyone hates?" the kid began trembling as the weight of the world suddenly dropped on his shoulders.

"No you are not Kyuubi," Yuurei told the child firmly, "It can tell you that itself."

'_**We are separate entities residing in the same body, that is all,**_' Kyuubi told it's host, '_**It is a misplaced hatred they have for you. Trust Yuurei-sama, he means you no harm**_.'

"So I'm not Kyuubi... So umm...what happens now?" the kid asked.

"You come with me," the kid was told, "I shall be the one to take care of you from now on, since those that were supposed to take care of you have decided to neglect their duties."

"Someone was supposed to take care of me?" the kid asked.

"Yes, unfortunately they decided to leave you to your fate," Yuurei said, he was rather bitter about it all, "So I shall take up the mantle of your caretaker, and under my care you shall blossom."

"Ok," the kid said, "Lead on."

"Come, follow me, then," Yuurei said as he stood, and held out a hand to the kid, who took hold of it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

It the days that followed, Yuurei gained legal custody of Uzumaki Naruto. Paperwork was dealt with swiftly, nothing stood in the way of Yuurei when he wanted something done. Nanashi Yuurei was a free traveling citizen of the world, and Uzumaki Naruto became his ward, with the same rights. Paperwork for custody of the jinchuuriki had the signatures of the five great daimyos of the five great nations.

There would be those that would wonder how such a smooth operation had gone so successfully, but those that would wonder would only be those that cared about the jinchuuriki enough to dig through all of his pertinent files.

Naruto lived with Yuurei in a little shack in a large plot of land just outside of the perimeter of the village. The land had been part of the lands owned by the Senju clan. It had been rather easy acquiring such lands, with enough money anyone would give such a place up.

It served as the perfect place for a jinchuuriki to live in peace, as well as for a jinchuuriki to train in peace.

For four years no one knew what had happened to the jinchuuriki, no one knew where he lived, no one seemed to care to find out either. Some didn't really care at all, while others thought that it was for the best, while others still were simply too lazy or too busy to bother with searching or seeking out the village's greatest protector.

It was only on Naruto's eighth birthday did someone come for a visit. The Sandaime had accidentally stumbled upon Naruto returning from performing reconnaissance on the village in the form of some minor prank on those that chose not to treat him with the respect he deserved.

It would have been a tear filled reunion had it not been for the fact that Yuurei called up a lung dragon made of nature to rise up from the patch of land the shack was located upon, it barred it's teeth and claws at the aged village leader, while a much smaller one wrapped itself protectively around the blonde brat.

"What do you want?" Yuurei growled out as he stood between the Hokage and his ward.

"Why is Naruto with you?" the Hokage decided to ignore the question and asked his own.

"He is my ward," Yuurei replied, "Now answer my question, unless you lack a healthy fear of death."

"I've been looking for him for the past month," the Hokage said, "I wanted to ask him if he wanted to enroll into the Ninja Academy."

"Naruto," Yuurei said, and had the coiled serpent release the boy to answer the inquiry.

"I wanna be a ninja," the boy said, he really did too. He wanted to be one so that he could find strong people to fight and so that he could become a sage.

"There you have your answer," Yuurei stated, then began to have the larger lung dragon begin to move forward, threatening to claw and tear into the Hokage, "Now I suggest you leave."

"B-but," the Hokage tried to say something so that he could stay.

"You wasted your chance," Yuurei said, "Now leave."

It was a cold voice that promised nothing but suffering should the Hokage not leave.


	108. N2

He had lived a life fraught with danger and adventure, when his servant had come for him he thought that his life was over. He thought that it was time for, in the immortal words of Albus Dumbledore, the next great adventure.

But it was not meant to be, he was not to be reunited with those that he had come to call friends and family during his long long life. They had all told him upon their natural deaths to continue living with no regrets, not to worry or miss them as they would be with him always, and to find others. They all told him in no uncertain terms to move on with his life, to not dwell on them. But he couldn't help wanting to see and feel them again.

He left his birth world of life as the indisputable Master of Death when it came to his own small sector of Imagination. He knew that there was still one more powerful than him, one that was more of a master than even he, for had he been Death himself he wouldn't fear or want death for he would already be death, but he wasn't. He knew that and accepted that. Yet he was still a Master of Death.

His servant was a Death Reaper, one that was like a guardian angel assigned to him by the one greater than even he was. This particular one answered to him and him alone, unless Death himself summoned him to his court that is.

He was told by his own servant that since his friends and family were so adamant that he move on and continue to live his life, then his life had not yet come to a close that his story didn't get to receive the words 'The End' just yet. His leaving of his birth world of life was merely a 'To Be Continued'.

He accepted it as being just another part of his life, another quirk of his existence, another oddity to add to the long line and list of things that were more or less unique to him. Things that made him stand out from even amongst his peers. Master of Death was only one of them, this near instant of deliberation-able reincarnation was just another one was well.

He was made to wait in a lobby or reception area of sorts in a kind of level of limbo by while his servant and guardian death reaper went about filling up and filing away his paperwork, even in the afterlife and in-between life there was much paperwork to be processed, written, signed, and whatever.

It was rather strange, as for each passing minute the extremely old man that he had been deaged gradually. He didn't know how much time had actually passed, all he knew was that he stopped deaging when he looked to be around nine years old. It was also at about that time that his GDR (Guardian Death Reaper) had returned to his side along with a folder of documents and a sandwich.

Who knew that the semi-afterlife had snacks.

The two of them walked for a while within the Halls of Judgment before entering and finally sitting down once more, this time in a small meeting room that was good for about two to four people. It was a rather odd experience, as he hadn't really pictured any part of the afterlife being quite like what he was experiencing.

The folder was laid on the table between the two of them, it was like something that happened before a custody hearing or something like that. Rather strange and odd, he knew the proceedings and process for such a thing as he had gained custody of some orphans in such a manner several times during his long long life.

He was informed by the tattered cloak wearing and scythe wielding GDR about his so-called case. There was a review of his entire life, though in a more summarized form as it was quite a long first life. There was some statistics and analysis of certain key events in the life, but that didn't really take up much of their time, not that time was all that important to those that were in the Halls of Judgment.

Eventually their little talk reached the point that he had been waiting for, the kind of point of no return, which was also the point of the whole discussion about him. He could have requested his GDR to get to the point, at the very beginning of the discussion, but he believed that everything had a time and place, and that this was not the time and place for such impatient requests.

They did have all the time in the world for their discussion anyway.

Impatience had no place in the relative afterlife.

It was time for the decision of the system, of the where he would be going once their business in he Halls was over and done with for this time round.

It was time to know what his fate was to be.

~As I informed you before taking you to this place~ his GDR said ~You are not going to the _afterlife_ as most know it. Instead, you will be reincarnated in a way... A different sort of reincarnation since you shall retain everything you have gained in your first life in this second life. Minus all the bad things of course. Any questions so far?~

"I can understand the reason behind my reincarnation, but why do I get to keep my memories, powers, and whatever else from my first life in this up coming second life?" he asked.

It was rather strange to see and hear a nine year old speak in such a way, his mannerisms while speaking also looked to be those of an experienced adventurer of the world, which he was or had been.

~It is to make your life even more interesting than it already was~ GDR said ~It is also to give you even more of an advantage in this next life of yours~

"Do you know what this next life of mine is going to be? Do you know what it shall entail? As well as why it has been chosen for me, instead of being some sort of random luck of the draw thing?" he asked.

~Your reincarnated self is bound by a kind of curse and a certain destiny~ GDR said ~Your powers, abilities, and knowledge shall be retained in order to give you an easier life and help you live more. It was chosen since it has a similar past to your own, something like that anyway~

"When do I leave?" he asked, there was no sense beating around the bush when it came to such an issue.

~Now, if you like~ GDR said.

"I suppose it would be best that I get going," he said, "Time waits for no man, even a Master of Death."

~Alright~ GDR said ~Follow me, I'll lead the way, and just so you know, you'll still be able to call upon myself, I still remain your loyal servant~

He was led out of the room by GDR and through a multitude of corridors, hallways, doors, and windows, until he was pushed into a room with a pool of still, pristine, and clear, water. The only instruction he was given was to dive into the pool when he was ready for his second life, his new beginning.

#

The last thing he remembered was being immersed in the cool water of the only source of water in that small room. It was like a cleansing spring, washing away all of his worries, fears, and doubts, leaving him in pure bliss. That was until he finally woke up to himself, aware of his surroundings and that everything that had come to pass was not some elaborate illusion or dream.

His memories came rushing back and to the fore of his mind. It was a mere review of his life, from start to the moment that the damn of his past life's memories and everything to do with it broke, and all of it came rushing out.

He had lived a longer time with his parents, and even a brother, before that accursed night occurred, another accursed night where he lost his family to due to some conflict. Blood had been involved, lots of it, unlike his last experience with losing parents to some madman. Though this time the mad man was more of an ideal.

He opened his eyes for the first time in two weeks, he had been in a coma for that long. He was nine, and he was alone in the world, but was more equipped with dealing with the world in general as compared to his past life.

He knew who the killer of his clan was, of his family was, or at least he thought he did. But when he really put some thought into the matter things just didn't add up. His brother was no genocidal maniac, he was probably the most pacifistic soldier of them all. He was a lover of peace, of calm, of tranquility. There was nothing the man enjoyed more than being one with nature. The stillness of the trees and the sounds of life living around him.

There must have been another reason, and he doubted that the village would willingly give up that reason, whatever it may be, so he would have to go to the one that would surely give him an answer. A straight answer, his brother.

He decided against hunting down his brother, that just wouldn't do, and it would be a waste of time to do it too. He would bide his time and only seek out the man that his brother now truly was at the proper time, as there was a proper time for all things.

He would rest, then train, and live life the way it was meant to be lived. Happily and enjoyed.

He had already had enough angst to fill a lifetime, and he didn't want to make such things the center of this one.

He mentally summoned his servant, GDR, the very same one that had been looking out for him while his memories of his past life, abilities, and powers, were still held locked away by whatever barrier kept them away from his active mind. All it took was less than a thought, and the tattered cloak wearing, scythe wielding entity hovered beside his bed.

~How might I serve~ GDR said ~My master?~

'_Can anyone see or sense you?_' he mentally asked his servant.

~Only you, and you alone can see me as I am, and only should you wish me to be seen shall I be seen~ GDR responded ~Not before, only after~

'_Then remain in such an invisible state,_' he instructed, '_I seem to not have enough information about this world, only the basics or what a mere child would know of it and life. I require more knowledge, I leave it up to you to procure such information for me._'

~I shall do my best to acquire such information for you, my master~ GDR replied ~Is there any specific information that I should hunt down?~

'_Can you tell me where my brother is?_' he asked, he was rather curious about that, back in his old life he could find people by just knowing their name, but perhaps that was because it was his own world, the one he had been born into.

~That is beyond my ability at the moment~ GDR said ~I apologize for not being of much use in that regard, though should I stumble upon his whereabouts, I shall inform you as swiftly as I am able~

'_That's good enough for me,_' he said, '_Now tell me, can I interact with the others like you, order them around to an extent or what?_'

~At this moment in time we cannot~ GDR said ~For some reason, unknown to myself, we are unable to freely interact with the others in this world. It must be a limitation of sorts...~

'_Alright then, that will be all for now_' he informed his servant, who bowed to him and faded away to go and begin his quest for knowledge of the world he and his master, who was now aware of his past life, were now living or unliving in.

It was a few days later when he was finally allowed to leave his home-away-from-home also known as the hospital also known as those pristinely white rooms that most didn't enjoy staying in but since he spent about a fourth of his life in such rooms or similar conditions he really didn't mind them at all all that much anymore. He had been granted full adult status within the village, he suspected it was a means of sucking up to him by the civilian members of the village council.

He was thankful to them for it as it gave him more freedom to do as he pleased, rather than have to trick any form of caretaker into leaving him alone or letting him do things that kids, especially nine years olds in this day and age weren't meant to do without adult supervision or do at all, like visit bars and the rest of the red light district.

He chose to live in his now mostly empty clan compound, a clan compound being more like a village district than small piece of land with a few structures, it was an actual district in and of itself which had housed roughly a hundred members before it had been wiped out by whoever else had helped his brother for there was no way one man could have taken out such an elite fighting force as the Uchiha clan.

Family pride and all that demanded that he at least acknowledge the fact that his clan couldn't have been taken down by just one prodigy.

He remained as he had been in his first life, not really an outcast but preferring his relative obscurity. He liked being left alone, and therefore while not a hermit was a loner by nature. Nature, something that he could not simply be rid of.

He went to school, god exceptional grades, trained and got better at when he already knew how to do as well as improved on the things he was just learning or had only just discovered. He was a workaholic with no social life to speak of, GDR not being counted since the word life couldn't really describe the entity. The only real interactions he had were the ones that he was required to have which were basically school things and clan head meetings, and a small number of other gatherings.

His love for privacy got him the on the thing he didn't really enjoy all that much, too much unwanted attention. He had to resort to using a lot of seals, runes, spells, barriers, and wards, to keep all the stalkers, kidnappers, and miscellaneous others away from him or at the very least at bay.

There were those that called him a genius, a prodigy, an early bloomer. But had they known the truth, which was that he had a whole past life to lean on for support and guidance, then they might have begun hailing him as the next God of Shinobi, like the Sandaime Hokage had and was hailed as.

Other than social, scholarly, and business functions, he did still retain an interest in other people. One example was an unexplainable attraction, otherwise known as a crush, one on of his academy classmates. A shy girl that obviously didn't even acknowledge him as a god among boys, young men, or men. She was one of the rare few that pined after another of the male species, and it attracted him to her, not that he ever managed to get the courage to tell her how he felt in the slightest.

It was strange really. He actually experienced spreading peanut butter or jam on his elbow instead of his toast one morning upon catching her spying on her own crush.

A sickening thought and embarrassing moment that luckily no one was around to catch sight of, else he would not have been able to live down the humiliation.

GDR suspected that it wasn't merely some fleeting emotion, but something stronger. But what did a GDR know about such things, such things were beyond their purposes after all, especially one that served one such as he.

He had already killed for her after all, not that she was aware of such an event, though he had a feeling that the military were aware of some infiltrators and would be kidnappers had been silenced just outside the walls of both the academy and the Hyuuga clan compound.

He took pleasure in ending their lives, bringing them back and doing it all over again. He was Master of Death which made it within his abilities.

The Deathstick, it was his bones, in the more spiritual and soul-sense of the word. With it all he needed was nothing more than a thought or a word, and a life would be forfeit. The Resurrection stone, it was his blood and breath, with but a drop of a single breath a life could be restored or a spirit brought back for a time, though even with the ability he dared not bring back his loved ones as he felt that he had no right to deprive them of their _eternal_ bliss. Lastly was the Invisibility Cloak, the one that could hide any mortal that wore it from even death, it was his skin and thus allowed him to vanish from sight and to some extent hover but not fly per se.

Blasted corrupt or far too traditional in thinking and actions elder Hyuuga council, they and their thinking that any that showed unwillingness to cause pain was weak or that any that chose to walk a different path was worthless. It really grated on his nerves, especially since he had a feeling that they were the reason he had gone on a week long killing spree which caused him to lie pretty well to some Anbu interrogators that caught him washing himself in a river that had run red with blood. He had explained away the blood as being a skinning accident gone awry.

He had gotten away with it, like he could have in his past life due to the number of hyphenated nicknames he had gained over the years.

He dared not admit to killing all those men and women, bounty hunters, bounties, and the like, sure he'd left all of them headless, but he never obtained the bounties wearing the same face. He didn't want that kind of attention, not yet at least. Not when he couldn't really adequately explain away his abilities and skill, as being a prodigy could only get one so far.

When he felt tense, he did what he thought was the best way to relieve himself of stress. He went on a pranking binge, since it was something that he was unable to do really do in his past life. He put the resident king of pranks to shame, the blonde taking all the blame for his antics, while it was a bit cruel, he didn't really care, the blonde sure didn't.

It was a testament to just how good he was in the life he now lead. It was interesting to note that the village wasn't impervious to a lot of modes of infiltration, he had managed to not only break into some really high security places but had also managed to also catch a few spies along the way.

The ones that he had caught and found out he had converted over to his side. Even as a ten or eleven year old when he had done it, all it took was a little bit of persuasion on his part. Persuasion meaning illusions, his clan's blood heritage, and some mind reading as well as a demonstration of some of his otherworldly powers.

Within the span of two years, he had formed a cadre of loyal subordinates, all of whom knew not to cross him, there was even no need for some sort of seal to keep secrets from being spread or said to those that had no business knowing.

By the time he made Rookie of the Year of his graduating class, he was already an integral part of the village's security system, mainly focusing on information gathering, protection, and dissemination. He also used his people to get some, or rather a lot, of blackmail material on as many people in the world as possible. He knew the value of a backup plan.

The only piece of information he couldn't get his hands on was what really happened the night his clan was massacred.

It was a really well guarded secret, unless there was no secret and his brother really did what the history books claimed he did.

He didn't believe that one bit.

From his spies and other operatives, he knew before hand what to expect while waiting for his jounin sensei. He knew all about Hatake Kakashi, along with the secret orders of the council, minus the Hokage, about showing favoritism directed towards him. He also knew about his jinchuuriki of a teammate, and how his growth was supposed to be stunted.

A rather stupid decision, thus it would not be completed.

He meditated while he and his two other teammates waited for their perpetually late sensei, the man was legendary, if one cared to listen. He was the one and only jounin in the history of the village who would dare make the Hokage wait for him.

It was three and a half hours later when the man finally decided to arrive. The Jinchuriki pranked the man with the old eraser dropping from the top of the door trick, the man fell for it but didn't really seem to care all that much about it. His insults, and anything he normally said for that matter weren't supposed to be taken seriously.

He ran for the roof with his team, and waited for his turn to hand over some information about his self. He was last, and at least it didn't really matter what he said. Words were just words, and it wasn't words that counted here, so he went into a spiel he had practiced for some time, giving out semi-false information, half truths, and a false ambition. It was all things that were expected of him, and he didn't really trust these three people with more of himself, yet.

He knew not to listen to the advice about not eating, he knew the importance of energy, especially before such a stamina and endurance intensive exercise as an exam.

He trained for a bit that late afternoon, ate dinner, went to bed early, woke early, ate breakfast, went to the meeting place, and meditated as he knew what to expect once again.

If there was a demon hidden in the leaves, he was that demon and not some pathetically treated and trained jinchuuriki. No one knew of his true power, he was like a sleeping dragon, one that should never be tickled lest his fury be unleashed upon the world, or whoever woke him up.

It was the same as just the day before. The jounin arrived late, and the other two were fools to have decided to be part of the village's military force.

He listened to the instructions, and hid when it was time to hide. He forgot that it was more or less like a training exercise and thus hid himself in such a manner that GDR would only be able to find him should he want to be found. It truly baffled the jounin assigned to his team, how a mere genin could vanish like that, leaving no trace whatsoever.

He planned while he remained invisible to all, he evaluated his teammates and sought the best way for all of them to pass as he knew how the test was supposed to end. It was all for one and one for all or none at all. He knew it well.

He saw some of what the jounin saw, and so decided that since his two teammates were incapacitated, it was possibly time to make his move. He needed to show his worth after all, he was the Rookie of the Year for a reason.

He struck hard and fast, he was the wind or as close to being the wind as he could get. He enhanced his body's speed by pouring his energies all throughout his body. It wasn't wind chakra or wind magic, but it would have to do for the time being.

Sooner than later the jounin ended up relying on his single memento from a deceased friend. He managed to maneuver out of the way by watching the movement of the grass, it was the best indication of incoming attacks.


	109. O1

He was not a happy man, he did not lead quite that happy of a life. He knew it, his former friends knew it, the teacher that he had damned had known it. Even his student, his only remaining semi-sane one knew it. He also had a feeling that the hooded business suit wearing figure before him knew it. It was only a matter of time before he was actually accused of having not lived a happy life, a very bad by everyone else's standards life and all that.

He wasn't even quite sure when everything had started going down hill. He didn't know or couldn't remember when things had gotten so bat-shit-insane around him. He knew that at one point in time all he had wanted was to become a very strong ninja, one that his parents could be proud of when he did finally enter the great beyond.

It was as if it was taking an eternity for the Being, as he couldn't really think of anything else to call It, before him. It was clearly stressing him out, he was dead he was sure of that, he clearly remembered the Shinigami coming for his soul about three times and the third time had really been the charm. He had been dropped off unceremoniously on some dark crimson carpeting and told to fall in line and sign in.

He had fallen in line, fearing for his afterlife to eventually reach a counter where a person, possibly another soul, was sitting behind. He had been handed a pen and made to fill out a form. After which he was told where to go to meet with his _Soul Officer_ or something like that, he had a feeling that it was something like a parole officer or something like that if he remembered such things correctly.

He had been escorted to the small mini-conference room where he was sitting across a round table from the hooded Being in a black business suit.

It really was a trying experience. Even more so when he saw the Being enter for the first time carrying what looked like boxes upon boxes of documents of all sorts. He tried chancing a glance at the files but found that even when he had been shown by the Being one of the pages, he couldn't for the unlife of him read a single character, as if they had been written in some unknown language, ancient or otherwise. Though he did manage to read his name.

They had a copy of his birth certificate marked as evidence or something like that, he wasn't really sure about that part.

He didn't really know how long he had been sitting there, acting as if he had all the patience in the world, but unbeknownst to him the one in the room with him knew just how uncomfortable and nervous the Snake Sannin was. He was aware that the man would soon start to fidget if he took any longer, but alas there was nothing he could really do about that. The man would have to suffer. Sure the room wasn't and couldn't be considered as purgatory of any sort, but it would suffice for the time being.

He had lost track of just how much time had indeed passed him by. He wanted to scream and shout and get it over with. It was far worse than the keeping secrets of Konoha training that he had undergone, that was hell, but heaven compared to all this waiting. He was bad by many standards he knew where he was going to end up. Heck, he actually kind of wished he was already being denied his eternal punishment, but to be denied the knowledge of when it was going to begin, it was driving him even more mad than he had ever been in his life.

If it was his first life to begin with. He wasn't sure about that too. He had heard several conversations on his way to the room he was presently in about the reality of reincarnation and it being a choice for those that had lived 'OK' lives. There was apparently this one soul named Auryn Ouroboros or something to the sound of that that had lived so many lives that it was as if he was in a continous loop between life and death. Though the length of time of each varied depending on the kind of life he lived and the kind of voluntary job he took up once dead.

Finally the Being before him put away the documents and had them seemingly vanish into thin air or whatever and brought out a folder of forms, or at least he believed them to be forms.

Pretty long file if I do say so myself," the Being spoke to him for the first time, "I am your Soul Officer, Soul Solicitor, and all around Guide here in the Halls of Judgment," he introduced himself, held up a hand to stop any questions from being answered until he was finished, "You are not in Purgatory, contrary to popular belief Purgatory is under renovation and is not used as a place to dump souls that haven't got what it takes to go to heaven as of yet.."

"Under renovation?" Orochimaru asked cluelessly and curiously, he didn't think that such a place could be put 'under renovation' of all things.

"Yes, under renovation," the Being stated, "And please no more interruptions until I finish, by the way since I know who you are already I might as well fully introduce myself. The name's Minato, not the Minato you would know of course, that one's in Purgatory helping with the renovation crew...his son just so happened to be his guide and still held a kind of grudge. Yes, we Guides can do that, withhold your reward, punishment, or whatever. But I like you, so you don't have to worry about that."

"_I wasn't worried,_" the Snake Sannin mumbled, almost incoherently.

"Moving on.." Minato said, "Having read your file, and for some documents reread them, I have found that I can safely give you two options. One being a sentence of about the sum total of years you have been alive multiplied by the number of our sins, by the HOJ's definition though, or reincarnation with a small twist. So what'll it be? Oh and you may ask any questions you might have before making your decision."

That was a bit much to take in, but then it struck him that he hadn't been told why he was being given the chance to reincarnate, and wasn't informed as to what the twist was.

"Why? Why am I being given the chance to reincarnate?" the Serpentine Soul asked.

"Well...its like this," Minato replied, hands crossed in front of him on the table, "You most recent life wasn't so bad. Your first life was a real doozy, the moment you were dropped off here by that world's Shinigami or Soul Reaper representative, since your Guardian Soul Reaper wanted nothing to do with you, that or It was drunk...again...You were thrown tails first into one of the gates leading to a hell fitting all the really nasty things you did in that life. You served your sentence and was reincarnated. It went better..sort of..after that, and after that, and after that. Sure your sentence got longer, but the Sin List got a lot shorter.."

"Can we please get to the gist of things?" the Serpentine soul asked.

"Ah...yes..." Minato disappointedly said, he was really getting into his explanation, "You are being granted the choice of reincarnation due to your very short list of sins from this past life."

"How short?" he asked, thinking of all the things he had done that many would call inhumane and the ones that others would call down right evil, and that his teammates would call bat-shit-insane.

"How about I just tell you what they are so you can stop thinking about all of those things you think we consider as bad...in this place located in-between the actual afterlives, hmm?" Minato said, Orochimaru who still couldn't see within the hood could tell that there was a wicked grin in there somewhere daring him to disagree.

"Uh..go ahead," the serpent said.

"Glad I have your go-ahead," Minato said, "Here goes...abandoning your student Anko, betraying your village for the wrong reasons, neglecting your family for stupid reason, and well...actually the rest of the short short list is smudged with what I think are sake stains or wine stains of some sort...Yeah. So...that's about it really, that and I guess not being bat-shit-insane enough to pull off truly bat-shit-insane yet badass or cool or devious or sadistic, you get it don't you, stuff."

"I...see...so killing people is okay?" Orochimaru asked, "Experimenting on people? Playing god? Line theft? Inciting war? Raping people?"

"Did you ever actually rape a person?" Minato asked, prepared to bring out all those files and folders and boxes again.

"Well...no...not that I can remember...not physically at least, or mentally...or spiritually really," the serpent said, not really sure himself.

"Well..yeah, let's skip that since I like you in a I'm bisexual and my present wife won't kill me over that fact since she has a girlfriend that I'm not really supposed to know about on the side yet I know and find it really kinky too...You are feeling rather violated at the moment aren't you?"

Orochimaru could only nod slightly since he was very sure that the Being before him knew nearly everything about his life which did include his body or soul or whatever. It partially freaked him out. What really freaked him out was that the Minato before him was trying to flirt or come on to him or something along such lines.

"I'll take your moment of silence as a yes," Minato said, Orochimaru had a feeling that the Being before him was cackling with glee and a hell of a lot of madness mentally, "Any other questions?"

"Erm..." he wasn't sure he wanted to know more about the reincarnation bit if it required him to remain with the insanity in a hood that sat before him, "What were my other lives, and how many were they?"

"Well...strictly speaking, you've reincarnated in the same set of worlds. Over here they're labeled or categorized under the title Naruto Anime and Manga...yeah...I found it rather weird too at first then I couldn't help but whoop for joy that my son got something kick ass in the _afterlife_ out of things..." Minato was rambling..

"Please get back to our discussion..please.." Orochimaru said, wondering if it was contemplating suicide.

"Of course of course," Minato said, "You were a Ten Tailed Chakra Monster affectionately called Juubi, then you were Yamata no Orochi, followed by Uchiha Madara, then Shimura Danzo, hmm," Minato began leafing through a small notepad he pulled out of a pocket on his suit, "Hmm...Oh my!"

The exclamation couldn't be a good thing. But Orochimaru just had to ask, he was already a bunch of insane things, so he wondered what in all of the afterlife could be so bad, or worse than being the potential end of the world, a bat-shit-insane and badass Uchiha, a mentally unhinged warhawk, and a demon serpent that some storm god annihilated.

"What? Who was I?" Orochimaru asked, he just had to know. He then sensed that insane grin again, and started praying that it wasn't really bad, or worse than all the previously mentioned general personalities.

"You sure you wanna know? Cause I'm really surprised I forgot about this one," Minato asked, he was hesitating a little, only a teensy weensy little.

"Yes, I want to know! I might as well, it can't have been that bad," the serpent said, hoped really.

"You were also Hyuga Hinata," there Minato had said it.

"How is that bad other that the fact that I was a girl in a past life?" Orochimaru wondered outloud and mentally.

"Well...according to your file as her...you did cause the end of the world..." Minato summarised, "You went genocidal AFTER the Yondaime Hokage of that reality, who was the Orochimaru of that reality, had banned cinnamon rolls from Konoha forever."

"O...K..." Orochimaru said, thinking that such a thing was possibly some sort of joke, "You can't really be serious. How the hell did that cause me, at that time, to go genocidal?"

"Let me put it this way," Minato said, "You were like any Uzumaki Naruto with a divine style devotion to ramen. You know, food of the gods and all that, but multiplied by maybe nine thousands and twenty-seven or something like that. To be told that your favorite whatever was banned for all of eternity, even as a joke...well...its the quiet ones...usually the shy quiet ones..."

"What exactly did...she...I...do?" Orochimaru wondered. He could remember a Hinata, if angels were real, which he was sure they were now, she must have been one.

"Fallen angel possibly," Minato commented as if reading the Sannin's mind, "And I'm not reading your mind. I know how you think and all that. I was an Orochimaru with pedophilic and necrophilic tendencies who was put down thankfully by the Old Man before I could become a real problem."

"I find that highly disturbing," Orochimaru stated, "Now...what did she do?"

"She went...berserk...and..well...if the Hokage could ban her favorite thing next to the female version of Naruto of that world...then she could...make it so that everyone else's favorite things stopped...existing," Minato said, "It was freaky as hell mind you. HOJ was flooded with new arrivals and old arrivals. You practically destroyed an entire reality, breaking every law thinkable at the time and then some. It was that bad!"

At this point Minato had his hands around the Sannin's neck strangling the already dead man as if to prove a point.

"Ylll grkk jellly sardnines thehekev ithiertge," Orochimaru said, which weren't very intelligent words at all thanking to being strangled and shaken like a Four Seasons shake or a martini.

"Sorry about that," Minato said sincerely as he let go of the pale man and sat back down, took a sip of vodka which just appeared from out of nowhere, "Shall I continue?"

"S-sure.." Orochimaru didn't think it was possible to disagree by this point. He needed to hear something less...whatever the hell that version of Hinata was.

"Well...let's see...you were a fetus that did in fact cause your mother's death in one life...apparently you were conceived as an evil entity...I can't explain that one," Minato said scratching his head in slight confusion, "Err...you saved the world as a Naruto...but in the process killed off all human and sentient life, at the time since evolution and all that worked its magic after several million years..."

"Any good news?" Orochimaru asked, he was a bit desperate at this point.

"Alright...alright," Minato said, "I'm getting creeped out by the rest of the...bad egg list anyway..."

"So...?"

"Yeah...hmm...well there your most recent life...and...two other lives..." Minato said, sweat dropping, "That's...weird...I guess I found all the bad yous more interesting after all..."

"Well? What were the other two?" Orochimau was dying to know, all the gloom and doom was killing him, somehow. Somehow he was just feeling a lot worse than having died. Several times apparently.

"Alright...you were your own assistant which is weird in and of itself...you died in that life by making a wrong handseal while absorbing that Orochimaru's corpse into yourself...and the other life was as the first woman that the Kyuubi ate during its first time encountering people after the Sage of Six Paths split the Juubi of that world apart...and according to my notes.." he flipped through some pages of his notepad to see why he had crossed out so many words, "Well aparently you killed that Kyuubi of that world by being so...disgusting and I'm using the only word that won't give me nightmaress here...but on the inside you were ten Hinatas...yeah...Alright! NEXT QUESTION!"

"Eheh...umm...can I die here...as a soul?" Orochimaru asked, he figured that it was a good question to ask.

"NO! NO WAY! I'M NOT LETTING YOU ESCAPE FROM WHATEVER HAPPENS NEXT!" Minato shouted and went into Yellow Flash I'mma kill off Iwa MODE, "Just for even thinking about it, you ain't going ta HELL! YOU ARE SO REINCARNATING! I'm gonna make sure you're turned inta a girl version of ME! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Before things could get even more crazy in that small cramped room, the door was busted down and three white hooded and cloaked Beings rushed into the room, put Minato into a straight jacket, and hauled him out. Leaving the Sannin alone in the room with a woman with fiery red hair, green eyes, and a tooth pick in one hand.

"Uh...you wouldn't happen to be that bat-shit-insane man's wife, now would you?" Orochimaru was hoping against hope that she was and at the same time that she wasn't.

"Yep," Kushina said, "And just so you know...in my first world and life I was your daughter...well my version of you anyway. So...reincarnation right?"

"Err...if I said no...what would you do...hypothetically speaking of course," Orochimaru said, trying not to tremble, shake, or show any bit of fear whatsoever.

"You know the insane Hinata that was one of your lives?" Kushina asked.

"Y-yes..?" Orochimaru said, he was really really really worried.

"I'll do worse," she stated calmly, "With this toothpick," she held the thing up and for the life of him he couldn't figure out how it was possible for him not to have shattered into soul dust or something like that.

"Now...any questions for me?" the woman asked.

"What's the...twist that your...husband was talking about?" he asked her.

He was really scared.

"Oh...its a random thing you get in your next life, could be anything," Kushina said, "And I mean _ANYTHING_."

"That's not very...reassuring..." Orochimaru stated.

"Of course its not," Kushina said, "You've been a very _bad_ boy Orochimaru-_kun_, 'tebane.." she said saucily or whatever the heck way she said it that kind of turned him on and freaked him out even more at the very same time.

Now if she had licked her lips after or while making that statement he might have run for hell and hoped for the best. But as luck would have it, she didn't and he was stuck with her.

She was like the living embodiment of Killing Intent, the kind that kept you in place.

"S-so...uh...reincarantion? I'm all for it!" he was trying his very best not to sound panicked, which wasn't working out too well for him, "I'll take it! I don't care what I'll become! Just please...!"

He didn't get to say anymore before he was forced to fill out a number of forms, have his picture taken, and do a bunch of things that he did only because he was that scared for his eternal soul, even though some of them were not making much sense like peeing through a needle...or eating scorching hot ice cream using a piece of paper.

He was finally led to a room with nothing in it. Not even color, he wondered how it was possible for such a thing, but he was made to believe that there was nothing in that room, even color. Being distracted like that made it possible for the people or Beings in charge of getting him reincarnated to work their magic as well as implement the reincarnation with a twist part. The Sannin didn't know how or what his fate was. All he knew was that it couldn't be any worse than having spent what seemed like an eternity with two insane...or in a level all their own. Insane married afterlife couple level of whatever as whatever.

#

He lived mostly a productive life up until one of the Uchiha, one of the few that were normally put down for abusing their eye powers, had tried to get him to be the scapegoat of a long series of inhumane experiments. Tried, failed, but still succeeded in getting Orochimaru branded as a nuke-nin.

For something he did NOT do, and had no control over.

Things went a bit fuzzy for a while, he was so focused on finding somewhere safe for him to hide and figure out a way to fix his life that he failed to notice that something had changed in him until he woke up one day still looking very much like himself but with some additional body part among other things.

He freaked out so bad after finding himself in such a state that he didn't realize that he had all of his memories from all of his previous lives, including the one where he had been a genocidal Hinata. He had also apparently gotten all of his power and abilities and shit from those other lives, the helpful bits of course. He was in demi-god mode since he was still mortal, just a whole other level of harder to kill. He was like jinchuuriki harder to kill, superiorly advanced healing factor harder to kill. Wolverine harder to kill.

He freaked out so much that he accidentally sent his sensei a message stating that he didn't do whatever it was that got him in the S-rank section of the Konoha Bingo Book while at the same time telling his sensei to keep him there since he had more pressing matters such as getting stoned, drunk out of his mind, making babies, and making plans of being the father of Uzumaki Kushina' first baby.

That last part was probably the real reason he was given such a large bounty, courtesy of Namikaze Minato who didn't fancy his girlfriend a the time having to worry about some insane, clinically and otherwise, Snake Sannin. Sarutobi Hiruzen theorized that Orochimaru was so drunk on power, that even though they had found evidence pointing to his innocence he was better of as a threat to the village or something like that.

The Sandaime Hokage and his chosen successor to be just forgot to inform the rest of the village that Orochimaru wasn't such a bad guy...though they did remember to inform the village that he was an S-ranked threat and was more insane than any nuke-nin in the history of all Hidden Villages, and that was saying something.

It took him a whole year to calm back down and realize everything that he had missed while he had been in freaking out mode.

He had to reevaluate his life.

He spent a year as a girl after freking out so much just to get everything about himself in order. Sorting between good and bad ideas and perving the women at the hot springs that he bathed at. He was sure that his teammate and former best friend Jiraiya would try to kill him if the white haired man ever found out that he, Orochimaru, hadn't been beated at his peeking once.

Though he guessed that being able to actually transform into an actual girl was cheating. But he was a ninja, a shinobi, a warrior bathed in shadow, smoke and disguises, he believed that it didn't really count as cheating.

He was even able to get real friendly with Tsunade's rather young apprentice, sickened him a bit, but he was drunk, stoned, and poisoned. He got drunk frist, got stoned, and his former teammate poisoned him while she was drunk and stoned.

After the year of sorting himself out. He decided since he'd already lived a life, one life as Orochimaru had saw how things could go if he went down that path again, he decided to do something different this time around. With the memories of his most previous life he went ahead with his recruiting and founding of a hidden village of his own. But unlike his first attempt at this, he actually made a real village, one where he actually cared about his people like a leader of such a place would or should.

He wasn't the deranged psychopath that he had accidentally made himself out to be. He was the kind caring leader that many of the unwanted people that he encountered and took in saw him as. He only turned psycho when something bad happened to them. He was the protective father figure to some and grandfather type like his sensei to some others.

He was the Otokage.

Even his new daimyo loved him. The man had even offered him his youngest daughter, sure she was more than half his age, but she was attractive enough to catch his attention. Only problem was that she wasn't interested in him. He was too old for her, or so she claimed, and even said that she doubted that she'd stay loyal to him if they did end up getting married.

So he didn't accept the offer and tried to leave it at that. But the guy was rather persistent in wanting to do something good for the snake man, powerful snake man that gave him a village worth of ninja to send missions to that were cheaper than some of the more established villages populating the world in their hidden corners of the globe.

So that's what became of Orochimaru after a year of insanity, and a year as a teenage girl.

#

Time passed by, nothing much really happened between the founding of Otogakure no Sato, other than the occasional visit of the Daimyo of the Land of Rice Patties and his trying to find a way to politically tie Orochimaru to his family. Who wouldn't want such a world reknowned psychopath as a son-in-law?

Don't answer that.

He had his own graduation and promotion system among his ranks, and even though he wasn't recognized internationally as a Kage, his people referred to him as one. Who were the big five to dictate who could and could not have a Kage?

Don't answer that either.

Orochimaru was eventually approached by members of the already established Akatsuki and invited to join the organization. He pointed behind him, since they were just outside of the village at the time, and stated that he had a village to run and people to watch over like a good leader should.

It sure pissed off Akasuna Sasori to hear such a thing. Pissed him off enough to become Orochimaru's most recent addition to his armory. The puppeteer turned puppet didn't have what it took to take on someone with enough power in him to level the continent flat and send it crashing down to the sea floor. Frankly the only person on the continent that could probably take the former Sannin on was some kid that wasn't even able to control his chakra, and that was solely on the premise that if the kid was supposed to save the world, then he had to be the bad guy.

There was no way in heaven, hell and in the insanity that was the experience of what happened after one finally croaked, that would keep him from remaining on the straight and skewed in some places.

He wasn't gonna be the baddie. No siree, he was gonna be the unhinged dude that messed with the minds of his former comrades. He was gonna make the old man want to keep his job and make a little blonde kid want to be him when the little blonde kid grew up.


	110. OR1

In the beginning there were three brothers, each one of them were different from all the rest of their fellow man who were content with the resounding peace that controlled the land. The lands had not suffered through any hardships, there had never been war, plague, famine, or any other thing that could cause man to grow greedy, scornful, prideful, or any number of things that had the possibility of leading to the loss of life.

But these three brothers were different from those other people. They were different from all people of their time. It wasn't because they had experienced something that the others had not experienced, it was because they had been created differently from the others that lived during that time.

Whereas the other mortals living in that age had been born from nature, spontaneously coming to life from unlife, these three had been born from the three times union of two mortals that had lain with one another and experimented with one another. In a sense played god, and found that god had not minded at all three whole times.

But when they tried for a fourth time, something happened that had not happened before. That being that nothing was produced from their union. They didn't know why, but believed that whatever had created them was finally displeased with them.

So they stopped experimenting and went back to doing what every one else that lived in the lands did, which was help other things nurture and grow. This included their three children, the three brothers.

The eldest had come to expect something from the union of their parents, and had passed that thinking on to his two brothers. It was understandable that they were rather disappointed.

The eldest brother had come to love his brothers and feel pride at having them, one more brother or even possibly a sister would have been great.

Then something occurred to him, if it was possible for their parents to not be able to recreate what had been created three times passed, then that meant that it was also possible for himself, or his two brothers to be voided, vanished, destroyed, taken from him.

He was still a child, and had simpler thoughts running through his head, instead of more complex things and way of thinking.

He didn't want anything to happen to his brothers and so he decided from that day on he would try and find a way to take something from the one that had created his parents and had decided to not grant him another sibling. His siblings of course decided to aid him in whatever it was that he wanted to do. All they wanted was for their brother to be happy.

So they became the first to walk a different path in the world. They became the first to feel and experience everything that had been denied, in a sense, to the other mortals that lived in the world.

Even they did not know how they learned of the things that they came to know. They needed strength and cunning, they needed weapons, they needed experience. They needed battle, but could not fight each other, each of them could not bare the thought of harming one another.

So they sought out others, all those others that were still pure. They tainted the land with their selfishness.

Blood, for the first time, was spilled, instead of accident, but intentionally.

It was only when they believed themselves to be strong enough to take their revenge, of sorts, did they leave the lands of mortals and venture out to whatever lay beyond the seas, for that was where they believed the creator of their parents resided.

Heaven or Hell, neither existed back then, and even if they did, these three brothers were not knowledgeable enough to know of such existences.

All the eldest really knew was the possibility of loss, and his two brothers only believed in their brother's happiness.

They didn't know how long they had been out at sea, it wasn't as if there were any time piece way back then. All they had to go by was the changing of night to day and back again.

The eldest brother was almost at his wit's end, but before the thought of turning back could enter his mind the wind picked up and the three brothers suddenly had other things to worry about, such as a raging storm out at sea.

They battled against nature for all they worth, but eventually, one by one each of their eyes were forced to close as their bodies gave way and their vision turned to darkness.

When next they woke, they each found themselves laying bare of all their belongings and only clad in the skin in which they had come into the world. Without their weapons how were they to fight, to claim their revenge, vengeance, or retribution. How were they to make sure that they did not vanish.

"_I see you have finally come here...the world is yet not ready for your kind, so it is good that you have come here so willingly,_" an otherworldly voice could be heard whispering in their ears.

"Urgh..." the eldest manages only sounds as it seems as if his voice has left him, or he had been asleep for far too long.

"Rrgh.." same went for the younger two.

"_Try not to tire yourselves out...not that it matters...for you shall once more be at peace, waiting for the day which you shall be permitted back into the world of my creation...but only when the world is deemed prepared for you.._" the owner of the otherworldly voice told them.

The three brothers lost consciousness then.

Only to wake up sometime later in the presence of the physical representation of the owner of the otherworldly voice that once more spoke to them.

"_So you have awoken once more...I had thought that I had put you to rest finally...it seems there truly is more to you than I had originally perceived..._" the owner of the voice said, sounding slightly perplexed, "_I could have sworn I knew everything there was to know about you...for after all, you are a byproduct of my creations and at the same time my own creation, for I had already planned your creation._"

This person or being was definitely the one that the three brothers were looking for.

"_Well, at least I still know what you have been after...I've decided, against my better judgment, to permit you to take your chance... Not that you'll get anything out of it,_' this creator mentally added the last part in its head, "_I'll even grant ye, yer possessions, but only for this short while._"

The three brothers then found themselves standing before a figure bathed in white light, but not too bright that they would have to look away, but bright enough for no features whatsoever to be deciphered.

All three of them had trained long and hard, and so they did the only thing they could think to do when posed with such a situation. They attacked.

They attacked with such ferocity and brutality that they managed to take this creator by surprise.

This creator had managed to forget something very important to its kind. Should a mortal dare to dream of striking them down, and be given such a chance, then the immortality part of what they were was rendered obsolete. The mortal, upon defeating this normally immortal foe, was then given the chance of either eliminating said foe completely, taking said foe's place, or, in a sense, letting bygone's be bygone's.

These three brothers didn't know of any of this of course, and this creator had forgotten about it completely.

The brothers tore the being apart limb from limb, and it was only due to the shock of actually feeling pain, something foreign to this normally immortal being, that kept it from crying out in pain and showing some mortality.

In all the murder there was only time when the normally immortal being let out a sound of pain or release. That time was upon its death. It was a sound that the three brothers would remember even after the end of their days, for instead of the eldest taking all the spoils of the battle for himself, the three brothers shared the rewards of their deed.

Three items were there, one for each brother.

The eldest brother took a crown, a golden thing, and once it sat upon his brow he knew that it was a symbol only those that were meant to rule would ever wear. It was a symbol of authority, and as he would later find out, it granted him the power of absolute authority over all life.

The second brother took for himself a ring that bore the symbol of eternity. The ring itself bore no precious stones though looked a little bit incomplete, its design was not just the symbol of eternity but the whole ring was the symbol. Two snakes entwined with one another, biting their own tails. This brother would later find that time was nothing to him, it was as if he was time itself, but at the same time not.

The youngest brother took the cloth which their foe had worn, it was the only thing left to take after all. He didn't know what it was for as unlike his brothers throughout his longer than theirs' life, he found no powers that he could associate with the thing. He did, though, have numerous children by numerous of those of the gender opposite of his own.

They didn't know how they found themselves back on the shore that they had departed from. Not that they cared to know, all they knew was that the being they had done what they sought out to do.

But in order for them to sprinkle salt into the _wound_ of the one that they had defeated, they each decided to go in a separate direction from one another and bring new life into the world in the manner by which their foe had not wished to be, until the world was ready or so it claimed.

Each brother fathered many children, but none more than the youngest.

The eldest brother became a ruler of a great empire that spanned many lands, the middle brother became a great teacher, a scholar, a sage, and had many students under him, while the youngest just did as his older brothers ordered him to, and that was to create life in the way that their foe had wished not to happen for a long while yet.

Years later the bloodlines of the three brothers would merge and from that merging three brothers would be born. Each one similar to the three that had come before them, but this time without any ill intent in their hearts, or at least they would start out that way, but being human as they were, eventually such things would enter into their hearts and cause them to stray from the path of good and righteous.

Though the youngest of the three brothers would have the most success in life, being able to greet death like an old friend, at his own time and pace. He too had taken a cloth from an otherworldly being, and the three had done battle with such a being. Just not a bloody one.

The foe that they had defeated had been death, and death took it upon itself to bestow its power and immortality to three objects of its own. For it believed that one as powerful as itself was no longer worthy of its title. It also wanted to venture forth into the great unknown to rediscover a part of itself that had long since been lost, mostly due to ignorance and arrogance on its own part.

Then the years pass once more, and once again the blood of the three converge, but instead of bringing three brothers to the world of life, the bloodlines combine to produce an heir to each of the set of three brothers.

Fate had set up the convergence of the bloodlines in reply to death's want for an end, and a completion. In this one boy would be the completion of the circle.

Of the set of items from death, he kept only his main family's cloak heirloom, returning the weapon to the grave its former master slept in, discarding the stone that could transcend the boundaries between the world of life and the realm of the dead.

Doing those two things simply delayed the inevitable.

His war was not the last one to sweep across the nation, another one eventually broke out, and he fought in that one, nearly losing his wife and gaining himself the recognizable title of The Undying Man. The Killing Curse could not touch him, it hovered before him now before vanishing as if dismissed from service or from sight.

He had shielded his wife the first time it had happened, and his children before he was given such a name and title.


	111. Q1

He was eight years old and it was one of those nights again. One of those night that he didn't really think that he would ever see the morn. It was one of those nights that the dawn was a far off dream and death was the closest to reality as anything could be.

He would have holed himself up in his apartment if he thought it would have done him any good, but after the last time that this very night came to pass, he didn't really think of any place being safe at all anymore. He had locked his doors and windows, and barricaded himself in his bedroom, but it had not been enough to keep those two faced monsters at bay.

There were days after that experience that he was forced into hiding out and around the village, in abandoned buildings that were due for demolition to houses that had not seen any life since probably the time of the second leader of the village.

He hid in the sewers and the vents, he hid in any place that they could not get to easily, and this night he hid in what had looked like an abandoned shop in the commercial district of the village. It was a pretty rundown looking place.

He found it nestled behind or within some back alleys that no one really did pass through often, from the smell of the place it didn't seen to have seen a cleaning crew in ages too.

For a moment he had felt safe, though cautious and aware of his surroundings, as best as he could be, he felt safe.

His moment of security, was dashed, or at least to him it was, when he heard creaking from behind him. It served as his only warning before hearing the voice of the one that had made the ancient floorboards creak.

"Well, well, well," the one that had made the floor boards creak spoke, his voice was raspy as if his vocal chords had not been used in ages, "What have we here?"

It was a tone that was part surprise and part curiosity.

"It's been a few years since the last blonde and blue eyed boy to enter my shop," the little boy spun to face the owner of the voice to find an old man, "Tell, me little one, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"I...I was running and hiding...and felt safe here..." the little boy replied, "I'm sorry for trespassing, it didn't look like anyone owned the place."

"Well I own this rundown shack," the old man said, crossing his arms over his chest, "So what's your name little one?"

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" the boy said.

"Shouldn't you? Since you are the one that is trespassing on my property," the old man said, not wavering in his stand, "But fine, you may call me Iryo."

"I'm Naruto," the kid said.

"I know," Iryo said.

"So why'd you have me tell you my name?" the kid asked, a bit peeved.

"Propriety's sake," Iryo said, "Now that we both know who the other is, mind telling me why you have a need to hide in my shop?"

"It doesn't look like much of a shop to me," Naruto said, noting all the dust and grime and general look of the place, "You also said it's been years since your last customer visited the place, what happened to him anyway? Did he die?"

"As a matter of fact he did," Iryo said, "He died sacrificing his life for this very village we both find ourselves in."

"There's a lot of those, I think," the young blonde said.

"I know that," Iryo said, "But my last and favorite customer was special, very very special. In fact, you kind of look like him."

"I do?" the kid said.

"Yeah, you got his hair, his eyes, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were 'is kid," Iryo said, squinting a bit in the dim light to get a better look at the kid, "So you say you're Naruto, any clan name that goes with that?"

"Uzumaki!" the kid proudly said.

"Uzumaki huh," Iryo said, it was like he wasn't all there while he talked with the kid, "I knew that...or at least I should've known that. My second favorite customer was an Uzumaki too. She died too though, protecting the village."

"Oh," the kid said, he had been hoping that there was another Uzumaki in the village that could possibly be family to him.

"Well let's move on from this depressing topic," Iryo said, "I think you'll make a wonderful customer, so you're no longer trespassing."

"Err...thanks?" the kid said, unsure of the sanity of this most recent acquaintance, "I think."

"Yeah, Minato said the same thing the first time he met me," Iryo said, "Now come follow me, let's get you outfitted, can't have the future Hokage running around in rags or living off the streets. That would be bad form."

"How do you...?" the kid began to ask.

"Know about that? I know everything!" Iryo said, he had a crazed look in his mismatched in color eyes, one was a glowing emerald green while the other was a burning crimson red, "But enough about me! Let's get moving with that outfitting, you can pay me back later."

The old man shoved the little boy into a room separate from the main part of the store, it was a fitting room of sorts, and seemed to brighten up and become clean as soon as Iryo had a customer in it and standing on the stool in the very center of the room once again.

It was the oddest and most amazing sight that the eight year old had ever seen in his short life, it outdid the time that the Hokage had shown him a jutsu for his birthday.

The whole of the room literally lit up with thousands upon thousands of symbols and lines appearing on the walls, ceiling, and floor. He'd seen them on scrolls, doors, windows, and a whole host of things, but not in the quantity that lit up the room with their golden glow. He'd thought them insignificant or unimportant before, but now that they lit up the room he decided to give them more importance. He also wanted to know what they did.

"You can see them can't you," Iryo said from before the kid, he received an awestruck gaze and a nod in reply, "This is my workshop, in here dream are made real, miracles happen, and all sorts of wonders come to life."

"Really?" the kid asked from atop the stool.

"Yes," Iryo said, "This is the reason that Minato fell in love with seals or fuuinjutsu as they are sometimes called. He was impressed with what all these little signs and symbols could do when used together, that he sought to impress me by making a seal that could outdo what you see before you."

"What do these seals do?" the kid asked.

"A lot of things," Iryo said, "Not just stand still while I get your measurements."

The kid stood still, not daring to move as the old man brought out a number of measuring instruments. The old man measured his waist, his height, his arm length, measured everything, even things that the kid didn't think would normally be measured. There was even a full and very thorough medical exam.

The old man went from looking like a vagabond to some sort of tailor then to some sort of doctor then back to some sort of tailor. The old man ended up looking like the Hokage in his official ceremonial robes, but shorter, a lot shorter.

To Naruto, Iryo looked like the Hokage but shorter, had more hair, a pair of catfish or dragon whiskers and beard, mismatched eyes. But unlike the Hokage that felt like an actual grandfather, Naruto could sense that Iryo was anything but some washed up old warrior that had once been hailed as some sort of god.

"We're done with the fitting and medical exam," Iryo said, "And before you even ask, I needed to have a medical history file just in case you need help and the hospital refuses to provide you with any."

"Ok.." the kid said, "What happens now?"

"Now...well..." Iryo gained this kind of evil maniacal glint in his eyes, one that could spell trouble for the blonde, not that the blonde noticed anyway, "We begin the initial fitting, those rags you call clothes just won't do."

Within the blink of an eye the kid's modesty was only protected by a leaf.

"Hey!" the kid exclaimed finding himself in such a state of undress, "What's the big deal?"

"You need new everything," Iryo said, "Now stand still, lest I accidentally cut off something I'm not supposed to."

That got the kid's attention, as did all the drawers and cabinets and closets that began to pop out of the formerly flat surfaces of the room. His eyes darted hither and tither, catching glimpses of cloths and all sorts of other things as Iryo began to weave a magic of his own.

The first thing the old man did was drench the kid in some slimy substance, the excess of which seeped into one of the seals on the floor. It stuck to the kid and solidified somewhat into a black bodysuit of sorts before loosing is color and turning completely transparent.

"I noticed from your medical exam that you possess an advanced healing factor," Iryo said, "This first layer, which you won't even realize is still there, will act like a second skin as well as an enhancer of your healing factor. It will also monitor your general health, perform repairs when necessary, and make sure your body reaches its potential."

"Err..." the kid began to say.

"It will also serve as the basis for the repairs and modifications to your clothes," Iryo said.

"What do you mean?" the kid asked, not really getting the brief explanation.

"It will not only your body but also your clothes," Iryo said, "It will also modify your clothes to fit you when you grow bigger or taller."

"Oh, ok," the kid said, "Now what?"

The kid was, for the next few hours, hit with all sorts of slimy fluids, covered in all sorts of cloths, and smothered in all sort of other things that he couldn't really remember all of them or name them all. He didn't recognize half of the things that had touched him.

In the end the kid found himself in a jumpsuit. Not an orange one, but a white one.

"Why white? Can't it be orange?" the blonde kid whined, when he should have been glad to have new clothes, that is not to say that he wasn't happy at having them. It was just that the color wasn't his favorite.

"White is the color of a canvas," Iryo explained, "Your jumpsuit shall serve as such when it comes to your entire wardrobe."

"I don't understand," the blonde kid said.

"To think is to create," the old man said, "In this case, you think of what you want your clothes to look like and the jumpsuit will take care of it, that transparent second skin of yours will too."

"So my clothes can use henge?" the kid asked.

"Oh no, of course not," Iryo said, "They actually transform, but only into clothes."

"Cool!" the kid exclaimed, "So all I gotta do is think of what I want to wear..." he thought of his old jumpsuit, "And poof...cool."

"Yes cool," Iryo said, "But I wouldn't suggest wearing orange all the time, for one its not something a ninja would wear."

"Ok, I'll only wear it when I want to be seen then," the kid said.

"Good enough for me," Iryo said, "Now we move on to your other clothes. I'll have two more jumpsuits made, and add some other solid clothes into the mix as well."

"Thanks Iryo-jii," the kid said, he was really grateful.

"You're welcome," Iryo said, "Now keep standing, oh and before you question why you're not tired its because of that second skin of yours."

"Oh," the blonde kid said.

"We've already covered clothes, including your underwear," Iryo said, "We move on to armor, you of all people need it the most, what with all the fights you get into..."

"I don't start any of them," the kid defended even though he didn't need to.

"I know that. You forget I know everything," Iryo gained that insane look for a second before calming down again, "You'll be needing the armor, since you want to become Hokage, and strong to boot."

"Ok, ok," the kid said, "Let's get on with this already."

"Glad to have your cooperation," Iryo said, then stripped the kid of his modesty once again, though he did leave on the second skin.

He covered the kid in slime once again, one that turned a dark silver once it dried and clung to the boy like a third skin. It was light, as light as the second skin, or any of his clothes for that matter. It too turned transparent.

"What is it?" the kid asked.

"Its your third skin," Iryo replied, "Its as tough as diamonds, but as flexible as water or your own skin, just as the second skin is too. Want a demonstration on how tough it is?"

"Sure, but not while I'm wearing it," the kid said.

A crash dummy wearing regular clothes and a crash dummy with that third skin on it under its normal clothes both rose out of the floor, each one taking a corner of the room. Iryo pointed each one of them out for the blonde before handing over a pair of goggles for he blonde to wear.

Putting on his own goggles, he told the kid to watch the protectionless dummy, then brought out a flamethrower, something that the kid had never seen nor heard of before. He explained that it shot out fire without the need for chakra, only fuel and some spark or electricity.

The demonstration was to show how the armor would put up with regular flames, really hot regular flames. With the flick of a switch and the pull of a trigger, the hottest of flames that the kid had ever borne witness to blasted out of the tube and slammed into the first dummy with such force that the kid felt some sort of shockwave.

A moment later, the flamethrower was switched off and nothing was left of the dummy save for ashes. The flames had been that hot.

"Are you sure you weren't using chakra?" the kid asked the old man, a bit skeptically.

"I'm sure," the old man said, "Now watch the other one with the armor on."

The flamethrower was let loose once again, and the fire slammed into the dummy for about a minute or five. When it was over, the dummy remained, the clothes were burnt to crisps, but the dummy itself was intact.

"See the difference," the old man said, "Now if we used a chakra lit flame, the dummy would still have survived, but with a few...injuries, while the unprotected one wouldn't have lasted for a minute."

"Cool...so...how much of me is covered by that third skin?" the kid asked.

"All of you," the old man said, "All the way to the tip of your hair too. It'll grow with you too."

"Can it be damaged?" the kid asked.

"Yes, of course," the old man said, "Nothing's perfect, you'll also know when it's damaged, cause it will look like you yourself are bleeding or suffering some kind of wound type of injury where it is damaged. Also, before I forget, you can also have the two skins turn visible with but a thought, though their color can only be that which you saw before they turned transparent."

"Ok, so what's next?" the kid asked, he was rather giddy with excitement about these new things his new friend was giving him.

"Get back onto the stool," the old man said and the kid complied.

Undergarments of a sort were placed on the blonde, sewn in a way over his private areas while he stood at attention. It was a kind of metal, a kind of liquid metal that would act as a fourth skin in the area it protected.

Iryo prepared the blonde a few sets of that.

Next were a few undershirts, black, gray, and white, in colors, each one a mesh of fibers that would act as the third skin would. He was fitted with all sorts of kinds of clothes that would act as protective layers of the third skin. Each layer was just a toughening of his hide.

When Iryo was done with the armor and regular clothes, the kid could walk around in only his boxers and had more than the potential to come out of a fight on top, or at the very least not end up at the hospital.

Naruto's new default attire was a white jumpsuit instead of an orange one and instead of black or blue ninja sandals he had a pair of footwear that was a combination between boots and rubber shoes, they were white too.

They were not regular shoes either, they were just as special as the jumpsuit. They could transform into any kind of footwear, or anything as long it had something to do with the feet or footwear.

"We're done with the basics," Iryo said, "Time for the accessories."

"Aren't accessories for girls?" the kid asked.

"No, not at all," Iryo said, "They are merely additional tools for your betterment, shall we start?"

"Ok," the kid said, it wasn't really like he had much of a choice, he was at the mercy of a short old man that he knew could kick his ass.

The kid was fitted with a pair of gloves or gauntlets, the inner part of which was made of cloth while the outer part was made out of a kind of metal. The gloves were perfect fit, but that was more thanks to the fact that they were just like the second and third skins along with the rest of the kid's wardrobe. They too could transform, but they had some additional functions to them. The kid could use them to form seal in the air, write seals, or stick them to almost any surface. Shortcuts to fuuinjutsu, that's what the gloves could be used as.

They would also serve as shortcuts for his chakra control.

"Last but not least, goggles," Iryo said.

"But I've already got goggles," the kid said.

"I modified your old pair while you were checking out your new duds," Iryo said, "The modifications I made were to give you new modes of vision, ranging from heat vision to night vision, to the abilities of some doujutsu. Once put on, the same fabric that makes up your second and third skin will latch onto those layers and find their way to your neural pathways to your head. Mentally connecting you to your goggles. Like most of your gear they are controlled mostly by your mind."

"So I'm kind of like a computer now, huh," the kid said, "Am I some sort of guinea pig?"

"No, of course not," Iryo said, "Minato and Kushina were the guinea pigs."

"Oh, good, for a moment there I'd've though that these things were untested," the kid said.

"Yeah well, I'm not about to put another blonde in danger again," the old man said, not really ashamed for any past deeds, like being one of the reasons behind the Yondaime Hokage's natural speed.

That blonde haired and blue eyed leader had to be able to run fast without chakra just to avoid being turned into an actual guinea pig during the latter part of his life, before he sacrificed it.

"So...what happens now? Also, how am I gonna pay for all this?" the kid asked.

"I'll have you run some errands for me from time to time," Iryo said, "Perform some jobs for me, work here at the shop part time, be my assistant when I do decide to perform some experiments and the like. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like a lot of work," the kid said, "But Jiji did say that the harder the work, the better the rewards. So I'll do it."

"Good," Iryo said, "I'll also provide you with upgrades on your equipment, an additional roof over your head, food, health care, and some other things that most people take for granted."

"Sounds good to me," the kid said, "So...are you gonna teach me jutsu too?"

"I'll train you in what I know, if that's what you want," Iryo said, "But I'll have to add it to your bill, how 'bout it?"

"It's fine by me," the kid said, "So when do we start?"

"Now," the old man said, and led the kid to the second floor, showed him the room that he could now call his, and gave him the grand tour of the entire place, shop, workshop, indoor hot spring, and everything else there was to see and know about.

For an entire year after that first meeting between the old man and the short blonde, the blonde was only see by the public when he had one regular meal of ramen at the end of each week, when he decided to bug the Hokage, and when he went to the academy. Other than those times his presence was missed by a large minority of the village.

Iryo supplemented what he learned at the academy, and added onto even that. He taught the kid Kage Bushin to further his studies well beyond what someone his age would be able to learn on his own or even with regular help. Kage Bushin training was the way to go, with so many clones working non-stop it was like experiencing _Groundhog Day_ but without the time loop. The kid was a one kid army, thousands upon thousands of clones were assigned to studying a number of different things all at the same time, only dispelling when they ran out of charka or a breakthrough in their studies had been made.

It was a continuous process with the goal of reaching near perfection. From taijutsu to fuuinjutsu to ninjutsu. The kid learned as much as he could, his debut in society was on his ninth birthday. His return to the village was supposed to be as explosive as possible.

The village had been lulled into a false sense of peace, they should have known better than to think that the prankster king had fallen into a coma of a sort. They should have known better and prepared for his return, they were a ninja village after all.

Jutsu-wise, aside from the Kage Bushin, he had the three academy jutsu down pat, with masteries in all three. He could do them all handseal-less now. Due to the bijuu charka that flowed through his coils, thanks to the seal that purified the bijuu's nigh unlimited amount of chakra, his henge could go from just an illusion to a literal transformation that could engulf his clothes, but that was only if he let it.

His kawarimi could be used in the same way as more conventional teleportation techniques, he didn't need to replace himself with some log, but could simple replace himself with dust particles or air. He could even take people with him if he wished.

In order to properly utilize the regular illusion or decoy Bushin, he had to do what most would consider kind of odd. He mastered all the types of Bushin that Iryo could find for him. Going from the most charka consuming, Kage Bushin, to the other kinds, before finally being able to make one simple bunshin without the need for a seal shortcut or the gloves doing their regulation shortcut thing.

Iryo had provided him, over the weeks and months, with additional gadgets to use to complement his rather short list of abilities. Short compared to the lists of those veterans in the profession. After all, Naruto wasn't even a real beginner, he wasn't even a novice. He was still just a dreamer.

#

Iryo had given him the go-ahead, and thus as the clock struck midnight, the beginning of his ninth birthday, he left the sanctuary that was Iryo's shop and circled the village planting all sorts of seals all over the place. Their purpose was to prank the entire village, it was going to be a rather explosive morning that was for sure. The palm side of his gloves glowed as his chakra coursed through them. His fingertips and palm produced intricate seals that only a master could come up with or make.

He slapped the intricate designs on walls, poles, windows, doors, and whatever he could get his hands on. He was a blur of motion, but at the same time invisible to any that cared to try and see him. It was night and therefore he was the night and the shadow. He was the air, and he was unseen.

He didn't trespass as his attackers from the past had, he kept himself just to the outsides of the houses, shops, and other structures. Most of his seals were combinations of explosive seals and storage seals.

Paint bombs, smoke bombs, itching powder, and all sorts of other pranking items. Iryo had provided him with quite a lot of materials and resources for this 'I'm BACK' thing of his.

When he was done rigging the village to explode in many shades and smells, he retreated to his apartment, it was still his after a whole year of not living there since the Hokage had given him the whole building. No civilian had wanted to live in the same building as him. Even the land that the structure was on was his. Iryo had also given him the the land that had three small abandoned warehouses behind the structure to him as double birthday presents.

He had things to do once he was done with his tagging the whole village. Not a villager would be spared from his explosive 'Hello'. There would surely be a lot of people that wouldn't have the energy to chase him this year, and if any actually dared try, he was ready for them.

He had a bijuu's tail worth of chakra in him, that was more than the average kage. Thanks to his chakra control training and his constant use of kage bushin. It was a good thing that he had good control and his chakra regulators, else he wouldn't have been able to hide his gradually growing stores.

He began placing protections, defenses, and the like, around his properties. From seal protections to actual traps. He was putting everything he learned in the past year to the test, which was quite a lot. He was also planning to stash a decoy at the center of it all, in a bunker that he had found after sweeping through his property. It appeared to have at one point in time been a laboratory of some sort. Possibly belonging to that one nuke-nin he had heard about from Iryo.

Orochimaru was a name that was not uncommon to his ears or to his lips. Akasuna no Sasori was no foreigner either. Shimura Danzo, Uchiha Madara, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, Uzumaki Mito, Muu, to name a few of the other famous and infamous people he knew about and their exploits.

He was inspired by them, and more, and wanted to surpass them. After all, a Hokage was supposed to be strongest warrior in the village, and thus surpassing more than just the previous Hokages, but also the previous generation would be quite a feat. These men and women were also known for their accomplishments, and while a war was not presently on the horizon, there were still things that he could toy with and eventually master.

Orochimaru was one of the men he admired, for the sole reason that the man wanted to know everything. His skill as a warrior was something to be inspired or awed by, but the man's pursuit of knowledge was something else to be admired. It was a 'Will of Fire' in its own right. The man would literally do almost anything to know something or gain the knowledge of something.

The man was not only a seal master, poisons expert, soldier, but also a chemist and geneticist. The man was a scientist, a seeker of knowledge and power in one.

Not surprisingly Iryo had taught him everything he knew about all these people he wanted to emulate or surpass. The man really knew his past and present, and sometimes future even. It was also as if he had eyes and ears all over the world. He could tell you the name of any man, woman, or child that would be pointed out in a crowd.

The man was like a spymaster, but since he operated on his own and not for any military organization and more or less only served his chosen customers, he pointed Naruto in the direction of the darkness of the ninja world, in the direction of Shimura Danzo, as master of such a shade of the world.

The man who two kage had turned to when things that needed to be done could not be done out in the open, in the light, for anyone to see and associate with the peacemakers.

His forces were limited, but all of them were skilled, even the youngest of his active soldiers could outmatch a standard Anbu member. They were skilled at all aspects of the ninja world, all the arts, or most of the more common yet more important ones anyway. The only thing they weren't overly skilled at was showing emotions or recognizing the importance of having them.

The man knew discipline, he also knew hardwork. The man also knew that there were times when actions not words were in order.

He studied human anatomy, physiology, and anything and everything there was that had to do with the human body due to Akasuna no Sasori. One needed to know everything about how a human body worked in order to make one from scratch or use one in the form of a puppet.

It was also through this infamous nuke-nin that Naruto had discovered art, and how art could either last for eternity or last for a moment.

Painting, sculpting, origami, puppetry, and fireworks.

In all sense of the word power, Uchiha Madara was the embodiment of it. From what Iryo had shared with him about the man, the man could have been the second coming of the Sage of Six Paths. The Shodaime Hokage didn't really hold a candle to the man, when one factored in the Rin'negan.

Iryo had also shared with the blonde about the bijuu, the jinchuuriki, what he was, what he held within him, and also about his parents. The man knew that the kid deserved to know about them at the very least. He also wasn't tied down by the laws of the village or country to speak of such things with the boy.

Iryo was a very special old man, Naruto knew that much, which was why he kept the man a secret from the Hokage.

Iryo had on some rare occasions shown Naruto what he really was and looked like, and to say that the blonde kid was shocked, surprised, and rather terrified, would be an understatement. Iryo's true form and nature were indescribable, or close to when it came to describing how he looked.

The best way to describe him was by saying that Iryo was an idea, an element in a greater scheme of things.

It was one of the reasons why Naruto took to his studies with as much gusto as he did. It was a really good motivational factor.

With his property properly defended, the village set up for something close to destruction, the blonde took a shower in preparation for the actual day, and got dressed in a clean set of clothing.

He donned his jumpsuit, and had it change into a dark black bodysuit similar to the ones worn by Maito Gai, complete with flak jacket. He put on his shoes, and had them change into a leather boots with greaves. He wore his gloves and had them change to match his shoes. Then he donned his goggles, which he had merge somewhat with his suit. If it weren't for the armor, he'd have looked to have been wearing a rubber dry suit aka scuba gear.

He was the kid that could hide in plain sight during the day or night wearing a garishly and glaringly orange jumpsuit or tracksuit. He could go out in the day wearing something for infiltration at night and still go unnoticed.

He would be recording the day's events for all that it was worth. His goggles were connected wirelessly to Iryo's computer databases which were kept hidden away deep beneath the earth's crust in a secret bunker of his own. The database held all of the information that Iryo had, though some of the files were classified or password protected in order to keep some things still a secret.

He set up shop and took out some things from a duffel bag he had brought with him to the top of the Hokage Mountain. The bag wasn't all that big, but had a number of expansion seals on the inside and some additional storage seals on the inside and on the outside, to fit in all the things he had placed in the thing. It was also very durable and damage proof.

He would need more than just his goggles to catch all the actions. He wanted to get a record of all of the village, so he had set up some cameras atop the Hokage Mountain, which would serve as his base of operations. He knew that he would need help in this endeavor and any future plans of mayhem. So he enlisted the small time pranksters of a slightly younger generation.

After all, who would suspect children like the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage to pull a grand-scale prank on all of the village on such a festive day.

Cameras, binoculars, telescopes, and a bunch of other recording devices littered the top of the Hokage Mountain. There were clones also wearing the exact same thing that Naruto was, but wore different faces and bodies. The younger kids didn't need to know that they others with them were just clones.

"So...Arashi-nii," Sarutobi Konohamaru said, "What're me and Udon, and Moegi, gonna do?"

He went by Arashi, Yuurei Arashi, when he went out looking the way he wasn't born looking. It was his nickname, codename, pseudo-name. It was also a name that Iryo had given him after the year of intense training and studying.

"You want to be ninja, right?" Naruto asked, it was rhetorical, but the kid answered nonetheless.

"Hai!" the kid replied.

"Well then, sometimes ninja are sent out on missions to infiltrate other places," Naruto said, "I want the three of you to run through the village and catch as many people, high society people, you should know the type, in the act of not acting all hoity toity. You also can't get caught, so use anything you've got to get away if someone tries to catch you. I'll even provide you with anything you think you'll need."

"So...anything?" Konohamaru asked, grinning a mischievous grin.

"If I have it, but remember you only get one chance to stock up, after that, you're on your own until you run out of film," Naruto said, as he handed Udon a spare camera and Moegi a spare tape for the thing, while handing Konohamaru a list of the things he had on hand for this thing.

Konohamaru perused the list before listing off what his team of three would need as well as the quantity. He was a kid, but even so he knew what he would need or thought he would need. He knew it was going to be chaos down in the village in a couple of minutes, and he knew chaos very well. Since he had caused some form of it over the years in his clan's compound.

When it was less than five minutes before the village to turn into a warzone, Naruto had some of his clones take the kids down and dropped them off just a few meters away from the Hokage Tower, which also served as the administration building of the village. The kids prepped their stuff and prepared to go hunting for their prey while evading capture and whatever the hell their 'Boss' had come up with for the village.

It would be after this day that anyone that knew of Yuurei Arashi would know not to underestimate the insanity of Yuurei Arashi and anyone he associated himself with.

"3...2...1..." Naruto counted down, then came the first explosion followed by the rest of them. A few minutes passed by and the whole village was in chaos. There was much running about, shouting, screaming, and some fainting for a number of reasons.

Underwear was strewn about, dirty launder, skeletons from closets, and all manner of things were found hither and tither. The village was in chaos. The strongest, or so-called strongest, in all of the Elemental Nations or Continent, was in chaos. Had the explosives and traps been set for deadlier purpose who knew how many lives would have already been lost, starting with the Hokage.

Kitchen sinks, smoke bombs, itching powder, paint, goop, goo, jelly, tar, feathers, chickens, Tora the Immortal Neko, and whole host of other things were being set off, fired in all manner of directions and at all manner of people. It was a day to remember, and it would last for the whole of the day.

There was even firework in the daytime that a number of people would swear were as clear as during nighttime.

No one was spared, not even the deep cover agents, the spies, the traitors, the prisoners, the visitors, the guests, and everyone else. No one was spared, save for...the people behind the thing, which was basically just Naruto..and Iryo...and those three not even academy students running from the many many Anbu agents of the Hokage and Ne that were after their collective hides and the camera and tape that had already recorded a sizeable chunk of blackmail material.

Sometime after regular breakfast hours, the three kids had already managed to record Hyuuga Hiashi in a compromising position with Inuzuka Tsume, both in their sleepclothes in one of the public lavatories. How and why the kids got there was anyone's guess, but they had been there and caught the whole thing, up until the Branch House Hyuugas were ordered to 'get that tape' along with some Inuzukas that hadn't been hit all that bad, just some catnip and mashed up dog treats.

While the kids got the close up perpective of things, Naruto got everything else from all sort and manners of angles, from bird's eye view to street level. He even managed to document how some civilians and ninja alike had tried to get their immediate revenge on the demon brat but failed to even make it past the prelimenary defenses of his abode.

When finally the kids ran out of film for their findings, they made their way to the get away point where some of Naruto's clones were waiting for them. One clone took the tapes and camera, while six others took the kids through a lot of secret tunnels back up to the top of the mountain, while the remaining twenty-seven stayed behind to stall the assortment of ninja that were sent or simply after the three kids' hides.

Origami, chakra strings, and low powered explosive notes, had sent the veterans in the profession into the tired but ever helpful iryo-nins' hands.

It was a Kyuubi Festival that no one was going to forget anytime soon. For one thing, no one was actually able to celebrate on the actual day or week for that matter as there was much cleaning up to do and searching.

Searching for missing person, mostly children, civilian and ninja clan alike that hadn't been swayed by their parents' misplaced hatred, and the elderly, the kind ones that hadn't caused Naruto any trouble. People actually forgot to check the evacuation shelters and tunnels in the Hokage Mountain. If it wasn't for Naruto's clones and the Konohamaru Corps, those people wouldn't have known what was going on for the week that they had been kept in those places, for their own safety of course.

The missing person had finally been located after Konohamaru popped up at the end of the week looking and sounding rather disappointed when he told his grandfather that during an invasion the first place that civilians and the like were supposed to be herded were the evac tunnels and shelters. After the message had been sent, the kid was teleported via kage bushin in the form of a little monkey back to the top of the Hokage Mountain where Naruto had finally finished packing up and sending his things over to Iryo's place.

Naruto/Arashi remained atop the mountain with a few disguised clones and waited for Konohamaru to lead the Hokage to his position so that they could have a little chat.

The meeting was one of those 'dare to trick my grandson, have at thee' kinds of situations. Naruto had only been half expecting it to happen. But at least he suspected it, and was somewhat prepared for it. The Hokage was a bit frightened that there was an unknown ninja that could move at speeds that rivaled his successor.

"Look," Naruto said in a different sounding voice, one who's age could not be guessed easily, "If I had wanted to destroy this village, I could have. All those harmless little things that messed up this place and sent your intel guys scrambling to keep things hush hush, could have been rather harmful things, like poison gas and the like. But they weren't. It was mostly for fun and insurance on my part. Also you can't accuse me of kidnapping since the so-called missing persons were taken to the evac areas once all the explosions began, like your forces were supposed to take them."

"Alright," the Hokage said after he finally gave up trying to actually hit Naruto with all the jutsu he had managed to spam in under five minutes, "So tell me, who are you, and what purpose do you have here."

"I am Yuurei Arashi, my purpose is my own," Arashi said, "My loyalty is to myself and those that serve under me, as well as clients and any future boss I might chance upon. Thanks to your grandson and his friends, I now have enough blackmail material to make your village think twice before going after me and my people."

"I can believe that," the Hokage said, "In a way you are holding my village hostage. What do you want?"

By the time that the short dodgeball game had begun, an Anbu had escorted Konohamaru home where his uncle was impatiently waiting for him.

"Leave me and mine alone," Arashi said, "And make sure that you actually follow through with your own decree, no more harm may come to Uzumaki Naruto. He is my brother, in a sense, and is under my protection. I have been training him and caring for him while you and the rest of this village that owes him a great deal has decided that he wasn't worth your time and effort."

"Are you trying to make me believe that you did all that just to keep Naruto-kun safe?" the Hokage asked disbelievingly.

"Believe me or not, that is part of my reason, a bigger part," Arashi said, "Now I shall take my leave Hokage-dono."

He turned and simply walked away, his clone guard keeping watch for any that would dare try to stop him from leaving. His chakra signature changed with his transformations which was why the Hokage didn't know that Arashi was Naruto.

It was recruitment time.

The Hokage was left to his own devices. Naruto was seen in the public more often, sometimes hanging around the Konohamaru corps, and some rather distinct and uniformed people, mostly clones though. All was well in the village, save for that one night two months after the prank disaster where most members of the Uchiha clan had been killed by, supposedly, one of their own. Naruto refused to believe such a thing, as did some other people.

While the Uchiha weren't wiped out completely, only a few of their once great number remained. Among them were a few elderly, children, young couples that hadn't chosen to walk the path of the ninja, and Uchiha Mikoto and her son, Sasuke.


	112. Q2

He had lived a good enough life which had only really started being really good after he had become the hero of the the world, the literal savior as everyone had put their faith in him to save them from a world of false peace. It was about time for his time in he world that he had helped shape to end. He had two sons that would live long after he was gone, both working together as opposed to against each other for the continued existence of the peace that had settled over the world.

He gazed out and over the village that he had protected all of his life, from the moment he had been born to the moment that the Shinigami would eventually come to take his soul from him. No one had wanted to take the title of Hokage from him, even the Shichidaime Hokage hadn't wanted to take on the title, but he had insisted that no matter what would happen he would still be Rokudaime, and no one could take that privilege

from him.

His sons were well on their way to becoming powerful clan heads, each one actually had a harem, having decided to participate in the Clan Restoration Act or CRA, which he had decided not to participate in. He only loved on woman after the last war, though only after realising that he had been a fool for most of his life believing that he had been in love with his teammate.

In reality he had only been seeking someone to be with him so that he would no longer be so lonely in the world. Sure he had friends that acted like family for most of his younger years, but there was just something different about being loved. So he had accepted the one person that had unconditionally loved him for all of his life or most of it for that matter.

It is said that when one's soulmate left he world one was most likely close to following. His wife had died a few years back due to old age, the way most shinobi and kunoichi dreamed of leaving the world. Yet he clung onto life, not daring to give up, especially after she had told him to move on, but to never forget that she would always be in his heart.

So he tried to move on and lived out the rest of his life, waiting for the day that his next great adventure would come for him. Waiting for his destiny to once again rear its head and tell him he had another world to save or something like that. His life had been full of adventure, so why not his death.

Aside from his two sons, he also had daughter by a woman that he had saved during his teenage years. He loved her just as much as he loved his sons, but it wasn't really the same since the woman that bore his daughter wasn't loved as much as he loved his wife. But he loved his family, all of them, nonetheless.

His daughter had long succeeded her mother in the priestess business. It was thanks to his daughter that his inner demons had finally quieted down. It was odd that he had managed to fulfil his promise to his one time prisoner and presently patient friend.

They both waited patiently for death and the adventure that it was sure to become for them.

He would be taking with him, in death, two of the world's greatest weapons, treasures, curses, and blessings. After his deciding battle against the one that would have enslaved the world in a false illusion of peace, he had unlocked and gained the true Rin'negan that the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin had at one point in time had. He had also become the Nidaime Rikudou Sennin as a jinchuuriki too, as the newly reformed Juubi had been resealed within him. The Kyuubi had helped with that as the former nine tailed fox had actually voluntarilly kept a firm hold or anchor in his formerly hated host as a precaution.

It was a surprising turn of events when he had become the second coming of the man that had molded the world in his image, and had been the one to strike or begin the dawn of the shinobi era.

This Nidaime would be taking the Juubi and the Rin'negan, curse of the gods and their blessing, with him in death. It was an interesting prospect as he wanted to know how the world would fare without him and the things he would be taking with him. He was the last of his generation and thus wanted to know how the next generation would take the world, and where they would lead the future to.

Everyday he came out ontop of the Hokage Mountain to look over his village and ponder whether or not it was time, his time. The Juubi occasionally grumbled about the world becoming so boring and bland, but didn't really mind the peace since if his host was at peace then he too was finally at peace.

'_If you get reincarnated or whatever, I'm not going with you, this peace thing is really addictive,_' the Juubi had once told him through their mental and chakra connection, the Juubi had more or less just signed over all of its power and authority over to its host with that one statement.

So the two of them waited each and every day, enjoying each day as if it were their last on the mudball they called home.

This day, this afternoon was a different one from the last one, from the one before this one. His children were away doing whatever it was they did, so they would not be with him during his final moments. He preferred it that way, he didn't want to go feeling guilty about leaving them, even though they didn't really need him anymore, the world didn't need him anymore. He had served his purpose and reaped his rewards.

He knows that his time has finally come, and so he leans against the railing that had been placed for him to lean against when he overloooked the village. He looked at all that had been accomplished in his long long life and smiled.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, but instead of turning around to face the owner, he simply continued smiling and slowly closed his eyes. Eyes that would never again see the sight before him as it was. At its most beautiful.

That was how his body would be found the next day, but unlike most other corpses, his would still have a hint of warmth on it. It would seem as if he were simply asleep as compared to all other bodies before him. Beside his body a kitsune sitting on its haunches would be found in a similar state of death. They would be like two statues, and the Hokage would decide that they would be left there for the rest of time.

The village would be told that his body had been buried alongside his wife and the other Hokage before him. The village which would eventually become known as a city, and no longer hidden, would continue to have him watch over from high up above on the Hokage Mountain that would become simply a landmark and symbol of the city's history.

Generations upon generations later would soon forget about shinobi for what they had been and the things that they had experienced. But no one would forget about him, the Rokudaime and Nidaime in one who watched over the village turned city even after his dying day.

Invaders that would dare try and attack or conquer the city would cringe in fear as they finally reached the village's still impressive wooden main gate at the sight and lingering protectiveness of the former village's most powerful protector. They would also feel the lingering presence of the world's most dangerous and destructive force of more than nature bearing down on them daring them to harm even a hair of what its former host had strived all of his life to protect.

"*"

'_Where the heck am I?_' he wondered as he found himself sitting seiza in some endless expanse of white.

He never did like hospitals and the color white, so he wasn't really all that happy to find himself in this limbo like place. He didn't know what he was waiting for, but apparently his constant companion did as the being, formely made of chakra, decided to speak up.

"**I know you're wondering where we are, the answer is simple, we're in one of the different waiting areas for our afterlife solicitor or guide,**" the former fox spoke, after uncurling its ever changing form and sitting seiza as well in a more human looking form, but wearing a mask similar to Uchiha Tobi.

"How do you know all that?" he asked his constant companion, gazing at his masked companion curiously, "As far as I know, you've never died before I did before."

"**I almost died once before, back when the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin split me into nine pieces,**" the masked being said, "**I caught a glimpse of this place and was told after what seemed like an eternity that it was not yet my time. Part of the reason why Ichibi was insane in a sense was due to remaining in the white space for so long, and part of the reason for Kyuubi's rage and malevolence was due to the same thing.**"

"So how long do you think, we'll have to wait?" he asked.

"**Dunno really, remember I said I waited for almost forever before I was told that it wasn't my time yet,**" the demonic and masked entity said, "**So I guess it'd be a good idea for your to meditate or something for the time being, never really thought of doing that back during that time.**"

So he meditated, and seeing as he usually did that just to gather nature energy, he ended up drawing whatever energy was present in the white space, not that his companions who had gone to sleep noticed. It was a neutral energy, but an energy that his soul could absorb nonetheless. He didn't even know he was doing it as he had gone so deep in his meditative state that it might have been said that he had fallen asleep or into a coma.

Time passed them by once more. Had it been days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, or more, was anyone's guess. Not that it really mattered. All that mattere was that it was a very long time before the pair's peace was disturbed by an external force.

"_**Excuse me,**_" the voice was otherworldly in a sense, silent as a whisper but at the same time booming like an explosion, those two words were enough to rouse the sleeper and the meditator, "_**Are you by any chance Naruto and Juubi?**_"

"Yeah, that's us," Naruto answered for the both of them, "Who're you? Or better yet, what are you?"

"_**Well...I used to be the Death Reaper assigned to you, but now I'll serve as your AfterLife Solicitor and Tour Guide,**_" the entity answered, "_**You may call me NJ, its a nickname I picked up sometime ago. Moving along, how are you feeling?**_"

"Great, for some reason, better than ever really," Naruto replied, honestly.

"**Same as my former host,**" Juubi replied as well.

"_**Well Juubi, you'll be happy to know that it is truly finally your time, you have three choices,**_" NJ informed the still not having a really stable formed being, "_**First of all is moving on to Heaven or Hell, whichever one suits you, the second is reincarnation, and the third is finding a job here, serving Death himself or one of the other Primordial Elementsas the higher than the Higher Powers' Higher Powers are called. Like I do and have been doing all my known existence.**_"

"**I think I'll take option one, no matter where I'll end up at least I know I can say that I've helped save the world that at one point in time I was about to doom,**" Juubi said, not really giving it much thought, "**Though before you deliver me to my fate, I ask that you transfer my title and all that goes with it to Naruto. He kept his promise to me, or to one ninth of myself, thus I wish that no ****matter what his fate may be, he will always have a part of me with him.**"

"Hey! You don't have to go and do that!" Naruto exclaimed, he believed that he didn't deserve something like that even though he didnt' really understand the full measure of what Juubi was wanting to happen.

"**I am a Juubi, thus my name, and what I do with my title and all that goes with it is mine to chose,**" Juubi stated, "**I would have you protected, even while I am no longer with you. It is my choice, allow me that, as I haven't really had much of such in a long long while.**"

"_**Very well,**_" NJ said as It poked Juubi at the center of it's face then poked Naruto with It's other hand on the same spot but on the blonde's face, there was no sudden blast or explosion of power, or some aura forming, but when It was done with the transfer it was done, "_**There, that should do it.**_"

"What? Seriously? There wasn't even some sort of unholy aura or whatever! I feel cheated," Naruto said, he had expected something flashy, most big deal things were after all, even the birth of all of his children had had some form of flashiness to it, like the attempted assassination of his wife during her first delivery which he had stopped by sending the would be assassin to somewhere else on the continent disoriented and butt naked.

"_**Yes, seriously, not all great and powerful and memorable things are flashy after all,**_" NJ said, "_**Even though most of the things that happened in your life relating to you were, that does not mean that in death such should continue. Now may I continue with my job?**_"

"Sure, go ahead," Naruto said, he was kind of feeling rather young again for some reason that he couldn't guess, so chalked it up to the transfer from Juubi.

"_**Thank you,**_" NJ said, before continuing with It's duties, "_**After our little meeting I shall escort each of you to where you are to be sent. The Halls of Judgment is simply a work place and not some place where one is meant to remain in for all of eternity. Moving on... Naruto, it took me quite a while to see you since I had to look over your entire file. Quite remarkable your lives were. Quite remarkable and for most of it to transcend with you is simply amazing.**_"

"So I'm still unique and special?" the blonde asked hopefully.

"_**In a sense, but your kind of special is not so special considering the number of Beings that can wipe the floor with you even in death, especially my boss Death himself,**_" NJ said, "_**If you were back in the Academy and were to be graded based on your whole life, I would call you the Rookie of the Year, had your wife not already taken that ranking. You're second only to her unfortunately.**_"

"Seriously? That's...that's so COOL! Could you congratulate her for me?" Naruto asked NJ.

"_**Should I ever encounter her again I shall pass on your congratulations,**_" NJ said, "_**Due to your reaction to such news I take it going to Heaven or Hell are out of the question for you.**_"

"Yeah, it just sounds so boring, heaven or hell, do I get to choose what'll be happening to me as well?" the blonde asked.

"_**Unfortunately no,**_" NJ replied stonily.

"**Why not? I got a choice didn't I, why not him?**_" _Juubi asked.

"_**For the sole fact that he has unwittinly transcended the normal bounds of mortality...he's already done it once before, not that he can recall, but to do it twice, well...my hands are tied when it comes to his fate,**_" NJ said, almost apologetically, "_**But that's AfterLife for you. One doesn't just sever the chains of fate and destiny and expect smooth sailing.**_"

"What do you mean sever the chains of fate and destiny?" Naruto asked, "As far as I remember I fulfilled a prophecy."

"_**That you did,**_" NJ said, "_**But that was before your meditation gained you your own reserves of something we in this realm or existence have chosen to call **_**POWER**_**. Suffice to say the choice of where you shall be going and what shall be happening to you has already been decided for you and by you, unknowingly.**_"

"**What are you talking about?**" Juubi questioned.

"_**After the end of his first life as the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin, he meditated and subconsciously gathered some of the energies that keep this place the way it is, I managed to stop him in time before he could gather enough to lose his chance to choose,**_" NJ said, then regretfully continued, "_**But luck wasn't on his side this time around, he transcended well before I finished rummaging through his initial paperwork, and I must say it was quite a task. I then had to fill up another bunch of form which gave him even more time to gather even more **_**POWER**_** which inadvertedly gave him or caused his reserves or stores to grow even more.**_"

"So what are you saying? What's my fate?" Naruto asked, he was a bit worried that he'd be carted off to some other dimension for eternal solitary confinement.

"_**My Boss stepped in before I could write a petition for you to review your options, it was supposed to be my last ditch effort to keep you from falling into their possession, I'm sorry,**_" NJ said apologetically, even bowing a bit to the blonde, "_**Death himself has intructed that you be sent to a world and a life very much like the one you had come from, well over a lifetime ago. A special form of Reincarnation has been chosen as your fate for subconsciously daring to defy Fate and Destiny who actually planned on letting you do as you pleased in this AfterLife.**_"

"Oh...that doesn't sound so bad," Naruto said, "But I have a feeling that there's some kind of catch."

"**There usually is whenever you're concerned,**" Juubi mumbled.

"_**Yes, of course, well...**_" NJ said, not really knowing how to say what needed to be said, stalling wasn't really one of his skills.

"Just spit it out already! I'd say I'm dying to know, but I'm already dead!" Naruto said, somewhat impatiently.

"_**Seeing as you were not specifically chosen by the higher ups to become what you have become...you are being sentenced to forever remain in the dimension, realm, universer, reality, world, that you will be sent to,**_" NJ stated as formally as It possibly could, "_**In addition to that, you will be IMMORTAL. Death will never again come for you. After we part I will unfortunately never be able to see you again. There is another with a similar fate, an unjust one, but a similar fate nonetheless. The Gates of Heaven and Hell will forever be barred from you. You shall walk the mortal plane for all of the remainder of your existence. You shall be a GOD amongst men.**_"

"That...that..." Naruto didn't know what to say, he never thought that his silght inattention would catch him such a fate.

"**Well, it could be worse..I suppose,**" Juubi butted in.

"How so?" Naruto asked, still in a mild state of shock.

"_**You could have ceased to exist,**_" NJ replied for Juubi, "_**Total eradication of the soul and your existence, past, present, and future, would have been made null and void. Thus rendering the **__**same for all the lives you had touched. Your memory of ever existing would have been erased completely. Everything you had done would have been erased. Image your former world had you not been born into it,**_" he paused to give the blonde some time to digest it's words, "_**By the look of dawning horror on your face, you can imagine. But I'm not just talking about this last life as Uzumaki Naruto, but including the one before that as the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin as well.**_"

"Y-you mean...?" Naruto couldn't get himself to say what he was thinking.

"**Yes, that's precisely what he means...due to your contributions to our former world, it would cease to exist past the time I would have been originally defeated by your first life,**" Juubi said, he too was in shock.

"I...I guess my fate's better than that," Naruto said, "What made the higher ups more lenient towards me?"

"_**The lives you had lived, and the lives that would have been lost, they took that into consideration as well,**_" NJ said, "_**Now before we go complete the process and send you two on your way, I have one final thing to say.**_"

"Go ahead," Naruto said, noting that NJ was waiting for his go-ahead.

"_**Don't forget to have fun,**_" NJ advised, "_**Even though this is something close enough to a death sentence, it isn't. You'll be alive in a sense again, retaining all that you gained in your most recent past life. Along with what you gained here accidentally and subconsciously. When I said God amongst men, I meant it literally. Kami will hold no power over you, except being able to bar you from seeing her home, ever.**_"

"Lead me to my fate," both Naruto and Juubi said at the same time, the latter losing it's demonically enhanced voice, "And thanks," Naruto added as an afterthought.

"_**You're welcome,**_" NJ said as he led the two of them out of the white space and through the many corridors packed with souls and other things going about their business, Naruto even managed to catch a glimpse of a man he thought could have been his father and pseudo-grandfather furiously writing stuff in two really big books. NJ said that the books were really just the register for who and what was in the Halls of Judgment for the duration of shift hours.

The duo were led to an empty hall that could probably fit a million souls comfortably. It had a ginormous black and white gate embedded in one of the walls.

"_**Well, this is farewell you two, I can go no further than this hall and I still have three of your children, Naruto, to watch over,**_" NJ said, then motioned towards the gate, "_**Walk on through them when you are ready for your fates, chosen and not.**_"

#

The last thing he remembered after waking up from whatever state he had previously been in was walking through, THROUGH, a set of gates. But seeing as he was nothing more than energy particles at the moment, as he soon noticed, he decided that everything else that he could remember was real.

He had indeed died. Juubi was no longer entirely with him, only his memory and the inherited title.

He was merely a particle of existence at the moment, and willed himself to gain form, a body formed out of his entire being, one that sat seiza once more, this time in the pitch black void, and watched as the world he would be living in took shape as the gods and goddesses were born. All of them glancing in his direction with a bit of fear and trepidation.

They all instinctively knew upon their births that he was there and would forever be there. They also knew what he was, even though he himself didn't fully comprehend what he was exactly yet or would ever be able to if he chose to set such information gathering aside. They knew he was not limited by and to anything so long as it was within the dimension or existence that they were all now a part of. He could make dimensions within the dimension, but could not crossover into another one.

They knew that in this existence that they all shared and would be sharing, he was the highest power there was, and they hoped he never fully realized that fact.

Sadly, that was the extent of what they knew of him, and chose to simply turn a blind eye to him for as long as they possibly could.

He simply drifted in space as he watched those other Beings form the world, when they were through he desceded onto the world to begin his new life, this immortal one that he had been given.

He crashed down onto the world right smack dab in what could later be known as Sunagakure no Sato. But left that place soon after he regained his bearings.

The world was so brand new, he didn't really know what to expect. Part of him expected there to already be people, but as he soon found out there wasn't really all that much in the world in terms of sentient life yet. On land there was absolutely nothing that could be called civilization yet, there weren't any visible animals or plants yet even.

The world was a desolate place. Devoid of any life other than himself, and even then he couldn't be called living.

He set up shop at the very heart of four mountains. The valley within the four mountains was barren of anything, even sand. All that was there was stone. He decided that he would work with what he had in order to create a home for himself for the time being. The entirety of the valley would become his home, his own hidden village since he had always wanted one of his very own making, and not just inheriting in a sense like he had Konoha.

After setting himself in the middle of the valley, he set to work. He thought to himself that NJ had told him that he was a god now, a kami on the mortal plane, and thus he knew he had the power to shift the world into whatever he wished it to become. So transform the world around him he did.

He would live in solitude until he figured out what he actually wanted to do, hopefully by the time he did there would be some other lifeforms for him to interact with.

He caused a dense fog or mist to form around the mountains, one that should anyone dare to venture into would be lost forever or until they either died or he saw fit to save them or lead them out of it. But a dense fog of mist would not be enough, he knew that much, which was why he created the first tree. One single tree that covered miles upon miles of ground. Future people would refer to it as the world tree. Its branches, roots, leaves, and whatever other part of it covered the whole area that was covered in fog and mist including the four mountains and including portions of the hidden valley within.

From what he had originally envisioned as a one tree forest, it soon turned into a combination of forest, swamp, and jungle. The only plant life in the whole of the surface, the above water, of the world was that single tree, and it would remain that way until nature took its course and brought more plantlife to the surface of the world.

He then decided that he couldn't just live at the center of the valley without an actual home, since h had grown used to living in a house and working in a building. So he made himself one, a home that is. He sunk the valley floor even deeper into the world.

It was a decision that led to him calling his home the Underground Village or Chika no Mura.

He had the sunken, even further, valley mold itself into what would for the time being be a mostly abandoned looking village. A labyrinth like village where one would have to have lived in the place, or in Naruto's case built it, to known where was what and how to get anywhere.

Done with the village and the main protections or deterents from getting inside. He had water come forth from even deeper or further down than his village was. Granting him pure mountain spring water, hot and cold. He had his own bath houses constructed out of wood and stone.

To spice things up a bit he made everything shift from boring wood and stone to something that would make El Dorado pale in comparison, as not only was everything made out of gold but also all manner of precious jewels and metals. It was a veritable goldmine for any would be treasure hunter.

But that was still far off in the future.

He didn't need to eat or drink to survive anymore. He didn't even need sleep or any form of rest. He was always full of energy and fully refreshed.

After a whole millennium doing nothing but create things got boring. He needed some form of companionship or something, which prompted him to remember both Akasuna no Sasori and Deidara. Kugutsu no Jutsu, Hitokugutsu no Jutsu, Bakuton, and clay constructs. There was also the memory of Shimura Sai and his ink creations.

To solve his loneliness issue he created puppets that could move on their own, ones that were like robots of sorts, advanced puppets ones that were almost alive. He created clay golems, minions, animals, and all sorts of other things via the three art forms.

It was after he had created a form of semi-sentient and semi-life around him that he remembered his favorite jutsu and turned his deserted village into a bustling one, filled not only with his puppet, clay, and ink creation but also with his clones. Clones that looked like many a different people.


	113. Q3

He had lived a good enough life which had only really started being really good after he had become the hero of the the world, the literal savior as everyone had put their faith in him to save them from a world of false peace. It was about time for his time in he world that he had helped shape to end. He had two sons that would live long after he was gone, both working together as opposed to against each other for the continued existence of the peace that had settled over the world.

He gazed out and over the village that he had protected all of his life, from the moment he had been born to the moment that the Shinigami would eventually come to take his soul from him. No one had wanted to take the title of Hokage from him, even the Shichidaime Hokage hadn't wanted to take on the title, but he had insisted that no matter what would happen he would still be Rokudaime, and no one could take that privilege

from him.

His sons were well on their way to becoming powerful clan heads, each one actually had a harem, having decided to participate in the Clan Restoration Act or CRA, which he had decided not to participate in. He only loved on woman after the last war, though only after realising that he had been a fool for most of his life believing that he had been in love with his teammate.

In reality he had only been seeking someone to be with him so that he would no longer be so lonely in the world. Sure he had friends that acted like family for most of his younger years, but there was just something different about being loved. So he had accepted the one person that had unconditionally loved him for all of his life or most of it for that matter.

It is said that when one's soulmate left he world one was most likely close to following. His wife had died a few years back due to old age, the way most shinobi and kunoichi dreamed of leaving the world. Yet he clung onto life, not daring to give up, especially after she had told him to move on, but to never forget that she would always be in his heart.

So he tried to move on and lived out the rest of his life, waiting for the day that his next great adventure would come for him. Waiting for his destiny to once again rear its head and tell him he had another world to save or something like that. His life had been full of adventure, so why not his death.

Aside from his two sons, he also had daughter by a woman that he had saved during his teenage years. He loved her just as much as he loved his sons, but it wasn't really the same since the woman that bore his daughter wasn't loved as much as he loved his wife. But he loved his family, all of them, nonetheless.

His daughter had long succeeded her mother in the priestess business. It was thanks to his daughter that his inner demons had finally quieted down. It was odd that he had managed to fulfil his promise to his one time prisoner and presently patient friend.

They both waited patiently for death and the adventure that it was sure to become for them.

He would be taking with him, in death, two of the world's greatest weapons, treasures, curses, and blessings. After his deciding battle against the one that would have enslaved the world in a false illusion of peace, he had unlocked and gained the true Rin'negan that the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin had at one point in time had. He had also become the Nidaime Rikudou Sennin as a jinchuuriki too, as the newly reformed Juubi had been resealed within him. The Kyuubi had helped with that as the former nine tailed fox had actually voluntarilly kept a firm hold or anchor in his formerly hated host as a precaution.

It was a surprising turn of events when he had become the second coming of the man that had molded the world in his image, and had been the one to strike or begin the dawn of the shinobi era.

This Nidaime would be taking the Juubi and the Rin'negan, curse of the gods and their blessing, with him in death. It was an interesting prospect as he wanted to know how the world would fare without him and the things he would be taking with him. He was the last of his generation and thus wanted to know how the next generation would take the world, and where they would lead the future to.

Everyday he came out ontop of the Hokage Mountain to look over his village and ponder whether or not it was time, his time. The Juubi occasionally grumbled about the world becoming so boring and bland, but didn't really mind the peace since if his host was at peace then he too was finally at peace.

'_If you get reincarnated or whatever, I'm not going with you, this peace thing is really addictive,_' the Juubi had once told him through their mental and chakra connection, the Juubi had more or less just signed over all of its power and authority over to its host with that one statement.

So the two of them waited each and every day, enjoying each day as if it were their last on the mudball they called home.

This day, this afternoon was a different one from the last one, from the one before this one. His children were away doing whatever it was they did, so they would not be with him during his final moments. He preferred it that way, he didn't want to go feeling guilty about leaving them, even though they didn't really need him anymore, the world didn't need him anymore. He had served his purpose and reaped his rewards.

He knows that his time has finally come, and so he leans against the railing that had been placed for him to lean against when he overloooked the village. He looked at all that had been accomplished in his long long life and smiled.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, but instead of turning around to face the owner, he simply continued smiling and slowly closed his eyes. Eyes that would never again see the sight before him as it was. At its most beautiful.

That was how his body would be found the next day, but unlike most other corpses, his would still have a hint of warmth on it. It would seem as if he were simply asleep as compared to all other bodies before him. Beside his body a kitsune sitting on its haunches would be found in a similar state of death. They would be like two statues, and the Hokage would decide that they would be left there for the rest of time.

The village would be told that his body had been buried alongside his wife and the other Hokage before him. The village which would eventually become known as a city, and no longer hidden, would continue to have him watch over from high up above on the Hokage Mountain that would become simply a landmark and symbol of the city's history.

Generations upon generations later would soon forget about shinobi for what they had been and the things that they had experienced. But no one would forget about him, the Rokudaime and Nidaime in one who watched over the village turned city even after his dying day.

Invaders that would dare try and attack or conquer the city would cringe in fear as they finally reached the village's still impressive wooden main gate at the sight and lingering protectiveness of the former village's most powerful protector. They would also feel the lingering presence of the world's most dangerous and destructive force of more than nature bearing down on them daring them to harm even a hair of what its former host had strived all of his life to protect.

"*"

'_Where the heck am I?_' he wondered as he found himself sitting seiza in some endless expanse of white.

He never did like hospitals and the color white, so he wasn't really all that happy to find himself in this limbo like place. He didn't know what he was waiting for, but apparently his constant companion did as the being, formely made of chakra, decided to speak up.

"**I know you're wondering where we are, the answer is simple, we're in one of the different waiting areas for our afterlife solicitor or guide,**" the former fox spoke, after uncurling its ever changing form and sitting seiza as well in a more human looking form, but wearing a mask similar to Uchiha Tobi.

"How do you know all that?" he asked his constant companion, gazing at his masked companion curiously, "As far as I know, you've never died before I did before."

"**I almost died once before, back when the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin split me into nine pieces,**" the masked being said, "**I caught a glimpse of this place and was told after what seemed like an eternity that it was not yet my time. Part of the reason why Ichibi was insane in a sense was due to remaining in the white space for so long, and part of the reason for Kyuubi's rage and malevolence was due to the same thing.**"

"So how long do you think, we'll have to wait?" he asked.

"**Dunno really, remember I said I waited for almost forever before I was told that it wasn't my time yet,**" the demonic and masked entity said, "**So I guess it'd be a good idea for your to meditate or something for the time being, never really thought of doing that back during that time.**"

So he meditated, and seeing as he usually did that just to gather nature energy, he ended up drawing whatever energy was present in the white space, not that his companions who had gone to sleep noticed. It was a neutral energy, but an energy that his soul could absorb nonetheless. He didn't even know he was doing it as he had gone so deep in his meditative state that it might have been said that he had fallen asleep or into a coma.

Time passed them by once more. Had it been days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, or more, was anyone's guess. Not that it really mattered. All that mattere was that it was a very long time before the pair's peace was disturbed by an external force.

"_**Excuse me,**_" the voice was otherworldly in a sense, silent as a whisper but at the same time booming like an explosion, those two words were enough to rouse the sleeper and the meditator, "_**Are you by any chance Naruto and Juubi?**_"

"Yeah, that's us," Naruto answered for the both of them, "Who're you? Or better yet, what are you?"

"_**Well...I used to be the Death Reaper assigned to you, but now I'll serve as your AfterLife Solicitor and Tour Guide,**_" the entity answered, "_**You may call me NJ, its a nickname I picked up sometime ago. Moving along, how are you feeling?**_"

"Great, for some reason, better than ever really," Naruto replied, honestly.

"**Same as my former host,**" Juubi replied as well.

"_**Well Juubi, you'll be happy to know that it is truly finally your time, you have three choices,**_" NJ informed the still not having a really stable formed being, "_**First of all is moving on to Heaven or Hell, whichever one suits you, the second is reincarnation, and the third is finding a job here, serving Death himself or one of the other Primordial Elementsas the higher than the Higher Powers' Higher Powers are called. Like I do and have been doing all my known existence.**_"

"**I think I'll take option one, no matter where I'll end up at least I know I can say that I've helped save the world that at one point in time I was about to doom,**" Juubi said, not really giving it much thought, "**Though before you deliver me to my fate, I ask that you transfer my title and all that goes with it to Naruto. He kept his promise to me, or to one ninth of myself, thus I wish that no ****matter what his fate may be, he will always have a part of me with him.**"

"Hey! You don't have to go and do that!" Naruto exclaimed, he believed that he didn't deserve something like that even though he didnt' really understand the full measure of what Juubi was wanting to happen.

"**I am a Juubi, thus my name, and what I do with my title and all that goes with it is mine to chose,**" Juubi stated, "**I would have you protected, even while I am no longer with you. It is my choice, allow me that, as I haven't really had much of such in a long long while.**"

"_**Very well,**_" NJ said as It poked Juubi at the center of it's face then poked Naruto with It's other hand on the same spot but on the blonde's face, there was no sudden blast or explosion of power, or some aura forming, but when It was done with the transfer it was done, "_**There, that should do it.**_"

"What? Seriously? There wasn't even some sort of unholy aura or whatever! I feel cheated," Naruto said, he had expected something flashy, most big deal things were after all, even the birth of all of his children had had some form of flashiness to it, like the attempted assassination of his wife during her first delivery which he had stopped by sending the would be assassin to somewhere else on the continent disoriented and butt naked.

"_**Yes, seriously, not all great and powerful and memorable things are flashy after all,**_" NJ said, "_**Even though most of the things that happened in your life relating to you were, that does not mean that in death such should continue. Now may I continue with my job?**_"

"Sure, go ahead," Naruto said, he was kind of feeling rather young again for some reason that he couldn't guess, so chalked it up to the transfer from Juubi.

"_**Thank you,**_" NJ said, before continuing with It's duties, "_**After our little meeting I shall escort each of you to where you are to be sent. The Halls of Judgment is simply a work place and not some place where one is meant to remain in for all of eternity. Moving on... Naruto, it took me quite a while to see you since I had to look over your entire file. Quite remarkable your lives were. Quite remarkable and for most of it to transcend with you is simply amazing.**_"

"So I'm still unique and special?" the blonde asked hopefully.

"_**In a sense, but your kind of special is not so special considering the number of Beings that can wipe the floor with you even in death, especially my boss Death himself,**_" NJ said, "_**If you were back in the Academy and were to be graded based on your whole life, I would call you the Rookie of the Year, had your wife not already taken that ranking. You're second only to her unfortunately.**_"

"Seriously? That's...that's so COOL! Could you congratulate her for me?" Naruto asked NJ.

"_**Should I ever encounter her again I shall pass on your congratulations,**_" NJ said, "_**Due to your reaction to such news I take it going to Heaven or Hell are out of the question for you.**_"

"Yeah, it just sounds so boring, heaven or hell, do I get to choose what'll be happening to me as well?" the blonde asked.

"_**Unfortunately no,**_" NJ replied stonily.

"**Why not? I got a choice didn't I, why not him?**_" _Juubi asked.

"_**For the sole fact that he has unwittinly transcended the normal bounds of mortality...he's already done it once before, not that he can recall, but to do it twice, well...my hands are tied when it comes to his fate,**_" NJ said, almost apologetically, "_**But that's AfterLife for you. One doesn't just sever the chains of fate and destiny and expect smooth sailing.**_"

"What do you mean sever the chains of fate and destiny?" Naruto asked, "As far as I remember I fulfilled a prophecy."

"_**That you did,**_" NJ said, "_**But that was before your meditation gained you your own reserves of something we in this realm or existence have chosen to call **_**POWER**_**. Suffice to say the choice of where you shall be going and what shall be happening to you has already been decided for you and by you, unknowingly.**_"

"**What are you talking about?**" Juubi questioned.

"_**After the end of his first life as the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin, he meditated and subconsciously gathered some of the energies that keep this place the way it is, I managed to stop him in time before he could gather enough to lose his chance to choose,**_" NJ said, then regretfully continued, "_**But luck wasn't on his side this time around, he transcended well before I finished rummaging through his initial paperwork, and I must say it was quite a task. I then had to fill up another bunch of form which gave him even more time to gather even more **_**POWER**_** which inadvertedly gave him or caused his reserves or stores to grow even more.**_"

"So what are you saying? What's my fate?" Naruto asked, he was a bit worried that he'd be carted off to some other dimension for eternal solitary confinement.

"_**My Boss stepped in before I could write a petition for you to review your options, it was supposed to be my last ditch effort to keep you from falling into their possession, I'm sorry,**_" NJ said apologetically, even bowing a bit to the blonde, "_**Death himself has intructed that you be sent to a world and a life very much like the one you had come from, well over a lifetime ago. A special form of Reincarnation has been chosen as your fate for subconsciously daring to defy Fate and Destiny who actually planned on letting you do as you pleased in this AfterLife.**_"

"Oh...that doesn't sound so bad," Naruto said, "But I have a feeling that there's some kind of catch."

"**There usually is whenever you're concerned,**" Juubi mumbled.

"_**Yes, of course, well...**_" NJ said, not really knowing how to say what needed to be said, stalling wasn't really one of his skills.

"Just spit it out already! I'd say I'm dying to know, but I'm already dead!" Naruto said, somewhat impatiently.

"_**Seeing as you were not specifically chosen by the higher ups to become what you have become...you are being sentenced to forever remain in the dimension, realm, universer, reality, world, that you will be sent to,**_" NJ stated as formally as It possibly could, "_**In addition to that, you will be IMMORTAL. Death will never again come for you. After we part I will unfortunately never be able to see you again. There is another with a similar fate, an unjust one, but a similar fate nonetheless. The Gates of Heaven and Hell will forever be barred from you. You shall walk the mortal plane for all of the remainder of your existence. You shall be a GOD amongst men.**_"

"That...that..." Naruto didn't know what to say, he never thought that his silght inattention would catch him such a fate.

"**Well, it could be worse..I suppose,**" Juubi butted in.

"How so?" Naruto asked, still in a mild state of shock.

"_**You could have ceased to exist,**_" NJ replied for Juubi, "_**Total eradication of the soul and your existence, past, present, and future, would have been made null and void. Thus rendering the **__**same for all the lives you had touched. Your memory of ever existing would have been erased completely. Everything you had done would have been erased. Image your former world had you not been born into it,**_" he paused to give the blonde some time to digest it's words, "_**By the look of dawning horror on your face, you can imagine. But I'm not just talking about this last life as Uzumaki Naruto, but including the one before that as the Shodaime Rikudou Sennin as well.**_"

"Y-you mean...?" Naruto couldn't get himself to say what he was thinking.

"**Yes, that's precisely what he means...due to your contributions to our former world, it would cease to exist past the time I would have been originally defeated by your first life,**" Juubi said, he too was in shock.

"I...I guess my fate's better than that," Naruto said, "What made the higher ups more lenient towards me?"

"_**The lives you had lived, and the lives that would have been lost, they took that into consideration as well,**_" NJ said, "_**Now before we go complete the process and send you two on your way, I have one final thing to say.**_"

"Go ahead," Naruto said, noting that NJ was waiting for his go-ahead.

"_**Don't forget to have fun,**_" NJ advised, "_**Even though this is something close enough to a death sentence, it isn't. You'll be alive in a sense again, retaining all that you gained in your most recent past life. Along with what you gained here accidentally and subconsciously. When I said God amongst men, I meant it literally. Kami will hold no power over you, except being able to bar you from seeing her home, ever.**_"

"Lead me to my fate," both Naruto and Juubi said at the same time, the latter losing it's demonically enhanced voice, "And thanks," Naruto added as an afterthought.

"_**You're welcome,**_" NJ said as he led the two of them out of the white space and through the many corridors packed with souls and other things going about their business, Naruto even managed to catch a glimpse of a man he thought could have been his father and pseudo-grandfather furiously writing stuff in two really big books. NJ said that the books were really just the register for who and what was in the Halls of Judgment for the duration of shift hours.

The duo were led to an empty hall that could probably fit a million souls comfortably. It had a ginormous black and white gate embedded in one of the walls.

"_**Well, this is farewell you two, I can go no further than this hall and I still have three of your children, Naruto, to watch over,**_" NJ said, then motioned towards the gate, "_**Walk on through them when you are ready for your fates, chosen and not.**_"

#

He'd grown bored over the centuries, nothing much really happened as time flew by and the ages came and went, technology, and everything else passed him by. He no longer really cared since nothing really caught his attention anymore. Not like the good old days when everything was still new.

He used to venture forth into the rest of the mortal realm back in those days, the days when nothing really mattered but adventure. Sure there had been some minor and major conflicts, but that was what made back then so interesting and so worthwhile. But things eventually changed while some things remained the same. He grew bored of the montony of it all and eventually decided to go have a nap to wile away the time until something became interesting again.

He even actually toyed with the idea of entering the lifestream to see if that could give him some amusement. He was the soul of the world after all, he was the god of the existence. He was in a sense a prisoner of the existence he existed in, but that didn't really matter when the possibilities were nigh endless for oneself. Even though he did grow bored of it all.

So that's what he eventually decided to do after thousands of years of boredom and sleep. He dived into the lifestream and fell asleep in a sense, locking away his memories and a majority of his power.

He made sure that he could get them all back, but that would have to wait. They would only be unsealed, and available to him once more if certain requirements were met, one of which being that the mortal shell he took on was in peril, the kind that miracles needed for things to be alright again.

He didn't really care how long it would take him to return to his senses. He was just glad for the break in the monotny of it all. He could wait, he was patient. He was everlasting after all.

It took him centuries of mindlessly floating within a sea of dreamers wanting and waiting to be plucked out and be able to experience the living world, where most of the impossible and possible were truly made possible, before it actually happened.

It happened two times already, but neither of those two times had unlocked his full memories, just his power. And not even all of it. He could remember them, during those times when he was complete, during the moments of his two past _deaths_ when one of his somewhat grandchildren came to take him to the afterlife or tried to at least until they found out who he was exactly. He was just dumped back into the lifestream as he asked them to do with him.

He remembered being some namelass and faceless warrior on the field of battle against one of the world's most terrible foes. The apocalypse was almost upon the world, and he was one of the warriors that served under the command of the one that the world had grown to call the Rikudou Sennin. A name he was all to familiar with, as he had also been that man, that mortal a separate set of twin lifetimes ago.

In that life he had fathered a clan, a clan that would one day be known for their ruthlessness in battle, as well as for having the sturdiest of bones in all the known world. A lesser known fact about them was that the most powerful of them would run the risk of gaining a sickness that few would know how to cure.

After all, it was what he of that one near insignificant life had actually died of. It had not been battle that had brought him down, but a sickness. He had been bedridden for years after the final battle, as some during that time had grown to call it. His small family always crowded around him, learning from him and listening to him. He was their founder and father.

The second life he had lived after diving head first into the lifestream was that of a smith, from weapons to armor to utilizing fuuinjutsu. No one really bothered with asking him for his name, though there was a record of him in the Kirigakure archives. He had made a lot of unique creations during his time in that life. He even marked all of his creations to recognize him as their master should he ever cross paths with them ever again, in any life as in that life he believed in reincarnation.

All his creations had been unique since he had imbued them with some of his power, a fraction of it, not that he knew that. He simply created whatever he wished on a whim, and when the process was over, another masterpiece lay before him.

He had several masterpieces that had not been claimed by anyone by the time of his death, he sealed them all away in a place where only he knew how to reach or could even reach for that matter. At the time he didn't really know how he had been able to do so many wonderful things. But he made them and that was all that had mattered at the time.

It was only in _death_ that he knew, that he briefly realized what had transpired for most of that second life. Though such knowledge was too locked away by himself after he had been dropped back into the lifestream awaiting another turn at the wheel.

It took another long while, a number of years in fact, before he was once again granted a mortal shell to possess.

But this third time was different. From the moment he first opened his eyes, there was a glimmer of ancient wisdom in them. Flashes of his two old lives often fogged up his dreams whenever he closed his eyes to go to sleep. Countless years of past memories had saved him on many an occasion when his guardians would almost be too late to save him.

While not all of his power and memories had been unlocked, a large minority of them had. It was enough for him to know to hide his uniqueness from the world, a world that feared him illogically. Even those that were normally dispised or distrusted by others scorned him with their eyes.

He knew to hide, lest they find some other reason to dislike or hate him further. He didn't want that, nor did he need that. It all felt so familiar to him though, all the motions, the glares, the stares, and the hurtful words.

The loneliness was not a foreign concept to him either, as was the neglect.

It was as if he had experienced them all before. But he didn't really yearn to know all there was to know about himself. He dared not take that one more step across the threshold that was his memories, or soul. It was dangerous, he knew that much. He also knew that it was not yet time. He did not have the authority or need to cross such a line, not yet, and not for many a few more years after the first dream ever started to appear for him, before the very first vision began.

In his youth of this second chance, as he believed it to somewhat be, he continued the work he had started when he had been that near nameless yet legendary smith, creating weapons and armor. Not for any need other than enjoyment. He enjoyed creating things after all, and some of his creations did puzzle his pursuers whenever he decided to go on a pranking spree across the village, dishing out retribution for his unfair treatment by the citizens of his home.

He also spent his time training, it was never a bad idea to refine one's skills, though he never did show what he could really do to anyone other than the animals and the trees. Not even his watchers, those silent and masked guardians that he knew were usually there had managed to see what he was truly capable of.

His public face and image was that of a fool hell bent on achieving what most considered to be an impossible dream when it came to him. But the face he saw when he looked in the mirror every morning was that of a warrior tempered in the fires of war. A smith who was the supreme master of his craft. He was a man among men and boys. A demigod for the mean time among mortals. But should all that remained being sealed were to be unleashed, he would be that god among men that even the gods themselves deferred to as Lord.

It was when he thought he saw one of his friends and rival fall before his eyes that he finally snapped. He severed whatever chains of fate and destiny had managed to catch hold of him. It was in that one single moment that his own seals relinquished their hold as his requirements had finally been met.

It was as if time had stopped entirely as he delved deep within his mind to embrace all that he had locked away from himself so as to better live the lives he chose to live, in a sense. He passed the bolted gate that had been crafted and created by his parents of this life and another life that he had only once again remembered.

The greater higher powers were kind to give him such a second chance. He was very much amused, gratefuly, and joyous for this chance to relive his true second life all over again.

He was Uzumaki Naruto, and it was time to shake things up once again.

"*"

Kyuubi had awoken, it felt the spiraling rage as it punctured it in its sleep. Years upon years of rest after being sealed in the son of the woman that had been his previous prison.

The first sensation that he felt was a chance to wreak havoc in the world once more, but those thoughts were dashed when glowing gold and luminescent blue energy flooded the mental world that he lived in and had been living in for the time being. It was an unexpected rush of power that he wondered where it had come from, for the feel of it was unlike anything that a mortal should have possessed. Not even that powerful mortal Takeshi, or as he was called the Rikudou Sennin, had felt so powerful.

There was that one warrior that had come close, but not to the extent of the power that was flooding the mortal shell that he had been imprisoned in.

It was either a miracle, a blessing, or a curse, that he was still whole. That he retained all of his nine glorious tails.

Then he felt it a moment later, a power that he would never forget, never dream of forgetting. A power that he would always remember, even in this fractured state.

It was the feel of his creator, the power of the one Being that he would always view as his father. The entity that sent him on that path of destruction on the world, all for the sake of making things interesting every now and then. He had managed, in his complete and whole state, to destroy the world a total of twenty four times. His crowning achievement would have been the twenty fifth had it not been for Takeshi and his interference with the fate of the world.

"Otou-sama!" Kyuubi called out, rattling the gates of its half-prison, which surprisingly actually shattered sending it and the fragments of its previous host's soul and her husband out of the body which they had all three occupied for a good twelve to thirteen years, Kyuubi wasn't all that sure about the time really.

After that little thing, time broke from its frozen state.

Kyuubi, Minato, and Kushina were blasted out of the now non-exitent dome of ice mirrors, along with them was Sasuke who Kyuubi had managed to catch with all of his nine tails. He at first wondered why he fit on the bridge and hadn't landed on top of it, the reason became clear when he saw his reflection in a puddle of water.

He had been granted a more human appearance, but kept his tails and ears.

"What the hell?" Minato cursed, a bit, as he wrapped his arms protectively around his wife as they landed hard on the concrete.

"What's going on here?" Kakashi demanded as he and his former foe landed just about near where the trio of new arrivals crash landed, along with Sasuke.

"I'd like to know that myself," Zabuza said, then remembered something, vanished in a swirl of mist and returned moments later with his protege.

"About that.." Kyuubi said, "Well, it appears that otou-sama has returned, for what purpose I have no idea."

"Who are you referring to exactly Kyuubi?" Kushina asked, she knew who she was talking to even it he lacked the demonically enhanced voice that she used to associate with it.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Kyuubi replied, "Or at least the inhabitor of that mortal shell who apparently went by such a name once a long long time ago. I remember him sharing that with me back when I was young and not a mere ninth of a whole."

Before the conversation could go any further, the whole conscious group was treated to the sight of a whirling vortex of more than just gold and blue, but more like a rainbow of colors. It twisted and turned and even pierced the heavens. Prompting some divinities to step in lest the one world they so loved would be destroyed upon such an awakening.

The divinities sent the one of their number that was most accustomed to venturing onto the mortal plane. The Shinigami and her, yes her, corps of soldiers and servants. They appeared from out of a paper thin door and formed a wall of bodies between the mortals and the more than immortal that had just unlocked his entire being once again.

She was in her ceremonial robes, sans the hanya like mask she usually wore to work. She had beeni n a rush to get to the bridge that grabbing it had acutally slipped her mind. Not that it really mattered. She was still the Goddess of Death, her subordinates however had remembered to don their own masks, the ones that completed their uniformed shinobi shozoku.

"Stay behind us," she ordered, "Kyuubi wake the Uchiha, we'll be requiring his and your help in shielding the world from the force of the explosion that is yet to come."

The Uchiha was enervated and after he got back his bearings was ordered to join the line and activate his eyes, which were a watered down version of the gift that Kami had granted Takeshi to take down Naruto's creation Juubi, named and formed in remembrance of his friend that had chosen the afterlife over reincarnation.

"What can my eyes do?" the Uchiha had questioned the goddess, "Their basic capabilities aren't fit for shielding you know."

The winds had picked up around them, forcefully dispering the mist that had shrouded the bridge and most of the waters around it. Those on the bridge managed to catch a glimpse of a vessel on the water's surface as it steadily made its way to the bridge, as well as a mighty figure far off in the distance seemingly holding the waters of the world together and from flooding over onto the land.

"I will unlock one of your doujutsu's more advanced abilities," Shinigami said and snapped her fingers, the boy's eyes' pattern changing somewhat, gaining a single triangle around the central dot, "You now have the ability to call on Susanoo, named after one of my uncles, use him to shield the mortals of this group as they are the representatives of the whole of the world."

"How do I do that?" Sasuke asked her, he knew that she was not someone to be disrespectful to.

"Just will it or wish it or both," Shinigami said as she unsheathed her knife and held it before her which promted a nearly invisible barrier to form before her, her subordinates following her lead, Kyuubi doing something similar, "I don't really know, I'm not an Uchiha. You are!"

"What about me?" Kakashi asked, "I've got a sharingan too, you know. I can help!"

"Fine," Shinigami said and kicked him in the 'nads causing his eyes to both go wide and a change in his single transplanted eye to occur.

"Same thing as your student," Shinigami informed him, "Now, get the defence up quickly, the fate of the world hangs in the balance here!"

Just as she said it would happen, it did happen. The shaft of light or power came crashing back down on its source, and compressed into a dome that looked similar to the ice dome that had once occupied the space it was now in.

It then further compressed, like a Bijuudama would before it was swallowed up and the energy escaped orally.

"Brace yourselves!" Shinigami shouted, her voice was now almost unheard in the wailing of the winds that now peppered the bridge along with the crashing of the waves on its foundations, a maelstorm had quickly formed after the shaft of light had fallen back to earth.

Sasuke and Kakashi had managed to erect their ghostly avatars of protection just as the dome exploded outwards.

Had it not been for the two spectral protectors the group might not have managed to survive. Apparently as they soon found out, Shinigami's role in the whole thing was to draw all the escaped energy and force to her knife which acted as some form of portal to a pocket dimension where the energy could safely disperse, her subordinates were to act as additional aid in drawing all the energy to her and protecting the mortals behind them, while Kyuubi and the two sharingan wielders were there as the real protection.

When it was all over, and the proverbial dust and literal dust had finally settled, the group bore witness to the head of Gato Shipping Industries rolling and stopping at the feet of Shinigami. Standing a few meters away was Naruto, sans a shirt, coated in an aura of his own visible energies.

"Its been quite a while since I've been whole," Naruto said, then addressed the group, "While the divine intervention is appreciated, it was unnecessary. I could have just returned everything to the way they were after they were destroyed. I do have that ability, you know."

"No we didn't know," Shinigami said, "I can't really say that its great to see you again great-grandfather, since I'd be lying if I did," she then went straight to the point, "What happens now, O Omnipotent One?"

"I have a bit more fun, its been quite a while since I've truly walked the world in any form," Naruto said, "Though I guess, my former shell, which I shall be discarding soon will be in need of a second chance of his or her own."

"What are you trying to lead me to agreeing with?" she asked him, hesitantly.

"I want you to restore Namikaze Minato and his wife's lives, make their souls as whole as my own," he told her, "They deserve this second chance, along with their child or children."

"You can just do that yourself, why need me to do it?" she asked him.

"Because I'm a tad bit lazy at the moment, channeling my inner Nara and all that," Naruto said as he began to glow.

The light around him became so bright that all had to look away, including the divinities in their version of heaven, though nowhere near one of the true ones since they wanted to remain closer to the land of the living than a true heaven could ever be. It also granted them the ability to stay on Naruto's good side since it allowed him to visit places as close to heaven and hell as they could create for him. It kept him from actually and actively denying them of any purpose and vanishing into myth.

"Fine," she said, and shoved two fingers down her throat in order to barf out the fragmented souls required for the full ressurection, she motioned with her free hand for two of her subordinates to erase the bodies that had been buried in Konoha of the two people she was bringing back to life.

"Good," Naruto said, as he reappeared before them, but looking more like he was of the age of Minato and looked kinda like him too, though with two whisker marks across each cheek instead of his original three.

"What happens now?" Minato asked as he stood up and helped his wife up and off the ground, "And what did you mean by child or children? As far as I know, we've only had...well...you."

"I've gone through the liberty of having you skip the conception process," Naruto said, then snapped his fingers causing a portal to appear below the couple, "Congratulations Kushina, you're pregnant, now wait for us to come fetch you with your strange amnesia somewhere else here in Wave. Ciao!"

With that, the couple fell through the portal to experience their second chance.

"So how do we explain all this to the Hokage?" Kakashi asked, "I mean, sure you're well...whatever you are, but how do we explain all of this," he motioned to everything, "Without getting sent to basement b? Where all the real nutcases are sent."

"Oh, don't worry about me messing with your memories of everything," Naruto said, "I've just messed with everyone else' memories of me. As of this moment, I am Uzumaki Naruto, the fourth sennin of Konoha, complete with free travel rights as well as being on the semi-retired list of shinobi. I chose to tag along with you using a transformation technique of my own creation in order for the last loyal Uchiha to not have to wait for a third teammate since the Academy was out of spares."

"Err...ok..." Kakashi said, "Anything else we should know about?"

"Konoha has no jinchuuriki," Naruto said.

It was quite a bombshell.

"What do you mean? Then how do you explain sensei going mis...sing?" Kakashi said, as he suddenly remembered that instead of Konoha forces finding his sensei's body, what had been found was nothing. No sign of his sensei or his sensei's family.

The Sandaime had made a show of showing a baby to the village, claiming it to be the Kyuubi jinchuuriki when it truth it was not. It was really just Naruto using his special and unique transformation technique. It was a ruse into making other villages and nations thinking that Konoha still had the power to back up their claim at being the strongest.

"I see what you did there," Kakashi said, after gaining a look of comprehension, "You lived out the past few years in the form that you once held as a child in order to keep the truth from getting out."

"Correct," Naruto said, "You learn fast. So anything I miss out?"

"What's your moniker in the world?" Kakashi asked, "I've never heard of you being an infamous person."

"I am one of the unknowns in the International Bingo Book," Naruto said, "I am known as Kage Kousen and Nanashi Yuurei."

"Well shit," Kakashi said, "Not even Konoha knows that, I'm guessing the Hokage does."

"Indeed he does," Naruto said, "I'm also the head of the Uzumaki clan, as I am far older than any other Uzumaki alive today."

"Well thanks for clearing that up," Kakashi said, "Now what happens? Mission accomplished, I see you even finished the bridge for Tazuna without any effort on your part I might add."

"Yeah, what happens now?" Zabuza asked, butting into the conversation.

"Well...I could kill you," Naruto said, "It wouldn't be too hard, get some extra cash for Kakashi's team and all that...or..." he paused.

"Or..?" Zabuza asked, hoping for a better deal since Shinigami was already preparing herself for her job.

"Or you could..hmm...hand over your adopted daughter over to me," Naruto said, "You'd also have to marry, yes I did just mention marriage, Shikyo. How's that?"

"Deal!" Zabuza said, not really caring who Shikyo happened to be only to almost regret his decision when he spotted THE Shinigami in bridal attire.

"My mother will be so happy that someone finally decided to help me make the decision of finally settling down," Shinigami Shikyo said happily. She'd always wanted to marry a strong man with a past filled with death, but she never really got around to it since most of such men that she met were not able to actually do anything with him other than move on to the afterlife.


	114. R1

It was really thanks to his life as Nagato that he was able to adjust to being in control of a hundred bodies in addition to his core one, the body of the life he now lived. The life he had been living before some higher power, he suspected that it was one of _Them_, decided that it was time for him to awaken. Him, along with his hundred past lives.

There went any chance of reincarnation, once one became fully awake and aware of one's past lives, all of them, and was given all of their memories, powers, and abilities, it was difficult to even want to go back to the regular flow of reincarnation. One other reason being that _They_ would probably not want one of their entertainment figures to have a normal existence again.

Nagato was just one of those lives, a name to separate one of those hundred individual existences. There were 99 others of course, but only Nagato had ever been able to consciously be in control of multiple bodies at the exact same time. One mind seven bodies.

Now it was one mind with 101 bodies. Not that he needed to use them all at the same time. He just needed a few at a time moving now that he had them.

Now that he had all of what was now at his fingertips, he could begin his plan. Something which he had gone through on a number of sides, in some past lives.

One of which was as a green haired immortal that had eventually found death. Being a girl had never been so weird for him, but at least he could now claim to know how such a gender's mind worked.

He had experienced being, as much as it disgusted him, Charles zi Britannia his most hated of foes. This made him have knowledge of how things were from the enemy's point-of-view. Then there was the life that he had spent being Kururugi Suzaku, the white knight and knight of Zero. There was also life as the mind reader Mao, the man of miracles, the empress' most loyal commander, the most loyal of knights, and even the brother seeking a purpose.

He knew his enemy, even better than his enemy knew himself. He could read minds now and anticipate the actions of others, he could change the perception of time of others, he was an ace when it came to knightmare frame use, he was a master swordsman, he could even interface with another person's memories and have them relieve their greatest sins.

It may be a year earlier than his previous run throughs with the event, but revolutions or rebellions were never too early for preparations to begin.

The multiple bodies part came from the Elemental-Ninja-lives that he had lived. From Nagato and his fellow student and Child of Prophecy, to the seeker of immortality, to the seeker of everlasting slumber, which was in a way similar to Charles's own plan and plot, to five great leaders, an old warhawk, and few others.

Blood clones was his answer to utilizing his multiple existences, the sum total of all 100 previous lives. He couldn't just go and abduct random citizens to become his other bodies like Nagato, kind of, did. This way was also easier.

He kind of wished that the technology for actual clones like during the clone wars was available. But he had to make do with what he had, since actual more than just solid clones would be difficult to dispose of when no longer needed or dead.

He created only six clones, for the time being, he already knew what he was going to do, based on his previous lives and of course based on the thousands upon thousands of plans that he had already concocted before the day that he had awoken.

Bringing down Britannia and becoming the Demon Emperor, or whatever he was now slated to become, just became a whole lot easier.

Instead of getting the loyalty and cooperation of the people earlier than in his previous lifetimes, he would be using this extra and early year to amass a greater fortune than before as well as amass what he would need to be a force to be reckoned with, from armaments to bases of operations and a number of other things.

Since he couldn't use a person whose face had a great possibility of being seen in this world, he chose to give his clones the faces of those bodies that he had lived as from other worlds, other dimensions, other existences. The clothes though, were improvised based on the modern fashions and trends, but nothing that would make them stand out, just fit right on in.

For money he had one clones take on the form of Tsunade, but unlike that life this clone had the luck of Naruto, but with the knowledge and skill of when he had been that woman.

For health insurance, of sorts, he had two clones take on the forms of both Orochimaru and Kabuto and having their brilliance. Both would be in charge of going about gaining weapons and health insurance, from a medical facility or two to armor and the like.

He had a clone take on the form of Danzo, back in his prime and not the seeming cripple that had those other DNA and body parts implanted into him, he didn't need those things since he had those things in him already. Danzo was in charge of running his intelligence network for the time being, from set up to updating and upgrading.

Instead of continuing with the Elemental-Ninja trend, he decided that the Six Noble Houses needed some extra protection from the shadows, so he had two clones take on the forms of two that knew what it meant to live in the shadows while having the skills required to take down even a knightmare frame. Kenshin and Aoshi. One was master of the deadliest sword fighting style of his time, the other was a shadow on par with those from the lands that used chakra to augment their natural abilities.

They would be the first that he would be using while living his life as a student and overprotective older brother.

Things were definitely going to be different this time around, for one thing, he was going to make sure that his little sister gained the use of all of her faculties, that wheelchair of hers was such an obstacle sometimes and a hindrance most other times.

He was now a master of deception and manipulation.

He would use these new masteries to his advantage when it came to giving his sister back the ability to see and walk. He needed the procedure to be medical more than miracle.

It took him three months to get everything that he needed, including his revolution and rebellion things, the basics at the least for some of the things he needed. He had made himself the owner of the entire Shinjuku area, when the massacre would occur he could demand reparations from the nobles that ran Area 11 for the destruction and loss of life. With ownership was also able to construct a base underneath even the sewers of the ghetto, much like the base of operations he had back when he was Danzo.

It was there was he would _heal_ his sister of her injuries.

He might have been the overprotective older brother, but that did not mean that he couldn't be the slightly insane overprotective older brother. He chose to go with the kidnapping route of things, drive himself insane a bit more. His mind could handle it after all, and it would inject some chaos in his normally uniformed, logical, and calculated life.

It was an operation the required more than just six other forms. So he created a few more clones, he had enough blood to spare after all, and chakra, he had a lot of both since he was basically assured nigh immortality due to possessing a Code.

These clones were faceless puppets that danced to his whims, from stealing a stereotypical black kidnapper's van to disabling the young princess' last line of defense. While he may not like the idea of lying to his sister, that didn't mean that he had anything against keeping secrets from her.


	115. R2

He was running as fast as his physically unfit body could take him. It had been a bad move after all to bet against one of the Yakuza while in said person's territory. Winning hadn't been so bad, it was trying to escape with the money that was. Apparently this particular yakuza had a bad rep for not liking it when he lost, there wasn't any of that famed honor that they might have possessed. There was only a sore loser and a whole lot of greed.

He knew that his chances for survival were very slim, but he had to at least try his best to escape as he had a sister and friends that were depending on his survival for their better futures or continued existences. There were also all of his many plans of vengeance against anyone that had been involved in the murder of his mother and the crippling of his sister.

A well aimed and timed gunshot was all that it took for him to fall to the ground in pain as his knees gave out from under him, one of them badly injured thanks to being punctured by a bullet acting like some sort of spear. The first gunshot was followed by a second and a third, until he found that he could no longer feel his body as if floating in ether.

It was both a pleasant and frightening sensation.

'_Why do things have to end this way?_' he asked himself, it was the only thing he could really do during such a situation.

Then he saw it, or rather them. His memories flashing before his eyes. His whole life running in reverse from ever beat of his heart to every conversation to every breath he took to every action that he chose to take. It all happened before his very eyes. When he thought it was over, which was just as he realized that he had even seen something that must have been his conception, it began again. But this time from what must have been his death or after life even. _I chose reincarnation. I have not found what I am looking for._ Those were the words that repeated themselves after every single life that he had, as a soul, ever lived.

There were a total of 101 lives in all, he had counted, including the one he believed was about to end.

It was said that before death or when one encountered death, one's life flashed before their eyes. Well he didn't just start believing that saying but went right into believing it. Though he did wonder why it was all of his past lives and not just this one that he was experiencing.

He thought that he was going to be given the choice of eternity or reincarnation again, but instead his momentary trip into blissful unfeeling was replaced by pain almost unlike anything he had ever experienced in his multiple lives. It was a combination of all the forms of torture that he had ever experienced first hand physically. When it was over he wondered just how much of his life had been taken away and how in the hell he was still...alive...or whatever state of being he was in, for he was quite sure that he wasn't dead yet.

It was like waking up from a very odd dream-nightmare. He found himself laying in a puddle of what must have been his blood. His clothes were soaked in the metallic scented liquid after all. There was no sign of his attackers or pursuers. He was alone in that backalley in the ghetto that he had run into as he attempted to escape that one greedy bastard.

He picked himself off of the ground wondering all the while if what he had experienced had been some sort of hallucination or dellusion on his part, though it was the only thing that presented itself when he began to question how he had survived being shot in several places. As well as the fact that he didn't sport any kind of wound that would or could indicate that he had been injured at all. The only proof he did have was that the money he had had with him was no longer on his person and all the blood that was stinking up the place.

He needed to assess his situation as well as any additional changes to the not being dead part of how things already were. Then there was also his mean streak to think about, he had a thing about revenge. He dared not let one of his enemies remain unpunished if he could help it, and he knew that somehow he now had the ability to do whatever it took to take down his most recent foe.

There were soon countless questions floating in his head, chief among them was how in the world had been able to seemingly trasport himself from the ghetto area to the bathroom connected to his personal quarters at school and wearing clothes that were devoid of any trace of blood whatsoever.

He decided to put his plans for revenge on hold for the time being, and focused more on mastering his body and memories. There was a lot to experiment and figure out, which was made blatantly obvious since it took him half a year to figure everything out, things became a whole other level of easier when he figured out that he had multiple energies flowing within him and also how to use them and the energies flowing around him.

He'd actually accidentally come across these other energies as well as their applications after witnessing his maid go all ninja on some would be kidnapper of his sister. The man did not get to see the police, instead he was treated to a beating that he would forever remember and would never look at a female the same way ever again.

The man would later also become afraid of people in general, even afraid of his own reflection, especially after it tried to eat him the first three times.

It was a little more than a year later that he decided it was time to exact his revenge against one that had sought to end his life. He was a walking example of the possible reality of a successful hyakumongatari kaidankai, he was the product of all one hundred tales, each of his 100 past lives being the equivalent of a single tale. This 101st was the supernatural being that had been born from all those previous ones.

It was a 16 year old Lelouch vi Britannia, or Lamperouge, that sought out the Yakuza leader in the very same ghettos that he had nearly lost his life but instead been reborn into whatever he could now be called. But instead of wearing the face of the vice-president of the Ashford Academy Student Council, he wore a different face, that of a Japanese, androgynous, teenager, one with long red hair tied in a thick ponytail.

He chose to wear a purple long sleeved shirt, and off-white loose pants, and a pair of sandals on his feet. He also had something hidden away in a pocket dimension of his own creation, a pair of swords among them, both of which he had discovered thanks to memories of two separate past lives, a sword that could heal any wound and ever bring back a person from the great beyond and another that could supposedly kill a hundred demons in a single strike, not that there were many such creatures at present in his world. Along with such a pair, he had a number of other weapons at his disposal. But the most unique weapon was a katana with a reversed edge.

It was another gambling thing, where he won and when he was staring down the barrel of a gun, well...

His violet eyes shifted into amber or gold, a sword was drawn, blood was spilt, and all the guns lay in pieces on the floor. Only one man was left standing in the room. He was probably the oldest of the men under the late Yakuza's command.

His name, surprisingly, was Shimura Danzo, a name and face shared by the demon that stood before him sheathing a sword that had not even a single drop of blood on it.

"W-why.." the old man asked, fear crawling all over his skin, it was an energizing energy that filled the demon's monster side with more power. Osore was as much as power as was chakra or KI.

"You remind me of myself...you who have been secretly undermining your former boss," Lelouch said, "I find that I could use a man with your talents and skills. How about it?"

"Seeing that you managed to eliminate all other threats in this room while looking as if you had simply only drawn and sheathed your blade. What other choice do I have then to join you?" Danzo said, he even sported an eye patch, but had no other handicaps on him, "I will follow you, sir."

"Then let us share a sakazuki to cement our relationship with one another," Lelouch said, "And just so you know, Danzo, I am Lelouch vi Britannia, exiled and forgotten prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, with a number of other names and aliases."

"B-But you look nothing like a Britannia," the old man remarked even as he began preparing some sake for the two of them to share.

"This is but one face that I wear, one character from one of my hundred tales," Lelouch said.

"Hundred tales?" Danzo asked as he exchanged sakazuki with his new boss.

Lelouch gave a simplified explanation for what he was, in short he claimed that he was god of sorts, banished from the heavens. Just as he had been as a prince of a third of the world.

Similar incidents such as that saw themselves play out for the rest of the year. He grew in wealth and power, as well as in man power. He was conquering Japan or Area 11 slowly, from the ground up. By the time he reached 17, all that he would really need to do was get the love of the people that were not his, as well as take on the military stationed in such a strategic place.

It didn't really take him long. He knew what would need to take place and what needed to be avoided.

#

While the face he showed to his peers at the academy remained the same, if one knew him well enough they would spot the changes that he had undergone. Though everyone did note that he had gone from being not that physically fit to being able to go toe to toe with te school's champion wrestler, and had even managed to to outrun the equiestrian club's entire membership.

That his only real obvious change as he had been very blunt when he had done it. The other change that only a select few had managed to notice was that he did not pretend to be clueless about the opposite gender, rather, he expressed his knowledge when it came to dealing with such a gender. Some of the girls that chased after him learned what kind of master or monster he was when it came to such games, after some of them pushed him too far.

The one person he dared not try any of his new tricks on was Milly, he had grown quite hesitant to use such underhanded tricks to get her to do some favors for him. Especially since he had some other ways of persuation to get her off of his back and distracted from what he tended to do during his free time. He had even managed to keep quite a number of secrets from his sister. While lying was one thing that he dared not do when it came to his sister, keeping secrets was another thing entirely.

With his newfound abilities, powers, memories, knowledge, and whatnot, he was able to be both serious and playful most of the time. He was also able to do a number of things that he would never have been able to do even if given a number of handicaps or free tries. One such thing was the elimination of anyone that he deemed unworthy of living. He had one mean streak. He did things to people that messed with his sister, and no one could or would ever be able to prove that he had done it short of a confession from him.

He had also managed to make it possible for himself and his sister to be nigh untouchable by the government. He could kill infront of the governor and get away scott free. It was quite demonic of him to have done some of the things he had done within the span of something close to two years. He was the most frightening thing that the underworld and undergound of Area 11 talked about. He was the fuel of some of their worst fears and most sleep-shattering nightmares.

He went by a number of names by this time. He was Master of Fear, Manslayer, God of Gamblers, Kage, Assassin, Ninja, Sennin, Demon, Demon Emperor, Black Prince, and so many other names and titles that the many people he dealt with called him to his face or otherwise.

His Yakuza families called him the Demon Emperor because of something that he had done to an entire clan of criminals that had dared to just look at his sister wrong. He didn't kill them, he turned them into demons, monsters, spirits, the things that went bump in the night. He also made them fanatically loyal to himself and himself alone.

He then sent them out into the country to sow the seeds of fear that would birth even more monsters. The night would be something to fear once again. Belief and fear had been almost wiped out, but with his awakening, it would return and a part of the Area's past and culture would be returned to them, whether they wanted it to or not.

He turned Shinjuku Ghetto into his base of operations, he dug deep into the earth, and founded a facility where his operatives could freely meet. It was an underground city where the underworld could thrive under his leadership. What had started as a mere base had turned into a thriving metropolis where the supernatural had a thing of popping up unexpectedly before being intergrated into daily life. It was an even better escape to the addictive and unhealthy drug called refrain.

He sat upon a throne of bones, a hundred whole skeletons to be exact. Each one representing the hundred tales that had brought about his awakening in the world. It was quite a sight, a sight that only a select few, his generals, were able to actually see, and that that their own skeletons were not added to the monstrosity that it was.

It didn't really take him long before he began leading more than just a double life. He actually had a blood clone take his place at school and at his sister's side in both his form and in the form of a butler. Sebastian Michaelis was the latest addition to the Lamperouge household, and almost replaced the 101st tale's place in the fantasies of many of the student population.

A demon butler to match the a demon emperor.

It was alright, he wasn't lying to anyone, only keeping secrets, and it wasn't like he wasn't there with his sister. His clone was himself, and therefore he was his clone. It was his blood and power that was keeping it alive and in action after all. The use of his clones was actually like being omnipresent.

He sat upon his throne of bones as his generals argued amongst themselves regarding the many sectors and problems that could be found in any thriving metropolis when some explosions from above ground took him away from his thoughts and stopped the arguing from the mere mortals below him in the hall.

"What in the world?" he wondered out loud, which was followed with quite the devilish grin as his blood clone dispelled itself, something that it was supposed to do when the time for a new name for himself was to be born.

"What is it your majesty?" Danzo asked, as he was the voice of the generals and department heads.

"It is time that we go to war," Lelouch stated as he stood from his seat and discarded his imperial garb and replaced it with, surprisingly, his school uniform.

"Sir?" one of his generals, another that shared a name with him, one Shishio Makoto said.

"My blood clone has dispelled and informed me that Shinjuku Ghetto is under siege," Lelouch explained, "Britannia lost all rights to Shinjuku Ghetto the moment that our undergound metropolis first took form. The ghetto is as much a part of this place as is the rest of the underground settlements that we have founded and I have raised or created."

There was a moment of silence before he countinued speaking, all the while he walked to the only exit and entrance into his Throne Room.

"I believe now is the perfect time for Britannia to taste our steel," Lelouch stated, "I will get the rebels fighting up above to work for me, while the lot of you prepare to engage this small fraction of Britannia's might."

"So until you call for us, what are we going to do?" another shared name and former face, Seimei, leader of the religious sect of Lelouch's still small empire, asked.

"Evacuate as many civilians as you can," was Lelouch's order, "The innocents should not be caught in the crossfire of our war."

"Your will be done," Seimei, followed by the rest, stated, saluted, and moved to go about gearing up for war.

It didn't take him long to get the rebels to cooperate with him. His promise of victory aided him with that. He got them to do everything he told them to, including retreat when the White Knightmare dropped into the field of battle.

When the rebels thought that their victory was just a prelude to their punishment to defying the Britannians, they were surprised to find almost all of the criminals not under Britannian employ suddenly popping out of shadows and doorways, and even the ground like an army of zombies. Actually, the leader of the grounp one Kaname Ohgi had actually seen a small platoon of zombies.


	116. R3

He couldn't really be blamed for his actions after his mother's death. He could finally show his real colors, his true face, his true self. After having _awoken_ so to speak, it was hard to go against the flow of how his past lives had been. He had a dream, through all of them, individually to become immortal. Each past life he had failed, but this 101st life, he was sure that he would succeed. He had even received confirmation that he would, simply due to the fact that upon the imposition or manipulation of his memories, his father had accidentally unlocked all of those past lives within him, and with those memories came the abilities and powers from those past lives.

He was the sum total of a hundred tales, and much like the hyakumongatari kaidenkai, he was the demon that arose after the 100th tale had been told.

He had lived a sum total of 100 past lives. All or most of them the villain of those existences. He had been his own father and uncle even. Those were the only lives he had detested. Now, now he had been given the chance to live again, but this time with memories from all lives intact and available to him.

He could do almost anything, as if he were a god banished from the heavens with the freedom to wreak havoc in the living world.

He planned on bringing about the destruction of present world order, and have hell rise up from the ashes of the present world. He would do so by any means necessary, even killing his own kin in the process. He cared not for the so-called bonds that he had showed people that he had. It had all been an act. Even his supposed love for his sister had been an act.

No one really knew him, only himself. He had lived many similar lives, all of them ending in defeat, as in all of them he had had something, a kind of weakness. That weakness being something known as a human heart. But he now considered himself as more than human. He was a demon in human form. His dream or goal or even ambition was now to become the Demon Emperor, and he would rule for a 1000 or more years.

After his mother's death he decided that if he was to get some form of favor from the emperor, he should show the man, a man that he had at one time been, that he was capable of making the right decision, as well as doing what was necessary for a world where the strong ruled over the weak.

He came before his father, with his sister in tow, the little princess, blind and crippled believed that her brother was there to speak on their behalf regarding the murder of their mother. Little did she know that she was just another pawn in her brother's greater scheme of things to come.

"What do you want, Lelouch?" the emperor demanded in his commanding tone.

"I come here, today, to ask how I might prove my worth to this empire," Lelouch stated, his gaze fixed firmly with the emperor's own.

"So have not come for justice," the emperor mused, "Fine then, if you are able to prove your worth to the empire then I will hear of your true request."

"Very well, your majesty," Lelouch said and pulled out a concealed gun, it was a small pistol that had been missed by the guards of the audience chamber, everyone in the hall had not been expecting that a 10 year old would pull such a trick, some even dared to think that he was there to assassinate his father as a means to gaining the crown.

What happened instead gained him the nickname the Demon Prince, for in the minds of all those present, even the emperor himself, only a demon would dare mercilessly empty an entire pistol's worth of bullets in one's own flesh and blood.

He didn't even bother to cock the gun, as if prepared for what he had done. He simply pulled it out, fluidly, and without remorse shot his sister right between the eyes, followed by all the other places that would ensure that she would stay dead.

Horror dawned upon all the faces that had seen the spectacle. Even the hardened growing Witch of Britannia could not stomache what she had borne witness to and was glad that her younger sister had not witnessed such a brutal event. While Britannia did believe that only the strong deserved to rule, they didn't believe that one's siblings or family were that expendable.

"You..killed her...without remorse..in cold blood," the emperor began to speak once he was sure that his voice would not crack, "Why?"

"She was of no use to the empire, no use to you the Emperor, and no use to me," Lelouch simply stated, "She was weak. A pathetic waste of space."

"Very well," Charles said, "I will hear your true request now."

"I wish to conquer Japan for the empire," Lelouch announced, "Simply send me there and I will show the Japanese how futile their attempts at remaining outside of our control truly is."

"Then you are to make your way there by your own means," the Emperor ordered, he didn't like the way one of his sons had become right under his very nose without him knowing about it, such an unknown could jeopardize the plan after all, "You have half a year to conquer Japan. Let us see if the eleventh prince is truly strong. Should you fail, you will join your sister. Should you succeed, you will be permitted to rule your own Area."

"Many thanks, your majesty," Lelouch thanked, then walked out of the room looking every bit the demonic prince that he was, complete with demonic aura almost visible to the naked eye.

"*"

No one in the homeland knew how the eleventh prince had made it to Japan unescorted. All they knew was that one day he was just there. The next thing they were made aware of was that anyone that could potentially oppose him was taken down, in the bloodiest way possible.

Every single government official in the country and anyone that he could find that could pass on everything that it meant to be a Japanese was taken out of commision permanently. Everything that made the nation what it was was stripped from it, including its name. All within the span of just six months upon his arrival winth the newly dubbed Area 11.

As far as he was concerned they were a whole nation and he was just one extremely powerful 10 year old. If they were deserving of their freedom, they should have been able to take him out. He didn't even have a knight of his own, or a royal guard, or an army. He just had himself and his demonic ways.

He actually kept a collection of all of his kills, preserved heads the lot of them, within a room in the castle which he had chosen as his base of operations. No one knew what it really looked like on the inside, there was only speculation. But some spies from what remained of the resistance groups or opposition to his rule had caught sight of inhuman things patrolling the halls.

The emperor decided agaisnt sending anyone to wrest control of Area 11 from the eleventh prince, it was a bit of fear which his secret older brother also shared. It seemed that the killing of Nunnaly had been enough to instill some fear in the 98th emperor.

Within seven months Lelouch vi Britannia truly became the Demon Prince, and his Area 11, while it did become a major source of sakuradite, it was also given the nickname Hell's Gate. No one without a backbone dared to even think about going there. This was why only the foolhardy and eccentric dared venture into the realm of one prince that could kill babies without remorse or any feeling whatsoever.

The different resistance cells and factions that had tried to form during the first months of his rule had all been found and eliminated, or most of their members had anyway. The remnants knew that they could not win, sometimes living was a fate worse than death which was why they were allowed their lives.

But even with how hopeless their situation was, they still believed that they had a chance to win, they were a prideful bunch after all.

Taking them on was quite fun, even after the years passed, it was still quite fun.


	117. R4

He'd just more or less won the battle of Shinjuku, he was making he was also just about to pull the trigger of the gun he was holding. When It happened.

The awakening of his Geass seemed to have stalled another awakening. One that should have taken precedence to the Geass, but it didn't as if the Geass had managed to overpower this other awakening. This awakening was the reawakening of long forgotten or hidden away memories.

Time seemed to have stopped around him as he relieved a hundred lives worth of memories. His physical body also gained some upgrades of its own too. Abilities, powers, and energies that had been present in those hundred past lives were integrating themselves into his present body. In a manner of speaking mentally and physically he was being upgraded into some sort of demi-god.

The transformation process only lasted for about a minutes, but when it was all over, he was back to almost pulling the trigger of the gun he was holding and pointing at his older half brother.

"I've changed my mind," he said, then activated one of his special abilities, something which he had gained as Jeremiah Gottwald, then reactivated his own personal Geass, "I, Lelouch vi Britannia, order to you be loyal to me, any order I give you is yours to fulfil unless I state otherwise."

"Yes, my lord," Clovis stated.

After those customary words were given, Lelouch then proceeded to see just how strong he had suddenly become, while keeping in mind that he needed to keep his brother alive if his plans were to push through.

He beat his brother within an inch of his life, it wasn't as good as outright asssassination, but he knew that it would have to do. It wouldn't do for Nunnaly to be sad that their brother Clovis was dead, or that he had died by his, her full brother's, own hand.

Things then proceeded in much the same way that they had had in the first existence that he had lived through such events, though with the minor alterations that he had seen to committing.

Instead of being accused of assassinating a prince of the empire, Suzaku was charged with attempted assassination of a prince. He was also to be given a trial while Clovis recouperated at a heavily garded medical facility.

As the honorary britannian was being led to his doom, or what he thought to be his death, Lelouch was already prepared and heading to meet them with his two recruited henchmen, Ohgi and Kellen, two unwitting accomplices that still had doubts about the authenticity and sincerity of the man that was or looked to be taking them to their deaths. The man was clearly a little bit insane, one had to be if they were planning on taking on a full military escort.

They were going to go ahead and rescue the man accused of beating a prince within an inch of his life. It was suicide, but this Zero character was something else, something else entirely.

It came as quite the big surprise when the man not only managed to get Suzaku, but also escape while admitting to being the one to attack Clovis, and a whole bunch of other things.

Lelouch had proclaimed it to all the world. He, Zero, had done what had been though impossible. He had done the impossible and lived to tell the tale.

It was a miracle, and he would continue giving these freedom fighters miracles so long as they followed him, as long as they followed him like demons followed their leader in a parade.

He brought them minor victories after that first one. It was quite a bit of fun...


	118. R5

He'd lived enough lives to no longer want to live through anymore. Yet at the same time he could not or would not dare choose the choice of heaven. Therefore he struck a deal with the devil, a deal similar to a select number of others. He was granted immortality, plain and simple.

Immortality with all the powers needed to be considered as a higher power. His additional powers and abilities were simply everything that he had, minus the weaknesses of his past 100 lives. This 101st was the last life that he would live. It would be the culminative tale of his hundred tales. He was the demon born from those hundred past tales.

He had lived a hundred individual lives, and because of this he had also lived to see different points-of-view concerning a number of events and experiences.

His first life was one of the few that he wished to actually live once again. It had been the one where he had actually willingly sacrificed his own life for the happiness and peace of the world. He had burned the world and birthed a newer, peaceful, and gentler one.

His first name was Lelouch Lamperouge, he never really did like being Lelouch vi Britannia, the one that had become known in that life as the Demon Emperor. He was hated for almost all of eternity, save for by a select few for his perceived deeds and motivations.

He wanted to relieve that life again. He decided to do so, but at the same time, he knew that he would not be able to do so. He tried asking some of those that worked within the Halls of Judgement where souls were supposed to pass through before either being sent to Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, to be reincarnated, or to work within the Halls.

Most had referred him to one of the senior Death Reapers that remained within the Halls as guides for the recently deceased. Unluckily for him, this particular Death Repear had not been assigned to his case.

"Agentes Cuarentayseis?" Lelouch asked the Death Reaper he had been told to look for.

~I am he~ the Death Reaper (DR) replied, ~What do you require of me O Demon Emperor~

"So you know of me, or at least of who I had been," Lelouch said, "I seek your opinion. I wish to return...to go back and rewrite my first life."

~I would advise against it~ DR Agentes Cuarentayseis said ~It has already been lived. But I guess you could live through it again, but not in the same existence. Though you wouldn't be able to relive that life as you wish to~

"I've already struck one deal with a devil," Lelouch said, "What do I have to lose to dealing with a Death Reaper as well. What do you mean that I won't be able to relive that life?"

~It has already been set in stone~ the DR said ~It is one of your hundred tales already, it cannot be undone, for to undo it would break the contract you are already in. But you will be able to live again, but not as vi Britannia or as Zero. You'd have to chose another name, or at the very least another last name~

"That's fine with me," Lelouch said, "If I cannot be who I had been, then I shall be Lelouch "Infinity" Ouroboros. How's that?"

~If that is your decision, then so be it, Infinity~ the DR said as he waved a swirling emerald portal into existence beside the demon of a hundred tales ~Pass through the emerald portal and find yourself in a world similar to your first, do with it as you wish, save for hindering your _cousin_ in his own quest of bringing about an end of the old world order and replacing it with a new one~

"Thank you for your help," Lelouch said, then walked through the portal, taking all that he would need with him, which was basically just his body and soul, everything else was already either a part of him or would be easy enough to acquire.

#

It hadn't really taken him that long to establish himself in the world. He had manged to worm his way into the nobility that eventually found themselves living in most of one third of the world. He had manged to establish himself as a man with a publishing empire, from school books to military manuals, along with a number of adult books. It was something that he decided that world needed more of, and being who he had been at one time, Jiraiya of the Sannin, writing erotic fiction was rather easy.

Having his Come Come Paradise series becoming a hit with the adults, both genders too, was just a bonus.

He went by a number of pseudonyms, pennames, and a whole lot of other aliases too. He was not only a publisher or a writer, but a supplier and supported of rebel factions around the world. He had the means of supporting them, so why not. It was not only the right thing to do but also something which he wanted to do.

He also found himself with many connections in all of the world's sectors and areas. It made business easier on all accounts. It was also through his many investments and other business ventures that he managed to meet with his _cousin_ in the world.

One Lelouch Lamperouge.

Where Zero had been 15 at the time, Infinity looked to be in 27. The two had met after Zero had impulsively challenged him to game of chess. The stakes had been rather high, but both parties liked it that way. It was a game held in secret, which suited both parties wants.

It was probably the only game that Zero had ever lost to date, and it wasn't even a humiliating defeat at that, it was just a bit baffling as the two weaved their way through the game, ending in a near draw in Infinity's favor.

It was a life changing event for Zero, as he had met his match in a man that, outward appearances showed to be no different from most of the nobility, was too much like him in several regards. It was during that meeting that instead of being gunned down or forced to disappear from the world, did the exiled prince find an ally in his quest to rid the world of his father as well as find the killer of his mother.

Knowing Zero better than Zero himself, Infinity had manged to manipulate Zero into trusting him, like a best friend of sorts, just older. It was with that trust that Infinity managed to worm his way into Zero. It was also through this formed connection did Infinity teach Zero what he would need to know to better prepare himself for his war, as well as to help avoid some things that needed to be avoided.

While the two became friends, allies, and comrades, Infinity requested that their relationship be kept secret from others, as to not cause either of them any problems, especially with the homeland. Infinity knew more than he let on, and Zero suspected as much as well.

Whenever Zero was not around to tend to his sister, he would have Infinity do so, the trust between them was enough for something as trivial as that. No one suspected a thing since, as Zero found out, Infinity was a master of disguises. He could perfectly impersonate Zero as if he had known the teen all his life, which in a sense he had.

Though there was one major difference between the two of them. Infinity had learned how to lie to Nunnaly and have no problem with it. He had already done so with many innocents, so why stop for just one.

It might have been cruel, but it was a necessity.

"*"

"Infinity!" came Zero's voice from the cellphone, it sounded urgent.

"What's the problem?" Infinity replied, he was overlooking stocks and a number of other business related things.

"I'm stuck in Shinjuku Ghetto...and there's a military exercise going on," Zero told his long time friend, "I think its time for my pre-debut miracle. How about some help?"

"Tell me what you need," Infinity stated, "And I shall provide it."

"I need a means for the terrorists to have a chance against the Britannian's forces," Zero stated, "I also need a means to stop the senseless bloodshed which is already occuring around me."

"I'm having a shipment of Sutherlands sent to the west entrance, all have already been prepared for the rebels use," Infinity said as he began doing as he was saying, all that was needed was a computer which could hack into any sort of computer system and his could do just that, "As for getting to your brother, I'll meet you there. All you need to do is tell people that you are Alan Spacer, and they'll know to let you through. If one doesn't believe you, claim that your the son of a duke."

"Ok, thanks, I'll contact you should I get into a bind of sorts again," Zero said and hung up.

This left Infinity to cancel all his appointments for the day, which weren't very many as he had assistants take on most of his workload, he trusted them all, and if he didn't trust someone, he had no problem with Geass-ing them to trust him. He had all of his powers, his Code and Geass among them.

He left the settlement where his office was, and headed home. Using means that no mortal eye or untrained eye for that matter would be able to spot. Which was just him walking really really fast. A single step allowing him to travel a great distance.

He arrived just outside within the ghetto wearing what he had worn during his life as the Hitokiri Battousai while he also wore the very same face from that lifetime.

It was time for him to have some fun, he was going to be joining Zero on the battlefield, after all, if the King does not lead then how can he hope his subordinates will follow.

"Zero, its me," Infinity said, the only thing out of place in his costume was the headset he had on.

"Infinity? What's up? Where are you anyway I hear rumbling and gunfire," Zero responded.

"I'm in the middle of the ghetto that you're in," Infinity informed his friend, "I'll play the part of the king that moves like a queen. Use me as you see fit."

"Are you in a knightmare?" Zero asked.

"Nope," Infinity stated, "But don't worry, I've got enough experience to fight without the need of one."

"Just don't die on me," Zero said, "I still need you...so... Take out any enemy knightmare fram you find."

"Sure thing Zero," Infinity said, "For the remainder of this mission, over the public com, refer to me as...Battousai."

"If you say so...Battousai," Zero said.

The mission commenced.

Clovis' forces received a few reports of a lone figure, not even wearing any armor and bringing only a simple katana, was taking down knightmare frames.

"I need your help," Zero stated over the more pulic com, "There's a White Knightmare on the loose, Q-1 is outclassed. Take care of it for me will you, Battousai."

"Will do, Zero," Battousai replied as he took one step and found himself standing between the one armed red glasgow and the white knightmare frame Lancelot.

"Hiding behind civilians?!" the pilot of the Lancelot shouted in outrage, "How could you?"

"Q-1!" Battousai said, "Get out of here, I'll handle this traitor to the Japanese people!"

"Not to be rude or anything, but what can you do?" Q-1 asked.

"Do as he says," Zero's voice came over the radio, "Trust him, within him resides the sleeping dragon of Japan. Or you can sit back, relax, and watch as the Hitokiri Battousai deals a humiliating blow to the Lancelot."

"I think I'll watch his back," Q-1 stated and moved her knightmare back a bit.

"Suit yourself," Battousai said, and prepared to do battle with something more than triple his size.

"What do you think you're doing! I'm not about to fight a civilian!" the Lancelot's pilot said.

"If you fight for Britannia, then you are a traitor to Japan, and any traitor to the Japan I once loved with all my heart is my enemy," Battousai stated, "I fought for peace once and for this very country. I shall do so again. Prepare yourself white knightmare, for here. I. COME!"

The Lancelot didn't think that one measly human could do so much as even scratch the knightmare's paintjob. He was mistaken. For here was a demon that could cut through diamond if he so wished.

He launched himself forward, leading with the left foot, and before anyone that was there knew it the White Knightmare found itself in nine separate pieces. This was followed quickly by the pilot being forcefully ejected from his seat and landing in an unconscious heap on the ground.

"No mercy," Battousai stated as he moved at god-like speed and dished out nine more slashes upon the downed foe, before sheathing his blade and walking over to his ally, Q-1, "How was that?"

"..." stunned speechless Q-1 simply followed previous orders and got out of there, she kind of feared for her life as her viewing screen showed that the man before her was no normal man, especially with how his eyes glowed amber.


	119. S1

He was an outcast, but not the kind that was shunned for something he didn't know, he wasn't ignored outright either, he wasn't feared for something he had no control over. He was an Aburame, the clan heir even, but an Aburame nonetheless.

His name was Aburame Shino, son of Aburame Shibi and Shimi. Clan heir, and born with a weaker body than most other Aburame. It was kept a secret from the rest of the clan of course, no one outside of the small family of three was to know about it. It was a weakness that would have reflected poorly on the clan as a whole, and the clan could not afford to appear weak.

His hive had been small, his body not being able to produce enough chakra for a larger hive to survive in him, or for him to be able to control as masterfully as any member of his clan. His small hive he could control, he held dominion over them, but compared to the others in his clan that was a small feat, it wasn't noteworthy even.

He would be a great disappointment if the clan knew about it, and would have spelled the doom of the clan had it been public knowledge. Great things were expected of him by the clan, whether or not they knew the secret.

Ever since he could remember, which was a rather early age since his parents explained that with so many minds synchronized with his own, his mental faculties matured faster than most others. His memory was sharper and longer than others as well. Ever since he could remember, which was probably just after he turned one year old, he had promised himself that despite his weak body he would grow stronger, grow to be worthy of his title as clan heir and one day clan head when his father stepped down. He would work twice or thrice as hard as anyone else, until he reached the point that he could no longer grow.

He knew of the boy who had it more difficult than he, he knew of that boy that dreamed of becoming Hokage, the leader and most powerful figure in the village and one of the most powerful people in all of their world. He respected that boy, especially with the way so many people tried to put as many obstacles in his path, hindering him.

He saw that boy as his rival, his rival at working hard. When the boy pushed his limits, Shino pushed himself well beyond that, relying on his hive to get heal him from any injuries he sustained in his quest for strength, while at the same time covering for him should anyone chance upon him, and his odd for an Aburame behavior.

He trained his body, his mind, and anything else he could think of that needed to be made better. It was said that the Hokage was a master of many things, and while he did not dream of becoming the Hokage, he dreamed of one day being able to boast, as only an Aburame could boast, at being a student of all and a master of none. He wanted to be a jack of all trades. He also wanted the Aburame to be recognized not only for their bugs and insects, but also for the other things that the clan could do, individually and as a whole.

His mind was the one thing that grew by leaps and bounds, his IQ managing to rival even the greatest recorded IQ of any Nara, not that anyone outside of his parents found out that little fact. His body on the other hand could not seem to go further than the level that most children half his age were at, it grew stronger and sturdier, just enough to get by, but not even at the rate of such growth as others his age.

He could boast about not having any baby fat, though he didn't have any such fat to really begin with. It was, as the Nara say, troublesome. He would one day find a way to get past that handicap, that weakness, even if he had to work himself to the brink of death, he would not give up, for that was his nindo.

Then one day all that changed, he had thought that the person, Being, or entity, that he met on that day should have gone to the sapphire eyed blonde boy that worked just as hard and sometime more than he did. But the Being, entity, or person, had chosen to visit him, to come for him, speak with him, and ultimately offer him something which he could not refuse, especially given that what was wanted in exchange was something he didn't mind giving. It wasn't his soul after all, as it was no demon that he was dealing with, but something far greater than any position that a demon could ever achieve.

It wasn't that strange of a man that walked up to his panting form in the training ground that he used which very few people acknowledged even existed, or maybe it was more the fact that an Aburame used it. The man that walked up to him seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere. He didn't even leave much of a trace of himself when he did finally leave.

Shino's bugs had not reacted to the man's presence until after the man made himself known to the bug user.

"I am a doctor of sorts as you can clearly see," the man said, introducing himself somewhat, and indeed did he look the part of a doctor what with his lab coat and all that, his other features aside from that were not all that memorable.

"Wh-who? H-How?" came the questions of the normally unflappable Aburame, it was usually the other person that stuttered or was at least nervous about his presence.

"I am Toukou Kyonshi," the doctor introduced himself, "Strange name, I know, for a man of my seeming profession. As I said, I am a doctor, and you are broken, thus in need of fixing. So I came here, unnoticed by you or any kami, to give you an offer you would be a food to refuse."

"Let's hear it then," Shino said, it wasn't like he had much of a choice after all.

"What if I told you I could make you stronger?" the man said, "Your body that is, which would affect everything else about you. All those stagnating areas that are suffering from your body's lack of growth. As I see it, if you grow physically stronger and fitter, everything else will follow, from your energy, to well everything else."

"And in return for accepting this offer?" Shino asked.

"Entertain me," the man said, "That is all I ask for. Just live out your life, and it had better be one worth watching, for I promise you, I will be watching."

"Then I accept," Shino said, not really thinking about it for reasons he didn't know himself, normally he would have thought it over and asked questions that would discern whether this man was truly friend or truly foe.

"Very good," the good doctor said, placed a hand on the youngster's head, and was gone.

Just gone.

There was no surge of energy, or anything. Just that one gesture and he was gone.

Shino searched within himself wondering what had changed, his bugs doing the same obeying the will of their master. The only thing he found was weakness, a growing weakness in everything that was his physical body. He thought he was fooled, cheated by the universe in some way. He punched the ground, even though he was exhausted, and was rewarded by a shattered fist which his bugs immediately went about mending. It would take a while and thus he had to make sure his parents didn't catch on.

He somehow manged to make it past his parents with neither one of them asking him too many questions, or any questions about his fist for that matter. He didn't want to disappoint them regarding the stranger that had offered to fix up his body.

He went to bed that night with a body that he could swear had never felt so tired, so weak, and so broken before. It was an old feeling, this physical weakness, but at the same time all so new. It was like he was dying or something, but that couldn't be it at all. His hive would have felt distress if he was indeed suffering that fate.

His hive did eventually panic, but by that time he was far too weak to even utter a sound. They tried to alert his parents to his status, but something stopped them, something sapped them too of their strength.

The next day, just as the sun began to rise out of the horizon, Shino woke with a start. He had the strangest and at the same time most painful dream he believed he would ever have for the rest of his afterlife, he thought he was dead after all. Though he did wonder why he dreamt that his body had grown so broken to the point that it needed to be rebuilt almost from scratch, hence the painful part. His bugs too, the ones that had been given to him at birth, or at least the queen of the only species that lived in him, had also gone through a kind of evolutionary upgrade.

He walked out of the room he thought was his in the afterlife, believing that the afterlife or what was seen in it was based on one's memories of life. Or he could be a ghost left to haunt his parents until they too joined him in his early fate.

He was shocked out of thinking such thoughts when his parents greeted him and wondered why he seemed a bit blue. The rest of the day proceeded just like any other, save for the fact that he could feel down to the very last and smallest cell in him that he was stronger than he had been the night before the night he thought he had died.

It was something new and needed looking into.

Which was what he did after class that day. What really clued him in that his body was a lot stronger was that his chakra reserves had grown exponentially just overnight. The day before he had just enough for the E-rank techniques that the academy taught, but now he had too much to create a regular Bunshin, just like a certain blue eyed blonde he knew, lucky for him he had bugs in him that would help regulate the excess chakra. The second thing that clued him in and confirmed his suspicions that he had been rebuilt in a sense, was that his hive, his colony, was growing, slowly at first, but growing nonetheless.

He estimated that by the end of the year, he would have just as many bugs in him as both of his parents combined, and that was a lot of bugs for a child.

He checked in with the clan medic, who was sworn to secrecy regarding his birth condition, to see what he had to say about his overnight changes. It didn't surprise him all that much that the medic had to run innumerable tests just to make sure that his initial findings weren't false or errors. It was a medical miracle of sorts that Shino had somehow managed to beat whatever it was that had stunted his growth. Pretending to be able to perform at the same level as most of his peers could get him only so far, it was a good thing that the academy, like most of the village, had a thing against getting close to an Aburame. Else they would have had a copy of his medical records and the clan would be screwed.

There wasn't a more fit Aburame in the whole clan, it was a body of strength that Shino had gained, and his chakra's sudden spike and the upgraded bugs were great boons for the clan.

The medic insisted on knowing what the boy had done to get...well...better. Shino could not give an answer, all he said was that he trained, and trained, and almost died, though he asked that the medic not inform his parents about that part.

Shino told the medic that if he had to say anything to his parents, that he should just say that he accidentally stumbled on some kind of medicine but actually _forgot_ how to make the stuff. He had just given Shino the stuff and forgot all about it too. It was a complicated story fib, but he was a medic and thus knew how to fool even the greatest of lie detectors. The Hyuga clan still didn't know about some of the lies he had told them about their eyes, hair, and nails. He may have been an Aburame, but that didn't mean that he didn't have a sense of humor or a bone to pick with the uptight clan.

The medic also agreed to help the boy in his training, most Aburame didn't have a knack for healing as that required more chakra than most members had to spare, the medic just so happened to be one of the unlucky few that no queen kikaichu wanted to have as a host, he had been rejected at birth for it. But at least he got the sought after and well respected position of clan medic. Shino planned on being healer number two.

When his new state of health and being were presented to his parents, Shibi immediately took his son under his wing and taught him as much as he could to be able to fully utilize his insects in the future. There was no time like the present to teach an Aburame as much as possible in order to survive the merciless life of a shinobi. His mother did the same but with her own specialties, there might as well come a time when he would have to play the part of a girl after all. It did help him in accepting that little bit of training that he would be able to play the role of a girl better than Naruto in his Oiroke no Jutsu form.

It was demanding training, but well worth it, for by the time that Shino finally graduated along with his peers, excluding Naruto of course, he had mastered most of the intermediary techniques that his clan possessed. His hive had also grown in greater number, his parents and the rest of the clan did wonder where he kept them all since there was no humanly possible way for so many bugs to fit in one human child, sure it was an Aburame, sure they had access to chakra and seals, but such things could only go so far.

A carrying case or portable hive had been suggested to Shino in case the bugs felt cramped, but the medic did some diagnostic tests and found that there was more than enough room in Shino to house even more bugs. Their numbers kept increasing every day, and every day the extra space remained seemingly the same.

Not even Shino could explain it, even though he knew how it was possible. The explaining part was very very difficult, and he could be called crazy if he tried to explain it without a means of proving that what he was claiming to be explaining was the truth.

Naruto did join the graduates, a week after they graduated, for team placements. Some of Shino's bugs had managed to listen in on a semi-classified conversation regarding just how Naruto had gained his very own forehead protector. Though, even with a B-rank mission under the blonde's belt, it wasn't surprising that he got placed in the same team as the top two students of the class due to his grades.

Shino got paired up with tow other clan heirs, Hyuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba, their sensei was Yuhi Kurenai.

They were given a final genin test, the real one. Their task was to locate the premier genjutsu mistress of Konoha by noon, using any means at their disposal. Kurenai really wanted the team since Hinata was in it, and thus didn't bother with trying to divide the team. So she settled with just wanting to see how they worked as a team and figure out what areas they needed to improve in.

Shino took charge of the team, but not before both Hinata and Kiba looked to him for guidance. He was an Aburame, his logical mind and rational thinking were respected by the other clans, they were sound decision makers, the clan, and more often than not are chosen as leaders of missions. Alongside Hyuga and Nara.

He formulated a plan of action, and the team followed it after he explained what to do. His part in the tracking down was to be the one to catch their sensei, to ensure that she did not escape from their clutches.

It was a few hours after the test began that Kurenai found herself curled into a tight ball due to the sheer number of bugs that had blanketed the area. Both Hinata and Kiba were in the same boat as her, there were just too many bugs. It was then that team 8 realized that Shino could have just unleashed his hive and found her in a matter of minutes and bound her in a matter of seconds had he so wished.

The team showed teamwork, and Kurenai knew what to work on. What she would be working on with Shino was getting him to not perform overkills. His rather overkill display had gained him the nickname konchuu no kami or insect god, though it was only Kurenai that referred to him as such but only mentally.

They spent their first month as a new team performing D-rank mission within the boundaries of the village, it was to foster even more teamwork as well as get used to following orders and doing menial tasks. These missions also served as a means of training in a number of ways, most of which were not noticed by newly minted genin, though Shino being Aburame got the gist of things in a jiffy.

It was during the second month that the team had finally accumulated the required number of D-rank missions to go on their very first C-rank mission. Their mission was to guard a merchant caravan heading to Suna, one of Konoha's allies.

The mission was supposed to last between 2 to 3 weeks, thus the team prepared for it. They were from three of the top clans in the village and thus had people that gave them enough advise on what to bring with them on their mission.

The mission started without a hitch, it was actually quite a simple mission as far as ¾s of the team were concerned. Kurenai was quite thankful that they didn't run into any bandits or rogue ninja, she didn't think her green team was ready to face the reality that was their profession and the world they lived in.

What she was no aware of was the fact that Shino was the reason behind the lack of action as Kiba complained about the mission. He had unleashed his hive on the caravan's surroundings. The bugs were given one order and one order alone.

Kill.

Anyone that had ill intentions towards the caravan or anyone on team 8 were dealt with painfully and permanently. His bond with his bugs was the strongest one that his clan had ever produced, he could claim that he was each and every one of his bugs, though the bugs couldn't claim the same about them being him. He was of one mind and several bodies with his hive, he was like a god when it came to his hive. One that none of his bugs complained about or even tried to resist.

All those that lost their lives to Shino's bugs, lost their lives to him, both directly and indirectly. He feasted upon their energies, their bodies, and even their memories. He was an Aburame powerhouse that could, with the aid of his many different kinds of bugs, perform feats that were thought to be clan specific in the village. He trained long and hard with his bugs, he even experimented and got quite some nice results and a bunch of failures as well, as was expected.

He couldn't really explain how he managed to participate on the feast that his bugs had all shared. He was just that connected with all of them. He could even claim to have experienced dying and death through his bugs. Another thing he couldn't explain was how he had managed to replicate the Yamanaka mind reading ability and the benefits of training with the use of an army of Kage Bunshin.

Throughout the whole mission he remained as the silent type, the type that some of the teenage girls of the caravan shyly checked out during the journey, he noticed of course but didn't mind them. He also made sure to have his bugs keep a low profile as he knew quite well how the sight of his bugs affected most people.

They got back to Konoha in record time, it was truly a no-nonsense mission. A boring mission as far as 3/4s of the team were concerned. Shino was the only one to have seen some action.

The team's next mission was to eradicate a bandit camp that had set up shop outside one of the outlying towns of the country. Team 8 was the only available team at the time, and while Kurenai didn't like it she couldn't do anything about it. She tried to prepare the team for the ordeal, but found that she only had to deal with two genin with problems with actually doing the deed.

She was shocked to find Shino unperturbed by the thought of killing bandits, people, living people that might have loved ones waiting for them somewhere.

"Kill or be killed, that is the law of nature," Shino had stated when asked about his semi-neutral stance on killing a fellow human being, "All that matters is the survival of the hive."

Kurenai didn't get it at first, but eventually understood when Kiba pointed out that that was something he too was taught, but focusing more on the term pack. As for Hinata...well...she was Hyuga. Nuff said.

It was really about protecting what was precious, that and the train of thought of the bad side of what if.

When they were near where the supposed bandit camp was located, Kurenai thought up a plan of action for her team to take. She was aware by now of what her team were capable of, two out of three at least. She also knew what most Aburame were capable of, so she had what it took to come up with a plan of attack.

She gave each of her dear students a general area in which to contain their fights, so that each one had their share and no one got caught in the crossfire. She of course would be relatively close by to give them each aid should they need it.

After all, intel claimed that they would just be dealing with bandits.

"*"

Kiba was having a blast off to one side of the bandit camp, dealing permanent damage to human beings while not really minding or realizing that he was killing people yet, that he was taking lives. It would sink in, but only after all the adrenaline had seeped out of him.

Hinata was performing as best as she could, since she knew of the horrors of the real world, and simply disabled her opponents as best as she could, knocking them unconscious. She didn't have the heart to end most lives, even ones as sinful as these.

Kurenai was a rookie, yet experienced kunoichi, jounin.

Shino was playing clean up to the mess that his teammates were making. All the dead and soon to be dead bodies laying around were not at all good for the environment, spilled blood was not good for the soil or so it was said. He didn't want to chance such rich soil being defiled and unable to produce food for the buggy world. So he did his share.

He was the janitor, the maintenance man, the sanitation engineer of the group. He was also the most blood thirsty member of the group it seemed, or so he thought of himself as being such what with all the proceedural devouring he performed in tandem with his hive.

Not a single body would remain in the camp when all the fighting was over and done with.

These opponents were just human, and he had hive filled with things that could render an entire village useless and inhospitable if he so wished. But he didn't, he valued life as much as he was willing to snuff it out. He could be cold and calculating when he wanted to, and this was one of the times when he wanted to be such, minus the calculating part though.

He was ice cold. He was the eye of a swirling storm, a massive cloud of insects rose out of him once the battle started, he drained each human enemy he came into contact with dry of not only energy but liquids, followed by lives. Then his decomposers went to work on each of the lifeless husks, taking whatever nutrients that remained before the worms did the rest of the work turning the bodies into food for the plants.

The bandit camp was like a little army of bandits, highwaymen, thieves, murderers, rapists, in short a small army of criminals. Their plan seemed to revolve around taking over the nearby town which felt threatened by their presence and apparent inaction.

What could they have been waiting for, their sheer number could have been used to take over the town already. They must have been waiting for something, though they could wait for that something all they liked in the afterlife since team 8 began their extermination mission.

The answer to such questions arrived after the battle had just ended, and just after Shino had just collected his swarm.

The leaders of the small army arrived to find their base in ruins, the tents strewn about and the lack of life, other than the shinobi trespassers, was cause for anger. These leaders had high hopes for their army apparently, the army which they were growing in order to not only take over the nearby town, but begin their conquest of the one of the five great nations of the Elemental Continent or Countries.

These leaders were rogue ninja, ones that had deserted their village during their different hours of need. They each had their own individual reasons for betraying those that they had sworn to protect, but their philosophy was the same as Shino's own.

Kurenai acted as a jounin should and went to defend the weakest physical link of the team, Hinata since she was the one that wasn't much of a fan of fighting in general. Kiba's instincts were jumpstarted and that was all that kept him from being skewered by some guy that apparently had come from Kiri.

There were a grand total of five rogues, each one from each of the great nations and their respective great villages. Each one of them were classed as high as A-class threats, and only grew stronger from being freed from the constraints of being affiliated with a single hidden village.

Two attacked the girls, one attacked Kiba, and the remaining two went for the one they saw as the greater threat out of the group.

Shino.

He was the only one after all that looked unfazed by their sudden arrival, as well as all the killing intent that had been directed at the root cause of their anger. He displayed the infamous calm and cool of the Aburamee clan, his manner of dress including the clan's trademark accessories gave him away as a threat.

The fire-user and wind-user of the rogues took him on, they believed that all Aburame shared a weakness for fire, due to their bugs being not so resistant to flames, the wind would fan the flames and make them stronger allowing them to cook the Aburame easily.

Too bad they were not dealing with your run-of-the-mill Aburame, but Aburame Shino, the heir of the clan, the heir of the Aburame hive. Too bad also that he was still in the mood for bloodshed, and it would be the first time that his teammates would get to see the other side to the quiet intellectual that was their teammate.

The ninjas that attacked the woman and girl of the team were easily dispatched as Kurenai employed her more powerful illusions and finished off the two attackers using a simple kunai, her art was a rather looked down and underestimated one, the overconfidence of the two enraged men also worked to her advantage.

Kiba was faring quite well as he let his more beastial instincts take over, him and his partner Akamaru were speed demons on the drug called adrenaline, this also served as his baptism of fire. The two of them were eventually knocked on their collective asses which called for the aid of their jounin sensei to butt in on the fight and see about using her skills to end it.

This one man that took three people to take on, as he was from Earth Country and an avid hater of all things Konoha, was to be the only survivor of the battle. He kept the team busy for a while, up until he could no longer stand not knowing what was causing the rising buzzing and chirping sound around them. It was a good thing that he had the Konoha-nins on the ropes, else he would not have been able to turn away from them and look on in horror as his remaining allies were systematically dismembered and assimilated by Shino and his hive.

This systematic dismemberment started just after the two rogues thought that they had managed to end the deadliest threat of the team by way of setting him and quite a radius around him on fire, the flames were fanned quite much.

Many of Shino's bugs had died protecting their host, home, and master. But that number was just a dip in the ocean that was Shino's hive. They were but a raindrop in a typhoon. They were but a grain of sand in all of Suna. It was a seemingly insignificant number, but just enough to make the rogues think that Shino's survival thanks to them had greatly weakened the genin.

This was not so, as the Aburame unleashed the swarm once again. Insects of many different kinds, as well as his core swarm which was composed of the basic kikaichu to the upgraded versions that could actually perform ninjutsu and genjutsu if they were plenty enough working together on the project.

It was a systematic thing since bugs latched onto Shino's victims, keeping them in place while the rest started from the outside and moved inward. The healing bugs, the medics of the hive made sure that these soon to be dead people were kept alive throughout the whole procedure. While they may not have felt much of the pain, just witnessing their helpless bodies become nothing but useless husks to what should have been states in which they should have already died several times over made them wish to have never left their villages.

By the end of the painless torture all that remained of these two men were their heads, what became their bodies that kept them in the land of the living was something between a Kikai bunshin, a kage bunshin, oiroke no jutsu, the regular henge no jutsu, and a lot of medical techniques.

"I am told that in order to claim your bounties, I would have to at least have your heads intact or in recognizable condition," Shino stated coolly, "Any last words?"

"Monster!" one of the two rogues spat.

Instead of verbally responding, Shino mentally ordered his bugs to return to his body, taking the heads that lost their lives just as soon as the command was give with them. The sealing bugs doing their thing, though the only seals they knew were the ones used to make storage scrolls.

His team treated him like they didn't know what to make of him, that and they kept him away from the sole surviving rogue that had requested asylum instead of having to face such a terrifying genin. A genin that could summon up a swarm that could blot out the sun.


	120. S2

He had lived through multiple wars, multiple struggles. He had seen friends come and go, staying with him and leaving him behind. Though he couldn't claim to be lonely or claim to be burdened with this immortality he had attained as an accident.

It was an accidental occurrence, one which was shared with the only other immortal in their living world. Uzumaki Naruto had become the first true immortal in the world, it was thanks from the gods for his saving the world over and over, many many times even without him knowing it or being aware of it, and in one instance wanting to. The blonde had been trying to figure out how his immortality could benefit others, specifically his friends and family. His family and the former rookies from his year being the only ones in the know of his immortality.

Immortality really wasn't all it was cracked up to be, sure you could live forever, but the pain and heartache that one felt whenever a loved one died was at some times unbearable. But the two immortals eventually got over it.

The blonde had figured out how to impart a part of his immortality, by means of turning his lifeforce into an absorbable energy, like chakra. The downside of figuring that bit out was that there was only one that could fully assimilate such energy.

Aburame Shino had volunteered to become the guinea pig, by that time he had several grandchildren running around the world playing at being ninja. The time for true ninja or even their kind of ninja had long since past already. He had no regrets or worries for his future anymore.

He took in the energy and the results were quite obvious, but apparently only for one person. Shino became the second true immortal, but no other could come after that. As if it was planned from the very beginning for only two to be able to gain such. The blonde believed that the gods had originally planned on the blonde granting immortality to the woman that became his wife and bore his children. But like most plans...

So it was thus that Uzumaki Naruto and Aburame Shino walked the world as the only pair of true immortals of the world. Fighting in the occasional war that cropped up and helping wherever they could, sharing their ages worth of accumulated knowledge.

Naruto eventually lost contact with his descendants like his ancestors before him had scattered all across the known and unknown world. Shino's clan did the same, some changing so much that they could no longer be likened to the Aburame clan that he knew quite well.

Then came a time when chakra began to fade, where its use began to grow uncommon, until such a time that only a scant few even knew that it was there, that most people had the ability to unlock this awesome power. Instead of seeking out this inner power, most people ventured forth to the unknown of making use of the external.

Everything changed eventually. Minor technological advancements soon became major ones, hand to hand fighting soon lost its succulent flavor and was replaced by long ranged fights or few to no physical contact fighting. Melee fights became so uncommon that they were mostly limited to heated brawls or private disagreements.

Throughout these changes Naruto eventually simply became a real hermit, holing himself up in some mountain that few even with their advanced technology could hope to get to. In a way it was like one of the many gateways into the other realms that were connected and interconnected with the human realm and world. Summons were truly a thing of the past, especially without any chakra users with the reserves needed to use such things, the summons too had shied away from being real to being myths.

Shino on the other hand became what Naruto had used to be. He no longer hid, was no longer that quiet, reserved, creature that he used to be. Through the ages, he slowly adapted to the world around him just as his bugs, a hive that consisted of the entire world's population of insects of all shapes and sizes if he so wished to command them all, eventually had to in order to survive.

Whereas Naruto hid himself away from the rest of the world, preferring the quiet life, Shino chose the more adventurous one.

The two true immortals were more like yin and yang in personality and preference now. One became an unforgettable and even feared legend, while the other became a nobody, or at least just another face in the crowd, albeit one that was viewed as a god by the insectoid population of the world.

While Naruto became a living legend that few had ever had the chance of actually meeting or seeing, Shino just became a person, a person that never grew older or younger than any age he wished, as the henge no jutsu morphed into one where he could literally transform into anything he wished and retain his mind. He also became quite the environmentalist and activist.

It was during his time as an environmentalist that he went out of his way to explore the rest of the world. Naruto had done this already, which was why the blonde preferred to remain in his slowly vanishing, as if it were never there, mountain or hermitage of solitude.

He explored the whole world, found quite a lot of insects that he hadn't even known existed, collected samples and bred them within himself. He wasn't aware how godhood actually worked. While a god could be born or created as one, a god could come into existence for some grand purpose, there was also another less known way of obtaining godhood, just as there were multiple ways and multiple forms of obtaining immortality.

Shino's and Naruto's way were two of those many way, and more since they were immortal in more than one way.

Belief. Belief is a very powerful thing, just like both love and hate. Disbelief could kill a god actually or make one less powerful if they were powerful already to begin with.

Naruto had become a kind of god by default since he had absorbed the re-merged Juubi all those years ago. Shino on the other hand had become the God of All Things That Creeped or Crawled, he became the Lord of the Creepy Crawlies, insects, bugs, arachnids, you name it. He was the ultimate Aburame, or Kamizuri or whatever else clan used that used bugs to compliment themselves or whatever. He was god of bugs since all bugs saw him as such.

Disbelief could not work on Shino, coupled with his true immortality, it was quite difficult for disbelief to work against the population of bugs in the world, including Shino's own personal hive, those bugs which served as extensions of himself.

He lived a rather long life, the world had changed quite a lot, and changed even more every few hundred thousand years. After several milleniums worth of walking the world as one of the people on it he grew bored and realized why Naruto had hidden himself away from the rest of the world. He had reached a point that nothing in the world interested him anymore, and Shino suspected that the blonde had been trying to find a way to breach the veil that separated the worlds of life from the world of death and whatever was beyond that.

Shino chose not to do that, he had too much responsibility in the world of the living, what with so many bugs depending on him as their god. It was strange and rather odd, since at the beginning of the journey called his life, what he had dreamt of was just having a family of his own a way to continue his legacy, and now he had more than just that.

The years continued to pass him by, and eventually a time came where the world stopped spinning and life as he knew it began to fade from the world. The old gods that he and so many others that he knew and loved had worshiped or at least believed in no longer answered his call. He asked for answers and received silence, only to realize as the world was beginning to end that their connection to the world had been lost due to technology swallowing up all the minds and beliefs of the people. The balance between nature and science had long since been shattered that the world had been dying for quite a long time.

There were no longer any other gods and higher powers governing the world. Thus the world was dying and close to its death. Not wanting to vanish to wherever gods went when they died, Shino did the one thing he didn't think he would ever or could ever actually do.

He became the world.

He and Naruto had one thing in common aside from their immortality, and that was the fact that they never stopped growing in power. They were cursed or blessed with the inability to grow weaker.

With all the stored and hidden or locked away power that he had at his fingertips, Shino consumed the world as only a god of bugs could and became it. His body was the world, and the innumerable colonies, hives, and individual bugs called him home, he was their host and god.

The world which had for the longest time been ruled by humans had finally returned to one of their former masters. The bugs.

Shino was a god and no longer human, Naruto was something else due to his continuous use of sage mode. Just like Shino, Naruto eventually became something more when he sensed the rapid decay of the world.

There are three general states of matter. Solid, liquid, and gas.

There were only two gods that remained in the world, Shino and Naruto. The god of bugs became the world, while Naruto became the god of plants, it had something to do with his constant use of sage mode. Mother Nature was a thing of the distant past. Naruto was Father Nature, but focused more on plants.

Being the only two higher powers left, the two of them divided the elements or at least tried to. That didn't work out so they chose to share things instead.

Eons passed and the bugs and plants flourished, the whole world became one big botanical garden with all sorts of bugs in it, ranging in size from too tiny to notice to too big to ignore.

The old world was gone, all traces of them gone from the surface of the world, the only remnants of all those changing times were kept in Shino's home, which was the Forest of Death, training ground 44, which was surprisingly still standing, fence around the area as well as the central structure where he had battled through his first ever Chunin exam.

That particular forest served as a reserve for those bugs that were either supposed to be extinct or were too endangered to remain in the outside world, and those that were the literal last of their kind. No bug dared to harm anything that lived within that particular forest.

The plantlife on the other hand could all be found in Naruto's mountain home, there those that shared the same fates as Shino's bugs could be found.

Both places also served as nurseries for new species and evolving species.

The planet was a wondrous mix, viewable from outer space, of blue, green, and white. The moon had long since lost its purpose, Naruto absorbing it into himself since Shino had already become the world.

It was an interesting and healthy looking planet from the vacuum of space. Some space travelers that had long since left the world, their ancestors were the first among many that had ventured out into the universe, space being the last frontier, had forgotten what and where their home planet was. Any logs or traces or writings regarding the exact universe coordinates of the planet had been lost to the annals of time.

It was only by chance that an armada was passing by their species' home planet. They were heading home from war, war with another line or strain or set of descendants of human, from a whole other different space expedition.

Their ships' scanners picked up the grand abundance of life that could be found within the jewel which stood out from the blackness of space.

So they parked at where they were and sent a number of expeditionary forces down to the planet's surface to see how things were and if it were possible to claim the planet as their property.

They found that all sorts of resources could be obtained from the world. They also found all the different varieties of plants and animals, all of the animals being bugs. Some being bugs that were thought of as being extinct according to their biology books. Deep scans of the world revealed some underground structures from what could have been civilizations from times long past, long before the plantlife took over the world.

One team actually managed to find what remained of a great metropolis, its skeleton was found after the team had fallen into a pitfall. Hours of walking led them to the lifeless city.

It was also there that the expeditionary forces encountered their first taste of other sentient life in the universe, having not met any other space faring races. It was bad luck that they had not managed to meet any other race other than their own in the years since their ancestors had left their home world.

There was only one language that the human race used, and, surprisingly for them, it was also the same language that the sentient life of their bloodlines' home planet used.

"*"

"Humans?" a person of arachnid descent said, a tad bit confused.

The sentient beings, these people of Neo Earth, had evolved into being humanoid creatures after countless generations of wishing to somehow be closer to their god.

There were actually two races that walked about the world, each one had evolved through the generations of wishing to be more like their specific gods.

"Arm yourselves, they could mean us harm," the same person said, "History might repeat itself."

Her comrades did as they were told.

The humans could tell that the one that had spoken was not only female but was the leader of the group.

The gods may be male, but they were two of the rare few males that were in power. Bug society was matriarchal, unlike how it had been for humans.

From out of the skeletons of the great city many more of the arachnid humanoids appeared, along with some that would have been mistaken as wood nymphs had anyone in this day and age known what they were. These plant people knew of course, it was a part of their culture, their myths, and the like.

"What business have you with our home, humans?" the leader demanded.

The humans thought that the sticks that were pointed at them had been just that. What they found upon closer inspection, their gear doing the inspecting, were weapons. Metallic weapons that just looked like they were made of wood to better blend in with the vast majority of the planet.

"How do you know what we are?" the leader of the expeditionary force asked in return, knowing that to demand an answer was not a very good thing what with the unknown numbers and technology being pointed around them, "As for why we are here, our ships were passing by when we detected life signs on this planet. We mean you no harm."

"We reclaimed this world from your race after you had all abandoned it," the leader of the arachnoids said, "That is how we know what you are. I would welcome you to Neo Earth, but have a feeling that you will mean us harm in the future."

"What do you mean? Why would we? Neo Earth? You mean this is where the human race came from?" the lead expeditioner asked.

He would have asked more, but...

TBC


	121. T3

He had been forcefully thrown back into his prison cell, also known as his room as well as the cupboard under the stairs of number 4 Privet Drive. He had accidentally spilled some water on the kitchen floor, thus received quite a beating from both his uncle and aunt, his aunt made sure that his body would remember to be more aware of his surroundings at all times, and his uncle made sure that his body would remember what the meaning of the word pain was.

This was a regular occurrence, his relatives seemed to take great pleasure in causing him untold amounts of pain for even the most miniscule of reasons. It didn't really matter whether he was in the right or in the wrong, not that he could tell the difference between the two, he was hit, kicked, slammed into a wall, stepped on, beat up, and a whole host of other things that constituted as child abuse. A term that he was unfamiliar with.

He also knew for a fact that once his life was actually threatened that they, his relatives, would stop hurting him, but not before it was obvious that he could really die. They had after all waited for his body to grow strong enough to take a beating that lasted for longer and more than a simple slap on the wrist.

He was four. He might be able to sleep through having several broken bones, a punctured lung, and a bunch of other internal injuries, and wake up the next day with all of them gone, even the bruising, but that didn't mean that he actually enjoyed it all.

This was possibly the worst beating of his life so far. He couldn't recall one where he had seen glimpses of what could only be described as a humanoid shadow inching its tattered cloaked form closer and closer to him. He felt an unmistakeable chill run up and down his spine as his uncle continued to kick at his ribs and twist his arm well past it's breaking point.

Then his uncle had stopped with the kicking, and instead flung him in to his room, which was where he found himself wishing with all his might to be somewhere where he was sure to be safe. Safe from his uncle, aunt, and even cousin who didn't really know any better. Safe from anyone and everyone that would wish him any form of harm.

It was just like magic, that was the best way that he would be able to describe what had happened. It was the only explanation short of dying that he could explain what had happened.

One moment he was in his cupboard, and the next moment he found himself curled up like a ball or in the fetal position as his oversized clothes were unable to protect his skinny and injured frame from the cold.

And what a cold it was, the temperature was surely below the freezing point or something. The ground beneath his body was practically made almost entirely out of ice.

He tried to keep as much warmth in him, but found that it was a losing battle.

That was so only until a thick blanket was dropped on top of him. He welcomed the unnatural warmth that it brought his body.

He felt like he was some sort of baby furry animal, and only popped his head from out of the thick blanket his body was now covered in when he was satisfied that the rest of him was warm.

"I take it you are now warmer?" the one that dropped the blanket on him asked him.

The man, was not really a man, but a teenager, as far as he could tell anyway. There was something odd about the teen, other than the deadpan way of speaking and the business-like suit that was worn. He just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Y-Yes, sir," the stutter was more from the cold than out of some form of fear, "T-Thank you."

"Would you mind, ever so much, to share with me how you managed to end up in this desolate place," the teen requested of the boy.

"I just wanted to get away from my uncle...and I found myself here," he replied, "Sir."

"I see," the teen said, "It is clear to me that you being treated inhumanely, so you sought out a place where you would not have to suffer needlessly."

"Yes, sir," the boy said.

"Well, congratulations, you succeeded," the teen said, "Your magic, for that was most likely the energy that sent you here, decided that the one place where you could be safe was the one place presently without anyone in it. For how could you be hurt, when there was no one around to hurt you."

"But there is you," the boy said to the teen.

"I gave you the blanket, didn't I?" the teen responded, "Also, when you arrived I had not yet arrived. Therefore there wasn't anyone around to harm you, or bring you harm."

"I see, sir," the boy said, "So what happens now?"

"I'm too young to become a father and my girlfriend is too young to become a mother," the teen stated, "Stated you can forget about my adopting you."

"Oh..I didn't really think about that," the boy admitted, which was true.

"I see," the teen said, "While I may not have any intention of adopting you, I guess I can offer you a place to stay since you have more or less just run away from home...unless of course where you used to live was not somewhere you considered as home."

"What does home mean really?" the boy asked.

"A place where you will feel safe, cared for, loved even," the teen replied, "At least that's one of the definitions of the word. Home is where the heart is and all that."

"Then no," the boy said, "That was was never home for or to me. I don't think I'll ever see that place as home."

"That's good to know," the teen said, "At least that gives you all the reason to never return there ever again."

"So what happens now, sir?" the boy asked.

"You can live here from now on then," the teen said, "The reason for my coming here was not your arrival but the fact that I was going to dissolve it's existence."

"Dissolve it's existence, sir?" the boy asked.

"Yes," the teen replied, then explained, "You see, presently, I am at war. My general that was stationed here or called this his or her homebase was recently assassinated, killed if you are not familiar with the term. Without a leader and with all the denizens of this miserable place out on the field, I was just going to destroy this useless place. It serves no purpose for me as barren as it is."

"So...you're offering me a place to stay?" the boy asked, he wasn't sure he heard right the first time.

"That is precisely what I am offering you," the teen said, "Though it won't be just a place to stay, but work in a sense. With so many of my generals and officers out in the field of battle at present, and we barely holding on to our borders and positions in the war, I've been lacking administrative staff."

"That's where I come in, right?" the boy asked.

"Yes," the teen said, "I'll give you this place, and all you'll need to do to pay me back is work for me in a sense."

"What will I have to do sir? And what about school?" the boy asked.

"I'll send over some people to handle your education when it comes to learning how to run things here and in wherever places I assign as being under your rule so to speak," the teen replied, "As for school...you really want to go to school?"

"Yes sir," the boy replied, "I want to go to school...just not one where my cousin Dudley goes."

"I see," the teen said, "Well I suppose I could send you to school. It is within my power after all."

"Ok, I'll stay here then and work for you," the boy said, "Uhm..I'm Harry Potter by the way, sir."

"Welcome to one of the many Hells under my rule Harry Potter. I too am Harry Potter, but you can just call me Devil or James," the teen held out his hand for the boy to shake.

The boy didn't really know much about heaven, hell, the angels, demons, gods, or the devil, so he just took the hand and shook it, which became the symbol or sign of their joint agreement.

"You do know what it means to work for me, don't you?" the teen asked, some concern seeping into his normally deadpan voice.

"No sir," the boy truthfully replied, "I have no idea at all sir.

"Then why did you agree?" the teen asked, tilting his head a little bit in curiosity.

"No Dursleys! What more could I ask for, sir," the boy responded, still wrapped up in the blanket.

"I suppose that is a good thing," Devil said, "Very well. I'll make sure that everyone else in my empire knows that you are a non-combatant in our war. I'll send your tutors over some time later."

"Sir...umm...James," the boy said.

"Yes?" the teen said.

"Since I'm new here...can you show me around?" the boy said.

"I might as well," Devil said, "The war is at a standstill so I might as well, while I still have time to spare. I think for all intents and purposes, since you are starting a new life, away from your relatives, you are in need of a new name."

"To tell us apart?" the boy asked, perceptively.

"Precisely," the teen said, "So tell me, little one, what would you like to be called from now on?"

"Anything will do, sir," the boy said.

"Fine then," Devil said, "I dub thee Hadrian James Xeno, Tempter of the Faithful, Seducer of the Faithless, Instigator of the Calm, and Eye of the Storm, of the Noble House of Potter, of the Moste Noble and Moste Ancient House of Peverell. I dub thee Hardian James Xeno, Scion of Antiquity, Spawn of the Canvas upon which the Entrance adds onto and the Exit takes from."

"That's a pretty long name, sir," Hardian James Xeno, or Harry for short for now anyway, said.

"Your name is Hardian James Xeno," Devil said, "The others are your titles, House names, and responsibilities, along with some new powers that I have granted you to better perform your new duties and responsibilities."

"Oh, ok, and thanks sir," Harry said.

"And before we proceed with the tour," Devil said, "I have one more title to bestow upon you. I dub thee Hardian James Xeno, Lord of Winter, Lord of Frost, Lord of the Cold, Prince of All Hells, Liege, Lord, and King of Hell.."

"How can I be a prince and a king at the same time?" Harry asked.

"Because All Hells is ALL of the many nigh infinite hells in all of existence," Devil explained, not minding being interrupted, "The Prince part is merely an honor title since we share the same birth name. As for being a King, well you are king of this Hell. Tis not the hell of a certain religion or group of believers, but a forgotten hell of some forgotten sect of a sort. It's past no longer matters, all that matters is its future and what you plan on doing with it. Here you are King, and I am Emperor. You answer to myself and myself alone. This," he spread out his arms, "Is you land! Yours, all yours to do with as you see fit! But as I said, you will be having a job to do. You are the balance, one of them, to your world's heavens."

"I see," Harry said, "I guess I'll just have to give it my all so that I'll be able to understand everything better, huh."

"Precisely," Devil said, "Now, let us proceed with your tour..."

#

Devil had scoured the Hells for the most intelligent souls to have landed themselves in a Hell, he had them become the tutors of Harry. The boy still went to school, it was the most convenient one for all those involved, which was just two people really. The Devil himself and Hardian Potter.

The school was one found in a Heaven under the rule of one of Devil's own allies and, in a sense, nephews. Harry just had to promise not to tell any of his classmates or teachers where he hailed from. He needed to keep what he was a secret. It was that or not go to school at all. All school records were magically added to the database in the real world, which was what Harry called the living world where he had come from.

It took him a while to adjust to the fact that he was a mortal, presently mortal at least, living in one of the afterlives, living in one of the lands of the dead.

It didn't take him long to adjust however to his new duties, if he could more or less run a household, what was running a hell and a few others whose leaders were combatants unlike him. He took to being a King like a fish took to water, and became the pride of his tutors who couldn't be happier that their eternal torments and the like were so fulfilling instead of full of their own personal suffering.

He found out during his first month in that land down under that Devil had been telling him the truth, there wasn't anyone there. There were structures and the like which showed that people or souls or demons or whatever lived in hell used to live in his hell. But they were gone now, not to ever return for whatever reason they had.

One of his first duties was to repopulate his hell, make it productive and all that. He needed to extend his influence to his world, the living world of which he still in a sense belonged to. His tutors were not of the king of beings that could do what was needed to be done.

Due to his lessons his views on morality were very much skewed, right and wrong were things that he wasn't really quite sure of yet. He had to learn from experience, of a sort, so he took field trips to the other hells that he would be taking on the duties of administrative head of. He observed what sorts of souls were sent to those hells, and used what he observed as a basis to what sorts of things he had to influence the living into doing.

A little bit later on he learned that while souls did end up in some form of afterlife, before that they went to the Halls of Judgment, where their good and bad were weighed. He learned from a representative from there that the only way he could get souls to drop into his realm on their own, skipping the Halls entirely, was if those souls were shadowed by a demon or devil from his hell.

The soul would have to listen to the hellish influence from Harry's own Hell, as opposed to the guardian angel that every souls, most of them anyway, had.

Life was one big job interview of a sort. Harry had to send recruitment agents to the living world to maneuver souls into ending up in his domain. He could also get souls to end up in his Hell if he found people willing to sell their souls to him.

He had a lot of work set before him and a lot more things to learn. It was a good thing that he was more or less immortal, or he would be once he finally died that very first and only time, unless he decided to join the war. Which he vowed not to, especially since Devil was counting on him as one of the non-combatants that kept Hell operational.

It was only when he was finally eight years old that he finally got a hang of running things down under. It was on his eighth birthday that he was forced into recruiting, he was to venture into the living world and corrupt as many people permanently as he could.

Not yet being a master of all of the powers he had in him, he couldn't very well go about answering summons from mere mortals, those willing to sell him their souls for whatever reason, since he couldn't fulfill what would be his end of the bargain. He wouldn't be doing that just yet.

But before he could go out into the living world, Devil came for a visit. It was a rather unusual thing since the Devil himself rarely ever came for a visit.

"For a child I expected you to have tried creating demons and devils instead of just going above ground," Devil said, a slight bit disappointed, but managing to hid his disappointment well enough from the child.

"I can do that?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you can do that," Devil said, "I recall sharing with you the principle of To Think Is To Create. The power part behind that is that the only limits you have are those that you place on yourself. Nothing is impossible, as far as power itself is concerned all you have need for is belief, will, and some manner of imagination."

"Oh.." Harry said, "So how do I go about doing that?"

"I guess the old adage of seeing is believing will have to be used here," Devil said and simply created a demon.

"How might I serve thee, my master," the newly created demon knelt before the Devil himself.

"Go join the main army," Devil ordered, which is complied and left to perform the order.

The demon looked like just about any ordinary human person.

"That didn't look like the kinds of demons I studied about in school," Harry said, and he actually did have a class on demon lore, it was a part of the required classes for any studying in heaven.

"Like I said," Devil said, "The only limitation you have is your imagination. So use yours, and if you're worried about creating some sort of mindless beast, you should just factor that in your creation process. The personality or individuality will come automatically, Imagination will take care of it."

"Oh," Harry said, and scrunched up his face in concentration, he needed to focus on what he wanted after all, and he kind of looked a little cute doing it too.

He was standing just before the main gate of his Hell. They were blackened things that could withstand a battering ram of apocalyptic proportions. He lived in the stereotypical castle, as it was the place of residence that had been given to him. His hell was a barren place, devoid of life save for himself and his tutors who lived in smaller dwelling places scattered throughout his Hell.

The light of Hell came from some kind of sun that hung in the sky bathing the ground, or at least the higher levels of Hell in it's scorching and blistering heat. It would of course only affect those that let it affect them and those that were suffering through an eternal, or as close to eternal as one could get, torment.

The barren earth was more red than brown in color.

Hell was filled more with stone or rock dwelling places, and a few castles, though the only really impressive one was where Harry lived. It had to be impressive of course. Hell was also filled with just soil and rocks. The only water related thing was at the lowest of the low of pits of the place, which was where Harry first found himself in. The Hell of Betrayers.

The ground between his self and the Main Gate of his Hell shook and cracked, before a pillar of the stuff shot out and part of this pillar crumbled. From where once a pillar stood was now a 9-foot tall muscle bound monster with orange eyes, a pointed nose, a fang filled mouth, pointed ears, long white hair, a long dextrous tail, and a pair of wings.

Harry poured everything from his lessons on demon lore into his very first creation. The physical appearance was for the intimidation and fear induction factor, while ability wise his creation was the most versatile of everything he would in the future create.

When he was satisfied with what he had done, he opened his eyes to find the behemoth as he had envisioned it to be. The demon knelt on bended knee in much the same manner as Devil's own creation had.

"How might I serve thee, my master," the monster stated, respectfully, loyally, and all that.

"Go forth to the living world and influence the living to sin," Harry ordered, "Then return to me for further instructions once a thousand souls have found their way to my domain."

The behemoth vanished from hell and appeared in the living world, unseen, but its malevolence felt by the living, and only those sensitive enough could see it's silhouette.

"That was a good first try," Devil noted, "The Seven Mortal Sins are the basis for most other sins, they are the main categories of the things that will get this place repopulated. Now I have a war to return to, farewell for now, and keep up the good work."

"Thanks for the visit and thanks for the tip!" Harry happily said as he waved goodbye to the older male who faded from view.

He created an additional assortment of demons, consisting of 39 different ones. Then he divided them unequally into seven divisions or groups, each one with orders to venture out into the living world and do as their first brother had been ordered to do.

The 40 demons worked quite fast, and after only two days since their creation Harry's Hell welcomed it's first 40 thousand sinful souls. Each one had been corrupted to the point of sinning enough times that their own guardian angels had fled from their presence. Each of these 40 thousand had also committed the greatest act of betrayal to life, they died by suicide.

Each soul took their place in the line leading to the Main Gate of Hell a mere fraction of a second after each other.

The demon manning the gate and meeting these lined souls was Harry's mathematician of a tutor. He was in a sense Harry's Hell's version of the good Saint Peter.

Once the proper sentence of eternal reward was figured out for each soul, the soul was escorted into Hell by Harry's History tutor, turned demon, and brought to the circle or level of hell of which sin they had mostly committed in life. Once there, the soul would receive his or her reward, the provider being one of the 39 specialized demons that had brought the first 40 thousands souls to Harry's Hell.

The first demon that had been created by Harry had been named Joseph for some reason, and had been sent back into the living world to cause more mortals to sin. 40 thousand souls was not even a grain of sand in a desert, Harry's Hell needed more denizens, the suffering and the demons and devils. So far he only had 40 thousand souls, 39 born demons, a small assortment of turned demons, and 1 born devil.

Harry's Hell grew even greater in population and the like as the years passed by, and it seemed that no real time passed by before a group of three found their way into his hell, a group of three he didn't ever want to see again. But he had the unfortunate fortune of being the Lord of the Hell that they had been sent to.

He had been informed by one of his most recent courier demons that a group of three souls had arrived at the gates and they were reeking of so much _evil_ that they had what it took to be promoted to the rank of lesser demon and could even skip out on their eternal reward.

Harry was at first delighted upon hearing such news as he had only encountered one soul that met the criteria of being recruited upon arrival. One Damien Rosier. The man was so evil that his own guardian angel had abandoned him a long time before his death.

When Harry arrived to greet this special trio, his happy face turned horrified which was a cause for alarm for his forces, his royal guard, of which Joseph was the captain of, rushed to his side, all wearing the medieval armor that the angels were also known for wearing into battle.

"**OUT! SEND THEM AWAY FROM HERE! SEND THEM TO HEAVEN FOR ALL I CARE!"** Harry shouted, **"JUST GET RID OF THEM! I WILL NOT HAVE SUCH FILTH! SUCH FREAKS POLLUTE MY DOMAIN!"**

"But sir, they are the foulest of the foul, the worst of the worst, the most sinful of the sinful, even the youngest among them has a taint in him that no amount of heavenly detergent will be able to cleanse," Joseph stated.

"I don't care!" Harry's shout was lesser in volume now, "I don't want a single on of those three to enter my domain. They can rot in limbo for all I care."

"Very well then, my master," Joseph said, and motioned for the Dursleys to be separated from the line.

The Dursleys were informed that Hell was not willing to accept them, and that they were being sent up to Heaven. The trio thought that they were so virtuous that they were being rewarded, they mocked the Devil, Harry, insulting him and the boy they had forgotten about in the house that they had died in, due to it bursting into flames for some reason which can be blamed on a fart near an open kitchen flame.

When they got to Heaven they found that they were not allowed to enter, and made quite the fuss about it. They were truly stuck in limbo, forcibly separated from one another, and forced to watch as other purer souls were allowed to enter. They were so near heaven, yet so far away from it. It was a fate worse than Hell.

When Harry was informed of what had become of his relatives he jumped for joy and went on a killing spree somewhere in Africa, thinking at the end of it that what he had done was a mercy killing, euthanasia of a sort. He didn't mind that they would not be ending up in his Hell, it didn't matter, all that mattered was that he was happy. He was free of the Dursleys and they could do nothing to him about it.

His unscheduled jaunt to the living world had the side effect of a delivery owl following him down into hell, dying in the process, but that didn't really matter. The atmosphere of hell had managed to mutate the deal animal into the first animal of hell, a monster in its own right.

"Sir," his math tutor said in greeting, while not looking away from the soul that he was speaking with and delighting in the growing horror on the face of the woman.

"Sir," a pair of lesser devils said upon catching sight of him and saluted him as he entered through what was now dubbed as Hell Gate 00, there being six other gates like it scattered around the perimeter of the Hell.

"Sir! Behind you!" one of the guards shouted, and dived between his liege, lord, and king, and whatever the heck it was that he saw.

He was crushed beneath the weight of the demonized owl.

"Whoa...that's one big owl," Harry commented once he was facing the big thing, if giants had owls to match their size, this owl was sure to be of such a breed.

"Ca..an't...brea...the..." the lesser devil guard barely managed to wheeze out from under the owl.

"Oh get off of him," Harry ordered of the bird, it was now a denizen of hell and therefore he could order it around. It complied and held out a leg on which a letter was barely clinging onto it.

He took the letter and read the words written or found on the envelope.

It was addressed to him, 'Hadrian James Xeno Potter' it read, 'Just beyond Hell Gate 00, nameless Hell'.

"Interesting piece of parchment you got there, Hadrian," the Devil himself commented upon arrival in the still nameless Hell, "You might want to open it."

"You knew about this, sir?" Harry after opening the envelope and reading the contents of the letter found within.

"Technically I'm still going to such a school myself," Devil admitted to one of his princes, "It's an OK place if I do say so myself."

"If you say so," Harry said, "So I should just reply then?"

"Of course you should," Devil said and handed over a piece of parchment and a pilot pen, "Use these.."

Before he could say anything else a second demonized owl landed beside the first one, landing on the still panting lesser devil on the ground. This one too bore a letter, but this time it was addressed to 'Harry James Potter', the own wouldn't let Devil take it, only Hadrian James Xeno could take it from the owl, and did take it from the owl.

"Err...two?" Harry said.

"Accept the one as Hadrian, as that is who you have been for quite a while," Devil said, "And decline the other one."

"I can do that," Harry said, and did just that.

It should be noted that all citizens of Hell, the non-suffering kind, had the innate ability of transformation. The owl transformed into what they had originally been once they broke through or passed through that thin veil separating life from death.

They delivered their letters of acceptance and rejection before returning to hell and adding a new species to hell.

Since acceptance and rejection of invitations was handled not personally by staff, it would only be noticed that Harry James Potter would not be in attendance during the Opening Feast of the incoming school year.

"So...where am I to get all the things in my school list?" Harry asked Devil.

"Diagon Alley," Devil said, "I'd take you myself, but I have a war to wage, as you well know."

"I know," Harry said, "Some simple directions would help lots."

"I have a better idea," Devil said, "There's that demon on your payroll Damien Rosier. He was a wizard in life, the kind that relished in being the dark wizard that he was, black wizard really."

"He's not as evil as he started out as," Harry informed the Devil himself, "He's a slightly reformed individual."

"I see," Devil said, "Nonetheless, use him. The wizard part of the magical world of the living world is to him like the back of his hand."

"I'll take your words of advice into consideration before beginning my journey into the living world," Harry stated, before once again watching the Devil himself leave his nameless hell.

He sought out Damien Rosier, who was delighted to be of service of his liege, lord, and king. He shared everything he knew with Joseph who would be accompanying their liege to the living world. Going with the two males would be Lucretia, Damien's succubus of a mate.

Joseph took on the form of a middle aged white haired man who wore eyeglasses to aid in his supposedly impeded sight. Lucretia's human form was that of a young woman just out of her teens, who wore clothes that would make married men wish to leave their wives, or at least that's what she normally wore upon visiting the living world. This time around she had to wear more wholesome clothes since her liege didn't want to become the center of attention.

They walked out of a portal in a part of London which Harry's Hell had previously been blind to, or at least to the ones that had not lived their mortal lives as magicals. This magical world was going to add a whole new addition of souls for hellish conquest.

Joseph sent word back to soul acquisition department to spread the word about the magical world which the former magicals had selfishly kept to themselves.

Their first stop, according to Damien, should be Gringotts Bank, the magical bank run prominently by goblins another one of the magical races found in the world. They held a monopoly over banking in magical Britain.

Once they arrived at the bank, Joseph approached the nearest available and inquired about his charge wanting to make a withdrawal from any accounts that he might have. Damien shared that having the name Potter entitled his liege to some gold from the bank.

"Who is this charge you speak of human," the goblin snarled out, a tad bit annoyed, it was an intimidation tactic that usually worked on wizards and the muggles that they met.

"_Listen here mortal,_" Joseph whispered with some killing intent leaking into his voice, his eyes also changing from their jade green hue to the crimson that most demons and devils were known for having, "_I will not take kindly to using such a tone with one such as I. Lucky you that it was not my liege that you had spoken using such a tone with._"

"A vampire serving a wizard, how droll," the goblin said, with nary a care in his words, "Share the name of this wizard vampire, I have other business to attend to. To think how the mighty have fallen, serving a wizard of all things. Hurry up before I inform the aurors that one of your kind had infiltrated a magical house."

"Vampire? I?" Joseph said, then whispered with a hint of killing intent remaining, "_Foolish goblin, I am no mere vampire. Nevertheless, my charge's name is Hadrian Potter, we were told that he might gain some gold from this institution for school shopping._"

"I know of no Hadrian Potter," the goblin said, "But if your charge is willing, he may take an inheritance ritual to determine if he has any accounts with us."

"We are willing," Joseph said, his voice coming out of a whisper and losing the killing intent.

"Very well then...GRIPHOOK!" the goblin teller called out.

Another goblin arrived, Griphook, and beckoned Joseph to follow him. Joseph alerted his liege and their female companion to follow the little goblin.

They were led to a room which had a bowl in the very center attached to something that looked like a mundane printer of all things.

"Prick a finger and let three drops of blood fall into the bowl," the goblin instructed Harry, who was the wizard of the group, "Then we wait for the results to be printed out by the magic of the inheritance bowl."

"Ok," Harry said, and bit his thumb, something that no normal child would be able to do, and had three drops of blood fall into the bowl before he had the small wound heal up right before the goblin's eyes.

"_Well..you don't see that everyday,_" the goblin softly said to himself.

The goblin took the printed results, read it over, before handing it over to Harry masking his surprise and the galleon signs in his eyes. He was a goblin, and goblins had quite the poker face.

Then he realized that there were some titles written on the parchment that he was not familiar with and then some stories of his youth came rushing to the fore, causing him to pale, and a sense of growing horror dawned upon him.

The results were thus:

_**Hadrian James Xeno**_

**Head/Patriarch:**

_by blood and magic:_

House of Potter

Noble and Ancient House of Gryffindor

Moste Noble and Moste Ancient House of Peverell

Moste Noble and Moste Ancient House of Black

_by right of conquest:_

Noble and Ancient House of Slytherin

Noble House of Gaunt

Royal House of _still nameless_ Hell

**Heir Apparent:**

_by blood or magic:_

Moste Ancient of Ancient and Moste Noble of Noble House of Iunctio

Moste Noble and Moste Ancient House of Wyllt

Moste Noble and Moste Ancient House of Acerbus

Noble House of Aelin

**Titles:**

Duke Gryffindor of Godirc's Hollow and Aureusleo

Lord Baron Black of Blackmoore

Earl Peverell of Oakshire

Heir to the Baronies of Hangleton and Little Hangleton

Tempter of the Faithful

Seducer of the Faithless

Instigator of the Calm

Eye of the Storm

Scion of Antiquity

Lord of Winter

Lord of Frost

Lord of Cold

Prince of All Hells

King of _a still nameless _Hell

"That's quite the list," Harry commented, before duplicating it, and pocketing his copy as Joseph handed the parchment back to the goblin, who was startled out of his stupor.

"H-H-How might I serve thee, O patron of patrons!" the goblin stuttered and squeaked out clearly unable to keep his goblin poker face up any longer.

"Joseph here," Harry motioned to his number one general, "I am putting in charge of my worldly affairs, he shall be the go-between between myself and my account manager regarding things that affect myself and my accounts here at Gringotts Bank."

"I will have your account manager informed of such," Griphook rushed out of the room and returned a few minutes later accompanied by several other goblins, all of whom had been informed of recent events.

"We," the goblin account managers spoke at the exact same time, "Are willing to trade our very souls for the right of continuing to manage your accounts, Mister Potter."

They couldn't come up with a title that they could use at the same time without sounding like some awfully chaotic chorus.

"Very well then," Harry stated, accepting their offer, "For as long as you live, you shall serve as my account managers, and even after that."

"Many thanks, sir," the goblins said, as respectfully as they could sound, they didn't know that they had just sold their souls for eternal positions in the hierarchy of things in the bank.

"I still wish to make a withdrawal," Harry said.

"No need sir," one goblin said as it approached and handed over a money pouch, and explained that all he needed to do was think of the amount and it would be pulled directly from one of his vaults, he could specific from which account if he so wished. There was no limit save for the gold in his vaults, and no transaction charge, all additional charges were waived.

Leaving Joseph at the bank to continue gathering information on Harry's financial status, Lucretia and Harry ventured into the alley in search of the things he would need for school. From the what he believed to be useful to what he believed to be useless, the wand was the useless thing.

He bought all the books that he needed and then some, and even bought some books for Lucretia to bring back to her husband. He really ended up buying one copy of each book found in the Diagon Alley bookstore and instructed Lucretia to, at a later date, get a copy of every book that she and her own demon horde could find. His castle's library needed to be updated on everything that had a book of any kind, save for the one of a kind types of books, those ones would be copied or duplicated.

His purchases were sent straight to where he intended to keep them in his castle. Both the organic and inorganic things were being added to his Hell. His Hell was his own world in a sense, and since he had accidentally added some owls, he might as well add whatever else he could get his hands on.

While others of his ilk had pocket dimensions or hammer space to keep a plethora of things, or just a bottomless bag, he had his Hell to keep things in. So he didn't have to worry about what he bought and their quantity.

The pair ended up having a cone of ice cream each before getting the useless piece of wood that was a wand. They were also waiting for Joseph to join them.

He eventually did, and brought some interesting information. That information being the first wave of corruption demons had just been loosed upon the magical world. Other Hells and Underworlds received too much souls from the mundane world and were glad to relinquish their holds on the magical world, leaving quite the crop of potential souls for the taking to Harry and his Hell.

"Send out an additional order, Joseph," Harry said as they walked, there was enough noise around them that no one could really hear and understand their conversation, "I am initiating what I would like to be officially known as Operation Noah's Ark."

"You want some demons to get a pair of every kind of animal and having them brought to your Hell, sire, where the atmosphere and other things will force a demonic change upon the creatures?" Joseph asked, he had to make sure of course.

"Precisely," Harry said, "I also want some others to gather plant-life. See to it that the life part is kept intact, just long enough for the plants to mutate into being able to survive in our world."

"Anything else sir?" Joseph asked, "Water perhaps?"

"Add that to the list too," Harry said, "No, scratch that. Hell will add that if it will be needed."

"I'll get to that as soon as we've managed to purchase your wand," Joseph said.

"If you say so Joseph," Harry said, and had the devil lead the way.

Ophelia Olivander, he kept his first name a secret since he was ashamed of having it and not because of some family tradition that only his parents and wife would be able to know his name, was next person to directly sell or trade his soul to Harry. All it took was saying that he would love to trade his soul for Harry to stay a while as he found the youth a wand that was not afraid of him, for whatever reason the other wands in the shop were deathly afraid of this particular 11 year old wizard.

Lucretia suggested that Harry lie about being the King of his Hell, lie in the way that he hid that part of his aura from the senses of the wands, so that one of them would not be afraid of choosing him. One did eventually chose him, a holly and phoenix feather cored one. Olivander then shared with the trio that the wand had a brother, one whose wizard did terrible but great things.

"Joseph," Harry said, deciding that he wanted to leave the living world with quite some chaos in his wake.

"Yes, my liege," Joseph said.

"Force the wandmaker's heir home to deal with all my fellow first years," Harry ordered, before vanishing to his home in hell, Lucertia following after him, and Joseph reentering the wand shop and shoved a number of wands through the wand maker's body until the man was forced into dying.

Olivander's soul screamed all the way to Harry's Hell where it was welcomed by the fang filled grins of the demon guards of Hell Gate 00, from which he was led to his job as wand maker for the slow to grow army of Harry's Hell.

September first finally arrived, and on that day found Harry on Platform 9 ¾ watching as his demons went to work on the parents of his fellow schoolmates, some of them managing to influence their victims while a vaster majority failing at their task. It seemed that everywhere there were still some commendable good people, like the patriarch of that one purely and large red headed family.

After a while, growing bored really, he found himself a compartment to wile away the time before the train left and brought him to his newest school. His presence in his former school would not be missed as students came and went transferring from one school to another depending on their parents whims or wills.

"Joseph," Harry said, knowing that his first demonic creation was always ready and willing to serve, "See that family of blondes. The one with a first year like I, and having a younger girl in the family.." he didn't need to wait for a confirmation, "Kill the father."

"_For what purpose sire?_" came the whispered reply, since Joseph was in his devil state and could only communicate with mortals with such a volume.

"Do I need a purpose?" Harry stated.

"_No sire, was just curious, one dead father coming right up,_" Joseph responded, and his presence found itself just behind Lord Desmond Greengrass who upon leaving the station with his wife and younger daughter and arriving at their home would promptly clutch at his chest as he suffered a sudden and very pain filled heart attack.

What would follow was the remaining Lady Greengrass would have to use everything she knew to keep what was left to her with her and her girls as the prominently male dominated society tried to eat at her and what remained of House Greengrass.

The Greengrass fortune would then be up for grabs, all it would take was one person to get their hands on the heir of to that fortune, and unfortunately for Daphne Greengrass she could not hold power over his House, as only a male could do such a thing. This would leave her no choice but to choose from her peers before she turned seventeen lest those others in power have their way with her.

Harry remained in his train compartment only having to share the compartment with some older student who was in her last year. She didn't really feel like staying with her peers at the moment for whatever reason that she refused to share with the first year she thought she was succeeding in bullying. Just cause he didn't complain didn't mean that she was bullying him, but in her mind she was doing something which her peers had some experience in.

"What problem ails you," Harry decided to ask as there wasn't really anything else better to do, and also since he was a bit stuck in the compartment with the older girl.

"Nothing," the girl said, "Just leave me be, remember I'm imposing on you. Got it?"

"I don't feel imposed at all," Harry said, "You suck at this bullying thing, you know that right?"

"I do not!" she exclaimed, "I'm older than you and I forced my way into your compartment, thus I am bullying you."

"I don't mind your presence at all," Harry said, "Therefore you suck at bullying. You attempt is amateurish at best."

"It is not," she said, and decided to pull out the big guns, and had her face change into what she deemed was the scariest face she could change her face into, "Scared of me yet?"

"Frankly, no," Harry couldn't help but deadpan.

"How can you say that? I've scared bullies in my neighborhood with that face!" she said getting her face back to normal.

"I've seen much worse," Harry said, "You don't have a scary bone in your body."

"I do too!" she said, "And I'll prove it to you too!"

"How do you intend to do that?" he asked her.

"By doing this," she moved quite fast and had her wand pointed at his crotch, while she whispered in his ear, "_Admit that I'm good at this bullying thing, or I curse your nuts off._"

"I don't think I will," he told her, "You still suck at this bullying thing. Even your threats hold nothing in them."

"What the hell! If you were anyone else you'd be begging for forgiveness now!" she said.

"I'm not anyone else as you put it so eloquently," Harry stated as he pushed her away, forcefully away with strength that she thought a first year student should not have possessed.

"You sure are strong for a firstie," she commented.

"I am many things," Harry said, "So mind sharing why you've decided to change yourself, hopefully, for the eyes of others?"

"How do you know I'm just acting out?" she asked him, admitting to what she was doing.

"You don't feel like the type that would give in to evil so easily," Harry said.

"Hey, bullying isn't evil per se, its just bad," she said, wondering why she was defending bullies of all kinds of people.

"I say bullying can be grounds for being sent to Hell," Harry stated, "That's my opinion, I'm entitled to one after all, just as are you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she said, "Fine, I'll spill the beans. I don't have any real friends, since all my friends in my year keep wanting me to change what I look like to serve their needs. I'm like a slave to friendship, so I wanted to know what it felt like to be on the other side for once."

"Like I said, you suck at it," Harry said.

"Yeah, I can see that now, and I still don't get what the others like so much about having this power over others," the girl said, "I mean I tried standing my ground once, but I couldn't stand not having them around so I asked for their forgiveness and basically returned to being what they wanted me to be. Say I don't even know your name, I'm Tonks."

"Harry," Harry replied, "Though that's only my nickname now."

"Don't like your real name too?" the girl asked, hopefully, "Cause I don't like mine."

"What is it?" he asked her.

"If you promise not to laugh I'll tell you," she seriously said.

"I promise not to laugh at your name, whatever it may be," he promised, "This one time."

"Ok," she said, "My real name's Nymphandora Tonks."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," he said to her, "As for me, I'm Hadrian James Xeno Potter."

"Any relation to Harry Potter? You know, the Boy-Who-Lived," Tonks couldn't help but ask.

"Boy-Who-Lived?" Harry asked, he knew he heard that moniker somewhere.

"Oh, you're muggleborn then," Tonks said, "Well let me fill you in then. The Boy-Who-Lived is the savior of the British Wizarding World! He's the one who managed to somehow stop He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and managed to survive the Killing Curse to boot."

"Oh, what about his parents? Are they called the Parents-Who-Died or something?" he asked, they were his parents after all.

"Well no...they're just the Potters...come to think of it, they're not really given much importance as far as the fall of You-Know-Who is concerned..." she said, really only thinking about it now, "So, you related to him?"

"Perhaps," Harry said, "Only time, and your curiosity will tell."

"Whatever, its not like that's so important anyway," she said, "It's said that he'll be attending Hogwarts this year, so I'll just ask him when I bump into him."

"Whatever," Harry said, uninterested in his own personal fame, fame which apparently only resulted in a fluke of fate of a sort, fame that still led him to living with the Dursleys, but which did result in him becoming what he was today.

"So...which house do you think you'll end up in?" Tonks asked, "Personally, I wouldn't mind having you in Hufflepuff."

"I was thinking either Gryffindor or Slytherin," Harry said, "Which of those two, in your opinion, would less likely be blamed for another student in the same or a different house dying for whatever reason?"

"Gryffindor," she replied, "Why? Planning on offing someone already?"

"Not sure yet," he said, "But I might be thinking of ridding the school of such a lousy bully such as yourself."

"Oh? And how do you propose to off me?" she inquired, curious of what an annoyed 11 year old mind could think up.

"Simple," he adopted a more devilish aura, lowering his voice down to a whisper and adding a hint of killing intent into the mix, "_I'd start by trapping you in one of the surely unused rooms, or in an empty corridor. You'd surely think it a poor in taste prank, and try and fire a harmless spell at me in retaliation. I'd then proceed by breaking your wand hand, followed by the rest of the arm.._"

He moved closer to her as he spoke and trailed one hand along the hand of which he spoke of, and had it trail along the arm that would follow..

"_As you would be in great pain, I imagine all you'd be able to do was scream or shout and try and make me move or something like that,_" he continued, "_I won't let you scream of course, which is why I'd follow up the breaking of your arm with the severing of your tongue,_" here he kissed her like the French, "_Perhaps by biting it off before you even think of biting mine.._"

He let go of her mouth which hung open as she felt her wand arm grow numb as if her body or magic was numbing it from whatever pain her mind was imagining. She also began to feel as if her mouth too was growing numb and that she was drowning in her own blood. Her mind couldn't think of forcing her body to move, from being under the much smaller first year.

".._.a quick punch to your solar plexus would follow, forcing your body to go into shock from all the pain, paralyzing you,_" he said, puncturing his description with a fist pressing swiftly yet gently against where her solar plexus was, "_With you unable to even move, I'd slip out a knife and drag it across your abdomen. My intent being disembowelment.._"

He dragged a finger lazily along her abdomen too, to which her mind made her think that that was exactly what was happening. His voice was hypnotic enough to make her think that it was all happening in real time.

"..._As you slowly die from drowning and blood loss, not to mention having all your internal organs spilling out as they will be,_" he added, "_I'll proceed with breaking the rest of your limbs, and I'd end your suffering at my a hands by letting you experience a having a wand shoved up in you, for your pleasure of course before your end finally comes._"

He mirrored his words with his actions. He plucked her wand from the hand which actually still gripped in, and lay it down near where he said he would leave it.

He moved away from her as he sensed someone approach their compartment. He sat himself back in his seat opposite from her, as her eyes rolled back and she fainted from the horrors that her mind cooked up from his words.

"_Pleasantly done sire,_" Joseph commented.

The door to the compartment was opened and in popped a blonde haired head.

"Word around the train is that Harry Potter's here somewhere," the blonde stated, then demanded, "Have you seen him?"

"Not today," Harry replied, which wasn't a lie even since he hadn't looked at a reflective surface all day.

"What's with her?" the blonde said motioning towards the still knocked out Tonks.

"Fainted," Harry stated.

"Whatever," the blonde said and closed the door before leaving to return to his search of Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived.

Tonks returned to the land of the waking when the train's conductor announced that they were nearing Hogsmeade.

Her hands frantically roamed around her body making sure that all of her body parts were still there and in working order, and eventually found her wand near her crotch, which did cause her to almost scream, before her eyes landed on Harry smiling a tad bit cruelly in her direction.

"Don't ever do THAT again!" she shouted at him, her hands wanting to wring his neck, but she calmed herself down enough not to.

"You suck at bullying," he stated, "I don't," he added smugly, "Scared yet?"

"Not on your life!" she exclaimed, getting back to being happy quite fast, "Now get out of the compartment so I can get changed!"

"Fine, fine," Harry said and stepped out of the compartment, he also made sure that his clothes shifted into being his uniform as he moved, just because the majority of the magical needed focus or medium for their spellcasting, didn't mean that he needed one, he hadn't needed one for years after all.

He reentered the compartment when Tonks called out that she was done. She was surprised to find him already in his uniform and decided against commenting on the possibility of him being an exhibitionist. Her guardian angel and the demon assigned to her had decided to work together to make sure that she kept her life and didn't say the wrong thing which might cause Harry to go after the both of them in addition to ending her life.

They went their separate ways upon departing from the train, since the first years had their own way of getting to the castle as opposed to how the rest of the school made their way there. It was geared toward making the first years have a more magical education.

Had he never gazed upon his own castle he would have agreed with his fellow students that it was an amazing and impressive sight. But since he had already seen better, he deigned from commenting on the mediocre splendor of the castle.

He didn't bother listening to the names being called and which houses his fellow first years ended up in. All he wanted for was his own name.

"Potter, Hadrian," was finally called by the deputy headmistress, to which he separated himself from the remaining first years yet to be sorted.

The name Potter caused a lot of whispering and murmuring from the student body, and even the professors craned their necks to get a look at him. Even though he wasn't the Harry Potter whose name was also on the list, added onto it by the Headmaster who thought that his deputy had mistakenly not included the name when she had compiled the list from the confirmation of attendance pile of letters.

He walked over to the stool and the hat with all the elegance and grace that he possessed as a prince and a king.

'_Place me in Gryffindor or else I order the destruction of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,_' he mentally threatened the hat, the combined four souls fragments of the four Founders which they had combined in the creation of the hat felt the threat and acted accordingly.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat hastily shouted out for all the castle to hear.

He removed the hat from his head, and a few students could have sworn that they witnessed the hat shiver at his touch. He hopped off of the stool and made his way to the applauding lions.

Tonks spent the time he had been under the hat to spread the word in her house that he was bad for business, not to be messed with or trusted, even if he was a member of the house of the brave and foolish.

Her manipulations didn't work, not at all. They just took her words as jokes, or her way of defending a firstie that was under her protection, for whatever that was worth.

"Potter, Harry," the deputy headmistress called out, expectantly. After a few minutes of no one walking forth, the headmaster stood and called for silence and used a spell he knew to try and locate Harry Potter from among the remaining first years. When that failed he summoned the reply to the Hogwarts invitation, which upon reaching his hand caused him to drop said letter as he took a tentative step back, as if struck.

"'I decline'," was what was written and what the resident Potions Master of the school read aloud, sending a shockwave throughout the school.

For the Boy-Who-Lived to decline Hogwarts meant something to everyone present. One of the possible things that it meant was that he had forsaken them for whatever reason.

The feast ended up being more subdued, and after it a massive manhunt operation was started by the Ministry of Magic, headed by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot himself. No one managed to find any trace of Harry Potter, as not even the goblins could help them, since no Harry Potter had entered their halls, only Hadrian Potter, a most valued client.

Harry Potter was lost to the British Wizarding World.

School went about as it did before the year of the Boy-Who-Lived was to enter the school and join the magical world once more after years out of it for his own protection or some rubbish as the press believed it to be. When it was revealed just who had decided on the fate of the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, the Savior, Albus Dumbledore lost a lot of respect from the magical community.

Albus Dumbledore eventually lost his positions and titles and all respect of the magical community once someone managed to dig up a report from Surrey of traces of blood found at the site of a fire belonging to Harry Potter, or so that records that matched the tiny blood sample told.

It was believed that the Boy-Who-Lived's magic had saved him from death, a death that the muggles believed he had suffered, and knew about his being placed in such a dangerous and loveless environment by Albus Dumbledore, and after finding out that Albus Dumbledore was the headmaster of the school, or one of the schools that was inviting him to attend, he had chosen another school over the prestigious Hogwarts due to having such a god awful man at the helm.

It was further believed that having the former headmaster at the helm of the British Wizengamot also led the youth to seek residence in another country. The people feared and accepted that it might be possible for the Boy-Who-Lived to have gone over the pond.

It was only after the newspaper articles which revealed the fate of the Boy-Who-Lived and the factors which led to such a fate or possible fate, did Harry finally find out the real cause of around four years worth of troubles. It was with that knowledge that he confronted the Headmaster as he was preparing to leave the country for who knows where.

Harry stunned the man from behind, physically took the wand from him, and followed that up by beheading the man.

Albus Dumbledore's corpse was found a week later, with preservation charms all over it, his brother took his body and buried it in an unmarked grave, and never looked back.

The man's soul was welcomed into the Hell Gate 00 by the guards who were happy with the prospect of breaking the man over and over again, since they knew that it would, for whatever reason that they didn't care about, bring a smile to their liege's face.

Harry failed to really make any friends in his own house, preferring to be the loner of the group.

During Halloween, a troll was supposedly spotted in the dungeons of the school, but after a whole night and day of searching, one was not found. The two trolls in the castle had been whisked away by way demons adding them to Operation Noah's Ark. The demonized trolls were some of the dumbest yet strongest of the demonic creatures in Hell, second only to the demonized Giants in both areas.

Joseph had managed to uncover quite a lot from his dealings with the goblins, two such things were a means of gaining master over death, and the other being information that You-Know-Who was still around.

The Devil himself had visited one Sunday night to confirm the facts about becoming the master of death, as well as sharing information regarding Voldemort still being alive. Then added that there was a special stone being held somewhere in the castle, hinting at the third floor which was still being guarded as the location for said stone.

At the end of the year, Professor Quirel had gone after the stone that the Devil himself had spoken of. The man, half possessed man had found himself in the presence of Joseph and around 15 other members of the Royal Guard.

The man died by beheading, and the wraith or soul fragment of the dark lord which escaped they dead body was captured by Joseph himself and presented to his liege for inspection and further orders.

"Find the other fragments, and return the murderer of my parents to being whole once more before putting him on ice," Harry ordered, and plucked out the tiny fragment of soul that had been unintentionally embedded into him. He only found out about it after the wraith had tried to possess him and admitted to their being a small part of itself in him.

That became the end of the Darkest Dark Lord in the history of the British Magical World.

Upon the start of his summer vacation he was updated on the status of the Greengrass family, and was pleased with how they had fared. Lady Greengrass had decided against informing her eldest of what had become of her father, just so that the girl could enjoy her first year. Her younger daughter was already betrothed to Draco Malfoy as per and already existing agreement between the late Lord Greengrass and the living Lord Malfoy.

Daphne didn't have any such contract looming over her, just a bunch of boys that would be vying for her attention. It was a good thing that none of them knew about the lengths that their forefathers would have gone for such a prize. Although it was a bad thing that the girl was attractive enough to catch a King's eyes.

Harry's second year was rather bland compared to his first one. Nothing made the year stand out, and it was all thanks to Joseph and the rest of his Guard tracking down and piecing back together one famous dark lord.

Third year too came and went, since the remaining Marauders of which his father was famously a part of had decided to collective commit suicide. One due to finally receiving word that his godson could possibly be dead, one for almost similar reasons but also because he had lead quite a hard life, and the rat of the three had died after Joseph had accidentally stepped on him.

Lady Greengrass' health began to decline after the death of her husband, she managed to hide it well, but not well enough. As she had been forced to have her youngest live with what would soon become family to her due to her contract.

Daphne was left in her mother's care of her mother was left in her care. She was also forced to fend off the many suitors that only wanted her for her money, her looks didn't really help much. She managed to keep them all at bay for two years, but it was during the summer leading up to her fourth year that her her more zealous or passionate of suitors began to delve into the old ways of doing things.

All it took was one successful assassination attempt on her mother's life for her life to almost literally go to hell. She found herself alone and friendless as all those around her, save for the Malfoy's just wanted her fortune.

The Malfoy's tried their hand at being her shield but even they could still be swayed by greed. Her sister understood it too, and at one point told her to suck it up, at least she wasn't being forced to marry someone and have no choice in the matter, not that she minded since Draco was every bit the gentleman when it came to her.

"Joseph," Harry said as he watched the last Greengrass walk through Diagon Alley heading for the bank to make a withdrawal or something like that, "Collect the souls of all those responsible for Lady Greengrass's demise. They are clearly guilty, and the guilty must be punished after all."

"_Yes my liege,_" Joseph said, always so willing to serve.

With the order given, Harry made his way to the bank as well, he had a Greengrass girl to follow. He had his sights set on her, and no force in the living world could hope to keep her from him. Not even the girl herself.

She had a cursed or blessed beauty, one which she had inherited from some goddess of an age long since passed. She also had a mind to match that physical beauty, but there were so few willing to see and acknowledge it.

Before she could reach the bank however she was cornered by three fresh graduates from school. Each of them had their sights set on her as well, her and her family's vast fortune.

"Might as well give up Daphne," one of the brutes said, "This is your last chance to pick one of us, if you still refuse, well I can't promise nothing bad will happen to you."

I refuse to even consider one of you gorillas," she defiantly replied, pulling out her wand in preparation to defending herself.

"Oh look boys, she's got a wand!" the leader of the trio mocked, and pulled out his own wand, "Well lookie 'ere, I gots one too."

"She's ripe for the pickin ain't she," one of his companions said, "Father's an auror, so just use it on her, and I'm sure he'll managed to get us out of trouble."

"Sure thing," the third member of their group said, they had managed to maneuver the girl into a side alley, "Imperio!"

Their forcefulness would have borne them some fruit had it not been for Harry's own interest in the girl.

Three screams broke the silence of the narrow side alley, their voices unheard by those in the main arteries of the magical sector of London. The reason for their scream and the noise which had gotten Daphne from out of her Unforgivable induced trance, was that the trio had all six of their hands severed at each wrist from their arms.

She too soon screamed, due to what had almost happened to her and what was happening right before her very eyes.

"Sh-Shit!" one of the trio cursed, and tried to make a run for it, but found his feet separated from his legs at the ankle, the other two suffered a similar fate which found them crawling on the ground like the worms that they were.

Across from where Daphne stood was Harry, he didn't exactly have some kind of devil form, he hadn't thought of one yet, but his darkened aura and his glowing Killing Curse eyes were more than enough to give someone that saw him or was in his presence quite a fright.

Between the two of them were the crawling worms, whose deaths were moving ever so much closer to them. Or rather death was moving ever so much closer to them, what with Harry possessing all three Deathly Hallows, the cloak from the goblins after their had retrieved everything that had been stolen from him, the wand which he had claimed from the hands of Albus Dumbledore, and the stone which his demons had acquired in their destruction of the dark lord hunt.

"G-got t-to get away!" one of the trio shouted as he tried to crawl away to safety.

Daphne screamed some more as she watched, fascinated, as Harry drove a conjured broadsword's blade through the one that tried to get away's spine, paralyzing the wizard from the mid back down. The other two suffering the same fate.

"Wh-Why?" one of the trio asked, and was rewarded with being the first to begin to drown in his own blood after having his tongue pulled out by tendrils of shadow and darkness.

"Shi.." was as far as the other two got as they suffered their lower jaws being dissolved into nothingness by magic, in addition to losing their tongues.

"Because," Harry stated, his voice laced with Killing Intent, "I saw her first, but unlike you have not tried to force myself on her."

He turned each of them into flattened smears on the cobblestones as he stepped over their bodies, making his way to directly before Daphne, scaring the wits out of her, and when he raised a hand, she closed her eyes expecting the worst.

She opened her eyes when she felt a warm hand trace her jawline and moved her chin up so that she was looking directly at him, he was taller than her after all.

"_Th-Thank you.._" she whispered, shyly and fearfully at the same time, he had managed to catch a glimpse of the inferno that was within the twin emerald orbs that were his eyes, her whisper managed to quell what had once been within the orbs apparently. All she now saw were the calmer flames of Hell, not that she knew about that bit yet.

"You are very much welcome," he told her, "I heard about your mother's passing, my condolences for your loss."

"Th-thank you," she said, more clearly this time, she found that she couldn't look away from him.

"You might or may think me a stalker, but I believe you were heading for the bank," he said, "Might I escort you there, my presence might dissuade others from accosting you."

"Y-Yes," she said, and took hold of his offered arm, and allowed him to lead the way, her mind blocking out for the moment the memories of what had just transpired in that side alley. The flattened remains of the trio of fresh graduates would later be found by some off duty Aurors, one of which would be one of the parents of the trio of boys.

No one paid them any mind as they made their way to and into the bank, Joseph joined them once they were within the bank itself, many of the goblins had by this point sold their souls to either Harry of Joseph for varying purposes.

They walked up to a goblin teller, who smiled toothily at them.

"How might Gringotts be of service, Heir Greengrass?" the goblin politely asked, not a hint of disrespect in its tone, it sounded almost too happy to serve.

"I...I wish to speak with my account manager to make arrangements for my mother," she told the goblin.

"My condolences then," the goblin said, and motioned for another goblin to lead her to her account manager, Harry went with her as Joseph took care of his liege's business.

But instead of being brought to her account manager, the goblin lead the pair of them to one of Harry's own, specifically the Black account manger, he had gained the headship of that through his godfather's incarceration and being named as the heir apparent of said convict, the man's death was just a bonus.

"What are we doing here?" she asked the goblin that lead them to the unfamiliar office.

"I have decided to take care of whatever you need," Harry informed her as the goblin bowed to Harry before leaving them with the account manager.

"But...why?" she asked him, she already knew that he liked her, but this was a bit too much.

"For selfish reasons, one of which being that as you already know, I like you," he told her, "That and I just want you to see just how much your House's fortune means little to me."

"I..I see," she said, not yet having the time to fully grasp everything yet, of the fact that the supposed hermit of Gryffindor actually liked her and wasn't the outcast or self imposed exile that he showed the school he portrayed himself to be.

"Greengorge, make sure that everything that Miss Greengrass wants done is done," Harry more or less commanded the goblin.

"Of course sir," the goblin responded, and motioned for Daphne to take a seat, and they began to talk business of a sort that Harry merely remained by the door, leaning against the frame and glaring at the Greengrass account manager when said goblin wandered by.

Once business at the bank was over and done with, Daphne decided to accompany Harry on whatever errands he had which was limited to school shopping a book list had been illegally acquired by Joseph, not that Daphne needed to know that or be introduced to him yet.

Harry paid for her books as well.

"I would like to spend some more time getting to know you, Miss Greengrass," Harry said to her before she was to leave for home, an empty house but home still, she had yet to give her permission for him to call her by her given name, "At your leisure of course."

"I would like that..umm Hadrian," she said, "Though..could you please stop calling me Miss Greengrass and just call me by my name?"

"As you wish Daphne," Harry said, "And it's Harry not Hadrian, the only person that calls me that is the one man that helped me become the man that I am still becoming. He also refuses to call me Harry because that is his name."

"Thank you again Harry, for earlier and for the rest of today," she asid, "Bye.."

The flames of the fireplace took her to her Manor, where she would wait til their next meeting.

With his companion for the day away from him, Harry went home to attend to whatever duties were left for him. He had set up a system where only the most important of matters reached his desk, he had other devils and demons that were assigned to taking care of lesser matters.

The hierarchy of his hell was:

tortured soul

enslaved soul

lesser demon

demon

high demon

demon lord

lesser devil

devil

high devil

devil lord

Joseph

Him (Harry)

The only nobility in Hell were the devil and demon lords, and of course Joseph. He was the only member, so far, of the royalty part but that was sure to change in a few years time.

Harry wasn't much of a fan for Quidditch, but he found on their, his and Daphne's, next encounter, after her mother's funeral, that she was an avid fan of the sport. He decided to invite her to the World Cup to be held n England of that very same summer. She accepted, and found herself in the Minister's box courtesy of demonic manipulation of the fool of a man that was Cornelius Fudge.

The Malfoys were happy to have her there with them, and were rather interested in her date for the event. Draco had shared with his parents what he knew of the Hermit of Gryffindor. He knew that he was a loner, kept to himself mostly, but was practically the most knowledgeable student in the whole school, beating the smartest witch of their year by leaps and bounds, and he didn't even seem to need to study. Little did anyone know that his castle's library was in a way directly connected to his memory banks, and all information was automatically downloaded or uploaded into him as soon as it was added to his library.

He only stayed in school thanks to the Devil himself saying that he was still in school even though he was participating in quite the war.

Since she cheered on the Irish team, he cheered alongside her, he even helped the Irish team by mentally commanding his demons to target the Bulgarian team's members, distracting them.

He quite enjoyed watching the Bulgarian Keeper be demolished by the Irish Beaters and the bludgers which were sent the Keeper's way, unintentionally of course.

Daphne noticed the grin that adorned his face and the smirk that occasionally came and went whenever he witnessed some form of violence on the pitch, but she decided not to comment on it, since she had a feeling that he would never raise his hand against her. She had a feeling that he would not harm her, even though they had only become friends recently.

It was woman's intuition, at least that's what she believed. In truth it was a little bit of that, Harry's attraction toward her, and the legion of armored angels prepared to defend her in case Harry did decide to willingly and voluntarily hurt her. The angels would lose of course, but they didn't need to know that.

They didn't have a tent, or anywhere to stay, just their seats at the stadium which was why they found themselves walking around campsites as the Irish supporters celebrated and the Bulgarian ones sulked in defeat.

It was during their walk, enjoying each other's company, did chaos decide to raise its head and stir up the community. Foreigners and locals alike ran around in fear and terror as memories of the last war resurfaced in their minds. Anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards were erected sometime after or during the game, which made sure that no one could escape from the chaos that the suddenly active Death Eaters decided to bring to the table.

It was a coordinated attack on the peace loving former spectators of the just finished season.

The Death Eater coordinators had managed to recruit some vampires, trolls, and werewolves, as it was a full moon that night, to attack with them.

It was a combined mix of vampires and werewolves that decided to attack Harry and Daphne. It became the first time she manged to catch more than a glimpse of her newest friend, and calmer suitor.

"Get behind me," Harry ordered her, she did and clung to his robes, they were ambushed near the wall of the stadium which had yet to be brought down, so it Harry between her and behind her was the wall.

"Well well well, what do we have here," one vampire tried to mock, "A wizard defending a witch from us monsters, you might think yourself very brave, but in a moment you won't be so brave and will be wishing for death."

"Cease your attack mortals, lest ye taste my power," Harry stated, knowing that he would be dealing some personal deaths this night.

"Mortal? I? I am a vampire," one of them said, "And any werewolf that has embraced their inner wolf while basking in the light of a full moon might claim such as being such as well."

"Think what you will mortal," Harry stated, a mocking tone being used, "But against this one," he said referring to himself, "You as more mortal than even an ant. You are but worms beneath my feet, come if you dare, and I shall strike you down."

"Have it your way! DIE!" the vampire in charge of the group charged, followed by its comrades.

Two steps later and the believed to be damned soul found itself truly damned as it was welcomed at Hell Gate 04 by the demons that guarded the gate.

Shooting out of his sleeves, Harry grasped a hold of twin silver daggers, they came directly from his armory in his castle, and he proceeded to make minced meat out of his attackers, not a single one managed to make it past him, and so Daphne was protected from all harm.

Harry sliced off limbs first before going in for the kill, which was stabbing at the head of the heart. Each movement was precise, it was watching some master dueler or a professional seeker clearly catching the snitch every time.

The elegance and grace which he displayed during his first year was clearly present in him that night, and Daphne had a front row seat to it. As when he approached her as their attackers had all been slain, she found nary a drop of blood had landed on him.

"I think it would be best if I took you home," he said to her, only for her to shake her head as she remembered others just as important to her as her own self.

"My sister, and the Malfoys," she said, "I'm not leaving without them."

"Joseph," Harry stated, it was the first time she had clearly heard the name, and it was the first time that she had clearly seen its owner.

"How might I serve, sir," Joseph said melting into the living realm and out of his vantage point just shy of the veil, in that realm where angels and demons remained as they interacted in their true forms with the land of the living and them mortals that populated it.

"Locate Astoria Greengrass and the Malfoy family," Harry commanded, "Ascertain their status and location."

"Your will be done," Joseph said before vanishing into the night, only to return moments later with news that Astoria had been taken by some werewolf named Fenrir Greyback, while the Malfoys were not on the grounds, their fate and status being unknown at the moment, since Joseph was reluctant to find them when his lord was more important than some mortals.

"Lead on," Harry said, as he lifted Daphne in his arms and sprinted after Joseph who attacked any vampire, werewolf, of troll that got in their way, it appeared that the Death Eaters had focused their efforts elsewhere in the field.

Daphne noted that blades of visible wind and solid shadow shot out of the young man carrying her and decapitated, disemboweled, cut in half, and quartered, anything and everything that so much as looked at her wrong.

So she moved herself closer into his warm embrace, his protective embrace that promised no harm to come to her, all the while wishing that they got to her sister in time.

During the sprint Draco Malfoy landed unceremoniously on his rear in Joseph's path and was about to be cut down and be called a casualty of the crossfire when Harry stopped him with a mental command, that and a tendril of shadow grasping onto the blonde and hoisting him into the air.

"Draco!" Daphne exclaimed in surprise, "Where are your parents? What happened to Astoria?"

"Mother tossed me a portkey, but the wards sent me elsewhere," he said, a tinge of panic marring his voice, "I think she did the same with your sister..."

"Not far now, sir," Joseph said, reminding Daphne about the fact of her sister's predicament and that Draco would not know about it.

"Ahh!" Draco shouted as he flung forcefully into the midst of a pack of werewolves, he landed right in front of his fiance, and between her and Fenrir Greyback himself.

He didn't think about his next course of action, which was whipping out his wand and firing the strongest banishing charm he could at the offending werewolf alpha, resulting in the wolf barreling into his packmates. Behind the blonde was not only his fiance, but several other tweens and children.

"_Winter is coming.._" a blue eyed five year old child close to Astoria whispered, his eyes had a glazed look to them.

"Joseph, defend her for me," Harry said as he handed over his date to his number one guard, he then leapt into the air and landed in front of Draco who had just sent a slew of banishing charms at the wolves, sending a number of them back, over powering his spells seemed to be taking quite the toll on him which was why he was relieved to have some backup arrive.

"_Winter's cold is coming.._" the five year old added, shivering from an unfelt cold.

"But it's summer," and eight year old said.

"What's he talking about?" Draco asked, the children who were grateful for him protecting them, shrugged, "Winter isn't for another season or so."

"You're a little bit wrong about that," Harry said, as he stared down the wolves.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"Winter," Harry said, "is here!"

The ground beneath Harry's feet turned to ice, and shot forth in the direction of the wolves, and anything that the ice touched turned to ice too, or at least the frost crawled its agonizing way up the bodies of those that the icy ground touched.

Harry didn't wait for the wolves to freeze over, he attacked as fast as powerful as he could, decimating the lycan forces within minutes. Taking out each member of the savage pack within mere seconds of one another.

The children had been warned by Draco to close their eyes, which they all did save for Astoria who wanted to watch what the so-called Hermit of Gryffindor could do.

Since they were all wolves, Harry just cut them, and left each one for dead. He took each of them down in quick succession, but made sure that he left some form of survivors, he did of course rip off Fenrir's head, leaving only the monster's lower jaw attached to his body.

Once more, not a drop of blood had touched him, as if the liquid shied away from him.

Astoria knew she should feel horrified at what she had witnessed, she oddly enough didn't. That was only because it hadn't all sunk in just yet. That and the fact that Draco held her in his arms, even as magically exhausted he was at the moment.

Joseph was quick to bring Daphne to where his liege stood.

"Astoria!" Daphne said as she rushed to her sister and hugged her close when Draco managed to let the girl go, "You're safe, they got to you in time."

"Joseph," Harry said, in a commanding tone, "Defend them as you would me. If even one of them, including the nameless children, comes out of this injured, I will be very displeased with you."

"With my life I shall defend them," Joseph stated and shifted into a form far closer to his devil form. He didn't sprout wings as there was no need for flight, but he did have his tail come out as well as his sharp claws and talons. His fangs grew out as well, and his eyes gained their crimson glow.

Armor formed over his clothes, and a sword of obsidian took shape in one hand, while a matching one of black marble formed in his other. He was a black of dark knight if ever the children saw one.

"That Hermit's a keeper Daphne," Draco commented, "He's got some kind of hellspawn as a servant, and did you see what he did to that pack? Merlin! Think of what he'd do if someone or something actually managed to hurt you!"

"I don't want to think of that," she said, "I might get nightmares from the thought."

"Why? What's the worst he could do?" Draco said.

For the time being, an example of what he could do was tear down the anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards, and leave a trail of blood of Death Eaters that had no family or children to speak off. He let the other flee in terror of him, calling him all manner of things, ranging from freak of nature to a devil or the Devil himself, they weren't that far off, as he was the Devil of his Hell, just not the Devil himself since that was his friend and Emperor.

He returned to the small gathering or group as they were, with news about Draco's parents, and what would become of the children that had been separated from their parents.

"Draco, your mother is with the healers that just arrived," Harry informed the blonde male, "Your father is with her. Aurors will be here shortly to take care of the other children. I left them a trail of bodies to follow."

"Thank you," Astoria said, as she decided to reward Harry with a hug, before giving way for her sister to show her own manner of gratitude.

"Thank you again!" Daphne said, before hugging him, and kissing him for the first time on the lips, it was chaste but it did send a blush to his cheeks which Joseph would forever remember, but refrain from teasing his liege about lest his existence end.

#

Hadrian Potter was made the youngest recipient of the Order of Merlin First Class in over a century, or ever really. It was awarded to him for saving so many young lives in the face of such odds and such danger. Witness testimony only dared share that he had dispatched of the threats to their safety. No mention was made of Joseph, or anything else that might get him in trouble.

Draco Malfoy was awarded an Order of Merlin Second Class for roughly the same reasons and due to the smaller scope.

It was a wonder that Harry Potter had not been given a First Class one for saving Wizarding Britain from Voldemort that first and only time.

The awarding ceremony was held a day before the Hogwarts group were to be shipped off to boarding school. Harry didn't mind. Same for Daphne, Draco, and Astoria.

The train ride was nothing special. No one bothered Harry or Daphne, which was a miracle in Daphne's case.

The start of the year was a normal one save for the announcement that Quidditch was canceled for the year as the Triwizard Tournament was to be held at Hogwarts this year. It was momentous occasion.

Many of the students were prepared for it, and many more finally realized why dress robes had been a part of their school supplies list.

Despite this news and the slew of possibilities it brought about, Harry and Daphne managed to find time in their busy school related schedules to spend time together, get to know each other better, and grow closer.

Alastor Moody was somehow convinced into teaching that year, and during his very first week he was found dead in two separate places. One was inside his trunk, while the other was in his office. His cause of death was suicide for the one in the office while the one in the trunk had died from being mauled by some kind of animal.

Harry just didn't like the grizzled auror and had set him up in both forms for suicide and an attack by demonic owls.

Hagrid's acromantulas had been replaced by Harry's demonized acromantulas which resulted in the death of Hagrid, not that he would be missed by anyone since the only person that showed any care for him had been former headmaster Dumbledore.

Filch had been the next to go, death my alcohol consumption. A few demons had made sure that the squib drank more than too much, more than enough to drown in the stuff, drown more than his sorrows too. Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was found skinned in a third floor corridor one morning by an impressionable first year.

Before the arrival of the representatives of the other schools, Professor Severus Snape found himself forcibly married to three red headed witches, each one somehow owing him life debts which their parents decided were good things and convinced the man that marrying each of them would be good for the man. It did help the man as two of the red heads were the sixteen year old daughters of potions ingredients suppliers, while the remaining red head was the daughter of two squibs that dabbled in the art of potions making.

The man had sealed the deal with the girls when he agreed to marrying them by forcing himself on each of them while they were all drunk. It didn't matter to their parents since they each gained the prestige of being related to a world renowned potions master and inventor.

Lucretia had been the cause of that incident though, and not Harry.

The boys of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were warned to stay away from Daphne by all the boys of all the four Hogwarts Houses that weren't Hadrian Potter. Some decided not to listen and tried their hand at wooing the Slytherin girl.

Harry truly was a frightening foe on any field of battle to behold. He asked Daphne to be his girlfriend after the sixteenth would be suitor had flirted with her. He had asked her to be his girlfriend in front of the entire student body.

She had of course accepted, as they were close enough as things stood, and it would get the other boys to back off. Those that didn't found themselves suffering from frostbite.

Multiple precautions were made to ensure that no one under the age of seventeen would be able to participate in the tournament. But that didn't stop Harry from entering his name, he had power equivalent to most higher powers, being one himself though he was more of the underworld variety, he easily bypassed the age line and submitted his name as a Hogwarts champion.

When it was time for the choosing of the champion, it was Viktor Krum, Quidditch extraordinaire, Fleur Delacour, Quarter-Veela, and Hadrian himself, King of his Hell.

His name coming out of the Goblet of Fire was a real shocker, no one had expected it at all. No one save for Harry himself since he knew what the Goblet looked for in a champion, it looked for the most qualified of all candidates, the one that would best serve his or her institution.

The seventh years were all stunned, the professors doubly so, and it was all because a fourth year had managed to enter the tournament fair and square.

The Gryffindors didn't know whether or not to cheer, as did any of the other four houses. Even Daphne was stunned at the announcement and simply looked on as Harry made his way to join the other champions. Down in Harry's Hell his demons and devils cheered him on, doubling their enthusiasm as they dealt our eternal _rewards._

It took a few minutes before the first first year student cracked and began to giggle, this was followed by a laugh, then a cackle, followed by maniacal laughter originating from the Hufflepuff table. Soon the whole Great Hall was filled with mini dark lords and dark ladies as far as mad cackling went anyhow.

"How did you put your name in the goblet?" Headmistress Minerva Mcgonagall demanded of her student once she joined him in the room beyond the staff table.

"I bypassed your age line and all other precautions," Harry admitted, "The lack of creativity astounded even one such as I. You defended against earth, and yet forgot about air. So now here I be, champion of Hogwarts. My ancestors would be so proud as would my conquered Houses."

"I demand that the goblet be relit and a new set of champions be chosen," Igor Karkaroff demanded, "I will not have my student participate alongside an uneducated and powerless minor."

But of course no matter how much any of them bitched or whined, there was nothing to be done. His name came out of the goblet and thus until the whole thing ended, in the tournament he would remain.

His housemates didn't really cheer him on, they were hoarse from acting like a bunch of lunatics, and the Slytherins too were the same. Even Daphne and Draco kind of steered clear of him for one reason or another.

It was during the weighing of the wands did Daphne finally come around and meet with him, she was half mad at him for entering the tournament and half happy that he was happy. She did slap him for making her half worried for him though, which would normally have warranted her death had she been anyone else.

Oberon Ollivander was the one to perform the weighing of the wands since his father had been murdered in the family shop in Diagon Alley in broad daylight of all times and during the busiest time of the year for the family of wand makers.

"This wand has been rarely used Mister Potter," Oberon Ollivander commented as he tested the holly wand.

"I don't like wands, but they seem to be a requirement for passing the classes of the institution in which I am a member of," Harry stated and received his wand after it was checked over as being in working order.

Photos were taken, an interview was made, though the gossip columnist Rita Skeeter found herself in hell for lying about everything that Harry had told or shared with her. No one lies about the King of his own Hell himself and gets away with it.

No one...except Daphne, as things seemed.

The Daily Prophet lost a lot of gossip columnist-types after Rita was found dead in a ditch with the words liar stamped upon her brow. They weren't fired, but they did end up dead in a lot of ditches after Harry's denizens decided to punish all of them for what they could do, like misquoting their boss or something mundane like that in the future.

The only reporter and photographers that were left alive in magical Britain were the ones that would and did stick to the facts. It kept the demons and devils happy, since it kept their evil king happy, not that he acted as evil as most evil rulers did.

While the other two champions were given early warning about the first task, Harry didn't really care about said task and just waited for it to come, even though his lack of care worried a helluvalot out of his girlfriend, he constantly assured her that everything would be alright and when that didn't work, he distracted her via snogging her senseless.

When the first task finally came around and Daphne found out it was dragons, she calmed down eerily so, and Draco couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for both the dragon and Harry, the dragon cause if it managed to singe even a hair on Harry's head Daphne would kill it, dragon or not. Harry she would kill for all the worry she might have been going through.

Harry was the last one to face his dragon, a Hungarian Horntail, one of the meanest and most vicious dragons to walked the face of the world at present. Get the egg from the dragon, the one golden one that didn't belong. That was the task, no one said anything about keeping the dragon alive.

He brandished his own obsidian broadsword, pulling it from the ground like excalibur was pulled from some stone. With that little bit of theatrics over and done with, he proceeded to duel with the dragon. It was only when the judges noticed that he was enjoying himself, did they decide to tell him that killing the dragon would lessen his points.

To show them how much the points mattered to him, he spun himself out of the way of a gout of flame which found himself standing beside the lowered and exposed neck of the dragon. A swing of his sword later, and the horntail's head was severed from its body. He claimed right of conquest over the creature and got some points awarded to Hogwarts for the tournament, and nest worth of dragon eggs which he sent to hell and made the judges think that the dragon had roasted her own eggs somehow, plus the golden one that screeched and clearly spoke in mer.

He figured out what the thing was saying in record time, and it didn't really piss him off as much as it normally would have.

Then he was informed of the ball which he had been expecting and of course he asked Daphne to be his date to the event. They had been expected to dance and it was a good thing that he knew how to dance.

They enjoyed themselves and Daphne even tried and somewhat failed to seduce Harry.

Then came the second task and when Joseph informed him of what had befallen Daphne...well as soon as the go signal had been given, the Black Lake began to boil in the area around where Harry was. After ejecting his girlfriend out of the water, and after waiting for the other champions and their hostages to leave the water, he fried the merfolk and whatever else lived in the lake. Can anyone say fried calamari?

No one could blame him for it, though the whole of Slytherin house knew who to blame for the smell of burnt fish, merman, and squid. It was they who spread the word, do no mess with Hadrian Potter's woman. Ever.

The third task became even more of a breeze since all Harry had to do was get to the center. He killed anything and everything that got in his way, excluding fellow participants and officials. He left those to his devils and demons who added a veela to the exotic creatures that lived in Hell list, forced against her will or not, Fleur Delacour could do nothing about the fact that Lucretia found her to be a tad bit more interesting than anything else that had been dropped into Harry's Hell.

Then Fourth Year ended for Harry, he had won the thousand galleon reward which came with winning the tournament. He gave it to Daphne for her to spend since he had more gold in his vaults and in his treasury than he knew to do with. She didn't mind, since he was in a sense spoiling her with his winning, and since all her worrying had been for naught.

Fifth and Sixth year were normal school years, then Harry decided not to attend his seventh year, though he did take his NEWTS during the summer before that year and got an O+ in every single one of them, which along with the Houses and titles to his name guaranteed him any kind of job he applied for, if he ever applied for any that is.

Daphne didn't mind having to spend what would be a whole school year away from her then fiance, since no one else dared to court her, not when she had a wizard that could kill the meanest of all the fire breathing lizards with a sword of all things, like some medieval knight, of face down a horde of vampires and werewolves and come out unscathed and with nary a drop of blood on him. There had also been the rumors that he had been the one responsible for frying all of the denizens of the Black Lake in which no living thing, not even bacteria dared to grow in anymore ever since he had done what he had done even though no evidence could be found to prove that he had been the one to do what had been done to the lake.

Harry and Daphne married after she graduated, right after she had graduated. They had a civil wedding, which was of course followed by a number of ceremonies which the witch's friends and allies had decided she should and her groom should participate in, just so that they would have more luck in their marriage than both of their set of parents combined had.

Harry didn't mind, and Daphne thought it was all sorts of fun.

Draco had even jokingly suggested that they summon a demon or devil to bind one another to each other, much like how soulmates were bonded to one another. Boy was Draco terrified and horrified when Harry did summon forth a devil, a 9 foot tall one to be exact, who proceeded to kneel before Harry and ask to be commanded.

It was Joseph in his true form that had been summoned. He was the most convenient devil at hand anyway. Apparently as soon as Harry set his sights on Daphne, the soul bond she had previously had with whoever she had originally been tied with had been severed forcefully by a legion of angels of all things, and her soul had been superglued to his.

The only time that Daphne actually fainted during all of these events that led to their honeymoon was when Harry took her home for the very first time. She had always wondered about where he lived during the summers. She fainted after the title of Queen had been bestowed upon her.

Queen of Hell was something to faint about. She did wake up in a comfortable bed in Harry's vacation home in a certain Devil's nephew's Heaven. She asked her husband if she had dreamed everything up, which he shook his head in the negative, which caused her to faint a second time.

Before she could faint a third time, Harry just kissed her, and things went blissful after that.

Oh how all of Harry's Hell trembled and shook when Daphne was in labor for their first child. When the child was finally born, the Seventh and Fifth circles or levels of Hell had smashed into one another and it took several legions to get things back to the way they were before the intense delivery session.

Apparently it wasn't a first child but twins, fraternal twins to be exact.

The elder, the boy, was named Desmond Joseph, and the girl was named Lily Anne.

Joseph and Lucretia were named the godparents of Desmond, and Blaise Zabini and Luna Lovegood became the godparents of Lily.


	122. The Dark Lord 001

There was more than one prophecy made that one night that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had hired Sybil Trelawney as the Divination professor said school. The one about the one with the power the dark lord knows not was not the only prophecy made that night. It was just the only one that had a witness to it, the other one was just one of the many that the Hall of Prophecies automatically generated whenever a prophecy was brought into the world by those connected or tethered somewhat or somehow to the tapestry of fate and destiny.

_Two shall fall for one to rise._

_A shadow unlike any shadow. _

_A cosmic purple gaze._

_One will try to end him, and so shall mark his undoing._

_Green shall fail, as shall white._

_White shall try to bind him, and twilight shall free him._

_The tapestry shall loose him from her weave._

That was the prophecy that found its way into the Hall of Prophecies, marked with question marks and ignored as there just were far too many of its kind within those halls.

False and true, there were many a prophecy, some came to pass while others not since the tapestry of fate is sometimes unwoven and rewoven anew like Penelope's own woven work to keep her suitors at bay.

So things came to pass, the two prophecies given at the exact same time on the exact same night, by two opposing souls, in two opposing situations. The one about someone with a power some unnamed dark lord knows not was born as the seventh month died, following this his power was bound for it felt far too powerful for one so young.

So it came to pass, it came to be, one prophecy that could have been avoided was activated while the other that would have happened anyway was hastened for its completion.

Time moved forward, only two people truly putting stock in one of the two prophecies, the known one of course. One sought to protect, or at least he made sure that that was how he was perceived, while the other sought to destroy.

All it had taken was the secret keeper to give in, to give up, to betray all those that actually held him dear and viewed him as important, more important than any secret or purpose that he had.

So he came, choosing one pair of people that had defied him three times, he viewed them as a much greater threat and thus their spawn was worth more than some family with long bottoms.

He, the dark lord, broke into the house and home of a family of three, two ravens and a red head, and first ended the father after the man opened the door upon hearing the voice of one of his best friends. He died on the spot with a surprised look on his face.

His lovely red headed wife fell next, she had shielded her son from the first volley, but failed to remain in the land of the living to do any more.

The dark lord raised his wand in glee, thinking that he was finally going to triumph, that the stalemate that this war had stagnated into being was finally going to go in his favor and his win was in his grasp.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" he bellowed, a green light shot out of the tip of his gnarled wand and raced toward the toddler in the only crib in the nursery.

The green bolt slammed into him, piercing his forehead and carving an ugly red and bleeding lightning bolt shaped scar where it had struck.

The dark lord smiled, a toothy grin, he thought that he had finally done it, that he had finally sealed the fates of his foes. But that grin turned into a frown a short time later, then his face warped into full blown terror and horror as the green bolt exited from the scar and rocketed back at him. But this wasn't the only thing that caused his entire being to explode in horror, it was the shadow that rose up behind, but still attached, to the toddler. A toddler whose eyes shifted from a shining emerald green to unmistakable amethysts, a pair that he swore saw directly through his mortal body and into his soul.

It was like a bargain struck.

The toddler had been marked as the dark lord's equal. They were equal in the sense that their two sides held each of them in high regards. The Dark Lord was the dark messiah to bring about the fall of the present, while the other was the savior that preserved the present.

Now the question is, which of the two prophecies was more powerful, which one would win over the other, for both spoke of the very same boy.


	123. U1

There were many forces at work in the world, not all of them simply forces since there were those former mortals that had been given the choice of taking up not only the mantle but the power of such forces. These forces were the ones that made up the true mysteries of existence, the unexplainable and sometimes unacceptable causes and effects of everything, anything, and nothing.

Most mortals wouldn't ever get to encounter much more interact with these forces, the central nodes of these forces, the core that holds their soul, for even such things as primordial elements had souls. They had lives of their own and stories to be told.

Harry Potter was not _most mortals_, he wasn't even a common amongst the uncommon or a common amongst the rare. He was one of those that belonged in categories of their own, or something like that. Or a league of his own. Though there were those that shared such a categorization, but they weren't from the same existence as this Harry Potter.

It had been an anti-climactic battle, it was a one-sided one really, since Harry Potter had froze in the face of danger and paid for it. He used up his expendable life and was left in some kind of limbo without any help for what to do or how to proceed. It was rather frightening.

But being someone that was way past rare, he would be getting help. His kind always found help in the most unlikely of places or Beings.

A tear in space and time formed in front of the boy that sat on one of the benches of the white train station known in the living world as King's Cross. It was a peculiar sight that managed to captivate the panicked boy's attention, for he was not yet a teen, so boy would suffice.

Out of the tear walked someone that he feared, yet at the same time countless times in the past wished to meet.

Death.

Death, in Grim Reaper garb and wielding an extra large scythe, walked out of the tear and following Death was another Being. This Being was a rather old looking man with long wiry silver hair and had on some dark purple robes over unknown colored clothing, he also carried a staff that looked to have been made out of diamond and gold that had been blended together unnaturally.

There was a second tear that appeared, the one opened up off to the side of the first one after it had closed itself up like a zipper being pulled shut. This one served as a door way for two others to join the first two.

This new pair consisted of a hooded cloaked teen whose cloak depicted the night sky as it was in all its splendor. His companion wore a business suit, but looked to the only older than his companion by one year.

What really struck Harry was how familiar these two arrivals seemed. At first he likened them to his father, as possibly a cousin on that side of his family, but upon closer inspection they looked more like himself. It was freaky weird for him, being faced with what seemed to be doppelgangers.

He didn't get a chance to speak or stand as these new companions of his beat him to it, they started off with introductions as was the polite thing to do.

"_I am Death as you can tell,_" Death spoke, his voice was heard from all around, echoing from all direction in a multitude of different voices, "_I was the first to notice you, an anomaly in this Limbo, one where those that have more than one chance at life. Those champions of fate that may return after passing on for one or more times. For it was my jurisdiction which you remain in and have lost your way._"

"I am Magic," the old man said, "I need no more true introduction than that. I am here for your life is intertwined with my remaining a constant factor, element, and force, in your world."

"I am Time," the younger of the two teens said, "I decided to come along since the other two chose to come to your aid in this hour of your need. I wish to sow chaos in your world, and you are my key."

"I am Devil," the one in the business suit stated with a deadpan voice, "I am also Evil, but who's place is it to say what is good and evil anyway. I am here to add my own little seed of chaos and destruction."

"_You may speak now,_" Death spoke, and motioned for the eleven year old sitting before them to speak his mind.

"I...am I dead?" it was the first question that popped into the tween's head. It was a simple question but it did plague his mind.

"_Not yet, or not entirely,_" Death replied, "_Unless you want to be._"

"No thanks," the tween said, "I'd rather live, I figure you didn't come for me the countless times I wished for you to visit me in the past."

"_It was not yet your time...though you did have plenty of chances to make it your time,_" Death said.

"I could have used you in my War," Devil said, "Suicides go straight to my domain after all. Powerful as you are, you would have made a great contribution to my forces."

"Err..no thanks," the tween said, "I'd rather go naturally, if I can help it."

"That's fine," Devil said, "I don't mind."

"He really doesn't mind at all," Magic said, "He doesn't involve family as much as possible, distant though we all be."

"Err..." the tween said, not really knowing what else to say, but asked, "What do you all want with me any way? Why would you help me? Why now?"

"_Our full reasons are our own,_" Death said, "_As for what we want with you, well...entertainment mostly, that and to help you in a way._"

"Help me?" the tween asked.

"Yes," Time said, "Help you. We know...no...we've memorized what the standard timeline or sequence of events in your, _our_, kinds or types of worlds. It's rather bland, come to think of it, compared to our lives and the lives of a number of others."

"So why me and not those countless others?" the tween asked.

"Don't know," Magic shrugged.

"_Don't care,_" Death did so too.

"Convenience," Devil stated.

"What the other three said," Time waved away.

"So what happens now?" the tween asked them once again, still remaining seated throughout the conversation.

"_I'm just here to inform you that I'll be providing you with some extra lives,_" Death said, and held out a watch that was not a time piece, "_With this watch that is not a watch, you will be able to keep track of your health points and magic points, as well as the number of lives you have left._"

"Like a video game?" the tween asked.

"_Yes, just like a video game,_" Death said, "_Please note that there are buttons on the side, these buttons will change the view screen on the watch face. Default is health, magic, and lives. This can be switched with showing other information, like in Role-Playing-Games, if you don't know or aren't all that familiar with those I would suggest asking around your fellow muggle raised co-students._"

"How do I gain lives then?" the tween asked, "How many do I start out with once I'm done with this extremely clean train station?"

"_You start out with the standard three lives,_" Death replied, "_Lives can be gained by performing missions or special tasks set by myself, or any one that places a mission or job on your mission board.._"

"Excuse me," Magic said, interjecting, "Before we continue with the explanation of gaining lives, among other things. Allow me to explain what this clean train station is."

"_Please, it will help with my explanation,_" Death said, giving Magic the floor.

"Thank you," Magic said, "Think of this train station as the title screen, you won't be returning here unless you lose a life, at that time this will serve as your continue screen. Now, just like mission style RPGs or regular RPGs, you will have an area or place that shall serve as your base of operations. It will be where you will be able to store things, review information, and a number of other nifty things."

"_Thank you for that brief explanation,_" Death said, "_To continue from where I left off...missions or jobs will be found on your mission or job board in this HQ of yours. Each mission or job will have a certain reward attached to it, be it in the form of a new life or other things ranging from items to whatever we can think of to make your life all the more interesting._"

"You will like in RPGs gain experience with all the things that you do," Magic continued the explanation, "You will have levels, when you return to the world of yours you will start out at level one. When I speak of levels, you shall have the base level, which affects your health, magic, strength, speed, and a bunch of other stuff. You will also have skill levels and job levels to think about."

"So I'll be a level one what?" the tween asked.

"Your base level shall be one," Time decided to actively participate in the conversation, "Your primary job level will be eleven, because that is what you are an eleven year old hero, but don't worry you'll be able to level that job up by performing missions and jobs, its no longer a birthday thing."

"How many of these jobs can I have?" the tween hero asked.

"As many as you want," Magic said, "Though I'll be making the general categories, like Hero, Mage, and the like."

"Oh, ok," the tween hero said, "So what's my Mage level?"

"One," Magic replied, "You just finished first year after all, though just like Hero, you won't be relying on school years for it."

"How about skills?" the tween hero asked, he was getting rather interested in all these new developments in his life.

"We'll let you figure that out on your own," Magic said, "Needless to say, your watch will be able to show you all that information, there will also be a computer, once your HQ is finally set up once the summer begins, where all this information and more will be found."

"I understand," the tween said, "Anything else I need to know about the basics?"

"_Here,_" Death said as he handed the tween hero a new pair of glasses, then popped in a pair of contact lenses into the tween's eyes when he removed his magically repaired pair.

"Ouch!" the tween exclaimed in surprise and slight pain, but noticed some slight changes in his vision which made him forget about complaining about the pain.

He noticed that there was a small map in his vision on the upper right hand corner of what he could see. There were a bunch of other things as well, there was also the fact that he could see perfectly without his glasses. There were some other things he noticed, but they all faded from his view after a short time.

"Where'd they go?" he wondered aloud.

"_It was just some upgrades I had done to your eyes," _Death explained, "_They shouldn't be active all the time. That's what your glasses are for, they are the key to activating these added abilities to your eyes, though with enough practice I'm sure you'll be able to bring up these features in the future without the aid of the glasses._"

"Oh, practice practice practice right," the tween said, and didn't really mind, "I just remembered, what are the benefits of leveling up? Job and skill wise."

"Availability of things you will be able to do," Magic said, "As well as some additional knowledge, its kind of like a cheat in a sense, but it had to have a benefit of sorts."

"Ok," the tween hero said, "Do I need to know anything else?"

"Yes," Devil spoke up, "I am supplying you with some other things to this little adventure that is called your life. It has already been established that your own, Hedwig, will be your primary mode of communication within your main world. She too shall be able to level up, gain additional abilities, skills, and the like."

"Ok..should I inform her of this?" the tween hero asked.

"No need," Devil said, "She's magical, there will be no need and she, like yourself, will get some additional knowledge with each level up."

"Cool."

"Yes, quite," Devil said, "I am giving you the ability to capture and turn into a subordinate any creature, magical or not," he handed the no-longer-a-kid a single dark blue falconer's glove that had an obsidian jewel embedded on the palm side of it, "Wear that when you want to try and capture a creature or whatever, for services as a pet, subordinate, or raw materials. Their health will be displayed in your eyes, along with whatever else information you might want to know, just as your own will. Best to make the capture when they're weak."

"I understand, sir," the tween hero knew that he better show Devil the most respect out of the lot, "Is there a limit on how many I can capture and such?"

"The Job title will be Commander, it comes with its own skill set, just like all other jobs," Devil explained, "At level one, you are able to capture or tame, subjugate or train, and command up to three subordinates, any captures beyond that are automatically turned into raw materials for potions, chemistry, and other sorts of item making, enchanting, or upgrading skills."

"Um..ok...can I release any of the things I've caught?" the tween hero asked.

"Yes, and no, it all depends on what the subordinate is," Devil said then explained, "It will depend on the classification."

"Ok, how about what happens to anything I defeat in battle?"

"Like I said," Devil said, "It depends, but this time not only on the classification of the opponent, but also on the circumstance of the battle, the place, and a whole host of other things."

"_Moving on,_" Death interrupted, "_He'll have enough time to figure all of this out in the future, please move to the next additional thing you shall be giving him._"

"Alright," Devil said, then slammed a fist through the tween's chest, causing the tween's eyes to grow wide with shock. Then came the pain.

It was a pain so intense, that the tween didn't think anything could hurt as bad, it was as if all of his nerve endings and pain receptors were on fire. And to think that it lasted for the few minutes that Devil played with the tween hero's insides.

By the time that the fist was removed, the tween was no longer a tween for sitting in his place was something that was no longer clearly purely human.

Where the tween once sat was now a dark skinned humanoid beast.

"Please rise, and let us have a look at your new form," Devil said, and motioned for the beast-tween to stand.

"**What did you do to me?**" the beast-tween asked, it was only then that he heard his voice, it belonged to a mix of some kinds of predatory creatures, there was even a bit of a gruff growl mixed into it.

"I gave you three new forms," Devil said, "This one being your land form."

The form that the transformed youth wore was humanoid, had two arms and two legs, a single head, but that was where the similarities ended.

He had dark green skin, but instead of being made out of flesh it was made of scales reminiscent of a serpent or dragon. He had long hair, that was not hair but were more like tentacles of sorts that he would be able to move about individually or harden into something like stone as a defense, they reached his lower back. His emerald eyes burned with an otherworldly glowing fire, which made sure that even in pitch black darkness they would still be seen if he wished them to be.

He had canines that were retractable like a snake's, he even had venom glands to fill the hollow spaces within those canines. His canines, the retractable ones, were like weapons in themselves, there were different kinds hidden magically in his new form. He could interchange them, from the venom injecting kind of a viper's to just being like that of a lion's, dragon's, or croc's.

His hands did not end in fingertips, but in nails or claws, the retractable kind like those of a cat's. They too were like his canines in that there was a hollowed out venom injecting version and sturdier versions. Same went for his feet, where shoes would have gone were also claws, but they only had a single set to them.

He had a bit of spider in him, since he could now scale walls, and hang upside down if he wished.

All these changes he gained from Devil.

"You can also eat things that you normally would not have been able to digest, like metal and stone," Devil said, "Your other two forms from me are the air and water forms, the only difference being that the air form gives you bat-like leather-like wings and lighter and slightly hollow bones, and the water form gives you webbed feet and hands as well as gills."

"**Ok...so how do I change back?**" the beast-tween asked.

"You simply will yourself to," Devil stated.

"Think of how you know yourself to look, and think of changing into that," Magic added some verbal aid, and the watched as the tween transformed back into himself, his default state.

"Do I have some kind of counter-part to these new forms?" the youth asked, hopefully.

"_I'll give you three additional ones,_" Death said, and blew patronus mist at the tween, who coughed upon contact with the mist, "_There.. You have just gained three new forms, closer of course to my realm of existence. The forms are thus,_" with each form that he spoke of the tween shifted into it, "_First you have your spirit or soul form, where you are as a poltergeist or a ghost and can only be seen by those that can see such and can only be affected by those that can affect such. The second form is that of your solid flight form, that of an angel, which is where your body remains as it is but with white feathery wings. Lastly is your patronus form, you can figure that one out on your own._"

The patronus form was the form which the tween's own patronus would take on, once it had found itself or he had found himself.

"Thanks," the not-much-of-a-kid-anymore said, "What happens now?"

"Now you leave this train station and go back to your body," Devil said, "If there are any expansion packs, we'll contact you via mail, owl or otherwise."

"How do I leave then?" the tween hero asked.

"Figure it out," Devil said.

"Just so you know," Time said, "My meddling shall be in the form of space and time, hammer space, as well as the time it takes for you to look through your inventory and such, along with some other things."

"Ok...but how do I get out of here?" the tween asked.

"You'll figure something out," Devil said.

"_Remember, your alternate forms have time limits, the time you are able to stay in them will increase as you level up the forms,_" Death told him, "_The timer will fill back up with time as time wears on, the time that you aren't in the form of course._"

The four of them left in tears in space and time, each one leaving at exactly the same time, with the same motions. Then just like that, Harry Potter was left alone in the pristine train station.

Being a train station, he decided to wait for the next train to arrive. When it did, he boarded and watched the train station pass away until a blinding light caused him to shut his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself within a dark and foreboding wood. Though to his eyes there was a small area with a spiraling silver mist, he supposed that that must have meant that he was supposed to go there. He wondered what his friends would think if they knew about his most recent changes, he decided that for the time being he would refrain from informing them of his latest role in the worlds.

Upon reaching the spot he heard something or saw a message go through his mind. He became aware that he only had a limited amount of time to return his soul, he was in his soul form, to his body before he lost one of the three lives or continues he started out with.

His internal map was updated to show the general area of his body. It was inside the castle, no longer was it in that chamber connected to a series of chambers under the floors of the Third Floor Corridor. It was in the general area of the Hospital Wing.

He also found that there were a special reward that he could get if he performed certain actions, in this case he would get an extra life and a bit more experience to all things that could receive it if he shouted 'Voldemort' upon waking from his near death state.

Life was now really one big game, he was the player as well as the character being played.

There was a fog of war over his visual mental map the only places that were shown in detail were the places where he had already been in. There were a number of setting that he could mentally alter and set to his setting. It was like the Marauder's Map, not that he knew what that was yet, and not that he would need it much unless he just wanted to speak with the childish versions of his father and his friends, back when they were mischievous and childish, unaffected by a war that began to rage around them.

He leapt off into the gnarled branches of the trees and raced, jumping from branch to branch from tree to tree, keeping a look out, as best as he could, for any potential dangers around him. The only thing in the forest that gave him any mind was a herd of horse-like creatures that looked to have been touched by death, Thestrals his mind supplied.

Breaking from the treeline he shot forth onto the school grounds and made his way journeying through the familiar path to the Hospital Wing. He passed a number of students, most of them had been made aware of the peril that he had placed himself in as he played the part of the hero.

It was like they were all making some sort of pilgrimage to the bedside of their hero, their light savior, their chosen one. The Boy-Who-Lived.

He needed a new title, since he knew that such a one was not really all that appropriate for a soon-to-be-teen. He needed another, but he would get to that later.

Racing over to where most of the people were crowded around, he failed to notice that one of the Hogwarts's haunters had noticed him, it wouldn't cost him dearly, but he would be having a chat with that particular specter.

"Voldemort!" he shouted as he sat up abruptly, his heartbeat and blood pressure rising like a tsunami over the shore. It surprised all those that were desperately fussing over him, he had been at death's door to them, just out of the cold touch, or so they thought. He had been touched, but not in the sense that they would have thought.

Once the shock wore of he was bombarded with questions, ranging from 'how are you?' to 'what happened?'.

He didn't like having all these people crowd around him, so he shut himself away from them, pointedly ignored them and went to sleep as best as he could. He had much experience with ignoring others anyway, so he might as well put it to good use.

The clamor around him ceased once the matron of the Hospital Wing noticed that he had fallen asleep, real sleep unlike the comatose-like state that he had been in before. She forced all the visitors, well wishers, and others out of her territory, it was only then that she realized that no one would want to wake up to such aggravating circumstances.

Her patient required rest and peace, and she would be damned if she didn't get him that comfort. The school could bombard him when he was finally out of her care, but not a moment more before that time.

He woke back up a few hours later, well rested, with full bars. He would live to fight another day, and had even collected on his reward. He knew it, he checked his stats, he had gained levels from such a simple task.

The Headmaster came for a visit, but instead of being alone as he had wished, he had company in the form of Madame Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She decided to come for the debriefing or interview with Harry due to the nature of what did happen, it was a security breach within one of the safest places in the UK, or so the school's reputation claimed.

The interview was brief, Harry was asked a few questions and he answered as best as he could, keeping with the facts and trying not to paint the headmaster as some kind of idiot for choosing to use protections that just about any trio of first year students could bypass with enough self-studying or bullheadedness.

Hogwarts lost its luster that afternoon in the department head's eyes, the Headmaster knew that he had lost some brownie points, he just didn't know how much. He also had a feeling that he he had just lost one of his most powerful pieces in his chess game of life.

He slipped up, but wasn't sure where he had slipped or when, but he knew he had slipped up. There was a mistake made during the whole year. Though there was a bright side to the events of the year, Voldemort had been taken down a notch from his semi-immortal state, one of his soul pieces had died that day that Harry had gone to the title screen of his game of a life.

The remainder of his first magical school year was spent in solitude, he had manged to stumble upon a room that could become or could provide anything he thought about, wished, or requested. The Come and Go Room was the name that his internal map supplied. It was a special room that had been created by one of the founders, which one didn't really matter.

Once in it for the first time, Harry had received his second mission, that being locating a Founder's Artifact among all the clutter of the form of the room where all lost things went. Boy was there a lot of junk and useful things in there.

He also had some kind of time limit for this task, but it was longer than the last as this one spanned until the day before school was out and the term truly ended. He found the thing eventually, it was a tiara or circlet of sorts


	124. U1(2)

There were many forces at work in the world, not all of them simply forces since there were those former mortals that had been given the choice of taking up not only the mantle but the power of such forces. These forces were the ones that made up the true mysteries of existence, the unexplainable and sometimes unacceptable causes and effects of everything, anything, and nothing.

Most mortals wouldn't ever get to encounter much more interact with these forces, the central nodes of these forces, the core that holds their soul, for even such things as primordial elements had souls. They had lives of their own and stories to be told.

Harry Potter was not _most mortals_, he wasn't even a common amongst the uncommon or a common amongst the rare. He was one of those that belonged in categories of their own, or something like that. Or a league of his own. Though there were those that shared such a categorization, but they weren't from the same existence as this Harry Potter.

It had been an anti-climactic battle, it was a one-sided one really, since Harry Potter had froze in the face of danger and paid for it. He used up his expendable life and was left in some kind of limbo without any help for what to do or how to proceed. It was rather frightening.

But being someone that was way past rare, he would be getting help. His kind always found help in the most unlikely of places or Beings.

A tear in space and time formed in front of the boy that sat on one of the benches of the white train station known in the living world as King's Cross. It was a peculiar sight that managed to captivate the panicked boy's attention, for he was not yet a teen, so boy would suffice.

Out of the tear walked someone that he feared, yet at the same time countless times in the past wished to meet.

Death.

Death, in Grim Reaper garb and wielding an extra large scythe, walked out of the tear and following Death was another Being. This Being was a rather old looking man with long wiry silver hair and had on some dark purple robes over unknown colored clothing, he also carried a staff that looked to have been made out of diamond and gold that had been blended together unnaturally.

There was a second tear that appeared, the one opened up off to the side of the first one after it had closed itself up like a zipper being pulled shut. This one served as a door way for two others to join the first two.

This new pair consisted of a hooded cloaked teen whose cloak depicted the night sky as it was in all its splendor. His companion wore a business suit, but looked to the only older than his companion by one year.

What really struck Harry was how familiar these two arrivals seemed. At first he likened them to his father, as possibly a cousin on that side of his family, but upon closer inspection they looked more like himself. It was freaky weird for him, being faced with what seemed to be doppelgangers.

He didn't get a chance to speak or stand as these new companions of his beat him to it, they started off with introductions as was the polite thing to do.

"_I am Death as you can tell,_" Death spoke, his voice was heard from all around, echoing from all direction in a multitude of different voices, "_I was the first to notice you, an anomaly in this Limbo, one where those that have more than one chance at life. Those champions of fate that may return after passing on for one or more times. For it was my jurisdiction which you remain in and have lost your way._"

"I am Magic," the old man said, "I need no more true introduction than that. I am here for your life is intertwined with my remaining a constant factor, element, and force, in your world."

"I am Time," the younger of the two teens said, "I decided to come along since the other two chose to come to your aid in this hour of your need. I wish to sow chaos in your world, and you are my key."

"I am Devil," the one in the business suit stated with a deadpan voice, "I am also Evil, but who's place is it to say what is good and evil anyway. I am here to add my own little seed of chaos and destruction."

"_You may speak now,_" Death spoke, and motioned for the eleven year old sitting before them to speak his mind.

"I...am I dead?" it was the first question that popped into the tween's head. It was a simple question but it did plague his mind.

"_Not yet, or not entirely,_" Death replied, "_Unless you want to be._"

"No thanks," the tween said, "I'd rather live, I figure you didn't come for me the countless times I wished for you to visit me in the past."

"_It was not yet your time...though you did have plenty of chances to make it your time,_" Death said.

"I could have used you in my War," Devil said, "Suicides go straight to my domain after all. Powerful as you are, you would have made a great contribution to my forces."

"Err..no thanks," the tween said, "I'd rather go naturally, if I can help it."

"That's fine," Devil said, "I don't mind."

"He really doesn't mind at all," Magic said, "He doesn't involve family as much as possible, distant though we all be."

"Err..." the tween said, not really knowing what else to say, but asked, "What do you all want with me any way? Why would you help me? Why now?"

"_Our full reasons are our own,_" Death said, "_As for what we want with you, well...entertainment mostly, that and to help you in a way._"

"Help me?" the tween asked.

"Yes," Time said, "Help you. We know...no...we've memorized what the standard timeline or sequence of events in your, _our_, kinds or types of worlds. It's rather bland, come to think of it, compared to our lives and the lives of a number of others."

"So why me and not those countless others?" the tween asked.

"Don't know," Magic shrugged.

"_Don't care,_" Death did so too.

"Convenience," Devil stated.

"What the other three said," Time waved away.

"So what happens now?" the tween asked them once again, still remaining seated throughout the conversation.

"_I'm just here to inform you that I'll be providing you with some extra lives,_" Death said, and held out a watch that was not a time piece, "_With this watch that is not a watch, you will be able to keep track of your health points and magic points, as well as the number of lives you have left._"

"Like a video game?" the tween asked.

"_Yes, just like a video game,_" Death said, "_Please note that there are buttons on the side, these buttons will change the view screen on the watch face. Default is health, magic, and lives. This can be switched with showing other information, like in Role-Playing-Games, if you don't know or aren't all that familiar with those I would suggest asking around your fellow muggle raised co-students._"

"How do I gain lives then?" the tween asked, "How many do I start out with once I'm done with this extremely clean train station?"

"_You start out with the standard three lives,_" Death replied, "_Lives can be gained by performing missions or special tasks set by myself, or any one that places a mission or job on your mission board.._"

"Excuse me," Magic said, interjecting, "Before we continue with the explanation of gaining lives, among other things. Allow me to explain what this clean train station is."

"_Please, it will help with my explanation,_" Death said, giving Magic the floor.

"Thank you," Magic said, "Think of this train station as the title screen, you won't be returning here unless you lose a life, at that time this will serve as your continue screen. Now, just like mission style RPGs or regular RPGs, you will have an area or place that shall serve as your base of operations. It will be where you will be able to store things, review information, and a number of other nifty things."

"_Thank you for that brief explanation,_" Death said, "_To continue from where I left off...missions or jobs will be found on your mission or job board in this HQ of yours. Each mission or job will have a certain reward attached to it, be it in the form of a new life or other things ranging from items to whatever we can think of to make your life all the more interesting._"

"You will like in RPGs gain experience with all the things that you do," Magic continued the explanation, "You will have levels, when you return to the world of yours you will start out at level one. When I speak of levels, you shall have the base level, which affects your health, magic, strength, speed, and a bunch of other stuff. You will also have skill levels and job levels to think about."

"So I'll be a level one what?" the tween asked.

"Your base level shall be one," Time decided to actively participate in the conversation, "Your primary job level will be eleven, because that is what you are an eleven year old hero, but don't worry you'll be able to level that job up by performing missions and jobs, its no longer a birthday thing."

"How many of these jobs can I have?" the tween hero asked.

"As many as you want," Magic said, "Though I'll be making the general categories, like Hero, Mage, and the like."

"Oh, ok," the tween hero said, "So what's my Mage level?"

"One," Magic replied, "You just finished first year after all, though just like Hero, you won't be relying on school years for it."

"How about skills?" the tween hero asked, he was getting rather interested in all these new developments in his life.

"We'll let you figure that out on your own," Magic said, "Needless to say, your watch will be able to show you all that information, there will also be a computer, once your HQ is finally set up once the summer begins, where all this information and more will be found."

"I understand," the tween said, "Anything else I need to know about the basics?"

"_Here,_" Death said as he handed the tween hero a new pair of glasses, then popped in a pair of contact lenses into the tween's eyes when he removed his magically repaired pair.

"Ouch!" the tween exclaimed in surprise and slight pain, but noticed some slight changes in his vision which made him forget about complaining about the pain.

He noticed that there was a small map in his vision on the upper right hand corner of what he could see. There were a bunch of other things as well, there was also the fact that he could see perfectly without his glasses. There were some other things he noticed, but they all faded from his view after a short time.

"Where'd they go?" he wondered aloud.

"_It was just some upgrades I had done to your eyes," _Death explained, "_They shouldn't be active all the time. That's what your glasses are for, they are the key to activating these added abilities to your eyes, though with enough practice I'm sure you'll be able to bring up these features in the future without the aid of the glasses._"

"Oh, practice practice practice right," the tween said, and didn't really mind, "I just remembered, what are the benefits of leveling up? Job and skill wise."

"Availability of things you will be able to do," Magic said, "As well as some additional knowledge, its kind of like a cheat in a sense, but it had to have a benefit of sorts."

"Ok," the tween hero said, "Do I need to know anything else?"

"Yes," Devil spoke up, "I am supplying you with some other things to this little adventure that is called your life. It has already been established that your own, Hedwig, will be your primary mode of communication within your main world. She too shall be able to level up, gain additional abilities, skills, and the like."

"Ok..should I inform her of this?" the tween hero asked.

"No need," Devil said, "She's magical, there will be no need and she, like yourself, will get some additional knowledge with each level up."

"Cool."

"Yes, quite," Devil said, "I am giving you the ability to capture and turn into a subordinate any creature, magical or not," he handed the no-longer-a-kid a single dark blue falconer's glove that had an obsidian jewel embedded on the palm side of it, "Wear that when you want to try and capture a creature or whatever, for services as a pet, subordinate, or raw materials. Their health will be displayed in your eyes, along with whatever else information you might want to know, just as your own will. Best to make the capture when they're weak."

"I understand, sir," the tween hero knew that he better show Devil the most respect out of the lot, "Is there a limit on how many I can capture and such?"

"The Job title will be Commander, it comes with its own skill set, just like all other jobs," Devil explained, "At level one, you are able to capture or tame, subjugate or train, and command up to three subordinates, any captures beyond that are automatically turned into raw materials for potions, chemistry, and other sorts of item making, enchanting, or upgrading skills."

"Um..ok...can I release any of the things I've caught?" the tween hero asked.

"Yes, and no, it all depends on what the subordinate is," Devil said then explained, "It will depend on the classification."

"Ok, how about what happens to anything I defeat in battle?"

"Like I said," Devil said, "It depends, but this time not only on the classification of the opponent, but also on the circumstance of the battle, the place, and a whole host of other things."

"_Moving on,_" Death interrupted, "_He'll have enough time to figure all of this out in the future, please move to the next additional thing you shall be giving him._"

"Alright," Devil said, then slammed a fist through the tween's chest, causing the tween's eyes to grow wide with shock. Then came the pain.

It was a pain so intense, that the tween didn't think anything could hurt as bad, it was as if all of his nerve endings and pain receptors were on fire. And to think that it lasted for the few minutes that Devil played with the tween hero's insides.

By the time that the fist was removed, the tween was no longer a tween for sitting in his place was something that was no longer clearly purely human.

Where the tween once sat was now a dark skinned humanoid beast.

"Please rise, and let us have a look at your new form," Devil said, and motioned for the beast-tween to stand.

"**What did you do to me?**" the beast-tween asked, it was only then that he heard his voice, it belonged to a mix of some kinds of predatory creatures, there was even a bit of a gruff growl mixed into it.

"I gave you three new forms," Devil said, "This one being your land form."

The form that the transformed youth wore was humanoid, had two arms and two legs, a single head, but that was where the similarities ended.

He had dark green skin, but instead of being made out of flesh it was made of scales reminiscent of a serpent or dragon. He had long hair, that was not hair but were more like tentacles of sorts that he would be able to move about individually or harden into something like stone as a defense, they reached his lower back. His emerald eyes burned with an otherworldly glowing fire, which made sure that even in pitch black darkness they would still be seen if he wished them to be.

He had canines that were retractable like a snake's, he even had venom glands to fill the hollow spaces within those canines. His canines, the retractable ones, were like weapons in themselves, there were different kinds hidden magically in his new form. He could interchange them, from the venom injecting kind of a viper's to just being like that of a lion's, dragon's, or croc's.

His hands did not end in fingertips, but in nails or claws, the retractable kind like those of a cat's. They too were like his canines in that there was a hollowed out venom injecting version and sturdier versions. Same went for his feet, where shoes would have gone were also claws, but they only had a single set to them.

He had a bit of spider in him, since he could now scale walls, and hang upside down if he wished.

All these changes he gained from Devil.

"You can also eat things that you normally would not have been able to digest, like metal and stone," Devil said, "Your other two forms from me are the air and water forms, the only difference being that the air form gives you bat-like leather-like wings and lighter and slightly hollow bones, and the water form gives you webbed feet and hands as well as gills."

"**Ok...so how do I change back?**" the beast-tween asked.

"You simply will yourself to," Devil stated.

"Think of how you know yourself to look, and think of changing into that," Magic added some verbal aid, and the watched as the tween transformed back into himself, his default state.

"Do I have some kind of counter-part to these new forms?" the youth asked, hopefully.

"_I'll give you three additional ones,_" Death said, and blew patronus mist at the tween, who coughed upon contact with the mist, "_There.. You have just gained three new forms, closer of course to my realm of existence. The forms are thus,_" with each form that he spoke of the tween shifted into it, "_First you have your spirit or soul form, where you are as a poltergeist or a ghost and can only be seen by those that can see such and can only be affected by those that can affect such. The second form is that of your solid flight form, that of an angel, which is where your body remains as it is but with white feathery wings. Lastly is your patronus form, you can figure that one out on your own._"

The patronus form was the form which the tween's own patronus would take on, once it had found itself or he had found himself.

"Thanks," the not-much-of-a-kid-anymore said, "What happens now?"

"Now you leave this train station and go back to your body," Devil said, "If there are any expansion packs, we'll contact you via mail, owl or otherwise."

"How do I leave then?" the tween hero asked.

"Figure it out," Devil said.

"Just so you know," Time said, "My meddling shall be in the form of space and time, hammer space, as well as the time it takes for you to look through your inventory and such, along with some other things."

"Ok...but how do I get out of here?" the tween asked.

"You'll figure something out," Devil said.

"_Remember, your alternate forms have time limits, the time you are able to stay in them will increase as you level up the forms,_" Death told him, "_The timer will fill back up with time as time wears on, the time that you aren't in the form of course._"

The four of them left in tears in space and time, each one leaving at exactly the same time, with the same motions. Then just like that, Harry Potter was left alone in the pristine train station.

Being a train station, he decided to wait for the next train to arrive. When it did, he boarded and watched the train station pass away until a blinding light caused him to shut his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself within a dark and foreboding wood. Though to his eyes there was a small area with a spiraling silver mist, he supposed that that must have meant that he was supposed to go there. He wondered what his friends would think if they knew about his most recent changes, he decided that for the time being he would refrain from informing them of his latest role in the worlds.


	125. U2

It wasn't like he really had a choice in the matter. It had just happened, out of the blue, all of a sudden. A surprising but and not revolting development it was in his life.

It was like waking from a very real dream, a dream which could have been taken for the reality and what he woke up to being the dream.

The problem with his waking, was that he did not wake up in some familiar settings or surroundings, there were no people crowded around his bed like he had thought there would have surely been.

The last thing he remembered was feeling utterly alone. He hadn't been put in prison or anything so drastic, he was just left to himself his former friends and acquaintances had abandoned him to a fate of solitude after he had requested their support in the conflict that was upon their world. He knew he couldn't take on the forces of the dark alone and thus would need some support.

Apparently he had misjudged those he called friend, as they had refused to aid him in the actual fighting, stating that it was his job and that they would have nothing to do with it. The prophecy was about him, and as they believed, according to the prophecy he was as immortal, being the equal, of the dark lord and therefore had nothing to fear from the dark lord's minions.

It was at the moment that those that he considered as his brother and his sister had abandoned him to fate and destiny did he snap. He lashed out at the world, the whole unforgiving world and paid it back ten fold for the injustice that it had laid upon his shoulders. His magic rushed or burst forth from within him and spread out circling the world and gaining more power the farther away from him, the epicenter, it went.

By the time that all that power returned back to him, there was more than enough of it to shatter the world and its very existence. Luckily for the majority of the world, it was not meant to be.


	126. U3

"...and that's it," Harry said, he had been telling his friends and fellow DA members about the prophecy along with what Dumbledore expected of him as well as some theories he had about everything. He had expected them to offer him their support, after all that's what they'd been doing so far. He had decided to embrace their help this time rather than take on the world along, since it was them that made fighting this war, that he didn't really want any part in, worth fighting for.

They were his reason, if it were up to him and him alone, had there been no such factors as friends and loved ones, he would have left the world that had done nothing of worth for him in return for accidentally becoming their savior. But he had friends, loved ones, cherished ones, people that he didn't think he could ever truly replace should they be lost to him. They were his reasons for fighting.

"So its either you or 'im?" Ron asked, just making sure he heard correctly, he had always suspected it was something like that, while he wanted to be in the spotlight he didn't want his destiny to be written in the stars or something, and he didn't want to face certain doom since he knew he wasn't prepared for it.

"You also said that he would mark you as his equal?" Hermione asked, the whole lot of them had gone through a lot in the past couple of days, and most of them had reviewed the decisions they had been making as of late. She among them.

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like," Harry said, but quickly added, "But prophecies can't be that straight forward, it doesn't even say what's this power I'm supposed to have, or anything helpful. I need your help guys, I'm not going to push you guys away anymore, I know that I need help. Our little jaunt in the DoM showed me that."

"Well good luck with that I guess," Neville spoke up, "You can do it, I for one am not going to be doing something so foolish ever again. We all could have died! This isn't our war! I lost my parents' sanity to the last one, I'm not willing to lose their lives in this one," he turned around and began to walk away.

"Neville, wait," Harry said, putting a hand on the other teen's shoulder, "I thought we were friends? I understand your hesitation to fight, but you don't need to, you can help Hermione with research or something," he was hurt that someone he thought of as a friend and possible brother-not-by-blood would just push him away like that.

It is said that usually people, that have faced death and lived to tell the tale about it who already had a bond before, had those bonds grow stronger. Like the core of the group, the Golden Trio of Gryffindor.

"Well you I'll tell you what you can do with your friendship," Neville said, "You can shove it up your ass! I'll have no part in your insanity, I'll cheer you on for the sake of the light, but I'll not fight alongside you. You're immortal as he is, you don't need us mortals, you don't need to put us in harm's way."

"I'll leaving as well," Hermione spoke up, it was a surprising move, "I can't believe that you'd expect me to just continue helping you after what almost happened to me, I'm enough of a target being a muggleborn as it is, I don't need the extra worry of an even bigger target on my back. I have parents who can't defend themselves from magical attacks to think about. You can beat this bastard on your own."

She turned to leave as well, following in the footsteps of the once meek Longbottom.

"Hermione," Harry called out to her, not noticing that the others were also following the same line of thought, some walked or slinked away as his attention was on his first female friend.

"You can go do whatever on your own," she said, "While I'm grateful for your being a friend of mine, my first one ever, I've reviewed how my life has been like ever since being friends with you. That's about it, my only social life has been with you and that red headed prat you call a best friend. The only thing I gained was a friendship and dangerous situations."

"I'm with her on this one mate," Ron said, "I'm all for being your friend and cheering you on, but you don't need any of us. Had we known about your immortality, we wouldn't have bothered extending a hand. I mean, you survived the Killing Curse, he survived too somehow. I'm not about to waste my life when its not needed."

"Wha...but..?" Harry said, he was reeling from a bit of shock, the very people he was willing to risk his life for, were not taking him for granted. Sure he understood the potential added danger they would be putting themselves in, but they could have declined helping him in some other way, some less hurtful and not so sudden way.

It was as if they no longer saw him as human, but as some sort of other lifeform, some other creature. A weapon for the light to use as it sees fit when they needed one and an object to simply be thrown away when no longer in need of his services.

"So you're just going to leave me, to myself?" Harry asked, he could hardly believe his own ears, they were abandoning him. Him.

"Well yeah," Ron said, "You don't really need us after all, had I known you didn't really need my help I'd have just done as you originally wanted, and not stuck my neck out for you. So go beat You-Know-Who for us, so we can get back to all the boring stuff."

He really couldn't believe what he was hearing, all his reasons for deciding to fulfill the prophecy one way or another. His reasons for even staying in the ungrateful world. They had turned their backs on him, literally and figuratively. It wasn't just Ron and his petty jealousy streak, it was real and for their own actual believable reasons.

Hadn't they been through thick and thin together, hadn't they faced odds that were stacked against them. Hadn't they come back whole and stronger for it from the DoM fiasco. Hadn't they done so much together, even making sure that their friends and comrades had a fighting chance by forming the DA in the first place.

These magicals, inbreed or not, were showing that they were just like everyone else. Illogical and making up excuses, as well as being so unfeeling and unthinking. They each had something that he, Harry, did not have and wanted, and they decided to shove those things in his face. Telling him basically that he didn't have anything to lose so he might as well do his prophecy dictated job and save them.

It was once they were all no longer within his sights did he change, did he undergo a transformation.

He was sick and tired of being treated the way he was treated, like an object, a weapon, a tool, a pawn. He would no longer stand for such unfair treatment.

Life was unfair, he knew and accepted that fact, but not how over the top it was when it came to his life. It was as if most of those that actually had common sense in them had died or had been killed off. He suspected the latter, either Voldemort or Dumbledore or both had orchestrated their deaths, the deaths of those with common sense and a sense of true justice. Those that would oppose any of their decisions and the way they paved for each of themselves to reach the top and remain there.

He ran from the castle, not bothering to watch where he was going. He didn't have a destination in mind, all he thought about was wanting to get away. Away from this magical world that had used and abused, not only him, but also others like him.

He ran as far and as fast as his feet would carry him, finally collapsing in a heap on the ground somewhere within the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

'_Magic is the impossible made possible,_' it was a memory that suddenly surfaced in his mind, a nigh forgotten one which he couldn't place where and when he had gained it.

It was a memory from a long time ago, back when he had experienced happiness as that was the feeling that he got from the vague and almost forgotten memory.

He thought on the thing more, trying to pull it out from under all the garbage that was his childhood. He believed it to have been from back when he still lived with the love of his parents, back during happier times, even though they were just as fraught with danger as the rest of his life had been.

Using what he believed was the right way to do Occlumency, which was the opposite of what Snape forced him to learn. It was mind rape of some kind he was sure and not the protection of the mind since it seemed to have made his mind more open to intrusion. He dug out that single memory wanting to know why it had resurfaced after so long.

He wasn't expecting what he got...

_~memory sequence~_

His parents were playing with him, that much he was sure, it wasn't like any magically created or crafted or copied memory as it was viewed from his own eyes. He saw the world around him rise and fall as if he was being thrown up and down. He could even hear his own laughter along with the happiness that radiated from the man that held, threw and caught him.

It was a memory as clear as the dawn. As refreshing as a spring breeze. As warm and welcoming as the summer's sun. As magical as the falling leaves or autumn. As cherished as the snowflakes of winter.

"James! Bring Harry to the kitchen!" he heard his mother's voice, it was soothing to his ears, '_or was that just part of the memory..._' he wondered.

"Coming!" James said in return as he happily placed baby Harry on one shoulder and carried him that way to the kitchen where his wife was waiting along with an unexpected but not unwelcome guest.

"Come to mummy," Lily cooed to her son as she took him from his father and carried him to the stranger who at the same time seemed so familiar, like someone that was more than just a family friend.

There was something about this green eyed old man who looked like a Dumbledore or Merlin but felt more like a Gandalf.

"So this is him," the ancient man said as he gazed upon the toddler that gaze right on back unflinchingly, "I was expecting someone older looking."

"Of course he'd be a baby," Lily told the man, "He's not even one yet, and you expect him to be full grown? You really are getting on in years."

It was a joke, even baby Harry knew that, since the ancient man chuckled.

"I suppose you are right," he said and continued to peer down at the baby, "_**Magic is the impossible made possible**_, remember that little one, the only limit there is to magic is the imagination."

Harry somehow knew that it was more than just some random advice, the words really did stick out, as if the man knew that the baby he was speaking to was not the one listening to the words, but someone else.

It was upon hearing those words again, did Harry know that the words were not random, they the memory was intended to last out of all the rest. He was intended to hear those words. A memory to stand the test of time.

"Why are you telling him that?" Lily asked.

"I don't want him to forget it," the man said, "Like how you, my dear goddaughter, have forgotten such an important lesson. _**Magic isn't about spouting words, mixing potions ingredients, or foolish wand waving**_."

"I know that," she told him defensively, "I wouldn't have been able to make Head Girl of my year if I didn't know that."

"What are you two talking about?" James inquired, as he was getting rather lost in the conversation.

"About magic, James, about magic," Lily said, "About how its not an exact science."

"You do know that I don't know all that much about science," James reminded her, "What about magic? Magic is magic, its something that we have that muggles don't."

"I know that," Lily told him, "Now let me speak with my godfather in peace. You're only here in case I get tired of carrying our little bundle of joy."

"Ok," Harry's father said as he simply sat on one of the kitchen chairs and watched and listened to the exchange, he had met the man once or twice before, he was a mysterious old man, an ancient man in looks and power from what James could sense around him.

"Like I was saying, its not an exact science," Lily said, but before she could continue her argument the man interrupted her by placing a single finger to her lips, it wasn't gnarled at least.

"Science has its own limits, it is bound by things set in more than just stone," the man stated with a lecturing tone, "Magic on the other hand begins well before science, and end well after it. It is the basis of faith or can be seen as its brother of sorts, but more diverse as it is not limited by some form of religion or set of tenets and the like."

"Yet it is an energy found in each and everyone of us and in each and every thing" she countered.

"Magic is alive," he stated, confidently and firmly.

"Magic is also a force," Lily stated her argument.

"Magic is a soul unto itself," the man said.

"Magic has patterns, equations, conditions, and a whole host of other things," she argued, "It needs control to be properly used, it needs to be practiced. It is not alive, but a tool and such it is no more mysterious than the Law of Attraction."

"Magic..._**IS**_" he said to her with more conviction in his voice than he could imagine possible..

Then he felt it, even while viewing a memory he could feel it..

He saw his father bolt straight to his feet and stand as stiff as a board. He saw his mother freeze at the sudden pressure that overwhelmed all of his senses. It was like gravity was multiplying exponentially but instead of in just one direction, it was in all directions simultaneously.

There were other things as well, he could feel it, sense it, taste it.

He felt thunder without sound, he felt the flash of lightning with the jolt, he felt the embrace of the ocean. He felt the breath of the windy gales, the endurance of the mountains, and even experienced the call of the shadows.

It was everything, nothing, and one thing. It was indescribable and describable. It was difficult yet simple to explain.

It was the rise and fall of the tides.

It was the whisper and howl of the winds.

It was the crumbling of rocks into sand and the shaking of the earth.

It was the spark of a dying ember and the disintegrating inferno that was the sun.

It was the endless void and limitless possibilities of space.

It was the beckoning temptation of the darkness of shadow, and the friendly invitation of the brightness of light.

It was so many things.

It was something.

It was nothing.

It was all things.

It was.

It _**WAS.**_

_**It IS.**_

The children of magic could be considered as sciences in their own rights, but not magic. Magic simply was. It was unexplainable. It was mysterious.

"Did _**you**_ feel _**it**_?" the man asked once all that had been was washed away into nothing and reverted back to the way things had been before _**it**_ drowned everything with _**itself**_.

"What...what was that?" Lily asked as she regained her senses from the trance she had been put into by the sudden rush of all of _**that**_.

"That was my argument," he replied, then zeroed back on Harry, "Now young one, remember my words, take them to heart and use them. _**Magic is the impossible made possible. To think is to create. The most dangerous and helpful thing you have you shall never lose, your imagination**_."

"Why are you telling him this?" Lily asked.

"He'll need it when he's older, one time or another he'll need it," the old man said, "You too, remember my words, they will be detrimental to the safety of your family."

"I understand and will remember your words, though strange they be," she told him, then glared at James who was still in a kind of euphoric state, he'd never been exposed to so much magic in his life after all, just fractions of its wonder.

With one last glance at Harry, the memory faded and he was ejected from his mindscape...

_~memory sequence end~_

'_Magic is the impossible made possible_' he repeated the words in his head over and over again.

He had been a heap on the floor when he started this new mental mantra, but he slowly managed to rise to his feet on sheer willpower alone. He had thought he exhausted all his magical stores and his own physical strength. But now he knew better, while his body might be tired, there wasn't really such a thing as magical exhaustion.

Magic itself wasn't the muscle, what was the muscle was the connection to the universal flow of magic, to the motherload of magical reserves, stores, pools, cores. All magicals, and most likely all things, were connected to this one magic core, the central core.

He may not really know what it was, but he knew that magic had a source or two.

He had heard, felt, sensed, seen, it in a dream, what magic was and is.

He knew the sources, there were surely at least two. The first was imagination, where it drew it's own power or strength from, then there was something that told him that there was another, where it drew its personality, or something like that, from.

The mental mantra continued to grow from mere thoughts, until he began whispering he words, then raising the volume gradually, as if either fearing what such a simple statement could mean, anticipating the outcome, building up his power, or all of the above.

When the words were at a volume that anyone listening in on him could hear the words, that person or personality would have felt a build-up of power that increased in volume and pressure around Harry with each increase in the volume of his voice.

His eyes hardened with every word, they steeled as did his resolve and heart. He grew cold, colder than the frozen north and south poles. Summer was upon the school, but winter was coming early for the magical world.

The wind began to pick up just before his own voice rose to match the screeching and howling of the wind. The earth beneath his feet and around him began to splinter and crack as well.

He was at the epicenter of what could possibly become the originating blast site of a magical explosion that was sure to shock the world over. He was generating a magic that topped all the charts ever conceived on this world that he was born in.

Even the muggles could feel the power he was generating, along with the destructive force exerted by the gathering presence of such a power. It was even overpowering the wards that had stood the test of time that protected the school from detection. Here was a power that beat all power before it, Merlin had nothing on him since even though Merlin was the greatest during his time, he believed that there were limits to his own power, unlike Harry who knew the truth. There was no limit, save for the limit one put on oneself, the limit was one's own imagination.

He didn't know what he was going to do exactly with all the magic he was gathering into himself, all he knew was that he just wanted to release all the pent up negative emotions that he had locked away in favor of doing what would keep him having those things that he coveted, that he cherished, that were now lost to him or had never been his to begin with. Those things that he finally realized he had never really had.

"**Magic is the impossible made possible!**" it was like an incantation in and of itself, he roared it out loud to the high heavens and to the deep dark hells. Accompanying the roar was an explosion of magic, it shot out of him scattering in a wave circular wave around him.

It was a shockwave of power that did the opposite of what such things normally did, it gained more power the farther it got from the source. It circled the world, gaining and gaining strength. All life felt it pass through and by them. Those with a greater connection to magic, those that could sense its strength were overwhelmed by the time it reached them or was already bearing down on them.

None that felt it's first passing expected to feel it again, where the first time could be comparable to a slight rise in the tide, the second wave was like a tsunami smashing on the shore.

There were some that had been bowled over by the unrelenting force that pushed through and past them. It was a dangerous day to fly for some things and beings.

Harry had not only poured power into the wave that was making its way back to him hundreds of times stronger than when he had released it all, he had also poured into it all of his emotions in all their varying strengths and weaknesses. It was overwhelming in mental, emotional, and magical power.

Nicholas Flamel, had he still been alive, would have thought that he felt the anguish and frustration of one that had gone though even more than he had in his hundreds of years of life. He would have felt the age of the source of it all, and felt pity and pride.

Fifteen years of suffering and only suffering, but with the ability to endure it all up to that moment.

But the man wasn't alive, he hadn't been for a few years, not since his one time apprentice had betrayed him for power, personal power and nothing at all to do with the greater good of the people or the world.

The wave had also been a shed tear for all the lives lost in the past, present, and future, all those wasted lives and potentials that had not finished up all of their allocated time in the world of life due to external forces that forced them into early graves. It was also a shout of joy that they would not have to endure the world that had fallen quite so far from the utopia it dreamed ages past of becoming.

When the magical energy once again converged on Harry, something happened that the teen was not expecting. He had expected the possibility of dying when he sensed the colossal wave approach him, he had thought that the wave should have lost power, he had expected that the world would explode or turn into dust, that all life would end, or something along the lines of destruction.

He was partially rewarded with an expectation, something indeed was destroyed. His connection to his birth world, his link to it, his sense of belonging to it. He even swore he heard the world give him its blessings to leave the world and start anew in a new world. It was willing to let him go, and remove the shortcut that was him to whatever the original plans of fate and destiny were.

Another thing that had been destroyed was his body, his physical form. It was reconstructed looking the same as it was originally, but Harry knew that this knew body of his was an upgrade, like a gift of Mother Earth and some other higher power. It was like being reborn, and he knew that if he wished it, he could have burst into flames like a phoenix and risen from the ashes.

He walked out of the forest, taking his time, but not stopping to smell the flowers that grew at his feet. It was as if gaining such a vast personal store of magic and a broken dam like connection to the source of magic had granted him some additional abilities.

One of them was control over life and death, it seemed that he had yet to actually notice it. The destruction and reconstruction of his body had left him naked, and he had yet to realize that fact as well.

He only noticed his state of undress when he passed by a small pool of water that reflected the moon high above in the sky, it's waters undisturbed. He had entered the forest during the late afternoon and was leaving sometime past dusk.

He didn't really think about finding a solution for it, as he subconsciously clothed himself. It was subconscious in the same way that his power over life and death was presently being used. His magic pulled out natural fibers from nature itself which melded together and weaved their way into suitable clothing. The only thing he lacked were shoes.

His clothes were all a dark brown in color, with small patches of dark green scattered around them. He had cargo pants, a pocketed and hooded long sleeved shirt.

He moved as if he was one with the world, but at the same time was not. He had been given the blessings of the world to leave it without repercussions on his part.

He walked onto the grounds of the school, into the castle itself then all the way to his dorm room. H had his things to collect, for he wasn't about to leave the world with any of his worldly belongings.

After procuring those things, he left the school without a trace, removing any evidence of him having ever set foot on the grounds from the place. It was a complete, thorough, cleansing of his presence.

Not even his school work, which most professors kept under lock and key along with everyone else's was removed from the hallowed halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Since he was no longer charged with saving the world, he might as well help the one that hadn't fucked up his life the most. Sure the guy had killed his parents, but both sides were trying to off one another, there was also that prophecy that hung over their unified shoulders to think of. The guy had an incomplete one, had he had the whole thing he might have thought about not putting much stock into it or something. There was also the possibility that Dumbledore had meddled in more than one life, manipulated more than one impressionable youth, or more than one heir to a founder.

Harry traveled to the hideout and headquarters of Tom Marvolo Riddle via Fire Travel or Flamming or Flash Fire or whatever it was that Phoenixes called their burning mode of transportation.

The self styled Dark Lord had been pouring over the information his intelligence officers had gathered, planning his next move. Sure the DoM fiasco had foiled some of his well thought out plans, but not all was lost. There were some other plans he had made just in case such a thing as the fiasco were to occur.

So it was safe to say that the first spell he fired off after being surprising was the Killing Curse. He was the dark lord obviously.

He was rendered speechless though when he saw that it was his arch-nemesis that he had fired upon and the teen was playing with the curse, had rolled the energy into a ball and was playing thrown and catch with it.

He tried firing his curse two more times only to witness a mere teen juggling three balls of killing curse green energy balls.

"How the hell are you doing that?" Voldemort demanded, not that he could make himself all that intimidating due to what the teen was doing.

"Magic," was Harry's immediate response.

"I know that," Voldemort said, "What I meant was, how? What spell or ritual did you perform? It has to be a dark spell or ritual, for I know of no light magic that can do as you are? Does Dumbledore know? Has he found a way to cheat death?"

The dark lord decided to wait patiently, since he was the curious one and the one that didn't know what was going on. For a teen to be able to juggle killing curses with his bare hands, there was something going on and he wanted to know what it was. He also knew that he wasn't immune to the killing curse like this teen apparently was.

"A piece of your soul once shared with me a piece of your personal philosophy," Harry shared, still juggling the balls of death, "There is no good or evil, no light or dark, only power and those too weak to seek it."

"So this is your belief now?" Voldemort asked.

"Not really," Harry admitted, "I hold onto an altered version of your own philosophy. As for how I'm doing this," throwing and catching the balls of death, "Its neither a spell nor the result of some obscure ritual you don't know about. It is merely the result of remembering a memory. I also know how my mother protected me that night, and I'm willing to share."

"Oh, do tell," Voldemort said, he was almost drooling at the thought of learning something so interesting and new, but another bit of curiosity needed to be answered first, "But before that, why are you even here? How did you get here? Will you be joining me now?"

"Oh I won't be joining you," Harry said as he dispelled the three spheres of magic, "I'm willing to set you on the right path of magic...well...perhaps isn't the best of terms to use, but it is the closest to what it is. The actual purpose of my being here is to inform you that I shall be giving you the world. I won't be joining in on your reign, but will be giving you the world. I will step out of your way, as my mother should have."

"You are saying that you are giving up?" Voldemort cautiously asked, from time secretly playing Role Playing Games he knew to be cautious of such things, especially coming from the supposed hero of the story, in this case Harry Potter.

"I am not saying that," Harry said, "What I am saying is that I am stepping aside. This war isn't my war, this world is my world no longer, and the wizarding world never was mine to begin with."

"Oh, I'd ask you to elaborate, but I doubt you would," Voldemort said, "But I thank you all the same. So what happens now?"

"Do you know the contents of the prophecy?" Harry asked.

"I do," Voldemort shared, "Admittedly I only recently came into possession of the complete wording from a reliable source whose name does not end in Snape."

"I'm not interested in names," Harry plainly said, "I don't even feel the least bit betrayed. What is your understanding of the prophecy?"

"I marked you as my equal, we are basically immortal so long as we're not actively seeking each other's," Voldemort said, "The rest is easy to decipher, why...do you have another interpretation?"

"As a matter of fact I do," Harry said and moved to the side of the table that Voldemort was using to lay out his plans and drafts of plans, "May I?" he asked permission to sit, even though there wasn't a chair for a guest in the room or for Voldemort even for that matter.

"Go ahead," the dark lord said.

"Thank you," Harry said, then simply sat down on a cushioned venetian chair that just appeared from what could have been thin air. There had been no wand waving, hand gestures, or words spoke. Harry simply sat down and it was there when he sat. It was as if it had been there from the very beginning.

The dark lord was speechless after seeing such a feat. He knew he, himself, was powerful. He could fly without the aid of a broom. But to conjure a chair as if it had always been there and with such intricate detail like it was nothing out of the ordinary was simply amazing.

"Have a seat why don't you," Harry said, "My host shouldn't be standing while I, the guest, sits."

He didn't know why he did it, but he just sat down as if falling into a comfortable chair from shock. It was the kind of chair someone would find in the Slytherin common room, he didn't bother to wonder why it was in that style. He just was thankful that he hadn't landed on the floor.

"Most prophecies," Harry said, "From what I've managed to piece together, are mostly vague things, their words or wording are mostly literally unreliable, but symbolically they are."

"Then my literal interpretation is flawed," Voldemort said, rubbing his chin in thought for a bit, mulling over that little bit of information.

"I doubt that the higher powers, after eons of existing would want us to know just how the flow of time runs its course," Harry said, "They wouldn't want us to just take their word for it, after all where would the fun in that be? No, my thoughts on the matter of prophecy is that they are vague things, they require some deciphering. The exact events aren't so easily defined, but a general look can be seen."

"Then pray tell, what is your interpretation of the prophecy which concerns the two of us?" Voldemort asked and sipped from a tea cup which he didn't wonder where it came from and why it was filled with Jasmine tea.

"I have come up with two interpretations...no make that three interpretations," Harry stated, then took sip from his own cup, "The first part of this is the who the involved parties in the prophecy actually are."

"It is obviously us," Voldemort stated his thoughts on the matter.

"No its not," Harry said, "Think about it. Who stated that it was about us? Who actually said that the dark lord in question was about you?"

"I heard about the prophecy from Severus," Voldemort aired his thoughts, "He told me later that Dumbledore... I see what you mean."

"Its the other factors that detail who the dark lord and chosen one are," Harry said.

"Then who are the two players in this prophecy?" Voldemort asked.

"I am the Chosen One," Harry said, "That much is certain. You are one of the Dark Lords in question. And just so you know, this prophecy was one that could have been labeled as a false prophecy. Through means that I am only half doubting, I have gleamed that this prophecy was at one point in time a falsified one, a fake, an illusion."

"I have yet to hear who was the seer or prophet," Voldemort admitted, "You wouldn't happen to know, would you?"

"Sybill Trelawney," Harry stated calmly, waiting for Voldemort to blow his gasket, since that thing with him as a baby had blown a majority of his plans, as well as his progress, out of the water all thanks to her prophecy.

"THAT FRAUD!?" Voldemort shouted, he was sure that if this office of his wasn't warded as well as it was, his servants would have heard his outburst, "Her grandmother was the real deal, sure, but I know for a fact that she's a fraud! Delphi has ways of determining such things! There's a whole ritual involved! That friend of yours or whatever she was or is, that Luna Lovegood, now she's another real deal! But Trelawney! ARGH!"

"I know how that feels," Harry said, "I wreaked Dumbledore's office when I found out, destroyed plenty of his little trinkets too."

"So...who are the other two?" Voldemort asked, his curiosity piqued a long time ago.

"Dumbledore and the Wizarding World as a whole," Harry stated, "Should I explain why?"

"No need, I can already see it," Voldemort said, "But taking into account the present political climate, which is the most relevant of our interpretations?"

"I'm the Chosen One, you're the Dark Lord," the more-than-just-a-teen said, "We are equals, you marked myself as your equal, activating the prophecy. But the mark isn't the scar on my forehead, but a taint in my soul. I have a piece of you in me, an accidental piece. So long as I live and retain that piece, you will never die, as for the other way around, well a piece of my personal magic latched onto you to keep the taint in my soul from poisoning myself."

"You know quite a lot for an almost sixteen year old," Voldemort said, "Where or when did you come up with all this?"

"I'll get to that," Harry said, "You just have to be patient."

"I can do that," Voldemort said, and indeed he could, he'd done it for close to fourteen years after all.

"The power you know not is not love as Dumbledore thinks," Harry stated, then explained, "It is magic. Plain and simple as that."

"But I know magic!" Voldemort began to rage, and was about to rise to his feet when Harry stopped him with a serious look, it was not a glare, but just a look.

"Tell me," Harry said calmly, "What is magic?"

"Magic is..." Voldemort stopped to think of his answer, he wasn't so sure anymore as he'd never thought about it before, but determined that it could only be one thing, "Power. It is power."

"You're wrong," Harry said, "You don't know what magic is... But I do, as did my mother."

"Then tell me what magic is," Voldemort almost demanded, but knew not to even try, the teen before him was a changed Being and not your average wizard anymore, not that he had ever really been average.

"If you agree to my terms I shall tell you all I know of this power you know not," Harry said.

"I'll hear you out," the dark lord stated, almost impatiently.

"I know things you don't know," Harry said, "You know things I don't know. Let us both learn from one another, for neither of us are masters of all. Let us share what we are masters in, and together we shall become the masters that countless others, even the Peverells could only dream of becoming."

"I see," Voldemort said, "Very well, I see merit in this, since you will be handing over the world to me. I shall learn from you and you shall learn from me. You would not lie, not after what I have learned from my spy. I accept your terms."

"Then let us shake on it," Harry said, "No foolish wand waving necessary. Just a grasping of two hands joined as one in an agreement with one another."

They shook, and there was no need for the words 'so mote it be' to be said, as the deal was struck, sealed, and done. No more need be said about it.

"Now as to a brief explanation of what is magic?" Voldemort prodded his new partner in academia.

"Ah but magic is not as simple as that," Harry said, "You see, I stumbled upon a memory, one that was infused with magic. It was an intentionally made memory from when my parents were still alive."

"What does this memory have to do with magic?" the dark lord asked, showing his impatience now that they were no longer on warring sides.

"It is how I discovered the truth about magic," Harry said, "In this memory was a man, my mother's godfather. Its probably the only memory I have of him. He had a really strong connection to magic, is what I can say about him."

"Oh.." that little tidbit got the dark lord thinking, "How...what makes you say that?"

"Memories formed before one turns seven years old aren't always or aren't really as clear as ones formed after that age," Harry said, "But this memory was so clear I could have sworn that I had been thrown backwards through time."

"I see.."

"He had a debate with my mother on what magic was and is," Harry continued, "It was his closing argument that convinced me that magic was the power you know not."

"So..what was his closing argument?"

"Magic is..." Harry said and did as his mother's godfather had done, it was a tweaked repeat of that past performance as well as what he had done only hours before this conversation.

Overwhelmed, the dark lord fainted dead away upon finding out what magic was, minus all of the things that Harry's mother's godfather had said. Those were the keys of unlocking true magic.

He waited a few hours for the dark lord to reawaken. He even prepared a light breakfast for the two of them, he didn't sleep himself as he found a way to skip that need, magic being the key of course.

"How was your nap?" Harry asked his partner-in-crime as soon as he woke.

"Great," Voldemort admitted, he felt refreshed, cleansed even, "That was amazing...I never thought...I never knew...I mean...wow."

"I know how you feel," Harry said, "The sad this is, I actually knew, though I wasn't old enough to really comprehend such a thing."

"And I also realized who your mother's godfather was or is," Voldemort said, "It came to me once I was lost in the magic."

"Oh? Do tell," Harry said as he brought the food out of their preservation charms.

"I was young then," Voldemort said, "Thirteen I believe, I hadn't yet started my plans on making a horcrux, I'm sure you already know what those are."

"I do," Harry said, "I also returned the one in me to you, I heard from a reliable source that getting back most of what you lost made you even more powerful, and more connected to life than this fractured state of being that you are living in."

"Thank you then," Voldemort said, "But for the remaining others, I'll do that on my own time if that's alright with you."

"Its your life," Harry said, "I just don't want anything linking me to this world other than my memories."

"I can completely understand that," Voldemort said, "So when do we begin?"

"After breakfast if you like," Harry said.

"I'm all for breakfast," Voldemort said and reached for some french toast, he didn't want to admit it but he'd been craving for some for a few years now.

"I just remembered," Harry said, after swallowing a piece of toast.

"What?" Voldemort said around a mouthful of french toast goodness.

"Who was he? You said you realized who he was," Harry said, "And you haven't finished your story."

"Oh, right," Voldemort said and wiped his mouth with a napkin, "I met him during the summer, he caught me in Knockturn Alley looking for dark arts manuals on rituals of power. Its only now that I've realized why he said those words to me, 'Don't do it' he said 'there are other ways to achieve it'."

"He told you who he was, I'm assuming," Harry stated.

"I'm getting to that," the dark lord said, "He introduced himself as Magus Iunctio, I didn't really know the significance of such a name, I was still a teen at the time, not this serpentine library of knowledge."

"I don't see it," Harry admitted, not knowing where Voldemort was going.

"Magus Iunctio," Voldemort explained, "Its a name made up of two Latin words, magic connection was something you mentioned earlier. Its thanks to those two words that I was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and I'm rather surprised, awed, and amazed from it all."

"Why? What's so special about this guy?" Harry asked, already painting a picture in his mind about the possibilities, he was hoping the conclusion he was reaching was right.

"Magus Iunctio means magic connection," Voldemort said, then continued with his explanation, "There is some lore in the magical world, I say world since the Wizarding run world is only a recent thing and not what once was. Once all races were relatively more equal with one another, truthfully the magical world was ruled by more than just one race that dictated their beliefs to everything else. This lore is one of the oldest ones I could find of its kind."

"Are you speaking about some sort of creation story?" Harry asked.

"Something like that," Voldemort revealed, "You've noticed, I assume, that the magical world doesn't seem to have any form of religion, or the wizarding world doesn't recognize any."

"Now that you mention it, yes, I wondered about it at first, but assumed that wizards thought of magic as that higher power," Harry said, "I mean the history books paint Thor as a wizard with a high lightning affinity. Gods of the muggle world are seen as just being powerful wizards or something magical."

"Well in a way, Magic is our higher power," Voldemort said, "Wizards fear what they can't control, and therefore if it cannot be destroyed, they do something else to make it theirs as much as possible."

"So Thor and others like him," Harry more or less asked, "If they weren't wizards, what were they?"

"Just what the muggles believed them to be," Voldemort stated, "Gods. Immortals. Higher Powers. They weren't wizards, they were real."

"Back to magic," Harry said, "And Magus Iunctio, who was he really?"

"Aside from you mother's godfather, however that happened," Voldemort said, "Magus Iunctio is Magic himself, the source of magic and magic itself, the anthropomorphic personification of magic. He is our god, and the god of all things magic, but at the same time he is something more."

"How'd you come up with that, or better yet, what's your reference material?" Harry asked, they were talking facts and not fiction or magic.

"I chanced across the core journal of Merlin, or Myrrdin as he was called back in the day, or at least that's what I've managed to decipher," Voldemort said, "In it he mentioned being visited in his early years by Magus Iunctio who showed him the way and gave him advice for Arthur and the realization of an Avalon in the human world."

"So the gods do meddle in mortal affairs," Harry said, a bit smugly for some reason, "They make the rules, so I guess its not that far from possible that one of them would do something like that."

"It seems so," Voldemort, "He visited Merlin, which means he's visited the others of our kind that had a kind of purpose in the world. That stands to reason that we have a purpose, he approves of our course of actions maybe."

"What were your reasons for starting the whole war thing?" Harry asked out of the blue.

"I wanted to change the world," Voldemort supplied, "Getting the purebloods on my side was the easiest way to get an army. Why?"

"His words, they were meant to stand the test of time," Harry said, "They must have been laced with something, some kind of compulsion or something."

"Let me see," his conversation partner said and delved deep into his memories, organized as they were he was an old man, when he came back he had an astonished expression, "I noticed that there was something with the way he said those words, they weren't normal...that's the best that I can describe them."

"Mine were instructions on using magic to its full potential," Harry said, "Yours seems like advice on what we plan on doing to the world and with our lives, more than just your horcruxes."

"It looks like it," Voldemort said, "He must be speaking about the war as well as my goal of...well...it seems I've lost my way."

"It was the dividing of your soul," Harry said, "It did more than just divide your soul, but your sanity as well."

"Apparently," Voldemort said, "Thank you for that piece that I accidentally placed in you, its making my logic and reasoning return, as well as a bit of my compassion."

"I was planning on having some sort of epic battle," Harry said, "After we're done mastering what we need to master to be equal masters in our arts and crafts. A battle where the light would lose, and the dark would prevail. It seems he does not approve."

"I was thinking along the same lines as well," Voldemort said, "But how will we achieve what we want?"

"We'll think of something," Harry said, and with those words they began their shared training and studying.

#

The Wizarding world knew that Lord Voldemort was back, they were always on their toes, quite a panicky lot they were. Even more paranoid than Mad Eye Moody ever was, this was due more to the fact that after the first appearance, that was it. There were no more attacks of any kind, no more appearances of the Dark Mark. There was no terrorist activity.

The Order of the Phoenix didn't know what to do. But the one thing that the world did wonder about, did fear was the absence of their hero, their Chosen One. No one knew where Harry Potter was.

Dumbledore had decided that it would be a good idea to claim that he was being trained in secret for the final battle, a lot of people bought it, but those in the know worked even harder in divining his location and what to do about him when they found him.

The DA members had informed the adults about what had transpired before Harry vanished from everyone's radar, and to say that the adults were disappointed was an understatement. While it was understandable once the prophecy was released to them. They still wondered how they could have done it so tactlessly, did they really think that Harry was just going to continue saving their collective asses without reason or compensation of some kind. Did they think him that much of an idiotic fool.

Snape was excluded from any Death Eater meetings, which worried the Order. In fact, none of the Death Eaters, confirmed and not, had chosen or were ordered not to interact with him at all. Even his best friend Lucius Malfoy, who had bribed his way into innocence once more, stayed away from him. Distanced himself from him.

The Order was running blind, the Dark Mark didn't burn, and even the Ministry struggled to quell people's fear of this dark shadow of an unknown future.

While the rest of the wizarding world remained in the dark, so to speak, Harry and Voldemort evolved themselves, going past the limits of mortality, gaining whatever it was that they set out to obtain and more.

For two years they traveled the world, seeking out forgotten sects, organizations, and religions. They uncovered lost treasures and legendary identities.

Things forgotten by time and hidden by shadows and dust. They found all they could in preparation for the new worlds they would each create. One would be reshaping the world back to what it was meant to be, while the other leaving the world almost entirely and finding a new one to call his own.

They returned to country where their quest and journey began. Both with the knowledge of how the world had been and should have become. Both powerful, both were considered as amongst the gods by those who had lost followers and faith, those that slumbered only with the belief of the few hopefuls of their reality keeping them existing in the world.

Belief was a powerful thing. To believe in something was to make it potentially possible.

They were back.

It was the first time in two years that Voldemort summoned his followers, some had thought that he had vanished along with Harry Potter, which was true, but more vanished in the sense of vanquished though. They were not punished with a cruciatus curse. They were slapped on the backs of their heads by the dark lord who walked around looking just as he should have looked had he not undergone the rituals that he did before he met the new and improved Harry Potter.

He too didn't wear shoes, his clothes were also made out of something from nature. They were earth colors, but not like Harry's own combination of colors and designs which after two years hadn't changed one bit.

Another surprise that the Death Eaters found, and to the lasting regret of Bellatrix Lestrange, was that their Dark Lord had returned to them with a wife and a child on the way. It was something none of them ever expected to happen.

She was not human, at all. But that shouldn't have mattered, since the Dark Lord wasn't human either. The Death Eaters didn't know what to think of that until they found out her identity as well as their Lord's new standing in the world, a standing that assured their side in the war, victory.

She was Tiamat, one of the nearly forgotten and no longer powered by belief gods of the Babylonian mythos. Voldemort, or Tom as she and Harry preferred to call him, had stumbled upon her trapped in some kind of pocket dimension where the Tower of Babel was supposed to have stood a long long time ago in a land far far away. He'd broken the magical seal that had been placed on the vault door that locked her in, the chamber which was the pocket dimension was littered with the bones and lifeless husks of her fellows, some were even dust.

Dungeons and Dragons had saved Tiamat, but not her fellows. Harry had theorized that it would be possible to bring the others back, but he wouldn't advise it since they were probably in their next great adventures already, and happy over there.

Death changes a person, in most cases, and they probably wouldn't have returned as they once were. Tiamat herself didn't seem to mind at all that she had been relatively alone for the longest of times. She claimed that before the others she had been alone.

It had taken months for Voldemort to crack her shell, he returned to the cleaned up chamber, courting her, every weekend. He slipped away, but Harry knew where he went and wasn't worried about betrayal.

It had been at the end of the first year that she came out of her chamber, and three more months until the two of them were married, Zeus of Olympus, had been the officiator of the ceremony.

Harry liked that god, that lord of the sky, though Zeus was very irritated with Harry most of the time for some odd reason.

Voldemort didn't return with just a wife and a baby in the oven, he returned with some additional numbers, alliances he had made overseas. He was bringing back the dark and the light and the gray into the magical world. These for the longest time hidden worlds that had given up on their world becoming one once again.

The wizards had forgotten their roots, the purebloods included, and once Voldemort returned, they were reeducated.

Their lord had married an ancient goddess, which therefore made him a god as well. From Dark Lord to Dark God, or so they thought. He was ordained by a collective council of gods as the Dark Lord, he was no longer some self styled lunatic. But an actual Lord of a higher plane. He was the Dark Lord Voldemort, Knight of Magic's Purple Grove.

He didn't really understand the Purple Grove bit, nor did Harry since he was ordained Vita Q. Nex, Lord in Magic's Purple Grove, they supposed it was the equivalent of Olympus as far as Magus Iunctio was concerned.

Being ordained as such was to make sure that Harry and Tom didn't share true magic with the mortals, they saw it as bad enough that two mortals transcended into their tier of existence and they didn't need any more additions.

Voldemort didn't go back into the physical and magical fighting instantly once returning. He didn't bring warriors but thinkers with him. The plan of attack was not physical, but political and psychological. Some truths were going to be revealed, secrets released, and skeletons forced out of their closets.

At first it was pamphlets finding themselves in the mail of everyone that received mail, then the periodicals had extra articles in them. Followed by books.

Then the government, the laws, and other such things began being affected by these harmless attacks.

So on and so forth.

It took five years for the wizarding world to be weakened in all the sectors that mattered, when those five years were up Voldemort sprung attacking swift and fearlessly, leading his army across the unchanging European Wizarding world, only Europe was a concern to him and the ways of the magical world, it was also where his biggest opposition were based and could be found in.

Dumbledore had no warning whatsoever, he was also not informed that the muggles were in on the plot, or some of them at least.

There was no large scale and drawn out battle to be fought. No words were exchanged, none were needed to sway any public as the public had already been exposed to all the words.

It was a short battle up until Harry made his appearance, looking like the weary warrior that he was, his robes tattered and torn, his expression steeled, and his spirit determined. He was the avenging angel that the light were waiting for, that Dumbledore was waiting for.

But all of Dumbledore's plans, hopes, and dreams, were dashed or crashed upon the rocks when Voldemort appeared behind the tired warrior's form and thrust Excalibur, the legendary sword, through Harry's chest.

This wasn't a betrayal, for the body wasn't even real, it was all an extremely well crafted illusion. It was just a symbolic action.

With the fall of the Chosen One, the fighters of the light's morale dropped and there was no one that could reignite the flame. Dumbledore even loosened his grip on his wand, which was good enough for the non-illusionary Harry to take it from the old headmaster and claim it as his own.

Voldemort had already given him the Slytherin ring with the 'resurrection' stone embedded on it, Harry also already had the cloak, and with the final piece, he gained the new title of Master of Death, not that he needed it for he was already Vita Q. Nex.

He was as silent and sudden as death when he delivered the killing blow to the man he viewed as a real dark lord, the kind of dark that most viewed as evil kind of dark and not the Voldemort radical kind of dark.

Dumbledore's death blow came as a shock to the wizarding world. Upon his death the wizarding world found out what real fools they were. It was revealed that Fawkes was no phoenix, but a powerfully illusioned Augrey-something-else-hybrid that was also magically enhanced through the years with the aid of the late Nicholas's stone.

The death blow itself was a fist slamming into the man's solar plexus. The assailant was not seen, but the result was confirmed and the cause of death was theorized but through some _complex_ spells Voldemort revealed what happened to the old man, and also revealed all the dirty laundry of the kindly grandfather that meddled with things that were not his to meddle with.

"*"

"So I take it you'll be leaving now?" Voldemort asked and state at the same time.

He and Harry were standing before the Veil of Death. It still remained in its chamber within the Department of Mysteries, now guarded by more than magic spells and enchantments, but with some of the most advanced in security technology as well. Death was as much a part of life as the other was a part of it. It should be respected, feared, and avoided as much as possible.

Not that Voldemort feared death still, nor Harry for that matter.

"I will be," Harry said, "I've placed all of my things in my personal storage space, Hammer Space and all that."

"Well, its been a pain but also nice knowing you," Voldemort said.

They were alone in the chamber, something which Voldemort's advisers and guards weren't all that happy about. He was the Emperor of Magical Europe after all, and shouldn't be left alone with anyone. Especially some mysterious stranger whose identity was never revealed. Only three people knew who Harry was, Voldemort, Tiamat, and their son Thomas.

"You too," Harry said as he took a step toward the Veil, "Maybe I'll come visit and we can spar, we never really did complete our duel."

"I look forward to it," Voldemort said, and stepped back as Harry stepped on through.


	127. U4

He had that dream again, it was the thirteenth night in a row that he had had it. The others thought that it was a recurring vision, but he knew it wasn't. Not this time. Nothing big was happening in the world, no disasters, no wars, nothing. But he'd been having that dream for thirteen nights in a row, and he wondered and worried about what it meant.

He was sure that it wasn't a thing of the future. He was also sure that it was real. It was a dream and a memory, he just didn't know whose it was or why he had been seeing it.

He'd told his helpers about it who had informed the Grandmaster of their Order about them. It was the Grandmaster that believed it to be some kind of prophetic dream of some sort.

He was the Oracle, visionary and prophet, of the Order of Ambo, one of the thirteen religious Orders in the known world. He was the one whom the Order's god spoke through, in visions and words. He just spout verses of words, or burst into song all of a sudden. They mostly came when he was sleeping. The visions and prophetic statements or words.

He was called Oracle by everyone. It was tradition, or so people said, that the Oracle's name never be uttered even by the Oracle himself. It was to be known only to himself and Ambo. No one knew whay that was, but that was the way things had been for thousands of years.

Ambo, God of Creation and Destruction, the Creator and the Destroyer, the Beginning and the End. It was said that it was Ambo that had created the world from out of nothing, and he was aided by twelve others alongside him.

From these thirteen came forth the other lesser deities.

Ambo was said to have stood in the center of the void, and held out his hands, one black and one white. From between his palms a ball took form, and it grew. It grew until Ambo himself was just a speck of dust on the surface of the ball, and the ball was the world.

The other twelve then came, formerly formless entities took shape and added their own energies to the ball, turning it into the world. They formed mountains and valleys, oceans and streams, volcanoes and grasslands. They created nature and all life.

The rulers of the world, the top of the food chain, the people. That was something that was left to evolution. Or so that was what was taught, though reluctantly by the few Grandmasters that thought that it couldn't have been that way.

Oracles were chosen by the previous oracle, he was the twenty-seventh Oracle of the Order of Ambo, as well as the youngest. He was twenty-three years old, and had been selected by his predecessor when he was eleven. His predecessor died soon after his choosing, that was the way things were.

He had been an orphan, wandering the streets of the human city of Feducia of the kingdom of Vitualis, when he was found by his predecessor. That Oracle didn't ask for his name, simply pointed to him and that was that.

There had been a short ceremony involved with passing the torch.

Some hand gestures were made, there was a touching of the closed eyes, the ears, and a finger of silence to the closed lips.

His rags were then traded for the robes of the Oracle, which was a light gray cassock with a darker gray shoulder cape, and a black on one side and white on the other side sash.

He usually spent his time within the Temple of Ambo within his sanctum which was located deep beneath the earth where only artificial light lit the place. It was pristine, white, not a speck of imperfection in the white marble and ivory that made up the place. In his bed chamber there were thirteen stone slabs, he could use any of these thirteen altar-like beds. It wasn't that there were thirteen different Oracle for a single Order, but that they were in a way guest beds for other Oracles of other Orders.

The slabs were cold to the touch for an Oracle, but were searing hot for anyone else.

He was the exception though, he didn't tell anyone but they felt merely warm to him. They were comfortable even, whereas there had been stories passed around that his predecessor had often complained about the coldness of the stone and the stiffness of his back in the mornings.

The sanctum of the Oracle hadn't always been deep beneath the surface of the world. The first twelve Oracle sanctums had been above ground, located at the center of the original temple complexes of each of the Orders. But a war at that time had forced the move to below ground after the original temples had been turned into deserted ruins, yet considered as sacred places.

He wasn't a prisoner, far from it. In fact, he could go anywhere in the world if he wished. It was just that he had duties to attend to and he didn't really know where to go and why he would go anywhere.

He didn't know what to expect of this day, and so despite having duties to attend to. He decided to skip out on them. He had been told earlier on, that even though he had duties and responsibilities, he was his own master, in fact the Grandmaster was really merely an adviser or a sometimes equal. The two of them were leaders in their own right of the Order, but he was the more independent one of the two.

He left his sanctum and didn't really bother with his guards, he didn't think he needed them as no one would really dare attack of think of kidnapping him. He was the voice of Ambo.

He exited the temple wearing his uniform, as he didn't really have anything else that he could wear, aside from some clothes that he had found on himself one day. He also lacked any footwear, and walked barefoot, if it weren't for his uniform he would have been mistaken for a beggar.

He didn't really know where he was going and just let his feet take him to wherever it was that they wanted to go. He failed to notice that people were staring at him as he approached and past them. It was not everyday that they were able to see the Oracle as he usually remained indoors and out of their reach, like a hermit of sorts.

He visited his old haunts and kept an eye out for his former companions, not that they were friends, just fellow orphans and beggars.

He didn't spot any of them, or at least he didn't recognize any of them, though they recognized him.

To them he was the lucky one, but at the same time the cursed one.

He had been taken off of the streets and into a place to call home, but at the same time he was not paid for his services and much was expected of him. They had caught glimpses of him during a crisis and had seen how tired and worn out he had been in those days. He also didn't seem to have anyone to support him.

He was one of them at one time, so they individually decided to watch over him while he wandered the streets of the city they had all once merely survived in.

They watched as he slipped into a narrow back alley, one where they used to pass through to escape from guards when they were forced to steal food or coin, but he didn't leave, or at least they failed to recognize him when he did.

He entered in his robes and left without them. It baffled them. But it didn't really bother him as he was unaware of his own actions.

He felt as if he was walking through a dream, it was a vision and a prophecy all rolled into one. He wasn't aware of it, but when he awoke from his trace he would surely know of it as there was a feeling that always came after such things.

His former companions went into the alleyway found each other but not him. There were others that had seen the mismatched dark green and brown figure that too walked barefoot walk out of the other end of the alleyway. They watched him like a hawk, but for some reason kept losing focus or were distracted.

Another lucky one among them had been apprenticed to a mage and was now quite famous as a healing mage. He provided free service to his former companions, and at one time to the Oracle. He noticed that there was powerful magic at play when he tried keeping track of the one that he could barely recognize walked out of the alleyway.

He had some of his hired help follow the earthen garbed fellow, but they were unsuccessful as they fell prey to the spell.

The mage eventually met up with a former companion, one of the not so lucky ones who had become a mercenary, a sword for hire. Instead of exchanging pleasantries they kept each other's wits about them as they followed after the fellow.

The three of them eventually found themselves walking on the wall that protected the city, then stopped once reaching a certain point.

The vision ended, the trance ceased, the uniform returned from out of nowhere. With his wits about him once again, he did something that none of his two followers thought possible.

He jumped.

They rushed to the railing to try and catch hold of him or stop him, but were far too slow, and watched helplessly as he fell. They couldn't imagine a world without the Oracle, a world without an Oracle..

It was once he was almost at the bottom of the wall did they find out that this Oracle had more than just visions and prophecies to his name.

A gust of wind righted him making him seem to stand up, then the earth shot up and allowed him a stepping stone to stand on. More shot up with each succeeding step he took, until the mercenary volunteered to fetch them horses, while the mage floated himself off of the wall and down to the ground to keep better track of the Oracle.

The mercenary was followed by a platoon of temple knights, he had informed them of what he had witnessed and what he was going to do. They met up with the mage that had grown tired from all the running he had been doing trying to keep up with the Oracle.

They ran their horses ragged in their attempts to catch up with the Oracle.

"*"

He had just exited from his vision and dream, It was more something for him to do rather than for everyone else to know about. It had no relevance at all to anyone else, but to him it was more than a simple prophecy.

It was a matter of the past that he couldn't recall. He couldn't remember much before his seventh winter. He didn't even know the date of his birth. All he knew was that one day he stumbled into through the city gates and the rest was everything he knew.

It was as if someone had placed a kind of block on his memory. Whenever he'd tried to remember it had always hurt, though probably that was just his imagination thanks to overhearing one of the novices talking about how remembering forgotten things gave him a headache.

He had walked through a vision of and a memory. He had been pulled along by a memory of the world itself. A ghostly faceless form that lead him to the wall and whispered in his ear before it ended.

'_**If you want to remember, come, follow after me**_', he had let his curiosity take him to where he had gone, he felt for the faceless form and followed it to where he felt that it was located after vanishing from view. He summoned up powers he couldn't remember ever having, and simply went with the flow of things.

He had found himself in a nearby ruin, near by a few miles.

It was a crumbled fortress from days long passed. Pillars and partial walls littered the place, it was one of those sites of destruction that no one knew anything about and simply took for granted as some ruins in a foreboding area since no one ever thought of either fixing up the place or settling there.

It was nestled near a small mountain with a limestone face, he gazed at it as if seeing something that wasn't there.

He looked around a bit, ignorant of his pursuers, and saw the faceless form appear.

The temple's crypt held more than just the priests, novices, and grandmasters of the Order, the Oracles were kept there as well, but they had a copy of themselves forever etched in stone. Including the very first one, the one who made the first prophecy, the one who had the first vision.

This faceless form resembled all of them now, including himself. He didn't know how it was possible for one ghost like form to resemble all past Oracles, but they did.

"_**So you came,**_" the ghostling said, "_**I'm glad. Do you know this place?**_"

"I'm sorry but I do not," Oracle said.

"_**This is the birthplace of the Order of Ambo,**_" the ghostling said, "_**It was here that the first Oracle was ordained, that the first prophecy was given, than a mortal first became the voice of Ambo**_."

"Then why does the Order not know this? This should be a Holy Place if what you say were true," Oracle said.

"_**Because it happened such a long time ago, also the first Oracle deemed it necessary to disguise the Order's roots,**_" the ghostling explained, "_**Were it known to everyone, then this place wouldn't have kept its serene feel and ambient power, a power which grants **_**us**_** the ability to come before you now. Do you know the First Prophecy?**_"

"I know it," Oracle said, "All Oracles are taught it by our predecessor. It is something we each should look out for, wait for, pray for, and dread, for it might mean the end of things."

"_**Correct,**_" the ghostling said, "_**Recite it for me. The First Prophecy.**_"

"'I rest' the first said, 'Then thirteen lives shall be lived before I rise again'," Oracle recited it the way it had been taught to him, "'Thirteen lives lived' the first said, 'Thirteen lives across this world, before I rise again.' A vision sparked before the first's eyes. Twelve lives lost, dreams unfulfilled, the thirteenth's end will near and Ambo will splinter and crack. The world will end, the world _WILL _end. **IF** the successor is not found."

"_**Very good,**_" the ghostling said, "_**Very good. You remembered the words, how about the vision?**_"

"I had it when I recited the words for the first time," Oracle said.

"_**Tell me then it's contents,**_" the ghostling said.

"A mountain crumbles to reveal a sleeping giant, the giant crumbles after rising to its feet," Oracle said, "Ambo, who is black and white, cracks and shatters. Half white remains in the world above, while half black can be seen below where it once stood in a blackened void. Twelve shades return to the world, crawling out of their dusty tombs and muddy graves, they hunt the future."

"_**I assume you know what this means?**_" the ghostling asked.

"Should the mountain crumble, and should the giant awaken," Oracle said, as he felt the ground suddenly shake, "Then the First Prophecy is finally upon the world."

The mountain that the ruin was nestled by fell away to reveal a rock giant, bigger than anything that the bystanders had ever seen. It's eyes opened, to reveal crystal blue orbs of life. It stood, took a step, then it's own body began to fall away.

Each falling piece of itself shook the earth beneath their feet, shockwaves of which could be felt all over the continent they were on.


	128. W01

"_You shall be the guard that holds fast the gate," his Creator and Lord commanded upon his creation, "You shall be the guide leads him to his fate. You shall be the chain upon which his destiny is tied. Guide. Guardian. Protector. These are what you shall be."_

_~Who am I?~ _he sought for an identity, a name to separate himself from the infinite others more that were created at the same time as he, he need not know what he was for all of his kind knew from the very beginning what they were.

"_You already have your name, all that remains is for you to discover it," his Creator and Lord replied, "Discover it and discover your potential."_

_Then his, and their, Creator and Lord commanded them all.._

"_Go forth and be the guides and protectors of souls that you were born to be!"_

That event, his birth and the same moment he had been assigned to that formerly pitiful soul that his black ragged cloaked form guarded, that fragile soul that his blackened chains protected, had been eons ago. Or at least it could have been, for time did not touch the realm of the creation of his race, of his kind. His kind was one of those special few that could exist outside of time.

He was a Death Reaper, a Soul Guide, he was like Charon the ferryman, or like the Valkyries that brought the heroic dead to Valhalla, but of course his kind's purpose was to watch over a soul, their assigned soul, the one they would watch and guide for the rest of each of their existences. They were neither living nor dead, they simply existed, and their life was their purpose.

But of course due to there being so many of them, there would always remain a balance to the perfection that was the majority of his kind. He was one of that select few that could grow, given time of course, and exposure to his assigned soul. His assigned soul too was unique, as unique as he, with a destiny far greater than any other soul of his time.

**Savior **or **Destroyer.** That was his assigned soul's destiny.

He watched over his assigned soul's own creation, watching from the realm between life and death, that realm known only as the Veil. A silk-like divider that served as the boundary that separated the Worlds of Life from the Realm of Death.

He watched his charge be born as a mere spark of light like the last dying embers of a once great fire in an emptiness that was akin to the Void. He continued to hold fast to his duty as his charge took shape and form, as Fate and Destiny weaved a tapestry of what the soul's life would be like and could be like. A never ending tapestry of fate woven with an unending thread.

When his charge, the soul he was assigned was finally, for the very first time, given a mortal shell to inhabit, he was quite elated and excited at the life that he would play unseen audience to, the life that he would eventually sing praises of once the mortal shell had expired and the soul was once more freed from such a limited existence. It wasn't meant to be of course, such was the fate of many of such unique souls and circumstances.

The soul only managed to last a short nine years this first lifetime. Being so young and a plaything of sorts of Fate and Destiny, the soul was pushed forward through the Cycle of Life and Death and reborn once again, only for the soul's fate to once again repeat, and for a third, and fourth time, this occurred. It was through this monotonous repetition did he change, did he evolve, did he learn and adapt. Did he too grow.

He was no longer a mere guide, guardian, and protector. But also an anchor.

He grasped onto the memories of each life that was lived and held them close to his being. His blackened chains wrapping around each memory and holding them fast. His ragged and tattered black cloak grew ever darker with all the energies he managed to save from dispersal back into the world of life.

A resolve within him grew as each year passed, he too made a vow upon the end of the eighth unfinished and unfulfilled lifetime. That he would aid his charge, going beyond the call of duty. He would aid his charge and mold him into a force to be reckoned with, one that Fate and Destiny would acknowledge as being great and worthy of a reward, one that did not have anything to do with this monotonous repetition of fates.

He surrounded himself in the darkness, very rarely venturing into the light. His chains were more numerous than the stars in the visible skies, and his cloak seemed to be alive, swishing and swirling about him, yet hiding him from any that would try to find him.

For eighty years he had lived in the shadows of his own little corner of the Veil, performing his duty to the utmost of his ability. Never wavering and always growing, ever evolving in preparation for the revolution he hoped to begin and for his charge to one day end.

Then finally it came, the end of that eightieth year, it was the dawning of that eighty-ninth. The very year he had vowed to act. Nine lifetimes, nine years. On this eighty-first year he would act. He would rise out from the shadows, and he would let his presence be known.

So he waited for the perfect moment, that perfect time to rise up and live...

"*"

He had been running non-stop for close to three hours now. The sun had already set and still they did not stop chasing him. A few short years ago he had thought it to be a mere game they wanted to play with him, like hide and seek or tag. But he learned only recently, when he had finally gotten caught and that old man wasn't there to help him, that it wasn't a game after all.

His pursuers intended to do him harm or do him in.

He felt that something was different about this night, what with the red moon that hung in the sky barely draped around it some thin and flimsy looking clouds.

But had he looked at the moon, gazed at it for longer than he had, he would have noticed that the moon showed a sort of shadow of a face, a fanged and horned one that seemed almost gleeful at the prospect of yet another meal. This shadowed face would have to deal with not being able to have yet another satisfying meal as one of its own brethren would be stepping in to prevent such a tragedy.

He ran through all the side streets and back alleys that he knew of, that he had memorized just in case this sort of chase just so happened to happen once again.

His thoughts strayed to wondering where the old man was and that the old man was cutting it a little close this time, he truly feared what those pursuing him would do to him. It was this straying of concentration that cost him, he turned into a dead end and nearly smacked into the wall were it not for a stray empty bottle that caused him to trip instead.

His pursuers found him picking himself up and off of the ground. They smiled. He cringed.

The physical torture had begun.

And it ended due to something different happening this time.

The mob which consisted of more than just civilians but also shinobi were stopped in their tracks by a soul piercing howl that reverberated around them, echoing off of the walls and managing to send chills down even their own otherworldly guides, guides that only had their purposes to them.

It was not a howl that one would hear from a wolf or hound, but one that sounded even more primal, more ancient, more old. It was a howl that scared them to their very bones making them wish they had to deal with that monstrous kitsune once more instead of this child which they saw as the demon given human flesh, it was their hatred doing this of course, but it did not matter in the slightest. Not in the eyes of He that had decided that it was finally time to awaken.

Accompanying the unearthly howl was a scream, a scream that reverberated not in the area itself but in the hearts of the men and women that had decided to form a mob intent on ending an innocent child's life that night. It was a scream that tore through them and sent them reeling and even more unable to move from the places they all stood, only one was able to flee as black chains shot out of the downed child.

These chains passed through solid matter as if they were ghostly apparitions, but struck true when their ends finally reached the mortals which were their targets. Tips of solid black chain links morphed into black hooks that anchored themselves temporarily in the minds and memories of those whose heads they impaled. While they might have belonged to a Death Reaper, that did not mean that these victims would die once the chains had accomplished their information gathering mission.

Their fate was much much worse. They would be knocked out for a few days, comatose for a time, and once they woke would be forced to admit to their crimes and deal with mortal justice whatever it may be. They would of course not remember what exactly happened after their beating of a child ended, nor would they each remember which specific child they had targeted as a group. It shouldn't matter and justice should prevail, but in a village such as this it was unlikely, not that it should really matter anyway.

All that mattered was that they would suffer in some way, at least a jarring fraction of what they each put that one innocent child through day by excruciating day.

Time seemed to slow down from the point-of-view of the child as his consciousness slowly drew himself inward. The chains erupting from his body seemed so slow as compared to how his attackers faces contorted in even more horror and surprise.

Then as his vision grew darker, his sense of time and sense of perception of the world around him sped back up. It all returned to normal speed, the only thing that was no longer normal was the fact that he was no longer in an dead end back alley, but in a large sewer-like place with water covering his legs until his knees, and a massive gate looming before him.

Just as he was going to move to explore his surroundings, with caution of course, black chains shot out of his body here in this place and shot through the bars of the gate and locked onto whatever it was that lay behind those golden bars that seemed to be held in place only by a single paper seal.

An enraged roar shoved him to the ground, or water below him, as the whole chamber shook as whatever lay behind those barred gates rampaged within. Though whether it roared and rampaged in anger or was in reality struggling to gain freedom from the chains, the child did not know.

Somewhere else in the world another creature, instead of screaming out in pain, fell silent in a dead faint that would evolve into a comatose state to ensure that the body and mind did not perish from the pain of it's burden being forcibly torn from within it by ethereal black and smoky chains that the boy was unaware had shot out of his back since he could only see the chains that shot out of his sides and his front.

The racket from within the gated space grew ever louder as it seemed that the cause of the commotion was coming closer and closer to the gate itself. The child hesitated in investigating the source of all the noise, and it was a good thing that he did for had he tried he might have found himself flung into a wall or worse, squashed beneath a behemoth of a kitsune that was thrown or pulled out of the gate, which had been forcibly opened, it's own safety precautions by-passed.

This kitsune matched the descriptions and depictions in some books that he had managed to look through of the Kyuubi, that beast, demon, monster, that had attacked the village on the very day and night that he had been born, and taken many a life during such an event. But there was just one difference between what lay nearly at his feet and the one feared by the village, this one was bound in the same black chains that were attached to his own body.

"You return to me my power, yet bind me with these chains...how cruel a master are you, more cruel than the last one," the kitsune spoke for the very first time and it was quite the surprise to the child who stumbled backward just as he had finally stood up once again, he tripped on his own feet of course and once more landed in the murky sewer-like water.

"A-are you the Kyuubi?" the child hesitantly asked, he had mustered a lot of his courage just to ask that one question.

"Of course I am!" the kitsune snarled out, "Now release me, that I might devour you!"

"I don't know how..." the child said, sitting in the murky waters that barely made its way up to the mouth of the beast before him.

"How can you not know how, when these infernal chains originate clearly from you," the kitsune stated, "Your mother too knew how to make chains and move them, so you should too. Now stop lying and release me!"

"But I don't know how!" the child shouted defensively, before clamping a hand over his mouth in surprise that he dared to shout at something that was clearly much bigger than he was, even bound the beast was a sight to be in fear of.

~Leave the child be~ a rasping voice echoed throughout the chamber, it rasped as it had only been used once before, and was also the natural manner of speaking for its owner's kind ~For he does indeed not know how to release you, for tis I that control those chain, for tis I that those chains truly originate~

"Who's there? Show yourself," the child shouted, his tiny voice echoing around the three of them as well. Though while he did speak he moved closer to the kitsune, finding some comfort in the less threatening of the two, since he already knew what the kitsune was unlike the owner of the rasping voice.

~If that is your wish~ the Reaper said.

He shot out of the opened cage, and landed a few feet away from the child and the kitsune, landing in a crouch on top of the water and not disturbing its surface in any way. He rose from his crouched position to show the many chains that came and went that were attached to his own body and seemed to reach out in all manner of directions. These chains blinked in and out of visible existence.

His manner of dress had changed from what it had originally started out as, as did his own physical looking form. From a wraith-like appearance that wore a tattered black cloak that hid nothing but shadows, to the hooded armored form that stood before the child and kitsune.

He had darkened silver gauntlets on his hands, greaves upon his lower legs that ended with what looked like steel tipped boots. Upon his torso he wore a similar in quality and color breastplate. In short, he was more like an armored knight that wore a cloak of swirling shadows and vanishing chains. He was almost a black knight, but his armor wasn't quite that color, only his hooded cloak.

He lifted his hood off of his head to show what could be shown of his face. Instead of some sort of helmet obscuring his facial feature, if he even had a face to begin with that is, was a porcelain mask of a mask that made his head look like it was just the upper part of a skull minus the lower detachable jaw. The eye sockets were pitch black and soulless orbs of nothingness.

There was one thing that did not match up with his terrifying visage, that being a slender stick that hung from his hip from a leather strap. It was the only thing that was out of place on his form.

It was with dawning horror that the kitsune began to once again struggle in its bindings, it even began to whimper in fear, resulting in the child looking upon it in worry, for he knew that there must be something really wrong for such a terrifying monster to be trying to run away.

~I am not here for you, I merely bound you in order for you to not cause any problems with my charge~ the Reaper stated calmly, his rasping voice was only able to convey the bare minimum of his true tone and intention.

"Then you are here for the boy?" the kitsune inquired, even as it continued to struggle with its bonds.

~Not in the manner of which you think~ the Reaper stated ~I am here to aid my charge, I grow tired of these monotonous repetitions of his life, eight times previous has he died, I will not let a ninth be added to that number!~

"What are you?" the child asked of him, then asked of the kitsune, "What is he?"

The curiosity that only a child or a child at heart might possess.

"If you wish to keep on living, he is what you hope to never meet or see," the kitsune replied, "He is the servant, the soldier, of the state, that final inescapable truth, though inescapable there are still those that try to elude It."

"A riddle," the child said.

~Spoken plainly, I am a Death Reaper or a Shinigami as you might be more familiar with~ the Reaper stated ~But for it to be easier on your swiftly beating heart, you may call me Alamar and I mean you no harm, the kitsune possibly, but you, my eighty-one year old soul, you I mean to aid~

"Eighty-one? But I'm only nine," the child said, confused.

"He referred to you as a soul and not as a child," the kitsune, still bound, explained, "To him, you have lived a total of eighty-one years including this one, for a span of nine lifetimes, including this one."

"Oh...but I don't remember all those years, I don't feel old either," the child commented.

~Age is but a number, it is what you learn that is important~ Alamar stated ~The aid of which I speak is the accumulated memories and power that I have held onto for this event of our meeting~

"Your want me to be strong?" the child asked.

~Precisely, but more than that I want you to live~ Alamar claimed ~Nothing would please me more than to see you reach your potential, live out your life as it was meant to be lived, and to prove all those that look down upon you wrong~

"And what of myself? What plans do you have for me Shinigami," the kitsune inquired curiously, for it saw tat it could gain.

~I have held onto eighty years worth of accumulated knowledge, memories, and power~ Alamar stated ~This includes some additional strength and potential limited freedom for you, Kurama~

"So you know that name, yet you are not the one assigned to me," Kurama the Kyuubi said, "Interesting," clearly no longer cowering in fear of the entity that had graced his and his host's presences.

~Bah, your name is clear as day...no need for guessing for one such as I~ Alamar stated ~Do you each accept what I might provide? There is all that I have mentioned and possibly even a whole lot more~

"So you'll help me get stronger? You'll help me become Hokage?" the child asked, since it was his dream after all, and not just because the Hokage was the most respected, coveted, and powerful position in all the village, but also because he had heard the explanation of the Will of Fire and what it truly meant to be Hokage.

At first he had wanted to merely get the respect and power for himself, he also wished to be seen not for what he was but for who he was. He gave up on that or moved it aside slightly, he wished to rise up above what others saw him as and prove to the world just what he was capable of, what kind of a person he was, and of course, be seen. He wished for others to look passed what it was that they placed over his form and saw, while at the same time he wanted to be loved.

But those were all things that only he knew, he, Kurama, and this Shinigami that seemed to reside within him as well.

~I am aware of your dream and so I shall aid thee in this endeavor~ Alamar confirmed ~Are you willing to accept my aid, I shall not force it upon thee~

"Ok," the child said, it wasn't like he had much to lose anyway.

"For the boy this can be seen as a gift, but on my end of things it can be viewed as a bargain," Kurama said, "What is it that you wish of me in return for some limited freedom and additional power?"

~Your word that you shall aid my charge, as a tool, as a servant, and if the two of you so wish, as a friend~ Alamar stated ~That is what I require of you~

"I can do that, to be free once more from these accursed cage and prison, I would willingly pledge such," Kurama stated and did so, he swore on his power thus binding him to his word.

~So mote it be~ Alamar said, accepting the vow, he knew not of course where knowledge of such things came from, only that he knew them and thus used them. He then turned his attention back to the child, his charge.

"So...what happens now?" the child asked, not that impatiently as one would think such a child as he would or should be, "Oh yeah..and could you tell me where we are?"

~Ah..yes..that question..you are in four places at a single time~ Alamar replied, ~This is both your mindscape, which is a mental representation of your mind. At the same time this is also your dreamscape where even more things than your mind would normally allow can happen. Thirdly this is your soul plane or the realm in which your soul is anchored to the rest of what makes you, you. Lastly this is also the realm in which I can freely move about and do as I wish and please~

"Why does it need to be four places? Why not just one?" the child asked, Kurama too wondering yet kept silent.

~The mind, for it should make it easier to shove so much memories and knowledge into you~ Alamar explained ~The dream, in order for you not to have to undergo the intense pain that might come about from such an overload of information. The soul, for that is where Kurama both resides for the time being and also where he is chained to you through the seals which your father and mother used to keep him prisoner, locked away within you to be viewed, in his hope, as a hero of the village in which you reside. As for the last one, well...it is where I have very few limitations~

"Oh, ok," the child said, "So...this isn't really a shortcut right? I'll just be getting all sorts of information right? I'll still have to work for Hokage right?"

The child at this point in his life, or lives, already knew of the importance of hard work and what greater a reward anything in his life would be if he actually worked for it. There was a greater sense of satisfaction that hard work brought about. He also knew from experience that those that worked hard for what they wanted were viewed or seen with more respect, than those that did not work for what they eventually gained or had.

~These be only memories and store knowledge, it will still be up to you to work on the physical aspects as well as actively remembering the things that will be stored in your mind. How do you hope to use something you do not understand. The information is all you will be given, it will still be up to you to understand what all of it means~ Alamar said, ~Though that does not mean that we will not help you in your studies, your training, and in fights~

"Alright," the child said, "So please do it, I accept your help."

"I already made my vow," Kurama stated, a tad bit impatiently.

~Thus it begins~ Alamar ominously said, and with his rasping voice it did indeed sound such.

Blackened chains upon blackened chains appeared, shifting into sight all around the two more mortal than he. At the ends of each one were glowing orbs of different colors, ranging from the blackest of blacks, to the clearest of crystalline clear. Then his cloak of shadows too exploded in movement, black tendrils of molten shadow coalesced into tentacles pulsating with energy, pulsating with power.

The chains all pulsed as one before diving into the nine year old blonde child, shoving their precious cargo into him. It was this mass of black metallic shadow that would be seen in the child's dreams and nightmares for weeks to come.

Outside in the living world, where time moved at a snail's pace compared to where the three of them were, the chains there too pulsated, before moving faster than the space of time they could be seen in moved returning back into the blonde, who was merely a conduit for them to pass into the living world. Almost the same happened with the chains that had shot out of the blonde and been used to bind the kitsune as well as had been used to regain the sealed power of the kitsune.

The boy's mental representation of himself, once fully covered in chains, absorbed all that was forced into him. The kitsune on the other hand blew up into energy particles which shot out of the blonde at high speeds, using a single remaining black chain that remained in the world of life as their guide.

The escaped orbs still collectively retained a link, a connection to the soul of their host, Kurama was still connected to his host the level of the soul as had been done to them by the seal master that had joined the two of them.

Outside of the seal in which he had been held a more or less immobile prisoner, outside of the body in which his host's soul was placed in, the orbs that made him up converged and from the blob or mass of orbs which turned to some sort of ooze a figure began to form, a physical shape took on.

His energies and the additional ones from Alamar had turned his gathered energies into something akin to clay, clay that was being molded into Alamar's desired shape and form for the fox. There couldn't be a hulking monster of a kitsune walking around with the blonde, that would surely cause more harm than help after all.

Instead, the form that the kitsune finally took was that of a red haired man in his early thirties, Kurama gained emerald green eyes, kept his canines of course, and he could actually believably pass for an Uzumaki. He had a lithe athletic build, which matched his being a kitsune who were known pranksters and needed that extra boost in speed to get away and hide from suspicion.

The kitsune type of transformation took care of the need for clothes for the time being, more permanent ones would be procured or could be acquired later on. He had an elven appeal to him with slightly pointed ears and a sharper nose than most. Also if he smiled it would be difficult to mistake him for anything else other than a kitsune.

With the kitsune done, it was the blonde's turn at undergoing a kind of transformation.

As the chains receded and returned back into their master manipulator, Alamar, the mental form of the blonde revealed itself as having no visible changes. But even the child himself could feel the potentially burning or pulsating power underneath his skin, waiting to be unleashed upon the world or a training ground or partner. Foreign memories in his mind swirled around and tried to organize themselves for easier access, study, and familiarization.

~How do you feel?~ Alamar asked his charge.

"Aside from the tingling and prickling sensation underneath my skin...and the slight dizziness in my head...its like nothing really changed...are you sure you did it right?" the blonde boy asked.

~Of course I'm sure~ Alamar said, ~The changes to your body will happen in time...your internal energies will force your body to evolve, so to speak, to accommodate it. Worry not about it.~

"If you say so," the blonde child said, "So what happens now?"

~Now you return to the world of life, where I am sure Kurama is already waiting~ Alamar told the blonde.

"What about you?" the blonde asked.

~I will be there with you as well...though not in my work clothes as you see me now~ Alamar spoke, ~I might also speak more normally...less rasping...though still a lower voice than what you might be used to hearing from others~

"OK," the blonde said, then asked, "How do I get back there?"

~Here's how!~ Alamar exclaimed with glee, sending terror racing up and down the blonde's spine.

He grasped the stick hanging by his waist and spun with it in both hands. It lengthened as he spun around, turning into a staff and just as he was about to face the blonde with it a curved or arched blade shot out of the end farthest from the ground.

It was like one of those dreams, the kind that you're falling or drowning, where instead of dying you wake up so suddenly and unexpectedly that you test your body to see if you are either still dreaming or really alive. Thus it was that the blonde child shot up from his laying position into a sitting one then he turned into a writhing husk as pain shot up and down his entire body. Time had been slower in the world of life than in wherever he had gone, therefore his body, the physical one, didn't have that much time to remove the wounds, the aches, and the pains, that his body still had.

The only part of him that probably didn't hurt were his eyes, which he used to look from side to side trying to see whether or not he had been merely dreaming or if what had happened to him within the confines of four spaces, one of them being his mind, had really happened.

His eyes caught sight of movement to his left, and before he knew it a glowing green hand was hovering over him and his aches and pains were slowly ebbing away. His healer was a man with red hair, green eyes, and wore a kimono, he had a cultured look to him befitting one of nobility. The kimono, he noticed, was black and white, but upon the man moving to stand having successfully healed him, he noticed that there were tiny crimson foxes on it too. It was a depiction of foxes playing on snow during a winter's night.

He was helped up by another man, this one more distinguishable than the last one whom he now believed to be Kurama, the kitsune that formerly lived in his sewer-like mind, a mindscape born out of the sorror and loneliness he had felt for the past eight years and beyond that even.

This other man was clearly Alamar, the Shinigami assigned to his soul. He still had on a skull themed porcelain mask, but as he wore no hood over his head the boy could see that the rest of his head was covered in bandages, bandages that seemed to extend to the rest of his clothed body.

He wore a black kimono with a white sash tied around his waist, and his weapon of choice was still attached to his waist. He still wore a hooded cloak, but with the hood down, and the only thing that looked out of place on him were his geta sandals. On his hands were black leather gloves, not that it really mattered since from head to toe his body was still covered in bandages.

"Think of the bandages as my skin, since below them is what is just below your skin, just not as tender," Alamar answered the questioning or confused look that the blonde child was giving him.

"Oh...umm...Kurama...what was that green glowing thing that you did to heal me?" the blonde asked the redhead.

"That was healing chakra, think of it as a healing jutsu but more basic and less focused than the ones that medic-nins use," Kurama replied, "I am a being of destruction and chaos, but I am also a being of balance and thus I too can heal and I too may be order."

"Oh, thanks by the way for healing me," the blonde said.

"I live now to serve and protect you, think nothing of it," Kurama nonchalantly said, as if his action was nothing of consequence.

It was after the blonde stood once more and surveyed his surroundings, it was then that he noticed the fallen bodies of his pursuers, he whirled around to ask his two protectors what was going on and if they had something to do with the downed forms, whom he thought were dead as he was still not trained in seeing minor details, one such being the slow rhythmic up down motion of the chest.

"They are not dead," Alamar answered the yet unasked question, "They are merely unconscious, as that is one side effect of my forceful and intentional information gathering, I did it of course in the most painful way I could think of that would not outright kill them or cause them brain damage."

"Perhaps we should leave the scene of the crime," Kurama suggested, "I wouldn't want to still be here when the authorities come a'calling with questions regarding all these civilian and shinobi bodies."

"I agree," Alamar said, then grabbed hold of his charge and swung the boy onto his back, "Hold on tight young one, we're about to fly."

"What do you mean...Woohoo!" the blonde began to ask, but his question was cut off and replaced with an excited exclamation as Alamar took to the sky followed shortly by Kurama. It wasn't a high jump like what those shinobi could do with the aid of the energy called chakra, but actual flight or hovering on or in the air.

Alamar was a shinigami in his own right, and therefore had the gift of flight, Kurama was a really old mass of living energy, but could also be considered as a demon, an evil spirit, a youkai, all of which were believed to have the gift of flight. Kurama was really old by this point so it stood to reason that he could indeed fly, whether naturally of by learning how was anyone's guess as no one was likely to ask him how he could do it.

It could also be blamed on Alamar.

"Whoa.." the blonde said as the three of them hovered high above the village, seeing all of it from their bird's eye view of it, it was still night, and the whole village looked so peaceful, "I've seen it from the top of the Yondaime's head, but it never looked this good."

"This is what a bird flying overhead sees every time it flies over the village," Alamar said, then his eyes zeroed in on a disturbance to the peaceful vibe of the sleeping, not counting the round the clock workers, village. It was coming from the Uchiha district compound, he could feel his brethren performing their duties, but at too fast a pace.

"You sense something?" Kurama questioned, he too was looking in the direction of where the Uchiha lived, though he could care less about that accursed clan whose most world renowned member had manipulated him in the past.

"Something wrong Alamar?" the blonde asked, a bit worried as he felt the stiffening of muscles below those white bandages.

"My brothers and sisters are working tonight, overtime too, it is troubling," Alamar replied, he spoke as if he was off in thought trying to remember something from a long time ago, then he remembered, "I remember now...but it is up to you, Uzumaki Naruto to decide what we are to do."

"What? Why? What's happening? Is the village under attack?" Naruto quickly fired away.

"The Uchiha are under attack, from what I was able to gather through the years it was an attack by one or two of their own," Alamar said, "I wasn't really able to get much information about it as I had been pressed for time before."

"Then we gotta help them!" Naruto said, then pointed in the general direction of the clan, which the other two were already gazing at.

"We'll go help them," Alamar said, "Kurama and myself will hold off the attackers, you will be in charge of helping the injured get to safety. I know you know how to gather chakra, I want you to coat your arms and legs in chakra, your new memories will help guide you. This will make you stronger and faster. Do not try to die, got it?"

"Hai!" the blonde said.

"Kurama, use only half a tail's worth," Alamar ordered the kitsune, "We don't need to attract too much attention to ourselves yet."

"Understood," Kurama responded.

The three of them shot off like rockets heading in the direction of the Uchiha clan. Their landing was the opposite that would normally have happened, which was a crater. The ground was left undamaged as they arrived at the scene, a few bodies already littered the streets.

They quickly followed the trail of dead bodies, finding more and more with each passing few meters. Things were not looking good.

"Isn't there a faster way to locate the still living?" Kurama asked.

"You're right...I should have thought of it," Alamar said, "Here, use these to find me," he shot out chains from his body, just two and had them insert themselves into the bodies of his two companions, "I'm going to find my brethren."

He vanished from sight, donned his armored uniform and took off in the direction of where he could sense some concentrations of his brethren. Naruto and Kurama followed as quickly as they could.

They found their first Uchiha, being toyed with by a masked assailant, this mask was a spiraled orange thing. Alamar was the first to knock the assailant away and was soon joined by Kurama whose speed allowed him to avoid the tracking effects of the assailant who had a single cursed eye.

Naruto rushed to the tired Uchiha's side, and checked to see if he was really alive, he wasn't very good at this stuff but the new memories were helping him greatly. The man had gone unconscious and would have died had he and his two companions not arrived in the nick of time.

"Find the house of the Head of the clan, it should be safest there," Alamar said loud enough for the blonde to hear as he moved on to another battle, it seemed that there were more attackers than he had been aware of.

"Hai," Naruto replied, and lifted the bigger person and ran all the way to where he knew was Sasuke's house, since he knew his classmate was the heir of the clan and thus lived in the Head of the clan's house.

He too arrived just in the nick of time, in the nick of time to save the father of his classmate, from surprisingly his classmate's own older brother, the only maskless attacker that night. It was as if he was proclaiming to the world that he was the one that dared to stand up against such a powerful clan.

He laid down the man he was carrying to safety, and instinctively called forth ethereal chains similar to the black one which connected him to Alamar and the thread that connected him to Kurama. His chains were charged sapphires and they shot forth from his palms where they had sprung from. They shifted into something more solid as they reached their target, slamming into him and into his blade splitting it in half and shoving the unmasked attacker away from his intended target and saving a life in the process.

Landing in a heap, Uchiha Itachi believed that he no longer had time to complete this mission and had to alter things to suite his other mission, he still needed to leave the village, and that was what he did. He thought that the Hokage's forces had arrived as unexpected reinforcement as he failed to realize or even tell that it was just one Uzumaki Naruto that had helped his, Itachi's, family.

"Who...?" Uchiha Fugaku asked as his battle weary eyes surveyed his surroundings, the chains had dissipated as soon as their purpose had been completed, his eyes landed on Naruto who was carrying the other Uchiha into the house.

"I know that you know who I am, your welcome, please watch over him," the living body that had been dumped into the house, "I'll be back with more...hopefully..."

The pathetic chakra control that the blonde possessed had him burning precious chakra, not that it really mattered since he had quite a lot of the stuff, but after the whole experience he was sure to require a lot of bed rest due to nearly exhausting his reserves.

The blonde returned a few times more, in the end only seven other Uchiha had been saved, from close to a hundred and fifty individuals, men, women, children, and the elderly, only ten Uchiha remained in the village.

The masked Uchiha had been forced to flee by Kurama as Alamar had gone off to deal with the other attackers, managing to coerce four of them to betray their now former master and work under him and under his charge.

He bypassed and burned away the seals for death and silence, and broke the chains that held fast to the emotions that were clearly not entirely burned away.

Sending a relatively unknown to the Hokage shinobi as the messenger regarding such an even of the near complete eradication of loyal Uchiha had been both a smart and stupid thing to. Smart because it had the Hokage come rushing, stupid because it caused him to be greatly suspicious of everything.

He arrived at the scene of the remaining ten Uchiha, the littlest one and only child that managed to survive had been the heir and he was enfolded in a hug by his mother who had stared horrified into the eyes of death in the form of her eldest son and managed to survive thanks to the timely intervention of a little blonde boy and two that called him friend or kin.

The Hokage demanded answers just as he finished having one of his elite soldiers fetch some medics for the still injured Uchiha. He demanded an explanation to what he had heard from the ghost citizen turned messenger, and explanation for the event or the tragedy that had befallen one of the founding clans of the village.

It was decided after some short debate that the full explanation of the event would be explained once the Hokage, Fugaku, Alamar, Kurama, and Naruto, were in the Hokage's office where there was less of a chance of anyone overhearing such sensitive information. It was easy for the Hokage to take a hint once Naruto walked up to him and addressed him with the honorific of '-sama' which was something that caused the Hokage to see the seriousness of the situation.

Fugaku explained his side, or the Uchiha side of events which included some input from the other surviving members of the clan. Once he was done the Hokage moved to dismiss him but Alamar stopped the man from leaving as some of the rest of the explanation affected him in some way too.

It was Alamar who did most of the story telling, Kurama adding his parts in it as did Naruto. It was a lot to take in.

The Hokage and Fugaku at first didn't or couldn't believe Alamar and his claim to what he was, and so the shinigami called upon or summoned the primary Shinigami of this world of life. In another world or existence she would have been referred to as the Master of Death, but in this world she was the God of Death, Shinigami, who was distinct in her uniform of priestly or monkly garb, long white hair, purplish skin, and hanya-like mask.

There was also her unmistakable aura.

Yes. Her.

Normally when such an apparition made its appearance no words were exchanged between it and the people or persons around it or that had summoned it into this world of life. But this one time was an exception to that norm as it was not a mere mortal that had performed the summoning and no soul would be exchanged for such a calling.

~Dear Lady~ Alamar greeted the rightfully called goddess, ~Welcome back to the World of Life, specifically the office of the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha~

=What business do you have with me Lord Alamar? Why summon me= she responded to his greeting, and even moved her mask aside to show a face that none in the room, save for Alamar, had been expecting.

Where Kurama could pass of as nobility, she could pass off as royalty with her looks alone, but the voice that escaped her lips was melodious enough to be divine. She was the polar opposite of Alamar who surely hid a hideous form underneath his mask and bandages.

~My lady, I am no lord~ Alamar humbly said, ~I am merely an evolved Reaper, unfit to be held as highly as you do. As for the reason behind your summoning, the Sandaime would not believe me regarding my claim~

=I see= she said as she turned her attention to the oldest looking mortal man in the room, =Do you still dispute his claim? Though his claim of not being a recognized lord in his own right is false, due to his evolution he had been promoted and successfully ascended to the status and title of lord=

"I..." the Hokage was speechless with disbelief, Fugaku was as well, both knew deep down in their very souls that Alamar's claim was true and that the vision of divine beauty that stood before them was who Alamar claimed her as being.

"Enough," she said, adopting a more human and mortal guise that she might remain longer than the summoning would normally allow, her beauty and melodious voice of course remained as it was, though her godly garb was replaced by a more normal kimono. Its color scheme being of a more dominant white and a few splotches of white and gold in the mix. It had a floral or cloud-like design to it, no one was really sure.

"A pleasure to have you amongst us," the Hokage said, "And in much better a circumstance..though recent events do sour the mood a little bit."

"I must agree, now was there any other reason for my summoning, not that I mind being away from my own realm," she said.

"It's not like you have much to do other than watch over the wheel of fate, the river of space and time, and the boundary between the world and the realm," Alamar added, he too reverted back to his human form.

"I have the proof I need to believe Alamar and his claims, which does include Kurama's part in all this," the Hokage said, "I also believe that I know the source of such a tragedy as well as the one that sent out the additional group of assassins."

"Then we must deal with him, her, or them!" Fugaku demanded, it was the blood of his kinsmen that had been spilled after all, and in their very home nonetheless, "I will not stand for inaction, and while we, Uchiha, did indeed come up with a plan for a coup, we did not act upon it. I willingly admit our intention..but before we could initiate anything whether rebellious or cooperative, someone decided to act, behind your back Hokage-sama no less."

"While I agree with your sentiments Fugaku, I'm afraid that without any more solid proof or a confession we may not do anything to these people who I do believe are responsible," the Hokage said, "And even if we had some otherworldly evidence, no one would give such evidence any value."

"I am in agreement with such a statement," The Shinigami said, "This is a more mortal matter and any aid I or any of my own brethren may give would be inadmissible in a mortal court...that's just the way things work, Fugaku-kun, although if you could make it worth my while I might decide to help in uncovering evidence that can be used against these traitors to the Hokage."

"I'm not about to give up my soul having just had my life saved," Fugaku stated unflinchingly.

"I wasn't going to suggest that," the divine entity in human form stated.

"Would your remaining in our world of life, as you call it, affect the balance of life and death?" the Hokage asked, worried a bit more than usual for the state of the world in general.

"No, other parts of myself are in charge of the different responsibilities that I have under my title and rank, so no worries there," she replied, "And just for the record, since I believe I will be able to come to an agreement with Fugaku-kun here, I'd like to be known as Uzumaki Yuki, a distant relation of the single resident Uzumaki of this village, though I suppose there shall be four of our number now, or even eight once all the paperwork for all this gets passed through everything and into the village archives."

"What are you talking about?" the Hokage asked.

"We shall be posing as members of the Uzumaki family, an easy enough thing to do," Alamar said, "I as a distant relation from a land far away, my purpose being a guide for the young lord of the Uzumaki whom I have sought for several years upon being given my life long mission."

"I was assigned as his servant and a tool for battle as a form of inheritance for him as he is the last surviving son of the main family of the Uzumaki clan, hidden village, and country," Kurama said, "I have after been in the service of the Uzumaki clan since the Shodaime Hokage's young wife sealed me into herself, followed by her grandniece."

"The ghost citizens do need to be returned to the system and thus need new identities since their old ones are dead and gone, lost to the hands of those that stole their identities away from them and destroyed them," Alamar said, "The four that I managed to convert back into the light will be added to the Uzumaki clan."

"Do you perhaps have a believable story that I can tell the village as to the sudden increase in the number of Uzumaki our village holds?" the Hokage asked, while he liked the idea, too many things were happening at once for his liking, and that didn't even include the paperwork that would be swamping his desk once the meeting was over and done with.

They all managed to come up with and agree to an official story which also incorporated the Uchiha near massacre. It was believable enough, although it would cause some problems with the other citizens and clans due to the nature of the one that these groups or individual Uzumaki had come to the village to join.

The official story was that a rogue Uchiha, the name was not given, had nearly wiped out his clan and would have succeeded with that had it not been for three groups of Uzumaki who had traveled from far and wide in search for Uzumaki Naruto, whom they knew without a doubt to be the last son of the main family of their clan.

It was the truth too, the part about him being the last of the main family

They had arrived in the village (the guards were given orders to claim that they had indeed been let in) and while seeking out this last vestige of the nobility that was their once proud clan they came upon the Uchiha clan who was clearly in need of much help, seeing as they were in relative surprise at the betrayal that one of their own dared to commit.

Listed among the casualties was one Uchiha Itachi, this was done in order to protect him from prosecution if ever he was to return to the village.

The Hokage made sure to have word passed around that his law concerning the Kyuubi also extended to these _new arrivals_, they were not to be told unless he gave his express permission, of course there was also the loop hole that the if the _jinchuuriki_ ever found out about his secret he could tell whomever he wished, within reason of course.

It was after this announcement that Naruto was clued in on one of the biggest secrets the village didn't entirely know that it had. That he was in fact the unknown son of one of the village's greatest heroes and leaders. He did promise not to share that secret with just about anyone or until the Hokage gave his permission to spread the word.

He was told of his parents, both of them, as well as the history of his clans, both of them, from the historical Uzumaki and the relatively unknown Namikaze that hailed from the small island nation of Wave.

Kurama was very knowledgeable when it came to the Uzumaki having lived in two of them before his brief stint in Naruto. He was the one to primarily inform the blonde of his heritage from his mother. One such piece of information were the spirit chains, the one that could attack chakra constructs and pathways, though it was Alamar that had an explanation as to how they could interact with the material world.

His explanation was that he himself had been the one to influence the evolution of the chains, his own blackened chains had infected Naruto's in a way that allowed them to become solid once leaving the body of their manipulator.

The Namikaze side of things mostly remained a mystery. Mostly, as Kurama had some input on that heritage, or more specifically on the Yondaime and his techniques, such as his Hiraishin no Jutsu and Rasengan. The speed technique or teleportation technique was based on a bijuu's potent chakra and chakra manipulation, as well as a much older technique used by the Nidaime Hokage.

The Rasengan on the other hand had was similar to a technique that all nine bijuu could use, which was the Bijuu Ball, a shelled and compressed ball of energy.

The other four, whose names had yet to be chosen, the Hokage was giving them some time to decide on names to go by, had put in their two ryo or at least what they knew of both clans or in the paternal side of things, the father.

The Uzumaki were masters in the art of sealing or fuinjutsu, they could achieve the impossible with a few scraps of paper, a brush, ink, and chakra. Namikaze Minato shared that love for seals, and it served as a basis for his speed-teleportation technique.

It was with this new found knowledge that Naruto decided that he had a lot more to surpass than just his heroes, the Hokages, but also had to surpass his mother and all of those that had come before him. It was a good thing that he would have a lot of help when it came to this self assigned quest.

The small clan, that at one point in time rivaled the Hyuga, chose to live where Naruto already lived, they had no need of some vast track of land and didn't want to clue the other citizens in on the fact that the child at the center of them all happened to be almost considered as royalty.

Naruto's entire apartment complex came under the ownership of the Uzumaki clan, the former owner chose to sell the place cheap since no one in the past really wanted to live in the same place that the village pariah did.

It didn't matter that the Uzumaki clan were cousins to the Senju clan, and were presently sharing friendly relations with the Uchiha clan, all that mattered to those that had yet to let go of their hatred and see the truth staring at them each time they saw Naruto was that he was their village scapegoat and any that sided with him or liked him, aside from the untouchable people such as clan heads, department heads, and the Hokage, to name a few, were to be treated differently.

To a lesser extend the Uzumaki clansmen shared the fate of their little prince.

The four former Ne-nin, which was the private army that Shimura Danzo claimed no longer existed and no longer recruited, chose to go by the names Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime, and Yondaime, or by the nicknames of Sho, Ni, San, and Yon. Highly uncreative but was closer to what they were used to.

Yuki's suggestion to the Uchiha clan head was for his remaining non-traitor son to be engaged to her, which he gladly agreed to since surely her godly blood would strengthen the Uchiha, that was even though she had cut herself off from most of her immortal powers. Most but not all.

This is what really got the two clans closer as allies, the likes of which had not been seen since the time of the Shodaime Hokage when he had married one of the princesses of the then powerful Uzumaki clan.


	129. W1

Death found that being able to be all over the place sometimes made things rather boring, this was of course why he chose to seal away, or seal off, his omniscience from his core self or from certain parts of himself. Those parts specifically being the solid forms, like his core self which was the part of his entire self which he used when going on adventures, trips, personal business trips, or even shopping with his wife.

Boredom, or true boredom, never really made it back into his life. He could never really and truly claim to be bored. It was a near impossibility since he was practically always doing something.

He could, though, claim being close to boredom, which was not a normal case, it only occurred to his kind whenever they were either stuck with a problem or wanted to do something that was not yet part of their routine. Death was as much a part of life as Life was as much a part of Death, they went hand in hand, when one had been born or created, so too had the other.

He had come across countless Demons in the archives, the demons spoken off here were not of the forces under the command of his cousin of sorts Devil. These were Demons that had served as their world's their existences' destroyers and or saviors or both too. They were interesting characters, characters that entered situations that normal men and women would surely shy away from, more especially if they did not have a visible or sure way out.

They each went from nigh anonymity to becoming the bane of their world, all in an effort to make their world a better place.

They were interesting, and they had all been mortal.

Death wondered what it would be like if one of them, just one, for the time being, were to be unable to actually die. It was a thought, an idea, one which he viewed as favorable. So why not, why shouldn't he try his hand at making another one of his own ilk, of a sort.

He stood from his office chair, he did have several offices and chairs after all, and made his way to the docks, from where he would leave his home and venture forth to begin another person's journey. He remembered to inform his wife that he was going out, she didn't mind since he rarely ever really left on adventures. She knew that he would be back, he always came back, and while this part of him did leave the castle there were still other parts of him that she could visit. Such as Contristo Acerbus.

He had other lesser known forms of course, but they are not important at this time.

He remembered to also take his scythe with him. No other within his domain held such a weapon. It's dark aura alone frightened the most immortal of souls, and once it was firmly within the killing grip of Death himself no soul could hope to be safe from such a fate. Death was unavoidable and inevitable, no one was immune, so long as Death himself wished to end a life, that life was forfeit.

He took his cloak with him as well, it too shared an aura similar to his scythe. Though it couldn't really do anything on its own save for have him become invisible even to the most powerful of eyes...usually.

When he had been alive he had attained the originals of three items which were shared throughout the many multiple existences or dimensions. The original versions of the three items which granted those that collected and completed the set the title of Master of Death. The original had not only granted him the title of Master of Death, but had also transformed him or merged with with the original Death.

He never died, he was one of the true immortals, while the copies enabled their wielders or masters to become the Master of Death for their world or existence. He on the other hand became the actual anthropomorphic personification of death, or Death himself. There wasn't another like him in all of Everything.

He left his castle by simply opening up a portal to a random world that belonged to a pre-selected set of worlds. The worlds or existences known as the CGLoR worlds. These were the worlds which primarily hosted the kind of Demon he sought to contact and see about playing with.

After walking through the portal he appeared during the dawn of time for one particular world. It was a good thing too now that he thought about it.

He didn't really have a plan, just an idea, and with things only beginning and his own forces building an outpost for all the Death Reapers that were to be stationed in that particular existence. He had enough time to be the one to create copies of the three items which made him what he presently and would for the rest of time be, instead of these copies of his originals forming over time.

With their creation accomplished by his own hands, he wouldn't need to track them all down. He would have them all from the very start or he could orchestrate what would happen to them. He could get the ball rolling personally. He could send them on their way to the hands of the one he had chosen to become his representative in this existence, in the world he hovered above.

He placed all three items in a box and had them buried for him to retrieve in the future. It wouldn't do for them to just jump to the future with him, they needed to get acquainted with the world of life through countless years, its what gave them the power over death after all.

For the cloak, it is what gave it the power to hide from death, and hide from everything else as well. For the weapon of the trio which took on the form of a wand, not that it really had a definite and permanent shape, got its ability to be unbeatable from how nature and the world continued moving forward no matter the obstacle. The stone was to form the connection with the spirit of everything, it was a stone of communication between this world and the next, but it could never be used, on its own, as a gateway for the dead to rejoin the living once more.

The stone would need another stone to be able to actually bring one of the deceased back to life, and Death wasn't quite sure on whether or not he would allow for the Alchemist's greatest creation to be reborn in this world as well. It's liquid was one of the important materials needed to bring one of the deceased back to life.

Leaving them behind to do more than commune with the world, he went forward in time, viewing all of history from his celestial perspective that only he and the gods that could not claim to be his equal. He witnessed the rise and fall of nations and the creation and destruction of civilizations. He saw it all, and directed his forces accordingly before he would eventually leave one of his senior Death Reapers behind to be in charge of this particular existence.

He followed the exploits of one particular soul, one that passed through the ages, reincarnating in the same world over and over again. Each life giving the soul the experience it would in the future need to be equal to the gods, or as close to becoming a demi-god as possible without any outside help.

He would approach the soul, while it inhabited the right mortal shell and not a moment before.

He kept tabs on the world and only ventured into the river of time of that existence when the soul took on a mortal shell. He watched that particular life from start to finish before removing himself from time and moving faster forward at his own leisure before returning to the correct flow of time to view the soul's next life.

This was how he followed the progress of the soul that had caught his eye. It was this way that he kept track of the one that would relive him, and many of his ilk from their supposed nearing boredom.

When the time finally arrived for the soul to inhabit the correct body, the one that Death had been waiting for, he shot down to the world and joined it as one of the many ants that littered the surface of the world. He established himself quite successfully in fact, no one suspected him of not belonging to the world, to any of the world's nations or civilizations. He was one of them, one of the many nameless faces in the many crowds all over the world.

He was preparing to meet with his chosen one, his chosen champion of sorts.

It took him a while, since he was incognito, to reach his intended representative, the mortal which upon presenting the mortal with the three objects of his creation, would essentially become immortal. No Death Reaper or otherworldly force would be able to end the existence of the soul. The cycle of reincarnation for the soul would end, and his eternity would begin, unless he eventually would find reason to revisit Death himself and beg for an end to his personal eternity.

He followed the youth upon finally locating him at the correct time and place in Japan. The time was during the invasion of the once proud nation, a nation which would be stripped of more than its freedom, as it would be stripped of its identity and her name would be replaced by a mere number.

It was just after his target had been found by a family that had at one time served under the soul's most recent mother as her support among the Britannian nobility.

He cornered the youth, this old soul that he sought, in a deserted alleyway as the youth tried his hand at providing his share of the bread that was to keep his sister living as best as could be made possible with monetary means.

The youth, this old soul that had wandered the world countless lives in the past, was far too prideful and ambitious to simply let the family that had once supported his mother simply take care of his sister and himself without him helping them. He did not take to charity well and wanted to be able to say that he was not ungrateful.

He was a complicated youth, but a youth nonetheless. He was also a youth that at this point in time did not have a body strong enough to compete physically with most others should some physical confrontation come about that would require him to move fast and strike strong.

"_I am Death and I have come for thee Lelouch vi Britannia,_" Death spoke, dropping the visage and guise he had used to trap the youth in the alley with him. His voice echoing from all around and the youth being the only soul that could hear and see him, should anyone chance upon the two of them that is. His voice, his characteristic voice that not only echoed from all around but also sounded as if a multitude of voices spoke at the exact same time.

"What do you want with me?" the youth asked, trying to hide his fear of this one unknown that all knew they would eventually be meeting with, whether they wanted to or not, "I'm too young to die, and my sister still needs me. I'm the only one left that truly wants to help her, not out of pity or guilt, but because I am her brother."

"_I am not here for you in that sense, young Lelouch,_" Death spoke, his scythe was placed against a wall, to lean on as its master had other business that didn't require its immediate services, "_I am here with a gift for you.._" he then held out a thin box, which the youth reluctantly took from hands that felt as if heat was an impossibility to them.

The youth after taking the box removed the lid to see what was inside, it would not do to be rude and not at least see what it was. Most especially when the giver was one that could end the world and all life on it or in the universe on whim. Or at least that was what the youth believed, and it was the truth, but Death was more compassionate about and with life than to do just that.

He found a piece of wood inside, if he didn't know better he would have said that it was some sort of wand, the kind that magicians used in their tricks and shows. A mere tool for entertainment, but since the given had been Death, the Grim Reaper and so on and so forth, the item could hardly be something as simple as that, yet complex if it would allow him to perform feats of magic.

He took it out of the box, a box which disintegrated once it's contents had been relieved from it's hold.

"_In your hand is an instrument that has no permanent form, there are others like it scattered across Everything,_" Death stated, explaining what the stick in the youth's hand was, "_This stick was in one instance referred to as the Death Stick, in another it had been the Spear of Destiny, in yet another Excalibur, the others like it have gone by many many names and been in many many forms._"

"So with this I can.." the youth began to say, but was silenced by Death who held seemingly coughed into his hand, to get the youth's attention returned to him. Death did not like being ignored after all.

"_If you could get close enough you might,_" Death said, but continued with his explanation, "_This instrument does not work that way. While it does grant its wielder power enough to be unbeatable in battle, that's the only arena in which it grants such a power. Or at least that's what such an item was originally designed for._"

"So it was originally supposed to be a tool or weapon to be used by its wielder to win fights? How is that supposed to help me topple Britannia?" the youth asked.

"_That stick in your hand is merely an aid in your quest, whatever it may truly be as the future is normally not set in stone,_" Death said, "_Now, are you not curious to know why that particular one is different from the rest?_"

"I'll admit that I am," the youth said, "So please share with me it's uniqueness."

"_Very well,_" Death said, "_Since you asked so nicely, I shall tell you. This particular item, was forged by my own two hands. Instead of being wielded as its brothers and sisters have been wielded, this one shall not be directly interacting with the rest of the moral world._"

"What do you mean? Is it not an instrument to be used against my future enemies?" the youth asked, slightly puzzled, "How else am I to use such a thing?"

"_This world of yours is rather technological, compared to a few others that I have personally visited,_" Death shared, "_There is very little magic in this world, in this existence as compared to those others. Merlin might have at one time existed as a real man, but at the same time he was not some wielder of supernatural powers that no other at the time would have been able to wield, his magic was anything but._"

"Then if Merlin was real, so was Arthur Pendragon, the Knights of the Round Table, Camelot?" the youth asked, in wonder.

"_As real as you and I,_" Death replied, "_Merlin had no magic as it truly is, instead he had been given a gift from beings of another world, a reality connected to this one, a civilization long since past, it's original members having left this life for the next. I shall not share more about this particular subject as you will in the future surely learn more about it._"

"I understand," the youth said, expecting something like that, "So what does Merlin have to do with this thing?" he indicated the stick in his hand.

"_Had magic been a big part of this world, you would have been able to use it as a majority of its brothers and sisters' masters have,_" Death said, "_But alas, in your case, you shall not be using it in such a way. Instead I have decided to give you the chance to become the weapon, for your mortal body to merge with __the stick in your hand._"

"H-How do you intend to do that? Do I get a say in this?" the youth asked.

"_Fortunately for me...No,_" Death said, and rushed the youth, who was unprepared to find himself within the folds of the cloak which Death wore, nor in the empty blackness which could be found beneath said folds.

The youth felt his skin melt away, followed by his muscles, bones, and other such anatomically related things. And as soon as his soul felt naked to the elements that made up the realm just shy of the veil that separates the worlds of life and death, he felt something cover himself up once again. It started out slow at first, a protective coating washed over and remained over the flimsy thing that he supposed was his spirit, trapping it within the liquid-like substance or energy as the case could have been.

That was followed by similar sensations, until he found himself crumpled on the ground in a heap, naked in body to the world. Standing a few feet away from him hovered Death, standing atop the blade of his scythe.

Hovering in anticipation of the results of what he had brought into the world. It was like giving birth, or as close to that miracle of life as he could ever get. He was not really all that excited with sharing this particular experience with his wife anytime soon though.

"W-what...have...you...done...to...me?" the youth rasped out with a cracking voice as if it had never been used before, as if he had a whole different body before finding himself on the ground at the relative feet of Death himself.

"_I have done what I came here to do, I have merged you with that former stick,_" was Death's response, "_You are now one with the victory granting instrument. It it's more dormant state, which is the neutral state of being your body, you are granted a body that far surpasses any that exist today, any that is alive today that is. Ever heard of Superman?_"

"No..." the youth replied as he struggled to stand, struggled since his mind was still accepting his new body, adapting to it, and due to that it was adding onto how intelligent the youth already was.

"_He was a comic book character, who was not invented it seems in this world due to certain historical events, suffice to say he was described as being faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, and so on and so forth,_" Death stated, "_Your new body allows you to do those things, and more. It will adapt to any situation should you subconsciously want it to. And in it's more active state grant you some additional abilities, but I leave you to discover what they are._"

"So..with this..body, are you saying that I could crush a diamond or create one?" the youth asked, it wasn't a serious question, but the first one that came to mind.

"_If you so chose to, yes,_" Death said, "_But your new body's new capabilities were not meant to do things outside of a battle or a fight. It will work at its very best when you are in a battle or a fight, or in a game to a lesser extent but not to the degree of when you are not in such a situation._"

"I see," the youth said, "Could I beat you in a battle? Kill you I mean and take your place as Death himself?"

"_No,_" Death said, "_Your very soul and the souls of all you hold dear to you in this life and those already in the next would cease to exist once you firmly decide to do such a thing._"

"I thought as much," the youth said, "What else does this afford me, other than a more gifted constitution?"

"_Your mind is shielded from further acts of mind reading that telepaths are capable of, as well as your memories being shielded from tampering in most forms,_" Death replied, "_Brainwashing and self-hypnosis will no longer affect you, unless you permit them to or you perform such on yourself._"

"Can I be killed?" the youth decided to ask, it was the one question that he had been wanting to ask, but was afraid of the answer, for many reasons.

"_At the moment? No,_" Death replied, "_For the time being at least._"

"I see," the youth said, "Well then, I thank thee, Death for this wonderful gift, I will be sure to put it to good use. With it I shall save the world from itself, I shall destroy it and recreate it into a world where my sister will be able to live a better life."

"_I look forward to this creation of yours,_" Death said, "_One final thing before I leave you for now._"

"Yes?" the youth asked, still not thinking about his state of undress.

"_I shall be visiting you in the future,_" Death said before his form began to fade from view, but not totally vanishing without a trace without some final parting words, "_Good luck finding something to wear, unless you've decided to become an exhibitionist!_"

"*"

Mad cackling and jeers met his ears as soon as Death himself finally vanished from view. He could have sworn that Death had been smiling amused after he finally managed to stand on his own two feet naked. No wonder he felt so bare to the world around him, unlike the sensation of being naked to the elements of that other place he had been to while within the cloak of Death himself.

He needed to act quickly, before he was discovered. He didn't need public nudity to be on his permanent record, maybe when the world was a better and more forgiving place, but not now of all times. He would never be able to forgive himself, and he was sure that his sister would never look at him the same way again. There was also the possibility that Milly would see him as some sort of perverse deviant.

His public image would not and could not be able to handle such a scandal or assault on his person.

He would not and could not permit himself to be seen by anyone. He needed to make a move and fast, lest he be discovered in this moment of weakness.

While he could go to the police and report that he had been more than simply mugged and robbed, his pride and dignity just wouldn't allow it, and there was also still the fact that it would be rather embarrassing on his part to do such a thing.

He needed to move fast enough not to be caught, and since he also seemed to have lost his wallet, which thankfully only contained money in it and nothing sentimental, he found himself without a way of getting himself some clothes the legal way. This left him with stealing or stealth.

He chose the easier of the two, or a mixture of both really as he traversed the back alley and side streets naked in search for some drying laundry. It was his best bet at some free clothing.

It mattered not to him as whether or not he would be clothing himself in male or female wear, all that mattered was that he would no longer continue to be naked to the world in which he lived in.

He found a line close enough to the ground. He was not so lucky since it was purely a line of women's wear, skirts and the like, not a single pair of pants. But beggars couldn't be choosers, so he had to do with what he found before the owner of such wares came around to check on them.

He hoped to whatever higher power that was not Death himself that he would get the chance to thrown the things away once he got himself back home where he could get changed. He didn't want anyone to find out that for once in his life he willingly dressed in drag.

He ran from that particular place vowing to replace the clothes he had _borrowed_ at a later date. He'd leave a note with the replacements, of better quality, though he would remember to leave his name out of it, just the circumstances of the theft.

He found himself running quite fast, in his rush to get home he had failed to initially notice it, just as he had failed to notice that due to his subconscious want or need to not be found out his body had reacted to that need or want and changed his physical appearance, but not to the extent that he was an entirely different person.

He only noticed his speed when he crashed into a wall when he tried to stop. It was cartoonish in a sense, since the shoes he had been wearing had gone from having some heels to being flats. There was a small puddle of water on the ground from a pipe leak somewhere nearby, and looking into it he found that not only was he uninjured but he also looked exactly how he imagined he would look as a girl.

He knew that he looked effeminate enough to attract the attention of more than just the female population of the school he attended. But now he had the feeling that he could command the whole school's student population, and the male half more strongly, with just a single glance. It was the kind of power he knew that looks alone could command.

It was also something he knew Milly used on a daily basis to get her way.

The puddle on the ground also, as he finally saw how they looked on him, were just the right size. They also looked good on him, in a conservative innocent looking way. He looked like the kind of girl that had lived most of her life in a convent or something like that. There were surely a lot of guys in the world that would try and take advantage of any girl that looked like he did.

It was a shiver inducing thought, and he decided that once he was finally back to being male and wearing his own clothes, he would experiment with his new body and figure master it, since he didn't think he wanted to know if he could get pregnant as a man.

Thankfully he had managed to get not only into the school, but into his private quarters undetected. Not even the security cameras had managed to see him as he moved with the grace of a cat and the speed of Sonic the Hedgehog, not that he knew who that was either.

In his rush to leave his room, he hadn't really put much thought in how he was to hide his newly acquired things, and just hastily dumped them into a drawer that was just partially opened. Anyone that entered the room with a pair of working eyes and a case of human curiosity would spot the drawer and might decide to see what was in there.

He also creepily found out that his long hair came off like a wig after he finally figured out how to change genders. It was the first thing he decided to figure out. He worked and mastered the ability to shift between genders by recalling perfectly everything that Death had said about his new body and how it more or less worked.

In his rush he also forgot to hide his new wig. The girl's clothing alone could have been blamed on something that Milly had had him do, but the wig, now that could lead to some other ideas. Such as having a crossdressing fetish.

In his rush he also managed to even subconsciously ignore the fact that his sister's caretaker was approaching his room with the latest batch of clean clothes for him. She on the other hand did notice him and the fact that he was moving at a speed that she knew for a medical fact that he should not have been able to run without taking some kind of medication or drug.

She tried not to think about it too much since she was a servant, one that just recently came to work for the family of two after the youth she saw rush out of his room had found her one day looking for work and decided to hire her out of the good of his heart, that and perhaps the care she had shown his sister after the siblings had gotten separated from one another accidentally.

"*"

She went into his room and stowed away the clothes before leaving the room once again. Though she did not leave before deciding to close the one still opened drawer, which was how she stumbled upon the innocent looking clothes, and the not so innocent looking wig.

Her cheeks tinged pink a slight bit upon reaching the conclusion that her young master was experimenting. It was common among those going through puberty she tried to argue with herself, but the evidence was a bit damning in its own right.

She decided to confront him when next they found themselves alone with one another. She grew determined to make sure that he didn't stroll down the path leading permanently to his name leaving the world with him. She couldn't fathom the thought of her young master ending up scorned by a society that did not really enjoy embracing those that were different from themselves.

She would protect him in this way as was her job, not that he stated that it really was. She was a maid, a caretaker, with some skill, though her other skills weren't so well known even to her employers, her young master was simply aware that she was one maid that was not to be underestimated.

Once she finally left the room she found herself mentally preparing herself for the confrontation ahead of her. That and she had to keep her young master's secrets from his own sister, who was her primary charge. It wasn't lying per se, just hiding something from the most innocent girl in the world, as far as she, Sayoko Shinozaki, was concerned.

"*"

He came home rather late and smelling like someone that had been doing more than just exercising, which was the excuse that he gave his sister upon finding that she couldn't sleep without knowing that he was alright since he had left without telling anyone where he was going.

Sure he always returned to her, but the simple fact that no one was sure where he had gone had been troubling to her.

Sayoko, the maid, had noticed the extra scent on him, he was sure of it. She smelled the blood that he had spilled accidentally and intentionally. He didn't know how he knew or why he even bothered to think about it. But he thought about it all the same.

After putting his sister to bed, he was cornered in his room by the maid who turned out to know more about fighting than anyone thought she did. She looked so innocent and caring most of the time that no one would ever suspect her of being so good at holding her own in a fight.

She did lose the physical confrontation after an hour or more of rearranging the contents of his private quarters. He learned the meaning of pain, real physical pain, during those few hours of their fighting.

When he had her pinned to his own bed, which surprisingly had remained in its original place unlike his desk, one cabinet, a trunk, a chair, and some bookshelves, she blurted out that she had found his girl clothes and the wig and that she was worried about him, as well as his sudden drug use.

He asked for an explanation without releasing his hold on her.

At that moment others would have noticed how their position on the bed could cause some others to think about their situation, but they failed to notice and it was only a good thing that Nunnaly was blind and that Milly slept elsewhere.

She then unhesitatingly told him about seeing him run out of his room and not look like he was making any effort at it at all, unlike what she had covertly observed of him in gym class. She was just concerned was what she told him then and there. That was just about his physical health, then she returned to questioning him and his sexual health, as she feared he might not be practicing or experimenting safely.

He felt a bit guilty that he had caused her to feel more than simply concerned for him and his health, he also felt sorry for that fact that he had managed to go toe to toe with someone that had clearly been able to hide a lot from him and his normally observant gaze.

She was an A-grade actress if he ever saw one, one that didn't operate with or follow a script of sorts. She was the real deal, just as he was.

He explained what had happened earlier in the day, not all of it, just the part about being mugged, having to find some clothes to cover himself. The wig was the part that he couldn't come up with a decent explanation for. The sudden physical ability after years, according to his medical records, was something that he couldn't really explain to her fully. He just reassured her that he was not taking some kind of enhancement drugs.

He went so far as to claim that he would have himself tested for such use if it would put away her fears of him using something that was not good for his health.

When both were more or less satisfied with the answers and explanations, they finally realized the position they were in. And in their shock at finding themselves in such a position, neither of them made a move to relieve themselves from such a position.

Sayoko's cheeks once again grew to be tinged pink, which were only slightly mirrored by her young master.

'_Young master...now that's a thought_' she couldn't help but think of a number of additional scenarios in the future featuring herself and her young _master_.

Lelouch had never seen a member of the opposite gender turn so red or blush so much. He also wondered why his own face wasn't heating up as much as hers was. He chalked it up to his way of thinking, since he rarely found his mind in the gutter, so to speak.

They only shaped a seven year gap between each other in their ages, Lelouch was a young teen and Sayoko was an older teen, both were teens nonetheless.

One was attractive in her own right while the other was unnaturally attractive for his age and gender.

He saw her lips move, as her thoughts raced of course in all sorts of tangents bearing the same core thought too, but no words came forth from them. He also ended up doing something nearly unconsciously, he didn't know why he did it, but he ended up with his lips pressed against hers.

In the morning following the confrontation and first kiss shared by the two of them, found Lelouch laying in his bed with someone else's arm draped over his fully clothed body.

He found himself in an incomplete portrait of what some would term as a fantasy partially fulfilled. Her was in bed, going through puberty, with a french maid uniform wearing maid. He got out of bed with a smile on his face, a part of him wondering why she was still sleeping in his bed when she was normally awake before the crack of dawn already performing her duties as the Lamperouge maid.

Looking briefly at the clock in his room he found the reason for her still being asleep, though he hadn't a clue as to why she had fallen asleep with him. It was only four in the morning, too early for any one that wasn't in the military to start working. He had only been asleep, but felt refreshed nonetheless, for a good half hour.

He stripped himself of his own used clothing, got into his personal and private shower and took a well deserved shower. After that and getting dressed preparing himself for the second half of the weekend and another day of unlocking the mysteries that was his own body, he decided to play a rather mean joke, mean in a sense only, on his maid and former bed companion.

'_Won't she be horrified to reach the conclusion that we did indeed do something,_' he thought to himself as he left the evidence behind and left the room with just enough evidence to make her think that he had left her without really giving much importance to what had happened between them. Not that he hadn't valued his first kiss.

He had an additional thing to think about now. What had made the two of them fall asleep. He then scratched out the thought of finding out what had made him fall asleep, he firmly believed that it had something to do with unlocking so many abilities within a single day.

He found out during the middle of the afternoon just what he had done to get Sayoko to fall asleep, and it wasn't anything so useless or complicated as kissing her to sleep. It was a touch channeled ability, it was also hypnosis based in a sense.

With skin to skin contact, he would need to think of a trigger word, which his brain would translate into something like a drug that would be transmitted from his body to his intended target within a matter of seconds. He must also focus on that one trigger word and what he wanted to occur.

He was so focused on the thought that he must have been _dream_ing that he caused the person he was kissing to fall asleep and dream more vividly than she had ever dreamt before. Coupled with the joke he had played on her, he didn't think he could or would survive returning home.

Walking home, instead of running home, he found made out a mental list of the things he could now do with his body that he was sure very few to no one else but him could do.

He could change what he looked like, he had a shapeshifting ability. He found that he could change his gender as well. He also found that there was a limit to the forms that he could take. He found that he could not transform into a giant, or transform into an entirely inorganic thing such as a knightmare frame. He did find that he could transform a part of him into something that was inorganic, an example being that he could transform his hair into a wig as he now thought about it, another was that he could transform his fingers into knives.

These knives and other objects he transformed his body parts into could be detached and they would not vanish, they remained as they were and he suffered no damage from removing them. The parts that he had taken off or removed from his body regenerated more than just rapidly to something much closer to instantly.

Next on the list was his hypnotic touch ability. He had practiced on some unsuspecting Britannian soldiers this ability. He could make people do almost anything he wanted them to do, almost because if they could not physically do it or if they were mentally unable to find a way to think that it was alright with their conscience. He found out that they would not be able to remember him telling them to do these things, but they would remember doing whatever the heck it was.

Willpower too could overpower this hypnotic ability, as he wanted to see if he could get one soldier to flash a group of old biddies. The guy had managed to stop himself from flashing the group of elderly girls, even though the voice in his head promised him paradise if he accomplished the task or something to that effect. Instead of flashing the old women, he flashed a group of old men that grew red with rage at his audacity and daring, though they did compliment him on the size of his package. One gentleman asked for his number for some after hours activities.

That particular part of the conversation between the older gentlemen and the soldier made Lelouch want to bleach his brain though.

Following that last point was that he could read a person's movements, or even a non-living thing's next move. It was something that he couldn't fully come up with an explanation for, all he could say if he was ever forced to explain himself was that his eyes showed him the most likely course of action that something or someone was going to take next.

It was fortunately something which he could turn off.

These were, so far, the only things he could do that needed him to consciously think of doing before they activated or happened. Thought that third one only required a mental activation and a mental deactivation. The seeing bit was automatic once the ability was activated.

Adding to the list of his abilities, was of course his enhanced body when it came to speed, strength, and other such attributes. He also healed much faster than anyone else he knew or could think of. It was a rapid rejuvenation or regeneration of sorts, which also made him believe that he could never get sick again. It wasn't just strength and speed that were enhanced but also his senses, they he too could control. Though they would take getting used to.

While he found out that he could do many new things now, it would take a lot of time and practice before he could claim that he had full mastery over his own body.

Later that evening he found out that his metabolism among a number of other things had been screwed up or gained a kind of upgrade, one of these things was that he was more or less done with the sexual part of puberty, it was just the growing bit and the other more minor things as far as the normal male was concerned.

His package was fully functional and the maid couldn't wait to test it out for the first time. Or at least he hoped that was what the maid was thinking, though he wasn't that far off since she had been thinking that the joke was real and that she did do something that shouldn't be done with a minor, no matter how good he looked and how mature he normally acted.

He lived his days with a simple routine.

School on a school day, after classes spend some time with friends, then his sister, go to a secluded location to practice mastering his body. On weekends he did the same thing minus the school part, of course he did remember to finish all of his homework and study, it did help that he had a photographic memory, but not to the point of remember things that should normally not be remembered.

The only miscellaneous things that he did manage to remember were things like what color Milly's panties were on a certain day that he managed to sneak up on her or spy on her changing. It was always good to have some blackmail material on the one person that could literally give him a hard time at school.

In the coming years, before his seventeenth birthday, the expenses that he and his sister needed to pay for eventually led him to gambling, a passion he soon grew to have. A pastime which he grew to become a master at, and so as to not get caught or be targeted by sore losers, he made sure to wear a different face every time he found himself facing off against someone that could do more damage than just put a bullet through his head.

#

After getting himself separated from his friend Rivalz, he found himself riding in the back of a truck with some stolen merchandise. He knew that it was stolen only because of the military presence overheard chasing after the vehicle.

It wasn't the first time he had been involved in a crime as he had participated in some illegal activity such as smuggling in weapons for the local terrorists to use. He had of course worn a different face during those times, and having done a lot of things similar to that he had also gained a name for himself in those circles. Since he could do more than the regular person.

There were many in the circles that he frequented that believed him to always be wearing a synthetic mask, thus created a nickname for him. He was the Black Phantom, the color for his usual choice in color of clothing, and Phantom for the fact that he could blend in anywhere and one wasn't even sure that he was there.

His male Black Phantom persona that wore many faced was balanced with his female persona, a persona which he had cultivated after much research and study, it was a persona that wore only one face and one face alone, that of what he had imagined himself had be been born and grown up as a girl.

He allowed that form to be recognized as his, Lelouch's, distant cousin. He had dubbed himself, or herself as this case may be, as Louise Lamperouge. She preferred to wear mostly pastel colored clothes or white if she could get away with it.

These two personas also had attitudes and personalities too, they served the purpose of hiding Lelouch's identity as well as served as outlets for him.

The Black Phantom also went by another name, one which Lelouch much preferred but rarely if ever used. He only used it during high stakes things.

Zero.

It was a name he only used when he was entirely serious about a matter, or if the matter at hand was important and required his full attention and all of his faculties ready to spring himself into action with.

But this was not the time and place to have either of his two other masks to emerge. This was not even the time and place for him to be reminiscing about the things he so loved or enjoyed doing. It was a time and place for planning, he could not afford to get caught and this time it had nothing to do with being in his birthday suit.

He needed to get out of the back of the truck without tipping off the thieves that he was there. But before he could enact one of the plans that had sprung up into his head at such a time of need, the door or hatch to the front of the truck opened up forcing him to hide behind the poison gas capsule or whatever the heck the thing they had stolen was.

Peeking out from his hiding spot, he saw a red haired girl that looked awfully familiar, and since he had nothing better to do, he actually strolled down memory lane, or in his case searched through the computer that was his brain for a name to match the face he had just seen.

It was only when the girl exited from the truck did he finally remember where he had seen her and why her face was important enough to get him to think about knowing her. She was both as student of the school he went to and at the same time, luckily enough, a classmate of his as well.

Blackmail was always good, and finding out that one of his classmates was a terrorist or whatever the heck her group was was, was as good as any kind of blackmail material he would ever manage to dig up. It also led him to believe that she was at least half of each nationality that lived in the former island nation.

When the back of the truck finally closed up on its own, the ride became even bumpier, and if it weren't for his perfect balance, he would have would have been flung all over the place like a pinball in an arcade.

It was only when the truck came to a sudden and complete stop did he find himself in a very uncomfortable position. Slammed between the device that was stolen and the wall of the truck, how his body managed to lodge itself there was a mystery he wasn't about to solve anytime soon since he had more pressing matters to attend to, such as finally getting out of the truck and hopefully getting away without having to resort to what he termed as his immortality.

Once again, before he could implement his plan something just had to get in his way. That something was not the voice that he could have sworn came from the device that had been stolen, but rather the sudden opening of the side of the truck and him having to defend himself from a soldier that shot first and autopsied the corpse to get his answers later.

He activated his eye ability to gauge and predict movement, and followed that up with enhancing his body to a level befitting someone that did not have his almost athletic build. He may not have an actual style of fighting down pat, but he did make do with what he had, which was knowing where his opponent was likely to strike and moving his limbs accordingly.

The result of the short bout of punches and kicks was the soldier being flung out of the truck back first, and landing on said back just outside of the truck.

Lelouch followed soon after.

He prepared to deliver what could have been a killing blow had he been intending to kill the soldier, he was only planning to knock him unconscious and leave, but before he could do anything else to the downed man, said man had something to say which stopped him in his tracks.

"Lelouch! Stop! It's me!" the soldier said, and managed to push the ex-prince away and removed his helmet to reveal his face.

"Suzaku?" Lelouch voiced out his uncertainty and slight confusion.

"Yeah, it's me," the newly revealed Suzaku Kururugi said, "I joined the army to change the way things are from within the system."

"So you haven't been actively looking for me?" Lelouch asked him, a little bit disappointed and a little bit relieved.

"Well...yeah...I figured you'd want to keep your anonymity," Suzaku said, "But now that I've found you.."

"You can do your duty to the empire and kill him," an officer in the army ordered, having heard only the tail end of the words exchanged between the two.

Kururugi being the naïve person that he was, decided to not follow a direct order from his commanding officer. He even stood between the officer and his childhood friend, and even took a bullet for him.

'_The fool,_' Lelouch couldn't help but think, '_That naïve fool._'

He couldn't really find it in himself to feel for the fool, the naïve fool. A fool that seemingly wasted his life by joining the military for a dream that would take something more than a miracle for it to happen.

When it looked like he was done for, when it seemed as if his secret would have to be revealed, the truck behind him exploded, causing some chaos amongst the soldiers that had confronted him, scattering them to the proverbial winds.

He knew, which of course meant that he expected, that he would survive the blast, his clothes surviving had been close to being a miracle. What he hadn't been expecting was to find the device that had been with him at the back of the truck to not only be intact, but for it to also open up to reveal a green haired girl clothed in something that could have come out of a bondage film.

Deciding against leaving her, he took her up in his arms, she could wake up in them for all he cared really, and took her with him to the surface. The explosion had sent them to an either and underground tunnel or something like that. He just knew that they weren't on the surface any longer.

She woke up half way to the surface, she didn't make a move to make him aware that she was awake, as it wasn't everyday that she was treated like the girl that she still was, irregardless of whatever the heck anyone else saw her as.

He knew of course as his eye ability had yet to be deactivated, he was in battle mode, the not pure strategist-tactician mode, but battle mode.

His senses and physical attributes were at an all time high. He was in battle, a fight for survival. In a world of predator and prey, of the strong and the weak, he was at the top of that pyramid, of that food chain.

"I know you've been awake for some time now," he told her as they exited the tunnel they had been traveling in.

"And why voice this now?" she asked him, snuggling deeper into his pseudo-embrace, "I like where I am right now."

"Because we are nearing the exit, and I would like my arms to be free of a beautiful burden such as yourself that I might need both of my arms for what might come ahead," he said to her, smiling that charming smile that caused many a girl to grow weak in the knees.

She smiled back in return, he wasn't sure what to call such a smile, but he decided that she did not want him to let her go.

She saw determination in his eyes, his eyes which burned with more than just that. Then in a flash of realization she recognized who it was that was carrying her. He was someone from her past, there was something in his aura that was familiar to her as well, but she was unsure of what it was.

Since she realized who it was that had her in his arms she decided to help him in whatever quest he must be on, as both a favor to his mother who had been a dear friend to her and still was in some way, and also because he was still carrying her. A petty reason sure, but it was reason enough for her.

She connected with his mind, a synchronization much like a knightmare pilot and his or her frame. She linked with him on a higher level and offered him power, a power with a price. She felt that deep within him was something that she was looking for.

He accepted the offer and the gift, it wasn't the first time after all that he had been given something such as what she had given him. It wasn't the first time that he had met with one that could be called a member of the supernatural.

"Stay here," he told her as they finally reached the exit, he grinned an evil grin, the kind that devils and demons wore, "I'll be back for you once I've finished my business and we can talk more on about your sudden offer."

Without waiting for any confirmation from her, he left her sitting on the slope that led to the tunnel that they had more or less just come out from.

He was unaware of the fact that she would not have died from anything that the soldiers that he met up with as he exited could have done to her. She was like him in a way, superior in many aspects to most human beings.

Shots were fired, and she worried that the almost a young adult had just died moments after receiving her gift. But he came into her view once again, unharmed, there weren't any holes in his clothes either. She would have asked him what had happened, but he beat her to it.

"Thanks for the power," he said to her, "It's more useful than what I had planned. What is it called?"

He really did want to know, he was more than simply curious. He wanted to compare it more to his abilities, and find out the limitations it had, for it must have had some limitations. It couldn't be all powerful.

"It is called geass and that is all I am willing to speak of at this time regarding the matter," she told him, then smiled coyly at him before adding, "But if you make it worth my while I might share a bit more."

"Not this time," he said and picked her up again, she did not protest, "Maybe later, unless you'd be willing to part with all the secrets of what this new ability can do."

She simply continued to smile, her smile this time was a secretive one. He didn't mind. He'd get his answers eventually. He wasn't sure yet how he would go about procuring them, but he would get those answers.

As luck would have it, he was not granted the chance to escape from all the action. A sutherland broke through the wall to discover solders strewn about in death.

They had been spotted, caught at the scene of the crime. A crime which both had played a pivotal role in. They were the guilty, but Lelouch had not intention of being caught in the act.

They were told to surrender, and so Lelouch countered by giving an order of his own, resulting in finding out that he needed direct contact of a sort, unhindered eye to eye contact, that is, for his power to work. He claimed that he was the son of a member of the nobility.

The pilot needed proof of course and so exited the knightmare frame with gun in hand ready for almost anything. What the pilot had failed to prepare for was an ambush of a different kind.

"_Until the day that I utter the words 'I Lelouch vi Britannia release you from my spell' you shall obey my every command should you hear me state 'I Zero command you..'_," it was no whisper, it was spoken as he normally would, but with a hint of some dramatic flair in it, he had also said it while his geass was active.

"Yes, my lord," the pilot, a woman, replied, as she was put firmly under his power.

"Now I Zero command you to.." he thought about it for a bit, "To hand over your sutherland. I'll be using it until the end of this fiasco."

He decided to go overkill on the pilot that had more or less trapped him in the struggle of the Shinjuku Ghetto.

He touched her, while his other hand and arm kept the green haired girl still off the ground. He touched the pilot and thought of something that he could command her to do.

"Return to your superior officer and inform him or her that you lost your sutherland in an ambush consisting of what appeared to be Ashford students, or at least terrorists masquerading as students," he commanded, "_Walk_."

She did not voice any sort of confirmation or affirmation that she had heard the orders and that she would obey. She just about faced and walked out of the place not looking back, and began to act more normally.

"What was that?" the green haired girl asked once she found herself sitting in the lap of a relatively unresponsive young man.

"You have your secrets," he said, "I have mine."

To prove his point or to simply show off to someone that he could show off to, he had his face change to that of a blank faceless face. Looking at him now was like looking at a mannequin. There was no face to speak of, and his hair could have been a wig.

Her facial expression told him all he needed to know, that being she did not expect him to be able to do something like that and that she didn't know that such an ability was in the realm of the possible.

"Now hang on," he told her, "We're going into battle, this warrior must remove himself from the field and re-enter in the form of the tactician."

"What do you plan on doing," she asked him.

"Exacting revenge on one Kallen Stadtfeld for unintentionally keeping me away from things I would prefer to be doing at the moment," he replied, "And also getting some revenge on the Britannian military for what they did to a people that I personally hold some respect for."

"I see," she said.

He looked over the screen in the knightmare frame that showed him where all units were positioned. He also tracked down the terrorists through the radio signals that he located with a radio that he had stumbled upon while in the truck.

When he had a plan all figured out, one where the rate of success was marginally higher than the rate of failure. He struck, reaching through the radio he spoke the one phrase that would spark more than hope in a hopeless person.

"If you want to win, you will follow my commands," were the words that he said, and from there the ball was in his court, up until his opponent, a half brother, brought out a new weapon onto the field.

It was like a pawn in chess being promoted to a queen.

He had expected something like it to happen, but not to the level or caliber that the new weapon possessed. The pilot was surely an ace, but as he observed the battle, from a far of course, his classmate in the red glasgow was holding her own against the advanced knightmare frame.

He gave her one final order for the battle since the others were already probably waiting for their doom with the civilians, that being for her to fight until a ceasefire order was given.

She did not question his order, though she secretly questioned her own sanity.

He once again left the green haired girl, this time in the stolen sutherland, before venturing forth into the heart of the enemy camp. The very mobile headquarters of his half-brother, one who seemed to have lost a lot of what made one human. But humanity was overrated as far as they were all mostly concerned.

Though he didn't believe in involving civilians in any conflict if it could be helped.

"_Order,_" he ordered commanded his brother with the touch command, after successfully sneaking into the command center of the mobile base.

"All of you," the 3rd prince ordered his staff, all of them, "I need some time to think."

They were mostly reluctant to obey, since they would be leaving him alone in the command center. Where, should a terrorist miraculously make his way into there could have his way with the prince. Could order a ceasefire, which happened a few minutes later.

There was also the possibility that the prince would be forced against his will to spill a lot of secrets, government and otherwise. Which Lelouch had his brother do under the power of geass just to make sure he got everything, not only any information regarding the death of his mother, but other things as well.

Other damning things, his respect and love for his brother, grew less and less with every secret that was spilled. It took almost all of his self control to stop himself from just ending his brother's life. All he needed was one bullet, one, and the scum that was his blonde brother would be finished.

The green haired girl who he had learned was code named C.C. had not been the only one to be experimented on by his brother. There were a few others, elevens and other numbers all. They were people, that in the mind of a majority of the empire, were not fit to even be remembered.

He also learned that his brother too wore a mask, one of the perfect gentleman that many of the nobility were often found wearing. A mask that he too on occasion wore.

Clovis had a 'Zero' of his own, his was named 'Lust' not that it was truly named such, but it fit the bill perfectly, even more perfect than a glove.

It seemed that the Marquis de Sade had been reborn a prince of the Britannian empire.

Lelouch ended his geass' hold on his brother, but before the blonde could react or say anything in his defense, there was that one skin to skin contact. An order was given as Lelouch' fist met his brother's face.

The black eye was the least of the prince's troubles.

"_Nightmares_," was all that Lelouch had said, before leaving his brother curled on the ground, as if experiencing a seizure of a sort.

That one command summed up all that the third prince of the empire was experiencing and would be experiencing for a long long time. Either until the day he finally died, was put down, or until someone managed to break the curse that had been bestowed upon him.

It wasn't an assassination like he would have originally planned, but it was good enough, a fate worse than death. It was worth it. Death was too good for the likes of Clovis. A life lived with nightmares as company was worthy of him.

He found that CC had chosen to leave the sutherland and wander away on her own, he believed that she would find him on her own later on. It was the kind of feeling that his feminine side felt, and thus it was most likely going to happen.

He slipped away as the civilians made their way out of the ghetto and go to another one until they were sure that their home was a safe place to return to. The terrorists returned to their base all wondering who was it that had helped them out.

Lelouch, made his way home. Then that very night he left as he often did once his sister was sound asleep to get a read on the atmosphere on the Shinjuku incident.

He went out as the faceless Black Phantom, no one asked for his name, but everywhere he went he heard whispered conversations of people having this feeling that he was there, watching, waiting, listening, and participating.

His presence was even more obvious when several someones that no one had ever seen before, wearing black clothes, ranging from suits to street clothes, cleaned house before vanishing into the shadows or into the night.

They were, for some reason, sure that he would want to know what they all thought about the most recent political incident. They all suspected that he knew something, and it was more or less confirmed when the one even more infamous than he made his presence known to one gathering. A gathering of criminals in both the eyes of the civilian numbers as well as the Britannian government.

It was a gathering of the supporters and suppliers of the island nation's many resistance groups and terrorist cells. Chief among those present was a single representative of the Six Houses of Kyoto.

It was unmistakeably a person that he knew and had met during his brief stint at he Kururugi household.

Though he did wonder how such a young person, one as young as his younger sister, which was basically just 14 years old, could venture into such a place unguarded. She was out of place among these young men and elders.

It seemed that the power of the Six Houses of Kyoto was formidable enough to garner such respect from the lowest of the low when it came to breaking the law of the land. There was also the hint of fear of reprisal from the Six Houses should any disrespect be shown unto one of its leading members.

He approached her, he had joined the festivities wearing a black jacket, a black shirt underneath, black pants, and socks and shoes. He even had black gloves on, but his face, now that was the mystery as he chose to don a domino mask.

It was the easiest way to hide his ever changing face, while at the same time making it clearly known that he was there among them, and that he was making a move.

Every eye was upon him, though not directly, they all were suddenly glued to him and his movement as he walked through the meeting hall and made his way to the one person that was out of place, but at the same time belonged.

Some wondered if he was mad, risking the wrath of Kyoto, some thought him braver than they, some didn't really know what to think but were glad that something was going to break the monotony of things.

"Ah, Sumeragi-hime," he greeted her, bowing lower than he would bow to most, "A pleasure to find such an exquisite flower in such a barren field," for there were little to no other females present in the event.

"You know who I am, yet I know not who you are," she said to him after he returned to standing tall.

"Oh?" he said, in mock surprise and disappointment, "Then it seems that my reputation has yet to reach Kyoto after all. Not that it truly matters, not during such times as these."

"What do you mean by that stranger?" she asked him, curious about what he had to say, and she was not lying that she didn't know who he was, no one really did, and no one was one hundred percent sure of his identity.

"Oh, it seems as if Kyoto has not been made aware of has not the spies enough to be made aware of the most recent events that have befallen the empire," he teased, a smirk gracing the only part of his face that was truly visible.

"If you speak of the Shinjuku massacre, Kyoto already knows all about it," the head of the Sumeragi clan stated, "Even though the media or the military has yet to release a statement about it."

"Of course you know about that," he said, "Who here hasn't heard of it yet, but do you know the actual circumstances of the ceasefire order, or what has become of the viceroy?"

"What are you talking about?" she said, a bit impatiently, as if she wanted to be away from him.

"I'm talking about the fate of the viceroy," he said, his tone almost mocking, "But since you seem as if you do not wish to know about it, I shall take my leave now.."

With that he bowed, with the same respect he had shown her, then turned on his heel and left. It was then that all hell broke loose as many were more than curious as to the news that this infamous member of their ranks knew that even the great Houses of Kyoto were unaware of.

Before any more chaos could ensue a loud and unmistakeable voice broke through the clamor. It was unmistakeable in femininity and quality. All male, single and taken, turned to the source of the voice calling for silence.

While she did not hold much of a position of power within their ranks, she was considered by the majority of them as a person that one should not cross. She was dangerous, just as the Black Phantom was dangerous. She feared not anyone, and she showed this fearlessness that bordered on recklessness.

She was everything that the Black Phantom was, and more. She had a single face, a face that could display a number of emotions that could affect those around her. It was a power cultivated through the centuries by those whose skin was the opposite of her true form.

She was one half of Lelouch, she was intelligence and information. She was how he managed to get a majority of what he could use as blackmail.

"It seems that that multi-faced bastard has piqued your interest," she said as she stalked closer to Kaguya, she wore a black and white kimono of all things to the gathering.

Lelouch had used his ability to transform parts of his body to inanimate objects to create clothes for himself, all it took was transforming his skin. It had been a rather awkward and odd experience at first, but at least it saved him from having to explain a wardrobe of extra essentials.

Whatever clothes he did create for his female form, he simply donated or dropped off somewhere.

He'd give them to his sister, or to Milly, or to Sayoko even, but he didn't want to have to suffer through the questions that would be asked or have his sexuality questioned again, he might wake up in his birthday suit in the morning if he defended himself again.

"Multi-faced bastard?" Kaguya asked, she didn't know about the supposed history between Louise and the Black Phantom, it wasn't a rivalry exactly, it was just a known fact that Louise didn't like or even hated the Black Phantom, while the feelings of the other party were shrouded in mystery. Though it could be said that neither were ever at the same place at the same time.

Then there was the even more mysterious Zero that only appeared, in sign-in sheets or logbooks, with one of the two. There were those that had noticed the pattern, and when the name or alias was found on the registry, they knew that something during the event or occasion was an important one.

"I refuse to speak that pig's name in any favorable light," Louise said, "But as for the news, does anyone have anything that I might want in exchange for it? It's quite juicy and could set the right mood for certain parties, if word reaches them first."

"How about a hint first?" Kaguya asked, which solidified the fact that Kyoto was not aware of this little tidbit, "To see if it really is worth spending a favor on."

"Sumeragi-sama," one of the guards of one of the Yakuza gumis present said approaching the teen, "Her news is always good news, always worth a hefty price too."

"How can you trust her as you do, even though she bears a clearly Britannian name?" Kaguya asked, she was confused, wasn't she surrounded with men and a few women that were against the empire that had stripped them of their identity.

"That is simple," Louise answered for herself, "These men all know of my hatred for the _**Holy Britannian Empire**_," her disgust could clearly be tasted in her tone when speaking the name of the empire, "I may be of that race, but I am no supporter of it and the ideals by which it rules over its people."

"Why should Kyoto, I as the representative, believe you, trust you and your words even," the teen asked, or all but demanded.

"I think that your words are not wise ones, Sumeragi-sama," the guard that spoke before spoke again, this time warned.

"It seems that Kyoto wishes to have a monopoly on aiding this nation regain itself," Louise said, "Fine then, be that way. I'm leaving. Enjoy your lives without me, and good luck on getting into the good graces of...never mind.."

She turned and the crowd parted for her. Her face was solid as ice, her demeanor turned stiff, and her disappointment in Kyoto was felt.

"Chotto matte kudasai!" one middle aged man said aloud as he moved a step in the direction of Louise's retreating form.

"Yes?" Louise said, turning her head slightly to acknowledge him, "Chisio Ryuji, if I am not mistaken."

"I know of your value as a source of information for our many organizations," he said, "We value your aid and service greatly, as some of what you have shared with us, as a whole or a few, have not even been shared with us by Kyoto."

"Go on," she prompted him.

"What progress has been made regarding the resurrection of our beloved nation, could not have been achieved without you," he continued, trying a bit of flattery, she knew of course that he just wanted to know her latest piece of news, "What might I offer to gain this information you were offering, before you were offended by an ignorant member of the six," he knew the consequences of in a sense insulting Kyoto, but he had a feeling that the information could be very important.

"Come closer and I'll whisper the information into your ear," Louise said, he moved close even though he had not been informed of the price yet, "_The viceroy is viceroy no more. He has been placed in a coma, permanent or not has yet to be determined. The culprit shall reveal himself when the time is right. Do what you wish for this information, and all I ask for in return for it is that you serve or aid the culprit when he announces himself._"

"I can do that," he said, grateful for the news, and it truly was important news, being able to prepare for the multitude of potential outcomes or futures was a good thing, especially in the business his clan primarily worked in.

"Good," she said, and left the gathering place, no one being able to follow her, and no one being able to find a trace of her once she melted into the shadows of the night.

"What was that all about, and Kyoto will forgive you for your earlier words," Kaguya said to Ryuji.

"I believe I now understand why Kirihara-dono sent you here in his stead," he said to her, some others listened in while they went back to their previous conversations.

"Oh?" she said, she wasn't really all that sure about her presence in the gathering herself, even though she was normally able to get a good read on people she saw or interacted with.

"He is in the know of current underground events," he shared with her, "The Black Phantom has a reputation as a Jack-of-all-trades, as well as someone that can be depended on in jobs. Same with Louise, but with intelligence and news. He wanted you to experience them, so as not to make the same mistakes which you made this night."

"What can two people do?" she asked him, he had more experience in these matters than she did after all, "Why are they important enough to be trusted so much, even though one is clearly Britannian, while the other keeps his identity a secret."

"At first they weren't as trusted as are now, nor were they taken as seriously as today," he explained, "It was only after certain individuals noticed a pattern, one that only indirectly had something to do with them."

"And this pattern? What importance does it have with things?" she asked.

"There is a name whispered, never spoken out loud," he said, "_Zero_. It is possibly the most important name we all here know. As you know, we keep a registry or a list of who comes and goes in our meetings, get togethers, and the like. Whenever his name appeared something of importance, great or small, either occurred or was shared."

"I see," the teen said, "So what did she have to say that was so important?"

It was a shock tactic, one that many could use to get information, especially when the source of information was already willing to share.

"Now that is something I shall be keeping to myself," Ryuji said, "It's delicate information of a delicate nature. Though I guess I can share it with EVERYONE."

Silence greeted him as all eyes and ears zeroed in on him.

"Viceroy Clovis has been taken out of the picture," he shared, "Britannia only shows an order mask, but in truth the present government is in chaos. Make your own conclusions about this information."

"Who did it?", "Which group?", "Was it the JLF?", these were a few of the many questions that began to fly about the place.

"I have a feeling as to who the one that did it is," he said, "But it's just a feeling. All she said was that he will announce himself when the time was right, whatever that means."

"*"

For the next two days, when not in school, he snuck into military and government facilities, snooping for information that he could use or spread around.

He needed to know what his opponent's next move was after all, since he had finally decided to truly act. The kid's gloves were off, he was going to take on his father, whether the world was ready for such a conflict or not.

Information, which was knowledge, was power. The one who had more had the greater chance of preparing for eventualities.

To plan for his next move, he needed to know beforehand what his opponent was in the works to do.

He found what he needed and more.

They were going to blame an honorary Britannian for the state of health of Clovis in order to finally be rid of that particular system. The Purist faction clearly more than detested the numbers. This honorary Britannian was then going to be paraded around, as a means of showing that the military was doing something.

This was to be followed by cracking down on the different organizations, by any means necessary. The line between criminal and civilian was going to be thinned even more.

The other piece of news that he found was that the elected leader of the Purist faction had at one time been a guard at the Aries Villa where he, his sister, and his mother had lived before the assassination and their subsequent exile.

He mentally noted that he would have to meet with the man face to face sometime in the near future.

After retrieving a little bit more information and preparing for next day's announcement regarding what had happened to Clovis, he found himself in an alleyway, a back alley, a familiar one. To be more specific, it was the very same one that he had his first encounter with Death himself.

"_Glad to finally be able to speak with you, after such a long time,_" Death himself said, fading into view and appearing standing on his scythe's cutting edge, "_Long for you at least._"

"I thank you greatly for the gift, sir," Lelouch said, as he was truly greatful for the assets he had been given.

"_I am here now, to give you yet another gift,_" Death said and handed over a much thinner box, "_Open it, and be careful, as it presently is it is a bit fragile._"

The box's lid was removed, and the rest of it fell once the fabric within was taken out. It was a cloak, smooth as silk, but lighter than anything that he had ever held in his hands. He moved to try it on, while wondering what it would do to and for him. What was so special about a cloak, as it didn't look anything like the one that Death himself wore about him.

He tried it on of course to see if it fit him or whatever, he wore it with childish wonder too.

"It feels like a second skin," he told Death what he thought of the item, it was the most comfortable thing he had ever worn.

"_Which in a way is what it will be in a moment,_" Death said as he snapped his fingers to begin the absorption process.

Lelouch would have described the experience as feeling the coldest of liquids seemingly seeping into his skin. It was a chilling experience, one that he cared not to experience ever again, if he could help it, it wasn't anything like having his body remade. It was also like being submerged in jello.

When it was over, he once again found himself in his birthday suit, but thankfully not curled up on the ground in any bit of agony of any sort.

Then it happened.

He watched as his skin seemed to ripple, as if a pebble had been dropped in a pond while moving in slow motion. It wasn't the kind of rippling that he was used to, but it was rippling nonetheless.

Following this rippling view, his skin began to fade from view, in the same manner that Death had left him alone before and returned to speak with him once more. The best way that he could think of naming what he had put on before was a cloak of invisibility. There was no other name he could give it.

"_That is exactly what it had been,_" Death said, as if reading his mind, "_Originally it would have granted you a means of becoming invisible. But as it has now merged with you, like a second skin as you described it earlier, you will be able to do more than that._"

"What more?" Lelouch asked, and hastily added, "How do I return to being visible?"

"_The process is simple,_" Death said, "_All you have to do is will it to happen. Much like those transformations of yours. You are also able to make parts of yourself vanish if you like. Your skin can also be likened to a chameleon's._"

"Anything else, or will I have to figure things out on my own?" Lelouch asked.

"_By touch, you can make other things or people too vanish from view,_" Death decided to be charitable, "_But there will of course be a limit. It will take additional energy on your part, the bigger the object or the greater the number of people, the greater the strain._"

"So if I were to try and vanish an entire building, what would happen to me?" Lelouch asked.

"_Permanent living incapacitation,_" Death said, "_That is, if you do it in your default state. In your enhanced state, you'd probably have a few minutes, but as soon as your nose starts to bleed, you'll start moving into the red._"

"Thanks for the gift," he repeated, "This will be of much help in the days that lie ahead."

"_I know they will,_" Death said, "_Farewell once again for now._"

"Wait," Lelouch said, "That can't be all."

"_Oh ho ho," _Death chuckled a little, it was an unnerving sound, "_So you picked up on that did you._"

"I had a feeling," Lelouch stated.

"_Very well,_" Death said, "_You will be as smoke, if you so wish. But it will take a lot of will power and belief for this to be possible._"

"What do you mean by that?" Lelouch asked.

"_I want you to attack me with a sword, preferably,_" Death said, he stepped off of his blade, "_To see is to believe. Most of the time._"

"If you're sure," Lelouch said as he transformed one hand into a sword, he then ran at Death and swung.

The blade passed harmlessly through Death, with trails of what looked like smoke or shadow and a gash, yet Death did not seem affected at all.

"_This is the state of intangibility_," Death explained, "_The cloak grants you the ability to not only turn invisible, but also intangible. Just as with the invisibility, you can also make only a part of yourself intangible and not the whole you._"

"Thank you again," Lelouch said.

"*"

News was released in the morning regarding the status of Area 11's viceroy.

In the afternoon it was released that the culprit had been caught.

Like clockwork, it was an Honorary Britannian, the eldest son of Genbu Kururugi himself, Suzaku. The media painted him in the worst light as possible, showing him saying his piece but censoring certain parts to make it seem as if he had joined the Honoary Britannian corps just to get close to the Britannian prince.

It was all propaganda, all calling for the permanent removal of the honorary Britannian system. It was the Purist faction which was spearheading the effort of course.

The Elevens praised him as a hero, while the Britannians called for his death.

When the schedule for the parade was announced, Lelouch made his move. It was his turn after all. He needed allies, ones that were not that well known and that would not be missed if he messed up.

He decided to use the people he had already worked with before against his present foe. They were perfect, he thought, and thus came up with a quick plan of getting them to join him.

While he did not know of the exact location of their hideout, he did know one of the members. He would get to the rest of the group through her. It was simple, and she had finally decided to attend class too.

He found her surrounded by her superficial gaggle of girl friends in the hallway near one of the classrooms they used.

Approaching them, he put on his most charming and disarming smile. One that would make no one other than probably Death himself suspect him.

"Excuse me," he said, getting all of the girl's attentions, "May I speak with Miss Stadtfeld for a moment?"

The gaggle of girls squealed as well as turned shades of green with envy due to their sickly and rarely at school friend catching the attention of the student council vice-president and resident number one heartthrob.

"Y-yes?" she said in a meek voice unlike the fierce, yet uncertain, voice he had heard over the radio while in Shinjuku.

"I have words to share with you regarding a delicate matter," he said as he led her to the student council clubhouse, "I hope you understand."

"I..yes," she said, and followed after him diligently, or as was expected of her and her sickly and innocent girl status.

Being led to the place was more like a tour of the grounds for her since she was rarely present anyway. Which led to a few questions coming from which he answered to the best of his ability.

Before their little talk could begin, they were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the rest of the student council. Which in the end resulted in a minor, yet fixable, disaster of Kallen being drenched head to toe in champagne courtesy of Rivalz.

She was brought to Lelouch's private bathroom, but he didn't tell her that when he did that. He'd leave the surprise for later. It also made things a whole lot easier, it was his home turf, he had all the advantages there were to be had there.

Fetching her a spare set of clothing was simple since his room was the one that the two of them had passed just to get to the bathroom. It was organized enough for her to not think anything of the room.

He didn't think that his original plan of doing things was going to work now, and thus he revised it a bit.

Was he not the Black Phantom and Louise Lamperouge.

He had left her in his bathroom informing her that he would be getting her some appropriate clothing for her gender, though not in such technical terms as those.

It easy for him to procure such clothes since he had so much experience in their creation. He transformed himself into her, then molded a green kimono with floral design from his skin draping it over his form to check if it fit. Which it did, naturally.

He then transformed into Louise, who then wore a black and white kimono, black with a snowy design. It was in this form that he would speak to his classmate.

The only risk involved was if someone were to walk in on them while they had their chat.

She walked through a wall, which she found was a bit odd but not unpleasant an experience, to enter the bathroom. It was more stealthy than having to open the door.

"I brought a change of clothes for you," Louise said, her voice startling Kallen as the teen had not been expecting to have anyone else enter the room, nor had she heard anyone enter it for that matter.

"Wh-Who are you?" Kallen asked, she knew that she was vulnerable, heck she felt it, her only real weapon was on the sink, beyond the curtain of the shower and well out of her reach at the moment.

"I am Louise," she replied, more calmly than the girl behind the shower curtain, "A...secret relation of Lelouch's. Not even Nunnaly knows of me, but do now."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kallen asked.

"Oh that's simple really," she replied, "You see we have need of you, Q1."

There was a thump as Kallen slipped while standing, which was odd in a sense, and landed on her ass while still in the shower.

"Surprised I'm sure," Louise said, "Now onto business.."

"Business? What business?" Kallen said, "You know that voice, who is it, who was it? Lelouch?"

"Slow down," Louise said, "Finish showering first, then we might get to that."

"Ok...I can do that," Kallen said, and returned to her slight pampering which was what prompted Louise to continue.

"We would like for you to contact the rest of your cell," she informed the red haired girl, "We would like to arrange a face to face, so to speak, regarding this most recent incident."

"What are you talking about? A face to face?" the red head asked.

"The voice," Louise said, "The owner of that voice would like to meet with you for a business meeting of sorts. Certain actions taken that day in Shinjuku has resulted in our plans being moved forward by a large margin."

"Plans?" Kallen asked, she was a bit new to such talk, it was usually Ohgi doing all the talking, meeting, negotiating, not her of all people.

"Why, the destruction and ultimately the reconstruction of the Holy Britannian Empire, what else," Louise said, as she handed the red head a towel which to dry herself with as she got out of the shower.

Louise helped her into the somewhat complicated piece of clothing that had been brought in for her. Prepared for her specifically really.

"Am I wearing what I think I'm wearing?" Kallen asked as she admired herself in the mirror, a full length one too.

"If you think you're wearing a kimono, then yes," Louise said, "I usually wear such a thing when dealing with the former Japanese, I believe you are half that."

"I...well it is rather obvious isn't it," Kallen said, "I am a terrorist after all."

"I'd be careful when mentioning such a term," Louise said, "Even in such secured locations. You never know who might be listening, though you need not worry about Lelouch in that regard."

"Why's that? Why do you work for someone that clearly views Britannia as an enemy, aren't you a Britannian?" Kallen asked.

"Well, aren't you one as well," Louise fired back, "I have my reasons, just as Lelouch has his own as well. You saw his sister didn't you?"

"Yes, I did, she seemed like such a sweet girl," Kallen commented.

"Well, she is that way because she witnessed her mother's assassination back in the homeland," Louise said, deciding to share a bit more than originally planned, she had a feeling that she could trust this red haired girl, "The government investigated the matter for about two days before calling off the investigation and focusing on other things. The siblings Lelouch and Nunnaly were then sent here, a few months before the invasion. The empire threw them away, instead of helping them, and even after the invasion they were all but forgotten."

"So he hates Britannia for what was done to his sister," Kallen deduced, "Is that why he works with you, his secret cousin?"

"Something like that," Louise said, "But that's enough secrets for one meeting. You should probably return to the rest of your friends, they might get the wrong idea, what with you staying so long alone with Lelouch and all."

Kallen was left alone in the bathroom as she began to turn a deep shade of red, the only thing that remained of Louise was the teasing laughter she left in her wake.

She transformed back into Lelouch once back in his room. Folding and hiding away the kimono that was used. He might as well set aside a space in one of his closets or drawers for his other clothes, which was what he did as he waited for Kallen to finally leave the confines of the bathroom.

When Kallen finally did leave the bathroom, she found him sitting on his bed reading a leather bound book whose title she could not read. It didn't have one, since he wasn't really reading anything since it was just a notebook he had created, a blank one.

"It looks good on you," he told her upon noticing her exit his bathroom, "Comfortable? A perfect fit?"

"Yes actually, it is," she said to him, "How'd you know that it would? You haven't been spying on me during your free time have you?"

"I don't even know where you live," he said, "How would I spy on you?"

"I don't know," she said, "That woman, Louise wasn't it, she said you were part of some sort of group. Can you tell me whose voice was the one I heard in Shinjuku?"

"Even if I told you," Lelouch said, "I doubt you'd believe me."

"I guess I wouldn't, without proof of course," she said, "So...we gonna get back to the others yet?"

"If you want," he said, and began to stand, putting away the book, "Oh, and if anyone asks, just say I took you to one of the guest rooms."

"Isn't this a guest room?" she asked him, then realized that he seemed so relaxed in the room, and had even been reading a book and put it away somewhere in said room, "This is your room isn't it."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Something the matter if it is?" he said.

"N-No...not really," she said.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'm not planning on having my way with you. I'd like to get to know you better before getting into that, unless you'd like to skip all that of course, who would I be to decline."

"Sh-Shut up!" she shouted, at him, and tried to slap him silly even, but that was stopped in it's tracks by him catching her arm, and spinning her around so that she had her back to him, and also so that she could no longer move.

"Ah ah ah," he said tauntingly, "That won't do. Not if you want to win in this crazy game called war."

The word Win, while not a trigger word, did trigger Kallen to recall all the words that were said to her back in Shinjuku.

"No way," she said, softly, as if in disbelief.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that," he said to her, not letting her go.

"You can't be him," she said, referring to the voice in Shinjuku.

"Let's get back to Milly and the others," he said, pretending to not have heard anything that she had said, "They might begin to suspect that you've done something to me."

"I..." she began to say as he let her go for a moment, before pulling her to him once more, and ceasing any more words from coming out of her mouth for a while.

The best way to shut up someone that was already thinking that you were attractive was lip to lip contact. He needed the conversation to end there and for the two of them to return to the others. He didn't want things to end up with him spilling the beans to her completely. It just would not do. They didn't know each other well enough yet.

"*"

He did get slapped for his efforts, but the girl didn't say that she hadn't enjoyed it.

He had given her a phone that already had his number in it, one of four that is. There was his, Lelouch Lamperouge, number, Louise's, the Black Phantom's, an of course Zero's. But she didn't know that yet. He had programmed the phone's phonebook to only allow each number to appear with their designated names when he called her using that number. Before that happened, she wouldn't know about them.

He set up the meeting between himself and her group, to be just as school let out. He couldn't go with the more dramatic introduction which he would have preferred, and so allowed her to set the meeting place for them.

She chose Shinjuku. Specifically the west entrance of the train tracks where her group had gotten those sutherlands with their IFFs already removed.

He arrived there before any of them did. He had to be there before they could set up a trap for him or something. It was their home turf after all, so he needed all the advantages he could get.

He sat on a chair that he had created. The funny thing is was that he had felt the need to do a number two, and had crouched on the ground to take that dump. After reliving himself of that load, while his pants were still down, he molded his ass into a chair which promptly fell behind him just before he pulled up his pants.

That was the chair he sat on, it was a simple wooden thing without any designs on it.

He had decided long ago on a costume that he would use to disguise himself. He had already planned out how he would proceed past this day, past the moment that he chose to finally actively fight. It was a dark purple, black, and gold, caped thing, with a chess king motif.

He didn't bother with having someone else create his costume for him, he did it himself, it was easy enough. It was as easy as having the clothes sink out of his skin, which was in a way what he did when he needed new clothes anyway. It was like molting in a way.

He waited for the red head girl's group to arrive as he sat on his chair, while being invisible. Just him, not the chair. He didn't see how that would affect these people. He also made sure that he was intangible as a precaution against those he was to be meeting with would pull a gun on him and try to shoot him for whatever reason.

They arrived an hour after he had arrived and began to set up. Positioning people all over the place, hiding around the place just in case things got hairy.

They could prepare all they liked, but that would not help them against him, especially since he decided to also activate his extra perceptive eyes.

He was making sure that he was prepared for almost every eventuality.

"So when is this guy supposed to arrive?" Ohgi asked Kallen as the visible members of his cell just stood around looking in every direction for him, no one had though to sit on the chair that was already very out of place there.

"I don't know, he just said pick a place and he'd be there," she answered, she held onto the phone he had given her like some sort of lifeline.

The phone rang, she hadn't noticed the ringtone before then. Now that she thought about it, it did sound rather familiar, it was like a lost lullaby from an age they all longed to return or be reborn if they could help it.

"Hello?" she said into the mouthpiece.

"I guess trust really is hard to come by," Zero said, the words whispered through the phone and right beside her ear.

He had stood from his seat and made his way to just behind her.

"Where are you? We're all here already as per our earlier agreement," she said, almost demanded too.

"Oh, I'm already here," he told her.

"Then show yourself," she all but ordered.

He did, right in their midst, right behind her too. All the warning she got was the click signaling the end of the call.

All the hidden guns left their hiding places and were pointed at him. It all happened in a flash, no one was prepared for him to just appear like that.

"You? You were the voice that helped us out in Shinjuku?" Ohgi said.

"Yes," Zero replied, "That was indeed I. I was also the one that got the now incapacitated viceroy to order the ceasefire. I was also the one responsible for his incapacitation."

"You expect us to believe that?" Ohgi said, he had to be sure, he had to be skeptical too, "You expect us to believe that one man was able to get near the viceroy of Area 11 just like that, and do so much in less than an hour, when so many of us have been doing so much the span of months to years?"

"I expect that, yes," Zero said, "If you chose not to believe me, then go right ahead. Don't believe me, and I'll be on my way. Perhaps I was mistaken that you were willing to do what it took to break free of Britannia's constricting grasp."

"We're willing to do what it takes," Ohgi said, "But I feel reluctant to just believe someone that doesn't trust us with his face."

"Trust me or don't," Zero said, "Just know that had I not intervened, so many of you would not be here today. So many of you would not be getting this once in a lifetime chance of joining me as I obliterate Britannia."

"So that's what you're after," Ohgi said, "From what Kallen told me, you have some people under your command already, two confirmed Britannians with a passion against the empire, what do you need us for?"

"How am I to obtain the sympathy, and following that, loyalty of the people if I do not have others fighting alongside me," Zero said, "Like you said, I am but one man. What can a man do? What can one man do? Many things, that's what. But think about it, what can a symbol do? A man will eventually be forgotten, but a symbol will last forever."

"I don't really understand what you're getting at," Ohgi said, "So get to the point already."

"To move forward we both need each other," Zero said, "I need subordinates, and you need my leadership. I propose that if I can make the impossible possible for you, you will swear loyalty to me. How about that?"

"And if you can't perform this miracle?" Ohgi asked, "What do we get?"

"For one thing, I'll permit you to shoot me in the head or the heart," he said, "You won't ever hear from me again. So how about it?"

"You expect us to go along with you for now?" Ohgi asked.

"No, of course not," Zero said, "I expect you to swear your oaths of allegiance once I've delivered my miracle. Once I've delivered the impossible."

"What exactly are you offering us," Ohgi asked, he sounded interested in the deal as he remembered that they had technically won that day in Shinjuku, they had tasted victory and, like anyone else, wanted another taste of it.

"I'm going to rescue Suzaku Kururugi," Zero simply stated, "I'm not about to let an innocent man take the fall for my actions. Of course the impossible part of that that I'm going to make possible is getting out of that situation alive."

"Deal," Ohgi said, and struck out his hand, which was shook, and the whole group witnessed Zero vanish from their collective sights.

"Who was that man?" Ohgi asked no one in particular.

Looking at her phone, Kallen found the answer.

"Zero," was all she said, but judging by Ohgi's paling face, the name meant something more.

"*"

The next night was the presented the perfect opportunity for miracles to be made. Well one impossible feat to be accomplished that is.

He had found the gas capsule, the so-called gas capsule that is and had made some modifications to it. He had brought it with him to somewhere along the stretch of road that the parade of Suzaku would be passing through.

He and the item were invisible. Since he couldn't just leave it visible, he kept one hand on the thing for later.

When the escort and prisoner grew near him. He revealed himself with an explosion of smoke, which did what was needed which was to halt the procession.

"Get out of the way," Sir Jeremiah Gottwald ordered sternly from his sutherland.

"Not until you hear what I have to say," Zero stated, his voice echoing from all around, it wasn't quite the same as Death himself speaking, but it was good enough since he had set up speakers all over the place, he had a multipurpose wireless mic installed in his helmet which could also act as a radio.

"Speak up then," the Purist leader ordered, he was getting a bit too impatient.

"I just wanted to congratulate you on apprehending an innocent man," Zero stated, clapping his hands slowly, but not before making sure that his foot was in contact with the invisible capsule.

"What are you saying? This man confessed already!" Jeremiah stated.

"What I'm saying Lord Jeremiah, is that I am the one who made sure Viceroy Clovis will never walk, talk, or do anything ever again," Zero stated for all to hear, "And here I stand before you. So release that man."

"Confessing so publicly," Jeremiah said, "Alright," he then ordered his men to release the former Prime Minister's son, "He has been released, now will you come quietly, not that you have much of a choice, or will we have to use force?"

"I have an even better idea," Zero said, "You make sure that the two of us," he indicated himself and Suzaku, who was still bound and collared standing near him, "Get away from all this," he motioned to everything, "Unscathed, and I'll leave you this," he turned the capsule visible while dropping some smoke pellets to make it's appearance a little bit more dramatic, "I'll also include the bonus of keeping my mouth shut about Orange."

The military's reaction to the capsule had been expected, there was a moment of hesitation, then someone decided to recklessly attack.

"_Kururugi-san_" Zero whispered as he released the soldier from his bonds, "_Find your way home or something, I'll act as all the distraction you'll be needing,_" he didn't wait for any sign of acknowledgment from the naïve soldier as he got Suzaku to pass through the bridge and fall safely to net that would be automatically moved to the ground once someone fell onto it.

Colored smoke was released from the capsule making those that believed they knew what it was that the civilians were being gassed, while the civilians didn't know how to react other than stand there watching the interaction between the military and just one guy.

Just one guy that had somehow managed to orchestrate the escape of Suzaku Kururugi, and was holding his own against a bunch of knightmare frames.

Zero had decided to cut loose a bit, and broke free of the bonds or limitations that he had set for himself. Bullets rained down upon him, and he either side stepped them or let them pass through him, as if he were a mere illusion. Slash harkens were treated in the same manner.

Once he was upon a frame, all it took was a punch or kick from him to incapacitate the thing.

It was only once the civilians watched the first knightmare fall to the machinations of one man did they begin to panic. The media crew present in the area made sure to try and follow his every movement. From every step to every jump, from every punch to every kick. It was as if he was a bionic man or a cyborg or robot of sorts holding his own against the massive monsters of metallic death.

It was like a scene out of a cartoon.

When all the frames were incapacitated and only the foot soldiers with rifles were left. The knights themselves left their downed machines and attacked with whatever they themselves had on them. One man even had a sword on him, hidden somewhere. It was Jeremiah himself, why he had the thing on his person was anyone's guess.

He proved to be just as skilled with a sword as he was with a knighmare, while the others seemed to be unable to do anything to him, Jeremiah managed to actually connect with Zero's armored arm. The armor coming and going as needed, Lelouch had figured out how to make his creations disintegrate or reintegrate themselves with his body.

It was an accidental discovery done in the field.

By the tail end of the alteraction, only a scarce few of the audience remained, cheering on the Britannian military, while others risked their safety just to watch the battle and get a chance to claim to have personally witnessed the outcome. It was broadcast live on the television for all the world to see.

When only Jeremiah was left standing and fighting, the battle grew even more intense than before.

A one of one fight where neither side had to worry about harming allies or civilians, since none of them were dumb enough to approach the two combatants.

A downward sword slash.

A side swiping armored arm.

A sword soaring in an arc through the air.

A fist slamming into a face.

A sword embedding itself into the ground.

One man with a raised hand closing in on the other.

Masked criminal facing off against the law.

"Who are you?" the law growls out as he struggles against the criminal's iron grip around his neck, pressed against the pavement.

A media man dares to zoom in onto the faces of the two remaining combatants, the microphone managing to miraculously catch the words, or perhaps it was more due to the fact that the speakers were once again being used to magnify the brief conversation.

"Who am I?" Zero rhetorically asked, "I am Zero," he then lowered his hand over Jeremiah's face, "Now _dream _a little dream of me_._"

"*"

His name and his face was all over the news for the next few days. He was all anyone would talk about, and all anyone wanted to know about.

The Purist faction was taken down a few pegs due to the incapacitation of their elected and most zealous leader. There was also the fact that they had all lost to a masked criminal that had admitted to being the real culprit for the near vegetable state of Prince Clovis who was stripped of his position of viceroy due to his inability to perform his duties and responsibilities.

Ohgi, Kallen, and the rest of their group met up the day after Zero had performed the impossible, which did of course include what he had said he would do along with how he fought off the Britannians. That was probably the most unbelievable part of it all, one man against a lot of machines that had more than enough firepower to squash a man like a bug.

They swore their allegiance to him, and even swore not to ask about his identity again. They would follow his philosophy that while man a man can fail, can be caught, killed, and forgotten, a symbol or idea on the other hand cannot.

He shared with them the basic outline of his plans. They would be the bannermen of the revolution or rebellion. He would be the banner behind which they people would rally, the symbol of all that they wished to achieve and the otherworldly force by which would obliterate that which oppressed the world.

The Chisiogumi, or family or clan, too pledged their allegiance to Zero and his cause. It had been the price that for the information that had served them quite well. They had gladly paid it, for their honor had been at stake and they owed this man, this man that would one day be hailed as the man of miracles.

No missions were handed out for the members of Zero's private army, it was not yet time to properly introduce themselves to the world. He wanted to make an impact after all, he wanted what his group would stand for to be surely known to the world.

He wouldn't manipulate people and events to suit his needs, rather he would wait for an opportunity to present itself. It was better all around that way, it also gave him enough time to go to school, spend time with his friends, spend time with his sister, and run around wearing multiple faces or dress in drag, though the dressing in drag part was debatable since his body was not that of a boy's after all.

"So when do we get to go on missions?" Kallen asked after cornering Lelouch as they were let out of class, it was quite a shock for the sickly unicorn to be cornering the untouchable vice-president.

"When the time is right," Lelouch calmly replied, "Why, and why are you asking me anyway?"

"Because Master Zero is not answering, either that or his phone's turned off," Kallen said, "And you just so happen to be the only one around here that knows who he really is."

"I also happen to be the only contact between you and he that is more or less always available," Lelouch said to her, he then leaned closer to her to whisper in her ear, and also to fuel the flames of gossip already spreading about them, "_Since you want to see some action so much, then why not you and me get to know each other better?_"

He made sure that his whispered tone carried a heavy dose of veiled innuendo, just so that he could watch her blush tomato red in front of those spying on the two of them and their _secret_ conversation. Sure their words couldn't be heard, and their lips couldn't be read, but that only made her blushing form all the more _sweeter._

Milly was sure to hear it along the grapevine, but she wouldn't be able to use it as leverage against him since he would gladly embrace any jokes relating to his _secret_ relationship with the girl.

"Wh-What? Wh-Why?" she stuttered, "I mean..we just really met...and I...uh..."

She was fidgeting, he didn't think such an _innocent_ question would have such an effect on her battle hardened self. She could stare down and even fight on level ground with a sutherland using a washed out machine, but when faced with such a simple thing she panicked, stuttered, and was all around uncomfortable with things.

He at first thought that it might some kind of act to compliment her sickly school girl act, but as he observed her, he was rather good at that, he noticed no tells.

"_Just say yes, and I'll pick you up at your place at say, sevenish,_" he whispered once again, his breath barely an inch away from her ear, if anyone could clearly see his eyes, they would have seen them sparking with mischief.

"Y-Yes, s-sure," she said, not really sure with herself if she was making the right decision here, one should not mix business and pleasure after all.

They parted ways after those words were exchanged, but of course Lelouch had to have the last laugh, the last of several, so he kissed her hand in a pseudo-gentlemanly fashion.

He poured out the charm as he walked away to prepare for the night. Smiling at every girl that accidentally caught his eye, there were many blushing girls along his path to his quarters, even Sayoko had not been spared. His sister was of course the only one left out, but he did personally inform her that he had a date that night and wouldn't be home for dinner.

Her smile made his day even more than any other event could have done.

He called on Ryuji just to ask for the man's opinion on where was the best place to bring a girl on the first date. It had been an odd request or so the man believed, but he had already sworn his allegiance, and he supposed that such an innocent seeming thing wasn't really something to worry much about. The man still did find it rather odd to be asked such a question.

At seven, he showed up at her place which gained her the ire of her step-mother and a smile from her real mother, the maid of the house, as he was let in. It was obvious what the woman of the house did in her spare time and prided herself in being able to do, to be outshone in a sense by a girl that did not share her blood, only her name, was not something she could be happy about at all.

Kallen had chosen something simple, as she didn't expect that they would be going to anywhere that required her to dress up. Which was the case this time.

He brought her to a simple place, in one of the more number populated areas of the island. The cuisine was something that she had missed partaking in, it wasn't that well known outside of the area. He didn't share where he had gotten the information about it. It even had several formerly world renowned chefs working there, the more patriotic kind, but didn't discriminate like some others would have.

It was really just a simple dinner date, a getting-to-know-you sort of thing. None of the implied activities that she had expected to happen had happened.

They enjoyed their time together, time spent not having to worry about the rest of the world around them. They were just two high school students enjoying their lives, the part of their lives that were supposed to still have some semblance of innocence.

#

Kallen had tried to decline Milly's invitation for an all girl weekend at the Lake Kawaguchi Convention Center. It was supposed to have been a fun thing, that was up until the Japan Liberation Front stormed the place and took everyone hostage.

If ever there was a time that Lelouch could have taken the world by storm, it was then. Which is precisely what he did, when he found out about it of course. But before that happened, he introduced his main subordinates to their mobile base, a vehicle that he had acquired from a libertine nobleman that provided things for him, no questions asked, mostly due to the mountain of debt owed.

It was the closest to a life of leisure, as far as criminals or vigilantes could go without getting any real support and not having any real numbers.

Turning on the TV installed in one of the walls of the first floor of the transport, the group watched the news, they saw the drama that was Lake Kawaguchi unfold.

"Interesting," Zero said as he folded his hands before him, leaning on the table before the television.

"What is? Aside the JLF hogging all the action again," Tamaki, the boisterous member of the group, asked, he too wanted to see some action.

"It is time we announce ourselves to the world," Zero stated and stood to begin to prepare.

"What do you mean Zero?" Ohgi asked, "Are we going to join forces with the JLF or something?"

"No, we are not," Zero said, "We are going to stop them."

"What? Why?" Tamaki demanded, hot headedly, "The hostages are all Britannians for crying out loud!"

"They are civilians," Zero said, "Involving civilians is an act of terrorism, and gains us no love from the people. We are knights of justice, we are servants of the people, the innocents, the weak. We are the blade that defends the helpless."

He spoke passionately, gaining some more actual loyalty and respect from his subordinates.

"Alright then," Ohgi said, satisfied, "What are we going to do then, and shouldn't we wait for Kallen?"

"No," Zero replied.

"Why not?" Ohgi asked, she was as much a member of the group as any of them after all.

"Which brings us to the second reason of why we'll be rescuing those hostages," Zero stated, "She's one of them."

"How do you know that? Did she call?" Ohgi asked, he was greatly shocked by that information, "Why'd she even go there in the first place."

"All of us here know that she's half-Britannian," Zero said, "She goes to an all Britannian school, though I don't think all of us here are aware of her recent induction in the Student Council."

"How do you know that?" Tamaki asked.

"One of my agents from before our merger is too a member of said council," Zero said, "The only reason he and the only other male of said council are not part of the hostage taking is due to other duties."

"So how are we going to get into the place," one of the other members asked, "The place is practically surrounded by Britannian military, not to mention that new viceroy that's been mopping up some of the smaller groups."

"What's the easiest way of entering any building?" Zero asked, facing Tamaki.

"The front door?" was the unsure reply.

"Correct," Zero happily said, pulled out a box from beneath the couch he was sitting on and handed out wrapped parcels to each of his subordinates, "Put those on so that we can leave for our debut."

"Debut?" someone kind of asked.

"Yes," Zero said, a mischievous smile plastered on his unseen face, "Debut."

It took the group a few minutes to get changed, the suits were not just comfortable as they found them to be, but also doubled as armor. The bulletproof kind.

Zero had memorized each and every part of a standard motorcycle just for the occasion that had presented itself. He needed to know each part so that he could create motorcycles for his group to use to get to their destination.

He'd already tried it once, just to be sure that he could do it, and he could say that it was a pleasant unpleasant experience. He'd been wearing a t-shirt and shorts when he had made his trial run, there was a lot of skin body parts that he could use that time. But now, all he could use were his hands.

"How are we getting there?" one of his subordinates asked.

"I am now going to perform a small miracle," Zero solemnly said as he pulled off his gloves, he showed them both of his hands and rolled up his sleeves even, "Now don't go spreading around that I can do this."

"Do what?" Ohgi asked, but instead of a verbal reply what he got was a visual one that left his jaw slack and his nerves numb.

He thrust his arms forward, in a sweeping motion or like releasing a bowling ball down the lane. From out of his hands emerged a pair of identical black motorcycles. From headlight to tail end, they each emerged. Flesh, blood, and bone, were what they had formerly been, and the only reason why it was an unpleasant experience was the rate of healing or regeneration that was forced to take place.

He repeated the process of creation a few more times until they all had a bike to ride to their debut. Though at the end of it he had to lean against one of the parked machines as he regained the use of both his arms which were more than tired from all the transformations and regenerations that they had been forced to go through.

"_How in the world?_" Tamaki voiced the question in everyone's minds once he got some of his composure back.

"That's a secret I'm not willing to share with anyone if I can help it," Zero said, "To be transformed into what I have become one must go from being a mere man into something more."

"Who are you really?" Sugiyama had to ask, what just happened was simply too much to take in.

"Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask," Zero responds, not giving anything away, "Now pick a ride so we can be off."

"What about you?" Minami asked, "There's only enough bikes for us."

"I have some other means of moving," he said, "I'll meet you at the checkpoint closest to the bridge."

"How are you..?" Inoue wasn't able to finish asking the question since they all found themselves without Zero there.

He was gone with the wind, riding the air currents as he switched between a kit fit for a person and all manner of aerial travel that he could think up create and reabsorb. More unpleasant and pleasant experiences, which he didn't really mind all in the sane of fun and insanity. One had to be a little bit insane to dare to take on a third of the world after all.

He arrived in area and stole a media van, using his geass for the first time in a while so that the guy manning and guarding the van would not remember what the hell happened to it. It was necessary, they needed the cameras after all, along with the lights, and a mode of transportation that would not be missed by them should things get hairy.

He brought the van to their designated meeting place, but instead of appearing from the driver's seat as Zero, it was Louise wearing still a black and white ensemble, the top was a cross between a kimono and a blouse, she wore leather pants and heels too. It was a wonder how she could drive with those on, or it would have been had she driven with them on.

"Zero will join you on the way," Louise informed Ohgi and his group as they approached the van, "He has some unfinished business to attend to, just as I do."

"You...you're.." Ohgi paled as he realized just who was speaking to him.

"Yes, yes I am," she said, "So get in the van already. Designate a driver, and as soon as you hear or feel a thump on the top of the van, Zero will have arrived."

They filed in, had Sugiyama serve as the driver, and waited for their leader to arrive. How in the world he was going to land on the top of the van was anyone's guess, but he did and radioed in.

"_Don't worry so much,_" his voice said over the radio, "_The worst that can happen is you'll all get killed..._" he ended his reassurance with a short mad cackle. It did not reassure them, it did make them wonder how a man who was normally all calm, cool, and collected, could go bat-shit-insane.

While they may have contemplated quitting while they still had their lives and the taste of victory instead of a string of defeats, they were unable to do anything about their situation since Sugiyama stopped the van right smack dab in the middle of where the military were concentrated. Under orders of their illustrious leader of course. They trusted him in Shinjuku so why not in the face of Cornelia li Britannia.

They were all screwed somehow, and they knew it.

"Zero," Cornelia said from within her frame, "What do we owe the pleasure?"

"I'm here to free the hostages," he replied," Therefore I'd suggest you let us pass, lest someone very near and dear to you suffers the same fate as that last hostage that went bungee jumping without a cord."

"H-How do you know about that?" she all but shouted in demand, it was not public information after all.

"I know you," Zero said, "What is sacrificing mere civilians when it will gain you a bigger prize, after all you too are a demon of war."

"Tch," the princess had nothing to say to that, "If we let you through, you'll probably just side with the JLF. I'm better of stopping you here, I'll not have you reinforcing your comrades within."

"Whatever you say m'lady," Zero said, then spoke via radio to Sugiyama instead, "_Just drive on through, don't worry about hitting anything. Trust me, everything will work out fine._"

"_Nippon Banzai!_" Sugiyama said, which his comrades in the back of the van managed to hear as well, scared the hell out of them too.

It was a crazy experience, no real arms were fired, but whatever was, and whatever attempt at stopping the van failed. Not even the JLF managed to harm the van and it's inhabitants. It was as if it were never there, or was simply an illusion of sorts. A reflection of the moon upon a pond, though a pond may gain ripples the moon still remains.

The man in charge of the hostage operation was informed of the strange occurrence and was also told that Zero himself wanted to have a word.

He granted the request and thought nothing of the men and woman that Zero had brought with him.

That was one of the mistakes he made. Another mistake was that he had permitted Zero to be alone with him and his men. Had one of Zero's allies been with them, they might have stood a chance of living, but with only Zero, they had no chance at all.

Zero had outlined the plan more or less as they crossed the bridge and baffled military and terrorist alike with their nigh invulnerability. It was a plan with the goal of heightening emotions, they needed to make an impact after all, and what better way than to go beyond Cornelia's original plan of blowing the foundations out from under the building to cause it to sink into the lake, but at the same time giving time for rescuers to make their move.

What Zero had in mind was to do that, but before detonating his bombs, he would make sure that all hostages and other personal worth saving were in life rafts already.

That had been the plan, and it was truly set in motion seconds after he uttered a single word with eye visible for those in the same room as he to see..

"Die," he had ordered, there was no simpler command than that.

General Kusakabe, and his protection detail did as they were ordered. Gunning themselves down, and in Kusakabe's case shoving his katana into himself.

That also happened to be the scene which met Princess Euphemia li Britannia, who was being escorted to the room to meet with Kusakabe, to be used as a bargaining chip, not that she was not naïve enough to realize that. She had good intentions for revealing herself, but some things aren't supposed to be done.

Having given herself up could have made the other hostages obsolete and therefore expendable.

"Ah, Euphemia, still as beautiful as ever I see," he said, his words sincere, this was a sister he didn't mind seeing, though he had no intentions of revealing just who he was to her, "As you can see General Kusakabe and his men realized the futility of what they had gone out to accomplish and have chosen to go down with their honor intact, instead of being gunned down by your sister."

"You're Zero...from the news...why did you attack Clovis?" she asked him, some fear had tainted her tone.

"I could enumerate the plentiful reasons for my actions," Zero said, "But the most important one, I must say, is because he is a child of the Emperor.."

Fear began to creep into her eyes, he could see it clear as day. His more sadistic side was coming out.

"..which reminds me..so are you," he said as he pulled out a gun from within the folds of his costume, "Now while I might not have killed your brother, I could end your life here and now, finally add a victim to my hopefully expanding collection."

"Wh-Why...why are you dong this? I haven't done anything wrong," she said, her voice trembling, her eyes alight with fear.

"Because I can," he simply stated, but whatever he was going to say after that would have to wait as Minami poked his head through into the room, the gun melted back into his hand though, "Yes?"

"All preparations are complete, sir," the man said, "We're ready to begin any time, though from what Ohgi said, the sooner the better, the viceroy's getting antsy."

"Very well," Zero said, "Inform the others that we'll be vacating the premises, and to prepare the equipment, and bring this princess with you. She's a bit suicidal though, sacrificing herself without thinking about he possible ramifications of her decisions, the other hostages could have been killed as their usefulness was about to expire with every step she took to this room."

"Yes sir," he said, and grabbed hold of the princess' arm, he didn't really believe that the pink haired girl was a princess, rather he believed that she was the daughter of someone rather important.

When everyone was on a boat, with Zero and his people on a yacht. The detonator was pressed and the explosives were detonated. Despair was what was felt by the onlooking Britannians, not to mention the pilot of the white knightmare frame, Lancelot.

He thought he had failed someone precious to him, his princess, even though he was no real prince. Though through his heritage he was pretty close to being one.

Before anyone could be dispatched to search for survivors, everyone that had a television set were forced into staring at the boob tube to witness the debut of the Black Knights, Zero's knights of justice. The defenders of the weak, the helpless, the oppressed.

They managed to get Kallen away from the rest of the student council and into the uniform that Zero had provided for her.

The numbers, Britannians, and the rest of the world alike, could not shield their ears and their hearts from the words of this masked mad man who dared to challenge the word.

"People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit. We are the Black Knights. We of the Black Knights stand with those who have no weapons to wield; regardless of whether they be Japanese or Britannian. The Japan Liberation Front cowardly took innocent Britannian civilians hostage, and then mercilessly executed them. It was a wanton and meaningless act, therefore they have been punished. Just as former Viceroy Clovis was punished for ordering the slaughter of countless unarmed Japanese, we could not stand by and allow such cruelty to be carried out, and so we made him pay for his actions. I will not repudiate battle on a fair and level field, but neither will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong. The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed! Wherever oppressors have abused their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again. No matter how mighty, or formidable our foe may be! Those of you with power, fear us! Those of you without it, rally behind us! We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world."

It was a powerful and passionate speech. One that would long be remembered and were already recorded to last in the annals of history. It was a bold statement, a bold declaration. It was as good a battle cry as any.

With the speech over and done with, the hostages were returned, and the newly dubbed Black Knights slinked off into the night. The yacht left behind, the van forgotten, all the equipment returned mysteriously to their real owners, and the knights rode their motorcycles home.

Zero had decided to just give them to them, instead of taking them back into himself or keeping them.

Kallen had not been a problem either. In the confusion that ensued after the live broadcast, Zero had stripped her of her uniform, placed in a paper bag which he handed to Ohgi to return to Kallen later, and clothed the girl in her original garb second later. No one, save for him, and the girl, knew what had transpired over a matter of mere seconds, or minutes. Who really cared, right?

What happened to all the hostages and of course Zero and his Order of the Black Knights were the talk of the town for the rest of the week. The Black Knights became a household name as their deeds and reputation grew in number and in magnitude.

Cornelia tried her best to catch them, but she failed every plot, plan, and ploy, she sent against them. Nothing she could think of had worked. Then she finally decided to see if she could bait Zero into coming to her if she made a repeat of Shinjuku.

Where those with power abuse the powerless or something like that. She was just sure that she would attract his attention and possibly his wrath. What were a few Eleven civilians anyway.

"Zero?" Ohgi said upon answering his phone, the name clearly read 'Zero' after all, "Should I get everyone?"

"No," the leader said, "Continue with the regular missions. Cornelia is calling me out, and I intend to answer. I am not about to endanger all of you in this minor conflict."

"What do you intend to do? And shouldn't we help those civilians, before the military seal their fates?" Ohgi asked, "We've gotten a lot of support lately due to the Lake Kawagushi incident and all the things we've done after it. But if we let so many people down by not showing up and helping them, we'll lose a lot of support."

"Don't worry so much about it," Zero said, "I've already handled the civilian part. I had some people evacuate the residents as soon as the orders for deployment to that area were given."

"How did you...never mind...I already know where you got the information, or at least I think I do," Ohgi said, "I'll carry out your orders, Zero, just be careful, we need you after all. I'd insist you take Kallen with you, but I have a feeling that you'll just ditch her or leave without her."


	130. W2

There was a multitude of things that could have been done to alleviate him of his boredom. Alright, not boredom per se, but something leading to that sate of stagnation that he and his kind avoided as much as they possibly could. It would not do to cause yet another calamity so soon.

He had multiple projects already on the way, some progressing nicely while others had halted, pausing, or were placed in a form of suspended animation to be continued at a later date or time.

He played with the idea of gifting yet another soul with altered copies of his three most important artifacts and tools. It was going well in that first experimental world, this prompted him to chose to go with the idea of once more imparting his gift to a mortal man.

There were already all sorts of realities and worlds that were used by his brethren to alleviate their boredom or to simply try out new ideas, adding to their own number on occasion or to simply shake things up a bit.

He chose from those worlds, for they were well known and easier to manipulate. The mortal that he was going to induct into his forces, in a sense, was easy to manipulate. After all, those who craved acknowledgment were the most susceptible to being used and abused.

Give a purposeless mortal a purpose, and they will do everything in their power to repay you.

He sent an insignificant part of himself to one of the untainted worlds, it was like Russian roulette, you never knew exactly what you would get. But they were all basically the same to him, they were all worlds, all realities that would have followed in the footsteps of the untouchable original world unless someone, someone like him, tainted the world.

Mutated it's flow of fate, destiny, and time, to suit his needs.

It was this insignificant piece of himself that took the place of the summoned god of death that was to play the role of middleman for a sealing transaction of a powerful force of more than just nature.

He put his mark on the soul of the mortal that was used as the third in a line of vessels for a once great force of more than nature. He was a special boy with a very unique and special lineage in the world. He also had a unique and important destiny, he was to either be the destroyer or the savior of an entire world of life.

The innocent youth who had yet done nothing of significance save for bearing the burden of being the vessel of the most powerful of nine behemoths of power, lost all rights of ever leaving the living plane permanently. He was chosen by Death himself to be one of his instruments of chaos.

From that moment on, he bore the mark of Death himself. From the time he first opened his eyes a whole other world lay before his eyes. The world of life and the world of death were in his view and vision, his hands could interact with either one.

This innocent soul didn't live the most sheltered of lives, from the very first day he was exposed to all aspects of the world he lived in. And through it all, where weaker souls would have faltered and succumbed to their hate and darker aspects, he did not. He stayed on the path of right, though he wasn't entirely sure why himself.

He had seen what lesser will could do to a soul, and it disgusted him to a point, but he could never hate entirely any man. He could not find it in him to truly hate or dislike a person, a soul.

Coinciding with an event that changed the fate of another single soul, Death came for his chosen one once again.

The smell of spilled blood permeated the air, but that was of no consequence to the one blonde boy that was huddled in the corner of his bedroom in his apartment, an apartment that had been given to him by the leader of the village after he had been found wandering the streets living his day to day dumpster diving.

It wasn't the gradual stench of blood in the air that caused him to curled into himself in one corner, it was all the activity he could see through one eye. The world of the dead, or the invisible world as he thought of it, was alight with activity.

There was much anger in that world and it made him more than simply uncomfortable. He had seen many things in his short life, and many of those things would have broken a lesser man with lesser resolve, will, and sense of self. But not he, but of course at the same time he could still fear it all.

The most frightening thing of the night was not all of those Uchiha that had passed him by and ignored him. He knew that they were in the invisible world, the world that paralleled the one that everyone could see, because one eye saw one world, while the other saw the other.

What scared him more, frightened him more, what caused him to hide in a corner was the feeling that caused all that he saw moving about, proceeding with their daily lives, to stop and cower just as he was.

He could vaguely remember feeling it once before, a long time ago, back when memories were a muddled mess of things.

Then the biting cold washed over him, and he tried to curl even further into himself, bury himself further in what warmth he still held in him. It was futile as each second passed, the cold simply grew in intensity, until he looked up to see a face that would haunt many other people's nightmares.

But not his, for some reason, not his.

"_You can see me, can you not,_" the fragment of Death himself spoke, his voice chilling to the bone not only with the deadened feel it gave out, but also the dreaded choir that was his voice echoing from all around, through space and time and in between.

The child nodded in reply, unsure if whether or not his voice would manage to finally penetrate into the invisible world, he had tried several times to speak with those unseen figures, but barely succeeded.

"_If I can speak to you, converse with you, interact with you, then you may do the same with me as well,_" Death said to the nod, he wanted to hear the child's voice for himself, it was selfish considering the circumstances, but why should he care for such matters.

"_Yes, sir,_" the child replied in whisper as if fearing that some unseen watcher might see him and think him crazy.

"_Good, now then as to why I am here, why I have chosen this night of nights to come visit you,_" Death said, "_You who I had chosen as my heir in this world in all but blood._"

"_Heir?_" the child whispered in confusion, the term was still unfamiliar to him, even though many of his peers had the title hovering over their heads.

"_My successor of sorts,_" Death said, "_You've seen a part, a fragment, of that realm in which I hold some dominion over._"

"_The invisible world,_" the child, still whispering, said in realization or confirmation, "_You rule the invisible world._"

"_In a sense, I do,_" Death added, "_I, the one you see before you now, am a mere fragment of one great and all powerful Being. Though that really doesn't have any thing to do with you and what I had anointed you for."_

"_Anoint? What's that mean?_" the child asked, yet another term he was unfamiliar with.

"_I marked you as my chosen heir, my successor of sorts to the invisible world as you call it,_" Death said, "_There is a reason why only now are you able to interact with one such as I that walks in this invisible __world."_

"_It is because your life as the emperor of this invisible world shall begin now,_" Death said, "_I have decided upon it. But it will be a gradual transition, not an instant appointment._"

"_But I thought.._" the short blonde tried to say.

"_I have told you what you need to know, for the rest of it you must venture into the forest whose namesake is my name and title,_" Death said, "_Within, you must locate an underground temple, and within that rests a book. In it you will find all of your answers, and should one question not be answered, then call out to me and I shall come._"

"_So..what am I now really? Am I a monster like many say I am when they think I can't hear them or even when I can,_" the child all but blurted out.

"_You may think yourself as such if you so wish,_" Death said, not caring for the thought running wild in the child's mind, "_You are, and have always been, greater than any of those simpletons that could not look beyond their fear and hate, to see the child and chosen one I see before me now._"

"_Thank you,_" the child said, somewhat grateful for being acknowledged, even for something he had no control over and something he hadn't known was his and his alone, "_But what am I now? Or what have I always been?_"

"_My chosen one, the avatar of chaos, my prince in all but title and name, the little emperor of my domain in this world, in this existence,_" Death said, "_You, who have many subordinates that shall have no other choice but to answer your call and to do your bidding, are this world's, both the invisible and the not, Shinigami._"

"I'm what?" the child forwent his whispering and all but shouted his shock.

"_I shan't repeat myself,_" Death stated, "_You heard me clear as day. That is what you now are. Contrary to popular belief there are plenty of what you perceived as the one that takes you to the great beyond. They are all my creations, my subordinates, my soldiers, my servants. A portion of them, the ones assigned to this reality, this existence, this world. They are yours to call, to command._"

"Oh.." the child said, he didn't know how to react to that after all.

"_Think of yourself as their Kage, and they are your shinobi,_" Death explained, "_But instead of performing all sorts of missions, their specialty is dealing out death, removing the living from the living world and bringing some of them to the great beyond and the others to the invisible world to live out a new life or a slight continuation of the old._"

"Ok...I understand I guess," the kid said, "So what happens now?"

"_Before I leave you, I have a gift,_" he then held out a rather ornate looking stick, which the blonde child accepted hesitantly.

Before the blonde could voice his thanks, there was a black flash of light. The blonde felt as if his body was torn asunder, destroyed completely, but replaced just as quickly with a new one. It was an experience he hoped never to have to undergo again, and if finding a way to be immortal would keep him away from experiencing it again, he'd gladly walk down that route.

"_Don't worry, that was a one time thing,_" Death stated, "_You'll never have to go through the pain of that short little merger again._"

"What was that?" the blonde asked, he failed to notice his state of undress.

"_That was that ornate stick bonding with you, merging with you, in short it more or less became your body, the vessel of your immortal soul,_" Death said, "_Your mind and body are formidable weapons on any __battlefield. Use this first gift well, and once you have mastered it to a greater extent, I shall return and present you with your next gift._"

"Ok, I think I can do that," the blonde kid said, "Do I get any special powers?"

"_As a matter of fact you do,"_ Death replied, and took a seat instead of leaving, he had a feeling that remaining with the boy for the time being and explaining instead of simply letting the child figure everything out on his own with only the aid of a book.

"What are they? Will you tell me?" the kid asked, hopefully, uncurled fully, no longer minding everything happening to him.

"_First off, in this world, in this life, in this existence, there is no longer anyone that will be able to best you in battle, in a game, in a fight, in a war, in a competition, in anything where you are pitted against another person, group, or other," _Death told him, "_Your main power is to adapt. To mutate, to transform, to change to suit any situation. ANY situation. All you need do is but think it, and it shall be. Though only regarding your own body._"

"So...it's like henge no jutsu?" the boy asked.

"_You may think of it as such, but unlike that illusion, you will perform an actual transformation,_" Death said, continuing his explanation, "_Your new body also grants you a much faster and more advanced healing factor. You are now able to rejuvenate or regenerate anything, quick or quicker than lightning. You may lose a finger or a hand, and it would grow back faster than a lizard regrew a lost tail or limb._"

"That's kinda cool," the kid said, but asked, "But why'd I need that? The regrowing of lost limbs and the like?"

"_When I said you could transform, I meant that you could transform parts of yourself into other things,_" Death answered, "_You will need the regenerative powers of your new body when you decide that you need some kunai or shuriken on the fly and don't have enough to throw black metal death upon your enemies._"

"Oh," the blonde said, "That's cool. So as long as I have body parts, I'll have weapons?"

"_Precisely,_" Death said, "_An item created using your body will last for as long as you wish it to last, that is to say, if you want to reabsorb it into your body it will. But if you do not, it will remain as it is, whatever that may be._"

"How big of a thing will I be able to create?" the blonde asked, getting excited with his new toy of a body.

"_One cell per part, complex parts of whatever that thing that you will be creating or transforming a body part into will determine how much of your body you will use and how big of an item you can generate," _Death replied.

"That's so cool! I can't wait to try it out!" the blonde excitedly said.

"_All you have to remember is that you should believe that it is possible, then you simply will it to happen, it should eventually become second nature to you,_" Death said, "_As far as powers go, that's about it. As far as seeing or being in the two worlds, that will now depend on which eye you have open, or which eye is viewing the world._"

"What do you mean? You mean I've been living in two worlds all this time and didn't know it?" the blonde asked.

"_Yes, yes you have,_" was Death's reply, "_Your right eye sees the living world and keeps you in the living world. Your left eye sees the dead world or invisible world and keeps you in it. With only one eye open, you will be able to remain in only one world, unless the other opens as well. I would suggest wearing an eye __patch._"

"Ok," the blonde kid said, "Thanks for the tips, the gift, and seeing me for me!"

"_I will always see you for you, Naruto,_" Death stated, stood, bowed to the blonde, and departed from his little princeling.

The blonde haired boy, once starved for attention and recognition, no longer was what he had once been. He was something more now.

He kept the eye that kept him in the invisible world closed, managing to create an eye patch for himself from out of his eyelid on the first try.

He believed himself not yet ready to venture into one of the most dangerous grounds in all of the village's territory. He decided to train first, train in his new abilities, so that they would not become a hindrance to him in the future.

He also learned in the coming days of what had truly transpired that one night that Death had come for a visit and raised him up to the highest position in the invisible world. He had learned of why he had seen many Uchiha walk past him in the invisible world. They had been massacred, leaving only one of their number in the village alive, the other having been the one that had ended all of the rest's lives.

It was an even more frightening thought, one man able to down a hundred or more individuals all on his own. How was the village expected to hunt down that one man, to bring justice, to avenge the fallen, innocent and guilty alike.

Sure he didn't really like the Uchiha that much, stuck up pricks that they were much like the Hyuga, but they were comrades all the same, and they didnt' deserve the fate that had been forced upon them. Sasuke, his peer, didn't deserve a life without family, as he himself had experienced almost from day one.

He vowed then and there to become as strong as he could be, to become strong enough that no one would have to suffer as he, Sasuke, and those like them would not have to suffer, to suffer a childhood without parents. He understood then and there what it meant to be Hokage, what his dream truly required of him, needed of him, called out for him to become.

He didn't want to be acknowledge anymore, he had already attained that, by a power so high up in the food chain that it wasn't funny. He'd received recognition too. He also now had subordinates, soldiers that would answer his call and obey his commands.

He was a Kage of the invisible world, but that wasn't as demanding as being a Kage in the living world. In the world where his comrades and peers resided in, where death was more real, as real as life, unlike in the invisible world, where life was less real since it was mixed in with death. It was like a limbo existence for those that lived there, those ghosts, spirits, souls, that had some unfinished business, were far too afraid to let go of the living world, or simply chose to remain for their own reason. There were of course also those that decided that having a choice of what they would reincarnate to was better than whatever someone else would chose for them, so they decided to start anew, some of them anyway.

Naruto didn't really think about the what if Sasuke wanted to speak with his family, he didn't know how to go about doing that yet anyway, so it didn't really enter his mind.

Once he was trained up, when he found himself able to transform on less than a whim, his transition from one for to another were flawless in his eyes and in those seasoned veterans which he had used as his final exam to see if he had mastered the abilities of his body.

Finding himself ready, he stalked on over to the fence of the Forest of Death and proceeded to find a way to enter and locate that underground temple which held the book that he would be requiring to further his studies of his duties and whatever else he could do as the emperor of the invisible world.

He found all the gates locked, the fence was really tall or high. So while he didn't know the secret of how to walk on walls or jump really high, and he didn't want to have to jump with strength alone, which he could do as he had found out, he chose to use the skills he had acquired from his personal training.

He threw up a grappling hook attached to a long rope, it was skin and blood which had been the basis for the tools. Once the hook snagged something, and the pull didn't get him bonked on the head by a loose hook. He pulled himself up by reabsorbing the rope and the hook when he was precariously perched atop the fence.

The temple he assumed was in both the living and invisible worlds, so he dared to remove the eye patch from his left eye. The vision that assaulted him, the sights, and sounds, were deafening, much death had been reaped in the forest, there were so many wandering souls, those that refused to leave forest for one reason or another, some he even saw fighting just in front of him.

But all that fighting and moving and aimless wandering stopped when one of their number finally noticed him, his presence, and his staring at them all with wide eyes.

-You can see us can't you?- came the voice of the one that had spotted him first, there was a feeling to the voice that made it clear that the voice belonged to one of the invisible world's inhabitants.

"Yep," Naruto replied, "I've always been able to see you."

-Then why aren't you running and screaming about ghosts? The others that have caught glimpses of us did so- the man said or half asked.

"I'm special," Naruto replied, "This is the first time I've actually been able to talk to one of you, or be seen by one of you. I've always been invisible to you before."

-How?- the man asked -How is that possible? To be in both worlds at the same time-

"I was chosen," Naruto replied, but before he could say more, some of those that remembered a time before the blonde was born, remembered a war that had been fought, and another blonde, much like the young one before them, that had won one of those wars, attacked him.

Or tried to at least.

The only thing that stopped their attacks from actually harming the young blonde was the arrival of a ring of Death Reapers, the reapers of souls and guides to the after life. But unlike what you or me would believe they looked, they looked just as Death had described them as being for the child to understand his relationship with them. They were dressed as how the most elite agents of the Kage were usually found dressed as. They were Anbu.

Anbu with blades that could pierce and kill a soul, or simply send it to the real afterlife, to the great beyond.

~You will not harm our master~ one of the masked and hooded trench cloaked figures that had come to the blonde's aid spoke with all the authority that a Death Reaper could muster.

-Master of Death- one soul manged to say without stuttering or trembling in fear, but his own spectral aura trembled in trepidation as to what might happen next. The child before them held the fate of their afterlives in his hands, and some of them had dared to try and attack him due to some simple passing resemblance to a man that was, too, dead.

~That is correct~ the Death Anbu that spoke said, he, Naruto assumed the gender, then rounded on him to ask a question, ~Why have you come here, my master?~

"_Death_ instructed me to locate his temple and retrieve a book," was Naruto's reply, he figured that he could have his subordinates help him with his task.

~Then permit us to accompany you, our master, though we may not enter with you, we do know where it can be found~ he said.

"Ok...lead on then," Naruto said, ignoring the souls, his subjects, the more civilian ones as compared to his death reaping forces.

-What about us? What shall become of us? Surely we are to be punished for the transgression against you?- one of those that dared attack said.

"I guess you can either remain here or follow me, I could always use more soldiers," Naruto said as he hopped from branch to branch following his guard as he began to mentally call them.

-We'll come, what use is existing if we have no purpose- one of these soldiers in life said and began to hop from branch to branch as well, following him all the rest did the same.

The rather large group traveled up until they reached the central structure of the forest, once there each found themselves seeing a single image, that of the one that could be seen and entered in the living world. But for Naruto what he saw was different entirely. Instead of the tower, what he was was a massive temple, one that looked to have been constructed by a multitude of different cultures and civilizations matching the number or volume of voices which could be heard whenever Death spoke.

"Whoa..it's huge," Naruto said in awe, he had never seen such an amazing sight in all the years that he had been alive, and he had a feeling that in this world he could not encounter any one more greater than this.

~It can only be viewed by one who is in both worlds at the same time, which is also why only you may enter~ the Death Anbu Commander said, that was what Naruto mentally decided the one that spoke was to be ranked as.

So he walked up to the entrance, and vanished from all those with him's collective sights. He just up and vanished as he entered a different dimension entirely. It was a place that had so much to offer him and so many answers that led to so many more questions, but something told him that they were not for him. He was to just get his book and leave. Everything else in there was for someone or something else.

Like that weird thing called a fonkey.

He found the book simple enough, it was laid out on a cushioned pedestal in the middle one of the many libraries that he had managed to catch glimpses of but not entering until he reached the correct one.

He did not want to be the cat that was killed due to curiosity.

If something in the temple was meant for him, Death would have said so.

He began reading the book as he made his way back out of the temple. Little did he know that his time in the temple was far longer than it felt to him, the inability to tell time in the temple really did a number on him. Out in the real world his soldiers counted the days from when their master vanished to the day when he was finally visible to them again.

The book was an interesting read, and just like the temple it never seemed to run out of information. Naruto found himself not even halfway through the book, but that was to be expected since the introduction of the book said that the book really would not run out of information.

It spoke of other abilities he would gain as the years passed, it also spoke of other items that he had yet to be given or acquire on his own.

"So..how long was I in there?" he asked no one in particular yet waited for an answer to be given to him.

~About a month and a few hours~ was the reply that his anbu commander gave him.

"SHIT! The old man's probably been worried sick about me!" the short blonde boy exclaimed and began to panic a little bit, it was expected of course and no one would mock him for running hither and tither like a headless chicken, he was a child still after all.

-Then I believe, sir, that it would be best that you return to this old man you speak of to allay his fears about you and your whereabouts, though I don't see how telling him that you went camping in the Forest of Death would help any- one clearly jounin in rank said, he wore the symbol of Konoha, -If you don't mind me asking, but who is the Kage at present? I haven't left the forest since I last died-

"The Sandaime," Naruto replied, "Why?"

-I was just curious about how long I've been dead for- the jounin replied -Back when I was alive we had just elected the Shodaime-

"Alright then," the blonde said, and faced the direction of the village proper, "I'll be heading to the old man now, you lot," he spoke to his Anbu, "Go about your regular duties, while you lot," the new recruits, "Either go back to what you were doing before or try and integrate yourselves with the village."

~Hai!~

-Hai!-

The blonde put on the eye patch over his right eye, he needed stealth and speed to get to the old man. He knew from his readings that he truly had no equal in the invisible world, which would make traveling all the much faster if he was in that world and that world alone.

He glided his way to the Hokage Tower, racing through the branches at first, then through the streets of the invisible Konoha where citizens, all civilians since the military were not yet a felt presence in the village, all watched as he seemed to fly past.

He was a sight that they had not seen before, he was something new, but something deep within each one o them told them that he was important to them and their world somehow. If that feeling wasn't enough, active shinobi began mingling with them as pseudo new arrivals who informed them of who that blonde ball of joy was.

When he finally reached the tower and was in the Hokage's office he switched the place of his eye patch, the surprise evident on the old leader's face and his commanders or generals was priceless.

"**Where have you been?!**" the old leader shouted at the top of his lungs, worry and fury etched in his tone of voice, the blonde didn't even sport some sheepish look, he was a bit scared of the reaction, but he felt a reassuring presence all around him. Apparently his guard decided that their primary duty was being just that, his guard. They could interact with the living world if they so chose or if they were ordered to.

"Err...if I tell you, you might get even more mad," the blonde said, a little bit unsure of how to proceed from here.

"Just tell me where Naruto, you vanished just a week after the Uchiha incident, you had me worried sick," the Hokage said, genuine worry flowing off of him.

"The Forest of Death," Naruto decided to be honest with the old man, he had worried about him after all, it was his duty to be truthful to such a man that genuinely cared for him, "I guess I lost track of time in there, that and I kinda got lost on the road of life."

One of the men in the room visibly and audibly sneezed, the dog mask that covered his face almost fell off at the intensity of the sneeze.

"Could you repeat that again? I'm not sure I heard you correctly," the aged leader said, he was thinking that his old age was finally catching up to him.

"I said the Forest of Death," Naruto said, and at their incredulous looks he asked, "What? It's not that dangerous in there, the village is just as dangerous a place, if not even more dangerous, especially for someone like me."

"What do you mean? That's one of the if not he most dangerous training ground in all of the village," the Hokage said, relived that the blonde was relatively intact, "MY ANBU HAVE DIED TRAINING IN THERE!"

"Relax Jiji! I'm fine, right as rain! If I can survive the villagers and occasional shinobi attacking me, that forest was no biggie," the kid said, confidently, and thanks to his new body it was the truth, "Believe it!"

"I unwillingly can believe it," the old man said, "Next time you decide to do something dangerous, tell me first, okay? I worry about you after all."

"Yeah I know," Naruto said, then heard some whispered words in his ear from his guards, "I also know of the other reason, the one everyone else worries about me for."

That surely caught everyone else in the room off guard, it didn't really surprise Naruto, the information that is, he was used to it already thanks to Death.

"Wh-What do you mean?" the old man asked, he was hoping that the blonde didn't suddenly admit to hating them, the village for his treatment.

"I know that your law, the one concerning me," Naruto said, "You know, for a village full of shinobi, you'd think they'd be able to keep such a big and important secret, secret."

"I see," the old man said, "So what do you intend to do now that you know about it?"

"Nothing," the blonde said, "I'll just go about my life like I didn't know it. I haven't changed after all. I'm still Naruto."

"Thank you, Naruto," the old man said, "Now if you don't have anything else to tell me, I was in the middle of a very important meeting that wasn't just about you, you may go."

"Ok," the kid said, "I'll go train now! Ja ne!"

The adults had thought that he had just snuck in while they were all discussing whatever they were discussing. Which was why they expected the blonde to run out the door, not see the blonde with a new eye patch which the old man would be asking the blonde about later, simply vanish from sight.

There was no chakra sensed by any of them. The blonde had simply vanished. This just added to the list of things that the old man was going to talk to the blonde about.

Some were thinking that it was possible for the blonde to have discovered or stumbled upon some long forgotten jutsu or had unlocked a new bloodline limit.

"*"

His guards didn't think that his apartment was suited for him, and thus decided to gather some civilians to help in the construction of a clan compound for their master. One befitting the ruler of the invisible world.

Some of the Death Anbu entered the living world, and interacted with it, they used all of their connections for the time being in the village to purchase the Forest of Death, as that was where they planned on constructing their lord's compound or district.

It suited him after all. It was also rather easy since the civilian side seemed to own the land that the training ground was situated on. They didn't see how such a deadly place was useful for the village and thus sold it immediately for more than it was worth in gold. A price that the Death Anbu readily paid.

The name that the property was now registered to was one Shi Naruto, the latest of Naruto's list of names. He had Namikaze Naruto on his classified birth certificate, then Uzumaki Naruto was the name that he was known as in the living village. The Shi one was because of who he was in the invisible world. Might as well spread what he was in the living world as well.

The civilians didn't really care that much about some plot of land that they viewed as just another training ground that took the lives of precious village resources and protectors and public servants, not that the shinobi were public servants, they were the soldiers of the military village ruled by the Hokage.

It took roughly a month for the construction to be completed. The tower at the center of the forest became the site of the residential part of the compound, the rest of the forest made up the wall. All of the creature denizens of the forest knew their place. They all knew to stay away from Naruto and his people, lest they join the afterlife crew.

Death was still a greatly feared thing after all. A greatly feared state of being.

The Hokage was only made aware of the change of ownership of the training ground after several teams of anbu ventured into the forest for their annual survival training camp within the forest. They were forcibly ejected from the forest by the living dead and those that were in charge of collecting or reaping souls.

The higher ups in the shinobi forces were informed of the change in ownership and the Hokage was hard pressed not to slam his head against his desk when the new owner of that plot of land entered his office, escorted by black clothed people, his guard the blonde had explained. The blonde simply explained that they came with the bloodline bestowed upon him by something which scared the thing he used to house in his gut shitless.

That brought on a whole other headache for the aged leader. He had after all just learned that his blonde almost grandson had unleashed the chakra monster that had been unleashed on the village on the day he had been born by forces from out of this world.

The blonde was then forced, by circumstance, to unveil some more of his new secrets. It was amazing that such a short blonde child could keep such dangerous secrets while a whole village didn't seem to be able to keep their mouths shut about a just as dangerous secret. It was a wonder that there weren't any kidnapping attempts for the blonde former holder.

Only the Hokage was made aware of all of Naruto's secrets, the ones he was willing to share with the old man. The rest of those that needed to know important information pertaining to the safety and capability of the village's forces and assets was told that the blonde had unlocked a bloodline limit that had lain dormant and had activated due to a set of circumstances.

While the blonde was still forced to attend the academy, he didn't mind since he was already listed as one of the Hokage's shinobi, one that only really answered to the Hokage. He had the rank of jounin, but anyone that didn't have enough clearance would see that he was listed as genin. Only two people could release the information about him being jounin, and that was the Hokage himself and Naruto, who chose not to reveal such information until the time was right or it was necessary.

The shinobi and civilian councils demanded an exhibition of the abilities of this new bloodline, so Naruto permitted it, he showed them a mere fraction of what he could do. His demonstration consisted of him touching Nara Shikaku the head of the jounin, and had the man temporarily enter the invisible world. So long as Naruto was holding onto the man, he could make such a thing happen.

As Shikaku found, there were a lot of Nara in the invisible world, most of them men, as even in death they were rather lazy. Though he also noted that there were no female Nara ni the group that had descended upon him as soon as he arrived.

"The dead chose who they wish to see, unlike the living who have no choice but to see each other and only see the living," Naruto had said to the Nara clan head he had taken to the world of the dead with him.

No one else wanted to experience whatever the heck Naruto's bloodline did. They got all they wanted to know, and none of it was anything they had thought it would be.

Seeing and speaking with the dead, and able to interact with them was something which most didn't want tot ouch with a hundred foot long pole. It was just something that one didn't do, some even decided to call it a cursed bloodline.

Had he revealed what exactly he was, many of the councilmen and women would have pushed him into submitting himself to participating in the clan restoration act. Of course had they done that, he would not have shown them any mercy.

Naruto's first mission was a solo one, or as solo as the emperor of the dead could get.

The Hokage sent him out to exterminate a band of bandits that had been harassing one of the farther small mountain villages of the country. It was so far from the rest of civilization that aid was rarely sent and rarely requested.

Making this instance a very unique one and must have meant that the bandits were more than the village or Hi no Kuni outpost could handle. The outlying village was one where some retired shinobi or those trained somewhat sufficiently in the art of killing or fighting had gone. It was originally supposed to be a satellite village of Konoha, but was unable to become such due to how far from the rest of civilization it was. Why the residents remained there was due to the rich deposits of various ores that could be mined in the mountain that it was situated upon. A valuable resource for their home village of Konoha, and the rest of the Fire Country.

The village couldn't send anyone more experienced out due to the possibility of losing them, so the only choice that the Hokage could make was send out his one soldier that was sure to return to him. For whoever heard Naruto make a promise that he couldn't keep. He was like a demon in that sense, once his word was given it would never be revoked. If he promised you that he would walked through hell with you, he would, somehow and someway, he would do as he had sworn.

Naruto sent out runners ahead, scouts in the forms of the fastest of his new recruited members of his army. They would relay back messages to him about what lay ahead, the outlying village had failed to inform Konoha of what threatened them after all. Aside from the simple statement that it was a bandit gang that they could not handle, there were no estimated numbers or strength, just to send help. As if the message had been sent out in a rush, as if there had been no time for details.

Naruto flew solo through the vast forest of Fire Country, of Hi no Kuni, he zoomed past anbu and hunter patrols, and regular patrols, his speed unmatched by almost anyone that the Konoha-nins had ever encountered before. The fact that he was not wearing his signature predominantly orange clothes didn't give them a hint of who he was.

But they were aware that he was no threat to them, they just had this passing feeling that he meant them no harm, but at the same time they also had a feeling that told them to stay away from him.

They felt death pass them by, which was in a sense what did happen. In this world, in their world, Naruto was death, he was the representative of the anthropomorphic personification of the final unavoidable truth, all life ends in death, and he was the ambassador in the world, he was the consul, he was the general. He was the Death of his world.

He was not just some god of death, like the title that Death himself had given him. He was more than that. He was that and more. He had no control over life and death as Death himself did, but he was in charge of the dead and the dying, death was as much a part of life after all, and in a way death was life.

Messages from those that had been sent ahead reached him and he called his vast army to a halt. It seemed that Death might have had another purpose for him other than to be his living representative in the one world with two faces.

Someone was bringing the dead back to life. The reason that the village had requested for aid was that they were running out of time and fighters to whoever it was that was employing the dead themselves. It was a greed initiated plot to get at the rich deposits that the village mined for the benefit of the home village of Konoha and the rest of the country.

Someone had unearthed a method of reaching into the invisible world and bringing the dead back to life, but not in the sense that would benefit the dead. It was more like enslavement. Forcefully pulling out denizens of the invisible world and implanting them into golems, false bodies, and forced to do the bidding of the one performing this black art.

The dead were mere batteries that gave life and energy to these man made creations that were little more than puppets dancing to their creator's strings.

While Naruto may have been rather new to his job, he still felt anger that his citizens, that his subjects were being used in such a manner, were being exploited. Well, it seemed that it was now high time for the dead start to fight back.

He placed an eye patch over his right eye, vanishing from view of a team of Iwa-nin that had been sent into Fire Country to spy on the village. To see a blonde haired kid just vanish like that scared them. They abandoned their mission to report that Konoha had managed to train up the second coming of the Yondaime Hokage.

In the invisible world Naruto shouted out orders. He spoke of an attack, a pseudo-invasion of their world. The invisible world, the world of the dead, that usually only the dying could peer into before either joining it or moving beyond it.

These soldiers of his did not like the sound of what they were being told, that their brethren were being used as little more than slaves, they were given life, but at the same time stripped of their will.

"General," Naruto called over the one Death Anbu that spoke for the rest of the guard, "Spread the word, we are to fly like only the dead can, we are to reach our destination before the next attack. We are to stop those that can no longer stop themselves. Only the dead can stop the dead."

~Your will be done, my master~ the General said, slammed a closed fist against it's chest, and glided off to give out the orders.

Naruto took the lead of his dead army, they were not undead, since they were all, save for him, technically dead. This was life after death, but at the same time still dead. A confusing concept, but no one there seemed to really care.

The dead formed ranks, and prepared for the charge that was to take place. They would be stopping for nothing and no one unless their commander, their emperor gave the order to halt.

The living only briefly felt their presence as they moved through and past them. They were like a cold wind blowing from out of nowhere at all.

When they finally reached village, the scouts were already waiting for them in a formation of their own. Awaiting orders and at the same time ready to deliver their report of their additional findings.

"Report," Naruto commanded of the oldest of assembled scouts, all of their ranks had been genin as they had perished during some previous Chunin exams held in the deadly forest from whence they had been recruited from.

-The soldiers that had been conscripted for the mindless zombie army were of those recent to long dead from within this area and this area alone- the scout reported -The master or abuser of our fellows seems to have found an old tome from ages long since past, an age which only so few of our kind remain that can remember it. The tome in particular has already left the hands of this mad man that seeks fortune by exploiting an already exploited source of wealth. It is pure greed that drives him, and causes him not to care about the dead of which he is abusing and the living of which he is carelessly cutting down, and using those he had cut down to add to his numbers.-

"How does one go about freeing the trapped souls?" Naruto asked.

-The only known way is by destroying the vessel in which they inhabit- the scout replied, the information was based on accidental observation -It is unknown what happens to the freed soul though, as there is only a brief moment that the soul is visible before vanishing, but we have noted that the soul does not return to serve mindlessly once freed, nor do we or have we encountered the freed once again-

~If I might share my opinion, my master~ the General cut in.

"Go ahead," Naruto said.

~I believe that the freed souls are sent on to the great beyond, to their next great adventure~ the General said ~In short, the dead are freed of the life they had been living in death. The already dead can still, after all die. It is like freeing a madman from life so that he might find peace in death.~

"I see," Naruto said, "Then that is what we are going to do. In order to save what's left of the living, we will have to enact euthanasia on the already dead," he then spoke to the scout once more, "How much time before the next attack on the village?"

-Roughly half an hour, sir, more than enough time to mount a defensive- the scout replied.

"Then general," Naruto spoke to his general, "You have your orders."

With those orders give he switched the placement of the eye patch to the left eye to leave the invisible world so that he could engage the living, those of his guard could still see and interact with him if he or they so chose.

'Genin' and 'Prodigy' were the two predominant thoughts that flew into the heads of the numerous shinobi guards posted at the only gate into the village, the only remaining gate as the others had been sealed shut. No physical means would be able to get through those gates, and the invader had already tried.

"Finally, Konoha sends help," one of the guardsmen said, it was a rather awkward greeting, "Where's the rest of your squad?"

"I am the rest of my squad," Naruto replied, "Don't bother about sharing the details of what you've been facing, all I want to know is who exactly is behind all this strife."

"A prodigy then," the guardsman said, "The guy that heads this...I don't really know what to call it other than gang of bandits as that's what they started out as...was one of us. Found some buried treasure chest or something down in the mine. Whatever was in it, it changed him. He turned greedy, he wanted everything for himself. First it started out small, like money and food, then he killed his wife and kids over something as petty as air or so he ranted when we cornered him to take him out."

"I see," Naruto said, "His name is of no importance then," he then noticed that the guardsmen looked worried, "Don't worry. The tide of battle shall be changed tonight. I'll make sure of it, so make sure you are awake to see the battle, a fight the likes of which the living world has not seen in quite a long time."

The guardsmen didn't question him. They assumed he was used to this type of thing. They assumed he was a specialist. They were wrong in a sense. He was a specialist, sure, but not of what they thought was his specialty.

He had read more of the handbook that Death himself had left him.

The attack would come at night, when the dead were strongest and the two worlds were more closely joined together.

The night also happened to be Naruto's friend, it was like the darkness and shadows from where his guards usually crept in.

The book had told him that just as he could be in both worlds at the same time, so could both worlds be joined as one. There were requirements of course, as well as a limited area that the worlds could be merged. One of the requirements for it to be possible was that it could only happen at night.

The others were simply power requirements as well as permission requirements, all of which Naruto fit the bill for.

He stood atop the high wall, the shortest of all the defenders, counting his genin soldiers waiting to defend him around him. His usual guards were on the field, just outside the wall of the mining village. The guards of the village stood at the ready to defend their home and hopefully not lose another member of their brotherhood of defenders.

They waited for the attack, Naruto's scouts had further informed him that these vessels of the enslaved souls had eyes and joints that glowed blue with the energy generated by the dead. The chakra of the spirits.

One of the watchmen on the tower with a greater eyesight than most was one of the first to spot the marching horde of golems. He called out to the rest of the night's watch to inform them of the approach and to prepare once again for battle.

Swords, spears, arrows, and the like would do nothing against this foe but slow them down. Jutsu were their best bet. But that was only because they did not have the weaponry needed to pierce through the veil that separated the worlds from one another.

"Pick up your swords, your spears, your bows and your arrows," Naruto all but commanded, it came out as a suggestion from him, "You'll need them if you intend to join the fight that is to come."

"I knew I should have debriefed you," the captain of the guard, the man who had spoken on the village's behalf earlier in the day, said, "Conventional weapons won't hurt them, much more destroy these things. Back when they were mere men, sure, but now that they're whatever the heck they've become. Not a chance. Jutsu are the only thing that can harm them now."

"I know all I need to know of this foe," Naruto said, "The man behind this army of the enslaved dead is a monster, I suspect a curse has been laid upon him by some other corrupt power, he had a wife and family, a mere man does not and cannot change like that so suddenly after all."

"What are you saying? What do you know about this force that we don't? We've been fighting them off for weeks," the man demanded.

"I know things that mere men were not meant to comprehend," Naruto spoke, his traveling clothes shifted, flapping away in an un-felt wind as they shifted and transformed to something that was more recognizable to all.

He had donned priest or warrior monk robes, light gray ones. Clasped in one hand was not a kunai but a ceremonial knife or dagger of sorts, it was sheathed as it was not yet called for, it was not yet time to do battle.

As the attacking army drew ever closer, he held a hand before his face and from out of the palm a mask materialized. It looked like a hanya mask, with fangs and horns, and all that which made it recognizable to the guardsmen of the watch.

It was when he put on the mask did what he resemble finally cause the men and few women around him to recoil or take a step or more back. Death had come to stand on the wall with them. Death had answered their call for aid.

With the mask on, a mane of white hair sprouted from the mask, covering his head completely, and in doing so changed the way he looked to all that gazed upon his form.

His body changed to fit his needs. This world recognized the shinigami to wear a single face and form, therefore being such a Being, he would bear that face and form for them. He shifted his form, he transformed into it, and in a way got him to become one of the things he wanted to be.

Taller.

When the attack was almost upon them, he caused the worlds to collide for the night. To merge, and for one night become one with one another in this place, in this battlefield and mining village.

"_Release your imprisoned brothers and sisters!_" he ordered his troops that were visibly materializing just beyond the wall, his temporary guard materializing around him and scattered across the wall as well.

His voice was unlike the voice of Death himself, whereas Death himself was a choir, Naruto's was a whisper on the wind, but still strong and audible enough to be clearly heard.

The marching stopped being a march and began to pick up speed, their master ordering them to attack and destroy whatever was in their path. Their objective was to seize the town for their master and whatever his purposes were.

"_ATTACK!_" Naruto commanded, and the dead were quick to obey.

His temporary guard, the genin who had become scouts, produced bows and quivers filled with arrows. The Death Anbu were walking armories it seemed, they had an over abundance of weaponry on their persons at all times, in preparation for something such as this.

"Holy shit!" the living soldiers gasped out in surprise, where once was barren land devoid of life from all the fighting and blood that had been spilled, now sported an army worthy of a daimyo of a small country.

"Shi-Shi-Shinigami-sama!" the captain of the guard stuttered out, forgetting about the attacking army ofenslaved souls and defending dead army under the command of Naruto, "Forgive my earlier disrespect," he got down on his hands and knees as did his own comrades.

"_Forgiven, though the apology was unnecessary,_" Naruto stated, "_Just pick up your weapons and join the defense. This is your village is it not. I and my army are merely a supplementary defense, we are your reinforcements. It just so happens that the man that you once called your own has decided to enslave some of my citizens. I do not like being stolen from, and my people used or abused._"

"Well you heard the kid!" one former kunoichi shouted, she grabbed hold of what had looked like a transparent sword, it was really her own sword but coated in what allowed the dead to do harm against themselves, the permanent to actual injuring kind, "Let's get out there and do what we're supposed to do best!"

She leapt off of the wall and joined the rushing forms of those that had gone on before her. Those whose times were up in the living world, and chose to live once again in a world not so distant from the living one.

-What's your name girlie?- one of the rushing chunin along side the kunoichi asked, his face was a grizzled mess even in death, his death itself having been a rather explosive one.

"Seizan Shizuka," the woman said.

-Oh? Truly? Haha!- he turned on his comrades, those part of his squad -This girl's one of my clansmen! Let not the living fall while the dead still fight!-

"Who are you, or were you?" Shizuka asked, as they neared the charge of their foe.

-I am Seizan Shogo- the chunin introduced himself, not at all caring for the fact that they were seconds away from doing battle.

"Then you are my granduncle," the woman said, "It is an honor to fight by your side."

-Same here- the man said -Now less talking and start fighting!-

While the soldiers were fighting on the field of battle, Naruto had other more important things to deal with. That being the enemy general, the enemy leader.

The man was easy enough to spot, he stood atop a raised pillar of stone controlling his puppets with strings that one could not see or feel.

"_I don't like it when my people are abused,_" Naruto said, appearing before the guy faster than a blink of an eye, both of his eyes were uncovered.

"Your people? I'm not using people! I'm using dead things!" the man shouted in anger, "And you're here claiming that they're yours! Well you won't have them! They're mine! Mine! MINE!"

"_I can tell that you've gone mad,_" Naruto said, "_What right do you have to claim things that are not yours?_"

"What right? What right you, impostor, ask me?" the man asked, mockingly, "HE told me it was mine! All mine for the taking, all I had to do was clear out the rabble and all of it would be mine! Mine! Mine! It is my reward for releasing HIM!"

"_What in all of creation are you talking about?" _Naruto all but demanded.

"Kami-sama of course! Who else!" the man declared, "I have unleashed Kami-sama back into the world! This godless ball of mud and filth will once again be lead back into the light!"

"_You know what, I don't care right now,_" Naruto said, "_I was sent here to rid the mining village of you and your...horde...so that's what I'm going to do._"

The alchemical necromancer, for that was what the handbook had termed this kind of person, was unprepared for Naruto's swift attack. The sheathed dagger was unleashed upon his unprotected soul. The blow was swift, clean. There was no mistaking the overconfidence of the madman, corrupted by a false god. He had had an armored army just to protect him, they were his only shields, as well as his only swords.

He didn't need any fancy moves to take down this particular foe, unlike his army and the mining village's defenders did, all he needed to do was separate the head of the man from his body.

Simple.

The dagger once unleashed lengthened into a scythe, one worthy of one of Death's reapers. It was a triple bladed thing which made sure that if one missed, there were two more that would be sure to take up the slack.

With the head severed, the army stopped moving allowing Naruto's forces to end the suffering of their trapped brethren.

Then the night's merging of worlds ended, leaving only the guard behind amidst the cheering men and women of the village. Those dead that had fought vanished from view, one chunin in particular made a teary eyed goodbye, happy that his brother had lived to continue the legacy of their clan.

He returned to them, the body of the mad man burned to a crisp, his soul was ejected from the invisible world even before it could enter. His spirit, his soul was not welcome in the invisible world. His head on the other hand was left intact for identification's sake.

"This the guy?" Naruto asked, he had discarded or reabsorbed his costume, or Shinigami attire, and wore whatever it was that he had been wearing prior to the fight, one item of course was a multi-pocketed vest.

He showed the celebrating captain the head of the man he had slain, and whose soul was sent off to the greater afterlife.

"That's him alright," the captain said, "So...mission accomplished then?"

"Looks like it," Naruto said, "And to think this was my first serious mission too," he unsealed the mission scroll, he needed the captain's signature on it to declare that he had succeeded in completing the mission, it was signed by an astonished captain, "Arigato, taicho. I'll be taking my leave now. But I'll leave some of my forces here to defend you guys again, if something like this repeats itself."

"Alright," the guy said, "You take care now...though I doubt you'll need my luck in your life, you seem to have plenty of it already. Shinigami-sama...though why are you among us mortal is what I'd like to know, working for Konoha too."

"I wasn't always Shinigami," Naruto said, "I apologize for my own rudeness. I didn't introduce myself, I'm Naruto, nice to meet you, and you and yours had better not enter my world for a good and long time."

He then turned on his heel and began his long walk back to Konoha, his guard moving around him, back to their positions before too vanishing from sight. The rest of the dead army had already long since left.

The General had ordered them to spread out across the world not to announce that there was an emperor in their world now, but to inform all of what had transpired in that mountain village.

Due to this new information of such a threat to them, the dead quickly began to organize, but not mobilize. That would come later.

They began to mirror the living world as it presently was. Daimyos began to win their spot as leaders, armies began to take form. Countries began to emerge. All in the span of time it took Naruto to return to Konoha with his escort.

Fire Country was the only country in the invisible world that did not change, it did not have to change, what with Naruto already taking charge there, and what with the Death Anbu already calling the country their home.

Just as in the living world, Fire Country was the unchallenged super power of the world.

The Hokage read over the report and burned it. The only ones that would know all the details about the mission were him, Naruto, and the others directly involved in the thing. All parties knew of the danger should such information be leaked to the rest of the living world.

Though that did not stop the rumors and stories which the guard had managed to come up with in honor of that one blonde kid that scared the crap out of them while at the same time helping them.

All it took was one mission, one act, and one could gain a name for themselves. Naruto's gained the nicknam, from a host of similar stories.

Shinigami.

It was the only thing that came to mind.

Some of the stories that went around and reached the far corners of the world were of him either being the human form of the god of death or being his champion or avatar. A chosen warrior perhaps, and other such theories and tales.

The side effect of gaining that name in such a short period of time was that he was pulled off of the active roster and forced to finish his tenure as a student of the ninja academy. He didn't mind, it kept him away from more complex things that had to do with the living world. The invisible world was enough for his plate for the time being.

He let it mostly govern itself, as it had always done. But with the added element of being more like the world in which it mirrored in a way, things needed a more hands on approach when dealing with it.

His anbu were sent out to keep silent watch over these appointed or won leaders and their people. He would not allow his world, the world in which he ruled just as much as Death himself ruled all of death, to be brought into a state of chaos.

He managed to eventually make sort-of friends with his classmates. Sort-of only because he couldn't relate to them as a kid could anymore. He was beyond that stage, he had been for a long time already. He was more like their parents really, since he had a clan of his own, in a sense, to look after.

The only person he didn't seem able to connect with was Sasuke. Naruto felt that in Sasuke's heart only very little love remained, the rest of it was clouded with hate.

Though he now had the means to somehow help ease some of that hatred away. It would be troublesome, but he believed that perhaps he could do it for the Uchiha, the _last_ loyal, living one. The dead ones that remained in his invisible village knew the truth of the massacre, they had found out in a manner that only the dead could find out such things. They spied on the living and read whatever documents managed to travel across the veil through the gaps that allowed them to interact with the living world even if they were not of the rank of Death Anbu.

Uchiha Mikoto was the clan head of the dead Uchiha clan, her husband had not really been given the chance to remain and had been sent forth to the greater beyond. She didn't mind, they had only been married after all, it had been a political marriage, and not one that had been based on love.

She had watched over her son, the one that needed her protection, the other one was strong enough to defend himself against a whole village if he had to. That was the strength of the prodigy of the Uchiha clan, a prodigy whom she was the mother of, and who had surpassed the clan's previous prodigy.

Herself.

If given the chance to speak with her younger son again, she would take it. Just to ease some of the pain he felt for losing her and the rest of the clan, while at the same time try and lessen the hatred he had cultivated in his heart due to the instructions of his older brother about coming after him to kill him. Strength after all was not gained in hate, but in love or at least the willingness to defend those that were precious to oneself.

On the eve of Naruto's class' graduation, the exam was something which he did not attend due to already being a member of the forces, an passively-active member of it, one of the traitors of the village made his move. A move that was supposed to curry some favor from his true leader and true master, Orochimaru.

Instead of using what had been thought of as the class clown and village idiot, he used the more intelligent, yet power hungry graduate for his scheme.

Steal the village's kinjutsu scroll, the most important scroll in all of the village.

Sasuke had done everything as Mizuki had planned. He'd used all of his skill in stealth and persuasion to get to the scroll and get out with the scroll. He met with the traitor chunin and handed over the scroll expecting to be promoted to chunin as he had wished to. He found being genin to be a waste of his time after all.

The added lure of getting to learn one of the kinjutsu was additional icing on the cake. A cake that he would not have been able to partake of had it not been for the timely intervention of Naruto and his police force, the dead Uchiha clan had returned gladly to their duties, but instead of villagers of life, it was villagers of the dead that they performed their duties.

Mizuki had almost been able to get himself a pair of Uchiha eyes. He had not been expecting to find himself face to face with a number of people he didn't think he'd ever see alive again. And they were far from alive too, but he still managed to see them during his lifetime.

"Y-You're all dead...you're all supposed to be dead!" he screamed as his panic suddenly rose and he found himself faced with these dead Uchiha wearing their police uniforms, and headed by a woman.

-Shinigami-sama has finally permitted me to aid my son in this hour of his need," the woman said, "This is his hour of need and I have come to aid him. Now that I have said my piece, it has been determined that you have broken the laws of the village of which you are a member of- her eyes turned to one of her uniformed subordinates, -Arrest him as best as we are able. Rough him up a bit for trying to kill my son-

-Hai!- was the chorused affirmation at the command by the other Uchiha present that night that Naruto merged the worlds for that one clan.

Sasuke didn't know how to react, he felt as if he had been lied to by his whole family, that they had left him on his own to the terrible fate of being alone. He found his family all around him, or most of them at least. He began to think that if all it took for them to return to him was for him to be in a dangerous situation, he should have done something sooner.

It was when he heard his mother's voice that his emotional control snapped. The hatred that he had generated and gathered in his heart for his brother vanished as the dam he had placed before all of his other emotions came crashing down and all the others flooded forth.

He heard the screams of Mizuki-sensei begin to increase in pitch and intensity as his mother finally came by his side and wrapped her arms around him.

There was a warmth he could feel from them, even though all his skin felt was the cold, an unnatural cold that could not and should not have been felt in the world of life.

"Kaa-san?" Sasuke said, as if asking if she was real, if it was all real.

-I'm real sochi- Mikoto said as she continued to hug her son, -I never left you-

"But I didn't see you," he said, between sobs, he had not been able to cry when his clan had died by his brother's hands.

-I never left you, I was always there with you- she said, -The only reason you are able to see us now is because Shinigami-sama allowed for our worlds to merge for the night-

"Thank you," he said to her, his voice dripping with unleashed emotions, "Will you still be with me after tonight."

-If not I, then one of our clansmen- she told him, -In death I am the clan head of Uchiha, I am also the chief of police-

"There's still a need for the Uchiha in death?" Sasuke asked, he found it a little bit weird, he had always thought that after life there was paradise of hell.

-Hai, but don't come rushing to join us, you still need to make sure that the clan lives on- his mother said to him, scolding him of thoughts of suicide to join them more permanently -Shinigami-sama would not like it if by meeting you tonight we caused you to join us before your time-

"Why?" he asked her, he was confused about that, why would the god of death be concerned over one measly life.

-He is not what you would expect him to be...Shinigami-sama is different from what we expected him to be too- she told him -You'll understand if you meet the true him-

-Mikoto-sama, we must go, first light is approaching and the dead may not walk amongst the living during the daylight hours- one of the other Uchiha said approaching the mother and son pair.

"Kaa-san?" Sasuke said, not wanting her to leave him, even though he now knew that she or one of his clansmen would always be there for him, watching out for him from the dead side of the world.

-I have to go, as he said, we were only given this one night to share with you- she said to him, giving him one final hug for the time being, -But I promise we will see each other again, someday...sooner if you can convince Shinigami-sama into letting either us visit you or you visit us. Now promise you won't die until you have grandchildren.-

It wasn't something that he had been expecting, but he promised her that he would not join the dead police force or military until he had given her as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren as his seed would allow. He knew now what his family wanted from him, but that did not mean that he would not be getting strong enough and still going out of his way to kick his brother's ass.

He decided to do his duty and of course prepare a speech in his head for when he was marched up in front or shunshin'd really to the Hokage's office to explain his actions. He didn't have to wait too long as just after the visages and forms of his relatives faded from his view the Hokage walked out of the shadows, no guards with him as had been expected of the encounter, just the village leader.

"Explain," the old man had ordered, though the order didn't sound as such.

He had complied, and explained everything with as much detail as he could, even adding the reasons for his behavior and a lot of other things that he had not deemed anyone, even his counselors, worthy of hearing or being made aware of.

"Due to your honesty, I will let you off this one time," the Hokage, "But only on one condition."

"Anythnig Hokage-sama, I will agree to it," Sasuke said, from his kneeling place on the ground.

"You will speak of these events to no one, no one must know that Shinigami-dono is a Konoha-nin," the Hokage said, "And to ensure the silence of those that need not have learned of this secret, the secret that the dead may walk amongst the living, I ask you to show your loyalty to the village by executing this traitor behind me," he motioned to the bound and gagged Mizuki, who was already at the brink of unconsciousness.

"I.." Sasuke said, hesitating a bit, but he was now one of the soldiers of the Hokage, and he did say he would do anything, so he grabbed hold of a fuuma shuriken from the ground, tested it in his grip, before walking over to the traitor and slicing the man clean through the neck.

He couldn't hold it in him long, he rushed to some bushes and emptied everything he had eaten within the last 24 hours.

His first kill, he couldn't stomach the act and wondered how so many others could.

"It is never easy the first time, unless one has grown up around it all one's life," the Hokage said, "If it ever becomes so easy that you no longer feel anything after the act, then you know that you are no longer fit to be called human. His death was a necessary one, had he lived others, countless more could have perished in his place."

"S-Sir?" Sasuke said, it was a prompt for clarification.

"We always have a choice when it comes to our actions," the Hokage said, "Only kill when you need to, like this morning. One of those times is when you are defending those precious to you, those important to you, like the village. This great tree that is Konoha."

"I..understand Hokage-sama," Sasuke said.

"Good," the Hokage said, "Now run along home, while you may not see them, they are still there...some of them."

"You sure know a lot Hokage-sama," Sasuke said.

"You don't get to reach my age without learning a lot of things," the old man said, and he himself vanished into the shadows.

"*"

Naruto was summoned to the Hokage's office during that day's afternoon.

He was informed of his next mission. While the old man trusted the young Uchiha to remain loyal to the village, the youth still needed to be watched and who better than the one Being in the world the had an endless supply of resources to do the watching.

That and Naruto needed comrades, living ones that he could rely on.

It was really all about forming bonds in the village with others in the village. How else was Naruto to one day achieve the rank and title of Hokage if he did not have the bonds necessary for the village to one day love and adore him, to one day willingly seek his guidance and protection, as the invisible world did.

Or at least the Fire Country part of the invisible world that is.

He was asked if he would permit the jounin that would be in-charge of the team to know about his presently true nature. He declined to give such permission as he could not trust this man he did not know yet. Only time would tell.

After being dismissed the actual jounin senseis were summoned to hear who of the potential official genin they would be getting as their possible students.

"Team 7, under the guidance of Hatake Kakashi will consist of Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," the Hokage announced, "One of the reserve roster will be the third member."

"Hokage-sama, I asked for Uzumaki Naruto to be placed on my team," Kakashi said, it wasn't a whine really, "Which team has he been placed on?"

"If you were meant to know Kakashi, you would have been informed," the Hokage said, before continuing with the team announcements.

"*"

"I don't appreciate being followed, especially by a square rock," Naruto said as he walked back home, his groceries were being carried by the dead who insisted on carrying them for him, to others it had seemed as if he had sealed his purchases away, but all he had really done was move them through the veil.

The users of the square rock with eye holes had probably seen him perform the magic act and had become impressed enough to try and stalk him. Try. Try and fail.

There was a small plume of smoke, followed by some coughing.

"Used...cough...too much smoke pellets," a young voice was heard from within the smoke.

"You got that right," Naruto said, "So what do you want kid?"

"I want you to teach me!" the kid shouted, almost demanded really, "The way you made those shopping bags vanish, teach me!"

"Why me? I'm sure your gramps could find someone better suited to teaching you," Naruto said, he knew who the kid was after all, who didn't know or couldn't recognize the Sandaime's grandson, "Get lost, I'm going home."

He waved off the kid and began moving again.

But the kid, like most others like him, wanted something and would not stop until he got that something. He continued to follow Naruto, even going so far as to breach the former training ground 44's walls just to follow the blonde and bombard him with pleas to be trained.

He promised all sorts of things too.

It was a dangerous game the kid was playing, and he wasn't even aware of it. His own anbu guard had stopped at the wall, they had been given explicit orders not to step even a toe into Naruto's property, the risk to their lives was just too great. So they did the only thing they could do which was pray.

Pray that the god of death would show mercy unto Sarutobi Konohamaru.

Konohamaru managed to follow the blonde through the forest until he fell into a pit fall, good thing there were no spikes at the bottom of it. Just a swamp like bottom filled with the bones of fallen animals and the like.

It should have scared the crap out of the kid, but he was more than determined to get the blonde to train him in his ways that he ignored the things and tried his hand at climbing the walls of the pit. Failing each and every attempt, until his body gave way to exhaustion and his life was nearly ended as he could have drowned.

He was passed up from the bottom of the pit by the many bones that were in it and could be found seemingly trapped just behind the walls of the trap.

"Someone trouble the old man that I've got his grandson sleeping at my house," Naruto ordered, and the dead simply chose one of the captains, which were the members of Naruto's guard, to inform the Kage of the fate of his grandson.

The old man didn't seem to mind all that much. He believed that it would benefit not only his grandson but his pseudo-grandson as well. They could learn from one another, or something like that. He informed the messenger that he didn't mind, just so long as Konohamaru was returned before Naruto was to join Team 7.

The kid woke up about three hours after sun down on a cool stone slab in a room that could be likened to the interior of a crypt.

There were no torches and no source of light, there was only darkness.

But being the scion of a traditionally shinobi clan, his senses were primed. He sensed movement, many movement, he just didn't know from where. His instincts were telling him that he was screwed, so screwed in fact that running was not even an option anymore. They were telling him to just lie back down and accept his fate.

~Ah, our guest is awake~ the eerie voice of one of the Death Anbu said, it was like a hiss and a whisper in the child's ear, he grabbed the child by the wrist and proceeded to drag him out of the room ~Come this way, come this way. Watch your step, wouldn't want you to trip and fall now would we? Hmm?~

"Err..y-yes sir," Konohamaru said, he was freaked out majorly, he was being led by a grip that felt like the hand that was holding him should not be able to hold him as tightly as it was, and to top it off he couldn't even see the top of his nose.

~Good, good, the master has...agreed to teach you, he received the blessings of your grandfather, so think it an honor, not that many will ever get to claim to have been taught by the master~ the thing told the child.

The boy tried not to trip and fall, but he was pulled forcefully from the ground and could swear that he felt disappointment radiate off of the one that was pulling him along. He eventually found himself in gradually visible surroundings, light began to enter his vision, but very very slowly.

It was like waking up, but opening one's eyes very slowly as to not be blinded by the light.

He was even eventually was able to see the figure, the rather tall figure that pulled him along, the gripping appendage eventually letting go, but prompted him to obediently follow behind it.

He was pushed forcefully into a dimly lit room, where Naruto was patiently waiting for him, sitting seiza, a sitting position which the brown haired kid was forced into copying, even though it hurt his unused legs and feet so.

"Your grandfather has dictated that it would be a good idea for you to learn from me," Naruto said, "So I shall do him this favor, he is a friend after all, a good one. So from now on, you shall be my student, and I shall be your teacher, that is...when I am not training with my team or out on missions. You on the other hand are still required to attend the lessons of Ebisu-san."

"Why do I have to learn from that lazy guy?" Konohamaru whined, and received a hard slap to the back of his head courtesy of the one that had brought him to the room.

~No whining, it gets you no where and makes you sound rude and immature~ the Death Anbu chastised.

"Go-Gomenasai," the child said, "But why do I have to be taught by that guy? He's boring and he keeps talking about shortcuts."

"Shortcuts?" Naruto inquired, "Shortcuts to what?"

"To becoming Hokage, that's what!" the brown haired child admitted, "I wanna be Hokage so that everyone will recognize me! I don't like being seen as just the Hokage's grandson."

"I understand that," Naruto said, "In life there are no shortcuts. If something is really important, there can only be hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and time, lots and lots of time spent achieving a goal."

"Huh, really? You sure know a lot," the kid commented.

"At the same time, with such a petty reason you will never become Hokage," Naruto stated firmly.

"You! You don't believe me! You'll see!" the child rose to his feet, Naruto signaled to his soldier not to slap the child silly, "I'll become so strong that you'll have to recognize me!"

"I am not saying that you cannot attain the position," Naruto calmly stated, the child's anger did not wane, "I was once in your shoes, but then I found that such a reason would not get me what I wanted, and such a reason was pathetic."

"You calling me pathetic?" the child challenged.

"I am calling your reasoning pathetic," Naruto stated, "You wish to become Hokage to be recognized?"

"Yes!" the child exclaimed.

"Pathetic, you are unworthy of the title of Hokage, much less the title of Konoha-nin," Naruto told the child.

"What? Why? How dare you!" the child angrily shouted, he was stirring the dead that could hear him, they did not enjoy hearing a child or living person raising their voice at their leader with unjust cause.

The Death Anbu in the room was just itching to whack the kid with the blunt side of his blade for his disrespect and stupidity.

"So what? If you know everything then tell me what's wrong?" the kid demanded.

"You are a selfish child," Naruto stated, "I suppose it is the village's fault that you are like this. Your grandfather's as well, I know I was like you once. But then I was exposed to the truth."

"And what was that?" the kid said.

"Do you even know what being the Hokage is? Or even more simpler, what being a leader is?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah! Everyone knows that!" the kid stated, "He's the strongest ninja in the village. Everyone respects him, and sees him for him."

~Wrong!~ the Death Anbu could no longer take it and answered in his master's place, realizing what he had done, he kowtowed as low as he could ~My sincerest apologies my master, I forgot myself in thy presence~

"Forgiven, Nidai," Naruto said, as was the name of the Death Anbu, a name that Naruto had bestowed upon the former wraith and now masked entity.

"What's so wrong about that?" the kid asked, with a still demanding tone.

"The Hokage is the most powerful ninja in the village, yes that is true," Naruto said, "But do you know what makes him that powerful?"

"Yeah! He knows a lot of jutsu!" the kid replied, "He's also very strong, like gramps!"

"In part, that is true," Naruto said, "His power comes not from the fact that he is very knowledgeable in the shinobi arts, but because he not only is that, he is also loved by the people, not for his strength, but for his character."

"I don't get it," the kid said.

"Ugh..." Naruto all but exclaimed, "I shall explain it by way of example then, maybe then you'll understand. I too dream of becoming Hokage, but not to be recognized alone, but because I want to be the one to protect my precious people. Actually forget about becoming Hokage, I just want to be able to best protect those precious to me. The Hokage is not only a leader but a protector as well, he is the greatest protector in the village, he is the village's strongest protector."

"I still don't get it," the kid said, crossing his arms.

"I don't think I can explain it to you any better," Naruto said, "I guess the best explanation would be to say that the one with the strongest Will of Fire is the only one worthy of becoming Hokage."

"I...I..." the kid didn't know how to respond to that, the will of fire was one of his grandfather's teachings and sayings.

"Never mind, forget about it," Naruto said, "Just remember that there are no shortcuts. I'll train you all the same, just know that between the knowledge you will gain from Ebisu-san, and the skills you may gain from me, you will be a step closer to becoming Hokage. In the end it will be up to you if you will be worthy of the mantle."

"Err...thanks?" the kid said, his energy drained from him from the weird conversation, "So do I go home now?"

"No," Naruto said, "For the remainder of the week you are mine to do with as I please, training wise anyway, after this week your grandfather will send you to me when he thinks I can train you. Understand?"

"H-Hai," the kid said.

"Good," Naruto said, "Your room is the one you woke up in. Nidai will guide you there, but tomorrow finding it will be in your hands. Until Nidai finds you ready for my training, he will train you in my stead."

~With pleasure my master~ Nidai spoke in his own manner of speaking as he forced the boy to stand and began his training, enhancement of the senses. All of the senses.

That was what Konohamaru was forced into training during his week long stay. A stay that was filled with the lack of light, sound, smell, and a host of other things.


	131. W3

So much death, so much destruction. So much war, famine, plague. So much suffering. So much pain.

He had walked the world for so long, more centuries than any other immortal could hope to count, more millenniums than the world's history thought that it had. He had been around for quite a long time. He had even been there when his reality, his dimension, his Existence began. He was there at the dawn of time, just as he was sure he would remain long after it's dusk.

His life was complicated, even how he had become what he had become was complicated.

He had lived during another lifetime, another incarnation of the world he saw killing itself today. There were no robots being used as fighting machines, no crystals of energy used to power all the big technology in the world. There wasn't even an Emperor Charles in that world's lifetime.

He had been an unlucky boy, one that prophecy had dictated or was chosen to be either the savior of the world or the one to destroy it.

A madman had come to his home, killed his father first, then his mother. When it his turn came, the prophecy acted, he was marked, the madman was turned into a spectre, and they resumed where they left off after several years passed and brought the rest of the world into their conflict.

He'd watched as the world was destroyed, in fact he'd experienced the whole universe being destroyed several times. He'd been around for that long a time, the universe had this habit of reforming itself, but not to its former glory, but to a state where things could start anew.

He helped of course, at the end of his first war, one he didn't really enjoy being a part of, he had become one of the many generals or representatives of Death himself. He had become a Master of Death, it was more like a Master's Degree or a PhD. He was as much a part of life as life was as much a part of death.

He was Death's representative, and all the Death Reapers, the soul collectors, the guides of souls from the world of life to beyond the veil that separated life from death to the afterlife. He even had to finish the occasional paperwork.

There were gods of death, death gods, souls reapers, kings of the afterlives, there were gods, demons, and devils. The world was a complicated thing, and at the very top of it was him, the Master of Death, for no matter how immortal one was, he still had the power to end their very lives, and in some cases their very existence.

It was a rather monotonous experience, he didn't really involve himself anymore, not since that one time that he did indeed bring about the end of the world. It was an accident, but his subordinates, he had three of them that obeyed his every command without question and did most of the things he would have been doing if he didn't have them, were the only ones that knew that he had been experimenting with his abilities. Who knew that him getting mad and willing the sun to implode was a very very bad thing. He had thought that there was some other force out there that would stop such a thing from happening.

Either that Being was on break or there wasn't one. He couldn't really find it in himself to care just yet, he hadn't lost anyone. All of his family had died out centuries upon centuries due to lots and lots of wars after all.

He was taking one of his leisurely walks through the many masses of dead bodies, the latest victims of a mortal war, it was a conquest of a sort or so he heard told. Some of the souls that were taken away by their assigned Death Reaper were a bit chatty, prattling off about being needed by their country or some such nonsense.

He came across a rather odd sight, it was two children, one obviously older while the other was being piggybacked by the older one. A boy and a girl, civilians and not Japanese by the looks of things. Interesting and odd especially in a zone littered with the bodies of the formerly living children of Japan.

It was due to this odd sight that he decided to interact with the world of life once again, not to destroy it but to relieve himself of his curiosity.

He sure surprised the two children, or the one that wasn't blind at least, by his sudden appearance before them. It wasn't everyday that a man in a black business suit, with a red sheen to it, appeared from out of almost literally nowhere after all.

"Hello," he greeted the two children, his tone making it clear that he didn't really care for all the dead bodies around them, "Fancy finding two Britannian children here of all places."

"Wha..Who are you?" the boy of the duo asked.

"I am..." he thought it over, he hadn't used his birth name in a long time after all, so what could it hurt, "I'm Harry Potter, as to what I am well, I'll tell you about that some other time, now your turn."

"I'm Lelouch," the boy said, then motioned to his sister, "She's Nunnaly, our mother's dead and our father sent us here," luckily for the boy his sister was asleep on his back.

"I see," Harry said, then snapped his fingers, "Cain.."

Another man appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. There were very few religions, in this version of the world, and thus the name wasn't a very well known one.

Cain was special, he had survived through his version of the world's Armageddon all thanks to Harry of course. And all he had to do was swear eternal fealty to the Master of Death.

He was an aristocratic looking man, with an athletic form, but wore a butler's uniform minus the coat. It was his choice of course.

Aside from his biblical ties, he had some others in fiction and horror. He had gone by a number of names during his lifetime, before meeting Harry who insisted on calling him by his very first name and title of Cain.

"How might I serve thee, my master?" Cain said, as he bowed once to his master before facing the two children.

"Take the little girl, young Lelouch doesn't seem to have enough strength to continue carrying her," Harry commanded, though it sounded more like a request.

"H-Hey! Wait! What do you think you're doing?" Lelouch demanded as his sister was lifted off of his back and taken into the arms of this stranger that looked to possibly be of European descent while at the same time not.

"I have decided that you will be living with me from now on," Harry stated, then summoned the second of his subordinates, "William.."

This William had at one point in time been something of a prince, his father had been a Warlord of his world's Hungary. It was an odd chance of fate that on a hunting trip he had been bitten by a wolf that was about to take a bite out of his older brother Marcus. His family had thought the bite as being his only injury, but as night fell it got worse.

To the point that he started to change. Lycanthropy. He was the first werewolf of his world, while his brother was the first vampire. While his brother retained a human form, he on the other hand was unable to change back into a human, his mind had also been warped as well.

Years later he was confronted by some relatives, and should have remained dead after the encounter, but his master, the Master of Death, decided to bring him back to life. But this time grant him the power of change as well as the retention of his mind during the change. He was eternally grateful and swore fealty as well.

"H-How..?" Lelouch stuttered out, he wasn't used to such phenomenal things happening all at once, especially after his best friend Suzaku Kururugi was taken away from him by some military personnel while leaving him and his sister to continue to walk through the dead land.

"Magic would be the simplest explanation at this point," Harry stated, then motioned for William to carry the young Lelouch, that was before he called for his third subordinate, "Sasuke.."

This time the subordinate or servant didn't appear from out of seemingly nowhere, he appeared after a brief whirl of leaves, reminiscent of his time as a ninja of the world, one of the most powerful ones, and unfortunately for his version of the world, the one that influenced the supposed savior into destroying the world.

He only managed to survive that end of his world experience by selling his very existence to the one Being that could make sure that his personal existence was never extinguished. He still had that one dream or ambition of his to fulfill, he just hadn't found the right other half for it yet.

"How might I serve?" Sasuke asked, kneeling and awaiting orders.

"Time to play god a little," Harry said, "Have our house moved to this land, and make sure that it is known that we have always been here. Set us up real good, won't you Sasuke."

"Hai," the ninja said before leaving in a swirl of leaves.

"What does play god mean?" Lelouch asked.

"He is a ninja, you do know what that is don't you?" Harry asked as their small group waited for the ninja's return.

"Yes, sir," the boy replied.

"He has a bloodline ability which allows him to play god in the sense that once our residence is transferred to this conquered nation, all will believe that we have been living there all this time," Harry explained, "Except for you two of course, people will believe that I took you in during the war...Lelouch and Nunnaly Lamperouge, your mother's maiden name I believe."

"It is..how did you know?" Lelouch asked.

"I know many things little Lelouch," Harry said, "Just by knowing your name and...unsealing some of my hidden talents, I am able to divine everything there is to know about you and _others_ like you."

"_Others_ like me?" the youth asked.

"Yes, _others_," Harry said, "You really think that there is only one dimension, that there is only one world of life? No, there are countless, and I became aware of all of the ones that had a version of you."


	132. X1

"Stop worrying Sasuke," Itachi told his brother, "Tou-san will be back, he always comes back."

"That's right Sasuke-chan," the boys' mother added, the three of them waiting by the Uchiha district's main gate for the head of the Uchiha clan, and the head of their small family.

It was nearing midnight, and the family continued to wait, a message had reached them about his pending return, as well as the fact that he would probably be home near midnight due to some additional duties he had elsewhere.

His lithe figure became a sillhouette in the darkness of the village, it barely being illuminated by the lights of the streetlights that dotted the streets. It wasn't long before he was once more within the warm embrace of his family. His wife and his two boys, not even reluctantly, squeezing him just to make sure that he was really back with them. He had, after all, been gone for close to three months out in the field helping resolve the long standing war between their home and Kumo.

His name was Tougeika Kousen, he had challenged the former head of the clan for it all. He had used some old and nearly forgotten tradition of the clan. Survival of the fittest, to the victor go the spoils. It had been a deathmatch, one that no one really understood how things had come to it.

No one had ever heard of him before that fateful day that he arrived in the village when he did. No one even knew how he had managed to enter without anyone, not even the Hokage, knew about his entering.

He just arrived that one day, and challenged the newly ascended Fugaku for the right to rule and lead the Uchiha.

There were stipulations for the fight of course, and it was a fight that Fugaku had tried everything in his power to make it so that no matter what the outcome, the clan would still benefit. Power was all that Fugaku had seen, he was like a reincarnation of a man long since thought dead, the greatest of Uchiha as well as a man with an ego to match.

The challenger and the one being challenged were to fight to the death, to the victor go the spoils indeed including Fugaku's then fiance Mikoto. They were each also to go at each other at full strength. There was also the stipulation that no one outside of the clan could bear witness to the fight. Anyone that did would have to be silenced permanently, even the Hokage.

Kousen had agreed.

The fight was held at the Valley of the End, witnessed by every single Uchiha alive at the time. The Hokage had been informed that it was a clan matter, one that no one outside of the clan could witness no matter what.

So there the two of them stood, atop the heads of the two founding fathers of Konoha. Fugaku stood atop Madara's head while Kousen stood atop Hashirama.

When the signal had been given to begin, both combatants gathered all the power that they had within themselves and displayed it for all to see.

Fugaku had thought that the raging inferno that was his power was more than enough to win the fight, but he was soon mistaken when Kousen unleashed his own power. His aura was not only visible, but also overwhelming. Reality itself bent to his will, while at the same time groaned and moaned in agony at its sudden appearance.

The sharingan blazed in his neon green eyes. All those that had the eyes had no choice but to activate their own and see what stage the eyes of this unknown new comer were at. It was like watching evolution in fast forward. One tomoe, then two, then three, followed by a number of additions before, the pair of orbs gained rings.

From Sharingan to Rin'negan.

Then his power spiked once more. He revealed his full power to them all. There was no mistaking it.

He had won, by sheer power alone, and Fugaku had been powerless to stop his fate. His plans for the supposed glory of the Uchiha would never come to pass as he lost his chance when he decided that he would lead his clan to the undermining of peace.

He kept his name but promised that his children, born from an Uchiha, would use the clan's name instead of his own.

It came as a surprise to all that witnessed the event that no one outside of the clan had felt the power output. HE explained that he made sure that no one outside of the clan and his own _family_ would be able to witness or feel it.

The Sandaime Hokage was later informed about the change in leadership of the Uchiha, and would later on grow to trust Kousen, with his life.

He had come just as the clan was about to tread down a path paved in sin, and had raised them above it to walk down a different path. Sure the clan was mostly still viewed as stoic and imposing individuals, some with sticks so far up their asses that it was a wonder that they could even sit down, but at least their leader had their best interests and the best interests of all in mind whenever he made a decision.

He had fathered Itachi, and the boy had grown by leaps and bounds, loved his family and the village to the extent that he swore on some occasions that if he didn't think that the paperwork was so tedious he would go for the position of Hokage. He and his cousin Shisui wanted to lead their generation to a world where fighting was no longer all that necessary.

Then Sasuke was born only a few weeks before an incident which would cause some in the village to doubt the clan. It was then that Kousen had made sure that those doubts were unfounded when reports came in that the Yondaime had been given enough time to do what he needed to do by none other than the Uchiha clan head himself.

The Sandaime himself had been in awe upon witnessing one man go up against the released Kyuubi. It was a shame that he couldn't force the man into the shinobi program, he would have made quite the asset to the village when missions were concerned.

Kousen preferred being head of the police force, he rarely ever excercised his true power, since he too, like his eldest son, preferred peace. He had seen enough fighting to last him several lifetimes. The Sandaime didn't realize what the man meant, until he noticed that Kousen didn't really seem to age all at much.

No one really knew all that much about Kousen's past, only his family did.

Itachi idolized his father, while Sasuke idolized both his father and brother, even at such a young age he knew that both of them were very strong. It was through them that he saw that violence was not always the answer to any conflict, but also learned that there were times when it was the only solution to a problem.

Which brings us back to where we are in the story, Kousen had just arrived after going off to war. It was a voluntary action, one which the majority of his clan had tried to keep him from actually doing. But all tries had ended in failure, he would not be dissuaded from his decision.

The Sandaime had first thought that he would once again see the force of more than nature that kept the Kyuubi at bay, but was disappointed when such power and stories of such feats never reached his ears. It was only when it was revealed that Kousen had done what even the Yondaime had been unable to do, did he pause and wonder just who or what Kousen really was. The man had not a single scratch on his person, all of his fights ended with no witnesses whatsoever, but the body count was astounding.

Kumo would never wilingly admit it, but the ceasing of all hostilities was caused by just how many veterans and elite soldiers their village had lost, and all to only one man, a man that Kumo didn't even have a description of. No one even knew that it had been an Uchiha that had done it.

It was as if Kousen could order the Shinigami around without fear of reprisal.

"How did things go?" Mikoto asked her husband, when they had first met she was only five years old, while Fugaku had already been a young adult, Kousen himself looked to be around his mid thirties to early forties, and never actually looked to have aged a day beyond that bracket.

"I have a feeling that Kumo will be sending an emissary for a potential peace treaty soon," Kousen told his small family, "I had to stain my hands with so much blood, but hopefully it will be worth it."

"I hope you at least showed them some mercy tou-san," Itachi chimed in.

"Yeah, tou-san," Sasuke added, copying his brother.

"Swift and painless," Kousen assured his sons, "Swift and painless. They never knew they were dead until they were face to face with Shikyo and her brood."

"Shikyo?" Mikoto asked, she was a woman still and could grow jealous even though she was sure that her husband loved her and only her, romantically of course, "Who's she?"

The boys knew enough to back away from their mother, she had been a elite jounin before having Sasuke and retiring, and therefore could be rather dangerous, especially to a man that would not fight back.

"I guess I forgot to mention her...she's going to be a bit miffed at me for forgetting," he said it almost casually, "Shikyo is my adopted daughter, one that I adopted long before I became head of the Uchiha clan. She's usually rather busy doing her job and fulfilling her responsibilities to her job and family, which is why she's never actually been introduced to you all. I apologize for that."

"Oh, sorry for overthinking things," Mikoto said, "So...any more family I should know about?"

"A few," Kousen admitted, "Most of them are what the Sharingan techniques are named after, so I don't need to give you a list of names really."


	133. X2

"Shit," a man in armor who also wore a magatama necklace cursed as he reached the peak of the mountain that stood between himself and his greatest foe, and the greatest foe to the peace he sought to bring to the world.

"What's wrong?" was the question spoken by his only companion, the only one he permitted to join him as he raced to the summit of the mountain to confront the greatest demon that the world had ever known.

"My chakra is far too low at the moment for the technique I was planning on using to defeat the Juubi," the man said to his companion, "And I can't just rest while the world relies on me to end this as swiftly as possible."

"Then what can we do? What can I do?" his companion asked of him, she was clearly concerned for him, more than anyone else since she was in fact his wife.

"I..." he hesitated, "For once in my life...I am at a loss..."

It was then that the wind rustled what leaves and dust were around the two on the mountain path. They couldn't help themselves but get into fighting stances in preparation for whatever enemy would pop out of the woodwork. It was only when the man relaxed did his wife do so as well.

"Rest up, I'll stall for you, but let only those you trust know the truth of what happens from here on out," spoke the new arrival, it was a man that looked to be in his mid forties to mid fifties, he wore a simple gray summer kimono, tabi sandals, and a cloak about his shoulders. He held a sheathed katana in his hands. He had mismatched eyes, one crimson the other emerald, he even had unruly black hair.

"S-Sensei.." the man said in surprise, it had been years upon years since he had seen or sensed hide or hair of his mentor and father figure, "What are you doing here?"

"T'was I that aided in the unlocking of your eyes and power," the man said, "T'was I that sent you down the path of the savior, the one to battle the destroyer. T'was it not?"

"It was," the once student replied, "But...why now? Why only now? And how did you know to come here?"

"I am still keeping tabs on you," the man said, "Now rest up, regain your needed strength while I deal with this _pest_."

"Hai, Kousen-sensei," the man said and dropped to the ground on his ass for some much needed rest from all the battles that he had seen up til this very moment.

"Arigato Kousen-sama," the man's wife said, "Come back well."

"Yeah, sensei, Juubi is one tough cookie to crack," the man said.

"No need to worry about me, Takeshi," Kousen said, "I have dealt with worse things than some upstart world destroyer."

Before Takeshi or his wife could ask what Kousen meant by that, the man was already gone and the pain filled roar of the beast could be heard all across the lands.

It was pain filled roar, followed by explosion, followed by roar, and the cycle just kept continuing over and over until there was a sudden silence. What happened after that was a mystery to all, until Takeshi came down from the mountain, and revealed a somewhat altered telling of the events that had transpired, about his battle with the Juubi, its subsequent sealing, and what had become of its body. That last part explained why a large chunk of the land that they had all been fighting on no longer existed.

The soul and chakra of the beast had been sealed in the very first jinchuuriki, while it's body was sealed for all time within the moon that now revolved around the world.

No one knew about the true battle, save for any descendant that would manage to gain the Rin'negan and read the tablet that detailed the true biography of the Rikudou Sennin. It would take countless generations before someone finally did manage to decipher or even read a fraction of the real story behind the battle with the Juubi, much more gain that name of the sensei of the Rikudou Sennin.

#

"My friends are relying on me...I can't seem to find a faster way..." it was a tall blonde this time, a nearly no-name one as far as the Bingo Books went, he was not yet that notable, not yet but he would be, and even he knew it.

"What's gotten you so down in the dumps?" an older man's voice filled in the silence that permeated the training ground that the blonde had been busying himself in making him faster, he'd already managed to get his basic technique down, but still wasn't good enough to really rely on it in battle to save more than himself.

"Oh..Kousen-sensei, it's you," the blonde said, "What're you doing here? We're in Konoha you know, I thought you didn't want to get too much attention to yourself, the Uchiha live here you know."

"I highly doubt any of them have managed to unlock all of Takeshi-kun's secrets," Kousen said, "I felt that you needed some help, I have a way, but I'm wondering whether or not you are willing to...lower the level of your principles for it."

"If it will help me protect my precious people, I'm willing to try it," the blonde said, "I also know that you won't have me do something so bad that I'll start acting like Shimura-teme."

"Oh, I really wouldn't have you do that," Kousen said, "I was just thinking of making it possible for your chakra and blood to carry the seal script of your patented Hiraishin jutsu. This way you won't be limited to pre-made seals, as all you will need to do is think of the technique, channel some chakra or drop a droplet of your blood on a surface."

"How will I do that sensei?" the blonde asked.

"I'll have to give you a blood transfusion of sorts," Kousen said, "It will have the effect of you, in a sense, becoming my son since a third of my blood will be populating your genetic makeup. Through this it will be easier to set up your blood and chakra to the way we want things to become."

"I don't see how that'll work," the blonde said.

"It will still be my blood," Kousen said, "Still a part of me, and through that connection, I shall be able to make it like a helpful disease. Whatever manipulations or changes I make to what was once solely mine shall be incorporated into what is yours. You understand?"'

"Yeah, I guess," the blonde said, "Thanks sensei."

"When would you want this procedure done?" Kousen asked the young blonde.

"As soon as possible," the blonde said, "I've only really been given such a short time off..."

"Alright," Kousen said, "Stand up and we'll get started."

The blonde did as instructed and stood up, stiff as a board even, and had his eyes shut tight. He didn't want to know what and how things were going to be done. It was a really funny sight when Kousen would later reminisce about it.

The procedure had been utterly painless as far as the blonde knew. He hadn't seen a thing, nor had he felt a thing. While to the blonde it seemed like only a few minutes had passed, when he opened his eyes once more, he felt as if the entire day had passed him by and he had gone through some demanding sparring with his other sensei.

From being just another seal master, Namikaze Minato became a walking caligraphy and sealing set. All he needed to do was channel chakra and a seal would appear, or shed some blood. He would only figure that little tidbit later in life, on accident, and before he died for the first time anyhow.

When he came to he also found that Kousen was no longer in the training field with him and that an entire day did indeed pass him by. He never told anyone about Kousen as it was one of the man's stipulations about being taught by him.

It was almost the same deal with Takeshi, only those that could be trusted above all others would such information be shared with.

#

Four year old Uzumaki Naruto was in quite a bind, he didn't know where he could go. With all the celebrations going on around the village, his usual watchers were far too busy keeping watch over all the festivities taking place. This made his life an even more living hell than it usually was.

He kept running from hiding place to hiding place since it seemed like all of his hiding places had for some reason been compromised. He had nowhere to run and truly hide. Or at least that's what he thought.

Soon a medium sized mob had been formed, the members of which were mostly drunks shouting obscenities and blaming little ole him for all the wrongs in their lives and in the world. He couldn't really understand all of it since he didn't have a complete set of information about it all.

He was left relatively in the dark and literally on his own as even his pseudo-grandfather was nowhere to be found.

He was alone, and he was in deep shit, if the advancing forms wielding implements of bodily harm were anything to go by.

It was when the first blow was about to connect that he whimpered for help that the mob was blown back, most of them slamming onto their backs on the ground or against nearby walls or any number of solid surfaces, knocking each and every one of them out cold.

He opened his eyes as he wondered why he hadn't felt the pain that came with a pipe striking his head. What he saw surprised him, while at the same time caused his to grow a bit even more scared. He didn't know how all of his would be attackers had been knocked back and knocked out, and whether or not whatever had done it would turn its attention to him.

"I apologize for arriving so late little one," a man spoke to him, a crimson and emerald eyed man, "I was hoping to arrive a lot sooner...but some other-worldly forces got in my way."

"W-who are you?" the kid asked the older man, whose crimson-emerald gaze felt calming.

"I am Tougeika Kousen," the man introduced himself as he pulled the kid to his feet, "I taught two of your ancestors, and in a weird turn of events am something like a paternal grandfather to you."

"R-really?" the little blonde kid asked, he could hardly believe that he had family, but wished with all his heart that it was true.

"Yes," Kousen replied kindly, "It took me awhile to get here, but here I am now...although I won't be able to stay..."

"Huh? Why?" the kid half-demanded, life truly wasn't fair.

"I can't stay since I have a bunch of other responsibilities all over the world," Kousen said, "But, like today, I will try my very best to help you with, when, and what I can. Like your distant ancestor and your father before you, I will teach you. I will help you become strong."

"R-really?" the kid once again could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Yes, really," Kousen said, "Now, would you kindly lead this old man to where you live? I want to make sure you have someplace safe to go home to, what with what I have witnessed this twilight between day and night."

"You don't look all that old," the kid said, but lead Kousen to where he lived anyway.

It was a nearly dilapidated apartment complex, one that had seen a lot of better days. There were no lights on on any of the floors, as if there was only one person living in the whole of the thing.

"Why do you live here and not in your father's house? Or with one of his students? Or with one of your godparents, now that I think about it," Kousen asked the little blonde, the blonde looked at him a bit confused.

"I just moved here," the blonde said as he led Kousen into the complex, and they were greeted by a rotund and smelly man that was clearly drunk with the way his breath smelled, "So dad left me a place to stay? Why'd Hokage-jiji move me here if dad left me a place."

"I don't have an answer to that, and its not like I can just ask him since he doesn't know that I exist, or really exist for that matter," Kousen said.

"What're the two of you talking about?" the man slurred somewhat interrupting their little chat, "I ain't lettin you in, without rent. So pay up!"

"But Hokage-jiji already paid you," the blonde whined.

"That wasn't payment, it was a donation," the man insisted, not really caring at all that someone else was there to witness the exchange.

"_Shikyo, _feast on this wretched soul," Kousen ordered in a voice that the two people with him could have sworn was the farthest thing from human as a voice could get.

"Wh-what are you?" the drunken landlord asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Your worst nightmare," Kousen stated, eerily, "No one speaks with such blatant disrespect to my grandson in my presence.."

"Y-You can't kill me! I'm protected!" the civilian man said, half-thinking that someone was going to arrive and save him.

"Oh, I'm not the one whose going to do you in," Kousen stated, and motioned to behind the man.

Both the man and Naruto turned to face what had once been empty space, only to stare in horror and disbelief when they laid eyes on what could unmistakably be the Shinigami.

She, for Shinigami was indeed a she, removed her ceremonial and traditional mask to reveal a face that could inspire a thousands ships to sail off to face their doom. It was something that neither of the two mortals had been expecting. The cold embrace of death seemed like it could be warm, but as the man found out upon contact with her skin, it was the worst torture he had ever experienced in his life as every sin he committed was returned to him three fold for him to experience.

When the man's deeds had all been tallied, and the scales had finished weighing the worth of his soul, he was devoured as his soul was stripped of all that it had been, was, and will be. In short, its destination was no other place other than hell.

"What just happened?" the little blonde kid asked the two adults in the lobby of the apartment complex with him. His mind couldn't or didn't want to comprehend what he had just witnessed after all.

"Well...to put it simply, Shikyo here," Kousen said and motioned toward the Shinigami, "Sent your former landlord straight to hell. I've also already set in motion placing you as the legal and sole owner of this property."

"Oh...ok...and thanks Kousen-jiji," Naruto said.

"Your welcome," Kousen said, "Now that I know where you live, and what meager defenses it has against any that would wish you harm, it looks like I'll have to set something quite formidable up."

"You are dismissed Shikyo," Kousen spoke to the semi-spectre.

"I'll come by every now and then to check on him Kousen-sama, when I have the time," she said before fading away from view of any mortal.

"Much appreciated m'dear," Kousen said, knowing that she could hear him, just as any of the deities could hear him no matter where in the world he found himself in.

"What are you jiji?" Naruto couldn't help but ask before he let Kousen into his apartment.

"I am immortal," Kousen admitted, it usually wasn't all that believable at first, but soon those that heard such a statement were forced into believing it as reality.

"Really?" the blonde asked.

"Hai," Kousen said.

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed, he was rather excited that he had an immortal family member, he didn't have to worry about ever being truly alone again.

"Not really," Kousen said, "But I guess it does have its benefits."

"So what do you think of where I live? And who's my dad? And my mom? Who are my godparents? What are godparents?" Naruto continued to rattle off questions.

"For the meantime I will answer some of your questions, some I cannot answer, and some I am wondering if you really want to know," Kousen said, "I'm not all that fond of the idea that this is what you have decided to call home, no matter who gave the place to you. Your father is the late Yondaime Hokage, I trust that you won't go spreading that around as it could cause you some unwanted attention from his enemies, same goes for your mother Uzumaki Kushina. Your godparents are Gama Jiraiya and Senju Tsunade, one is the master of Konoha's spy network while the other...well I don't really like her at the moment."

"What are godparents?" Naruto repeated one of his questions.

"They are the ones that are supposed to take care of you when your parents cannot," Kousen answered, "Since they have clearly decided to leave you at the mercy of the village, I shall be taking up the role they have left rather vacant. I'll file for custody of you directly with the Daimyo's court rather than the village's since I have a feeling that the village would lose the documents post haste."

"You're really smart Kousen-jiji," Naruto noted.

"I'm also older than the Hokage, I'm supposed to be that smart gaki," Kousen said, huffing slightly, "I will look into your parents' house, as well as anything they might have left behind for you."

"Ok jiji," Naruto said, "So what happens now?"

"I set up your home's defenses, clean up and organize this apartment, and fix up everything else," Kousen said, "If anyone asks, just claim that you now have a sponsor."

"Ok," Naruto said, "What if people don't believe me?"

"Then they won't believe you," Kousen said, "In those cases just..hmm...wish for help to appear, and either Shikyo or my other subordinates, former students, or followers, will come to your aid. Mostly it will be Shikyo."

"Ok...so...now what?" Naruto asked.

"You are to shower, get dressed for bed and go to bed," Kousen ordered his now youngest charge.

When Naruto was finally asleep, Kousen called upon all the powers available to him, but made sure that no one was made aware of their use. He was the great-grandson of Death himself, and therefore meant that he had a lot of power at his disposal especially when it came to the world he had landed on after wishing for something adventurous to do and live as a part of.

He layered defensive and offensive barriers around the property, he peppered all of the surfaces such as walls, doors, ceilings, floors, and windows, with runes and sealing script. He raised golems of wood and stone to stand guard over all entrances and exits that could potentially be exploited for entry or be breached. It went from a normal apartment complex to an impenetrable miniature fortress.

Only those that either himself or Naruto granted access could pass through the threshold of the property now.

With all the security measures in place, Kousen furnished every room on every one of the four floors of the complex. He turned the simple and easily maneuverable complex into a veritable labyrinth than any that didn't know where and how to go around it would surely get lost, should any be lucky enough to get in.

He went a bit further when the sun was about to rise over the horizon. He made it so that once a person entered the complex itself, that person entered a whole new world. A pocket dimension so large that it fit a whole other world, this one was a world that Naruto would one day fully control.


	134. X3

'_Remember... Should you ever access it, intentionally, you will be changed forever... There's even the chance that you'll become like me... So should you ever consciously use it...make sure that it counts and that you won't regret it. Got it?_'

Those were the words that were told to him, slammed into his memory banks until such a time that he would consider unlocking the full extent of his blood heritage. It was something, a power unlike any other the world had truly ever seen before. It was from a grandfather of sorts, the very same man that taught him how to unlock it all as well as left him with the warning.

The man's name had been Tougeika Kousen, and he had been the sensei of both the Rikudou Sennin and the Yondaime Hokage, though no one ever knew that little fact save for those that those two people let know as well as anyone Kousen shared such information with.

He was an immortal, one of the True Immortals, old age, decapitation, you name it, he would not die from it. Immortality, True Immortality was both a blessing and a curse. Life never ended, but at the same time one was forced to witness all that they grew to call or consider precious grow old and wither away before their very eyes.

He had stalled the Juubi to give the Sage time to regain what energy he needed to defeat his destined foe. While Kousen could have done it himself, there were unwritten rules and laws that he had to abide by.

He had helped the Yondaime Hokage become the master of seals that he had become by not only adding onto the young man's knowledge but also granting him a bloodline that dealt with seals. Within the blonde's very own chakra and blood flowed the language of sealing, all it took was but a thought and the chakra or blood would do the rest.

For the Sage Kousen merely gave training, but for Minato Kousen performed an unknown process of adoption and blood transfusion. He replaced one third of Minato's blood with his own, being his own blood and being not some mere mortal he could manipulate his blood and had it infect Minato's own genetic makeup which granted him that bloodline. A bloodline that was obviously passed down to Naruto too.

While Minato only had the sealing power down pat, Naruto on the otherhand inherited a locked door deep within his soul. Behind this locked door lay his limitless potential, it was that blood heritage that once unleashed would change him irrevocably.

It was really due to the combination of bloodlines that flowed within Naruto's veins that had triggered the door's appearance. Kousen had expected it and thus taught the boy from the age of four all that he would need to know to form a basis or foundation of what he could potentially gain through the years. Though on the stipulation that the blonde keep his true skills, talents, and smarts, under wraps. No one was to know just how good, smart, and powerful, he really was until the need arose for him to show just how mature and knowledgable he was about the world.

He thought that he still had a few years before he would need to start revealing, slowly, just what he was truly capable of, as well as to what lengths he would go to protect his precious people and keep his solemn vows and promises. But here he was, laying in a pool of his own blood, cursing his selflessness and the promise to bring back his once best friend back to the village, to that pink haired teammate of theirs. He knew now that he should not have hoped too much that the Uchiha was just misguided or manipulated.

It was clear that the Uchiha was in control of himself. There was no real saving him from himself, or at least the blonde knew that he didn't have whatever it was that could steer the duck-butt-hairdo'd Uchiha back onto the true path.

He was out of power, the Kyuubi had been forced to take back its own power as it knew that it was already slowly killing its host. He also had almost run out of his own chakra. He had stamina to be envied sure, but when one ran out of juice, no amount of stamina or will would be able to get one to stand back up and get the shit beaten out of him again.

He had actually forgotten to use his other more honed skills and intellect during the fight, he had been far too focused on dishing out what was expected of him and hoping that it was all that he would need. But he had underestimated his opponent, and that seal that Orochimaru had more or less grafted onto the Uchiha's skin via hickey.

He had gone into the fight with some naivety and it had cost him. Not as much as he had feared, but enough to leave him bleeding on the valley floor as the Uchiha gloated about always and forever being superior to the blonde. Then came the cursing as the Uchiha noticed that his eyes had not evolved.

'_I can't stay here doing nothing...I've got a promise to keep...and my precious people are counting on me to succeed...I will not...FAIL!_' Naruto screamed in his mind, and so he delved deep within himself and forcefully yanked open the locked door and accepted the power that had been restrained within.

The Uchiha was forced out of his cursing and ponderings by a weight suddenly weighing him down. Pushing him down, a crushing feeling, one that was in a way similar to the Killing Intent that Zabuza had sent Team 7's way during the Wave Mission. He didn't like the feeling at all and glanced around the area looking for the source of the feeling.

When his eyes fell upon his down former teammate he couldn't help but take a step back as he saw that not only was the blood pool more like a pond, but the body looked like it was decomposing right before his very eyes. He didn't think that he had done something like that or caused it to occur. He was just focused on killing the irritating blonde, not go so far as to desecrate his remains since he believed that his opponent deserved to at least have a funeral with a relatively intact body.

Then something more frightening began to occur. He didn't think it possible for a body to reform after death, he recalled checking the blonde for a pulse, but being an untrained genin in the field of medicine he didn't really manage to find a pulse even though there had been a relatively weak one. With training he would have known that he hadn't killed the blonde and could have rectified the situation had he known that little detail.

The next thing the Uchiha knew was that his back hurt real bad, followed by his nose being broken in four different places, his eyes stung due to sand or something similar flying into them, then there was the breaking of bones, and a number of other things which ended up with him still being alive but unable to move any part of his body that requried bones for movement. During his last waking moment before succumbing to unconsciousness he recalled that his blonde opponent had promised to take him back to that pathetic village even if he had to break every single bone in his body, and due to the lack of ability to actually move, he believed that it had come to pass.

With the broken body of the Uchiha in hand, Naruto found a piece of paper in his pocket and simply willed it to grow and shift into a suitable scroll to be used for sealing. He, like his father, could make seals on the fly, but with his added power boost and other abilities that he had yet to unlock, save for the being able to make things transform or do things he wanted with but a thought, he could do a while lot more. For example, he could seal up a still living Uchiha in a storage scroll where normally such an experience would actually end up either killing the person or turning him or her insane, but with Naruto all sanity was kept as intact as it had been before the storing.

He formed some Kage Bushin and had them take on the form of various random people that didn't look like anyone he would know. He decided that he needed to know even more about the world now that he had broken the dam of power he once contained, but now flowed through him freely and unencumbered.

The last clone left the country, via the close by border, just as Kakashi arrived as backup of sorts only to find Naruto, a still pond-sized puddle of blood, and no sign of the formerly last loyal Uchiha. He feared the worst, and noticed that Naruto was covered in the a lot of blood.

"Naruto...is that you?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask dumbly, he hoped to get a human answer and not bloodlust filled roar.

"I am **KYUUBI!** Hear me..." Naruto decided that it was within his rights to temporarily go over the deep end, "**ROAR!**"

It was very loud, and very chakra enhanced. Kakashi was blown back a few meters, and couldn't help but shiver in anticipation of the end, even though he couldn't sense a sliver of the Kyuubi's chakra.

"S-Stay b-back!" Kakashi said as he tried to stand his ground while wielding a single chipped kunai that had slammed into his chest flat side of the blade first.

"Really Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said suddenly appearing beside his sensei leaning on what was left of the valley wall, "I wasn't serious, just playing. I miss pranking, I want ramen..." the jounin didn't know what to think as his brain began to shut down. He felt his pouch grow slightly lighter only to catch sight of Naruto leafing through his favorite volume of Icha Icha.

"N-Naruto..?" Kakashi didn't know if he was still among the living since his student was speaking so fast and was now seen leafing through porn.

"I don't see what you find so fascinating with this thing...there's no action whatsoever, the smut parts aren't even all that realistic..some of the things in here aren't even possible for most women, much more men!" Naruto commented distastefully and eventually threw the book over his shoulder before spinning in place as his foot caught on fire and a streak of flame made its way toward his sensei's book.

The jounin had never moved so fast in his life, he didn't just leave some afterimage, he vanished and reappeared with his _precious_ with a bright white flash. It was like Hiraishin but done doggy-style.


	135. X4

He'd been hiding his skills for so long that it was no wonder that revealing them was becoming more than simply troublesome.

When he had just turned four years old and just as he was going to have another memorable beating courtesy of the people he had been given the responsibility and duty of protecting, he had been saved from such torture by the arrival of someone who was more than a simple old man that claimed to have been his ancestor. Distant ancestor. It would take a family tree that circled the globe five times before the two names could see the clear path and connection.

He had been taken into the care of that man, that man that went by the name Tougeika Kousen. He had taught the very first chakra users about chakra, he had taught the Rikudou Sennin himself, and had served as either a simple guide to a mentor to some of history's most influential parties.

He had come for his kin, kin that the winds of the world had whispered to him needed his company and guidance. The world itself, nature itself, knew just how much he treasured family, what little number of direct descendants he had left. So he was informed of the young blonde's treatment, and so he had traveled across the globe from one end of the world all the way to Konoha. It had taken him three years of non-stop travel, a few battles with forces that dared keep him away.

He came, arrived, saw what was about to happen and stepped in. The mere mortals were blown literally away from the blonde, causing all of them to be knocked unconscious as each of them were slammed into hard unforgiving surfaces.

After introducing himself to the blonde, Kousen had taken the blonde under his wing, and taught him all that was being held back from him and a number of things that no one would even think the blonde was ready for or willing to learn.

Then one day he left. But not before informing the blonde that he was very proud of him and would always be proud of him. It also came with a warning of awakening his bloodline, the oldest one in the world. One that even the kami dreaded ever awakening in another, for it could spell their doom or even the end of the world.

He and his team, Team 7, were in the Forest of Death participating in the second portion of the Chuunin Exam. It was a survival exam as well as a delivery one. All members of the team would be required to remain alive upon arriving at the central tower with the required pair of scrolls in order to advance to the next portion of the test.

It was due to such circumstances that Naruto believed that I was time to unravel the mask he wore, and reveal the truths that lay beneath his mask of the jester, the clown, the fool. But his teammates refused to take him seriously, believing with all their minds that what they had seen all along had been his true face, and not the made up one he used to keep his secrets and to keep him safe.

They scoffed at him and told him to just follow orders and all would be well, though in not so many words as that. It was really just a glare, some insults, and what could have been a beating had he not needed to take a piss. Which netted the team an extra scroll as it was not the one the team needed.

When he was finally separated from his team, he doubted they really worried about him all that much, all they really cared about was him being alive in order for team 7 to be able to advance. It was once he was alone within the stomach of the snake that had made him its lunch did he unseal that which he had sealed behind his mask.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when they once more opened his eyes revealed his truth, his determination, his resolve, his strength, and the blazing inferno that was his Scorching Will of Fire, his Enduring Will of Earth, his Forceful Will of Wind, his Unyielding Will of Water, and his Will to Survive. The four true main elements raged within his cerulean orbs.

He activated the portions of his heritage that he had free access to, but not all of it as it was not the time to unleash what even the heavens and hell dreaded to witness the awakening of.

His chakra grew more controlled, as controlled as a master of the jyuuken. His mind raced with all the things he wanted and needed to do. Seal script and arrays exploded all around him, on all that he touched, from the air particles themselves to where he stood. No chakra conductive ink required, no fluid graceful strokes. All that was needed was his imagination, his will, his belief that nothing was impossible, and of course his own chakra or his blood as a single small globule was used.

Seals came to life all around him. The snake didn't know what hit it until it was too late. Manda's brood had lost one of its senior members to the blonde as snake blood and guts exploded from one spot to litter the surrounding forest. No green or brown splotch of the forested area was spared the grime and much of crimson and other colors that had made up the snake that had dared to stomach the blonde.

His senses sharpened to allow him to sense all those around him. He focused his senses to detect the chakra sources within the Forest of Death, and zeroed in on largest natural one of the lot. Hidden and suppressed as it was, nothing could escape him when he unleashed these gifts of his heritage. Gifts that even his father had not been able to fully awaken, only partially, a majority of which had to do with seals.

He knew where his teammates were, and he had more than a simple feeling as to who had attacked them and had the snake spirit him away. Orochimaru was a name not foreign to his lips as Kousen had had him memorize by heart every piece of information within each and every published version of the Bingo Book, from the oldest that the duo could find to the most recent that they could get their hands on. He even knew some things that the general public would need to bypass a lot of red tape to even catch a glimpse of.

This scaled serpent, he didn't like one bit. Orochimaru was a stain on the earth, an abomination whose existence should have been ended when his sensei had caught him red handed performing vile experiments on the innocent.

Naruto shot off at speeds that no ordinary genin should have been able to run at. But he was no ordinary genin as he had mastered speed down to the point that it was an art form. It was thanks to all the training he had done in the form of pranks, no one could catch him unless he wanted to be caught or allowed anyone, even the Hokage to catch him. The only Beings that could catch him were Kousen, and Kousen's adopted children, Beings who too were not mere mortal men and women.

But of course when using such superior speed, the only thing he could actually do was use speed, nothing else was available to him when he went all out with his mastery of speed. He could not punch or kick, he had to transition back to a more normal speed before he could enter fighting mode.

When using or being in inhuman speed demon mode, Naruto needed to concentrate on his movements, from just how fast he was going to turning, going straight, basically everything that had to do with moving.

The scene that met him was his Uchiha of a teammate with an ego to match the size of the Hokage Mountain, had decided to choose the coward's way of doing things. The Uchiha had decided to give up their team's scrolls, not just their original one but also their spare.

Naruto couldn't take such cowardice. So he acted. He acted in a way that didn't betray just how good he really was...just yet. He entered fighting mode, which was basically just slowing down and flinging himself at his opponent. It was fighting mode stage one, where he blindly attacked. Stage two was just like stage one but with a plan, while stage three was just like stage two but with skills.

Orochimaru had expected the attack and dealt some additional damage of his own, taking his attention away from the running scared Uchiha and his pink haired teammate. The two of them left, thinking that Naruto made a very good distraction.

With his two teammates out of viewing distance, Naruto decided to take it up two notches and began fighting, not only with Kage Bushin, but also with seals. Orochimaru found that he didn't really expect a genin to be so good at seals. Minato was one thing, since the other blonde had been a genius just like himself, but Naruto's public records spoke volumes about the blonde supposed incompetence.

Incompetence that didn't show as Orochimaru battled the blonde that matched him blow for blow with just enough force to make none of their attacks make a difference. It was more like a spar than an actual life or death battle, and the longer than the fight wore on the more and more the two combatants delved into the more enjoyable aspect of just fighting a fight worth fighting.

Kage Bushin and all sorts of seals, with some taijutsu in the mix, against taijutsu, kenjutsu, kuchiyose no jutsu, and ninjutsu. It was something worth watching had anyone dared to go near the killing intent filled area, which caused some of the weaker animals of the Forest of Death to suffer heart attacks.

Fireballs met exploding branches of fiery death, and a number of other deadly things that would have already killed most genin.

Neither side knew which of the two of them had caused the most damage, but both of them were quite sure that the area they had been fighting in would not be sprouting much more life for a few years to come unless there would be some sort of intervention for the area.

"There's no way that you're just some run-of-the-mill genin," Orochimaru complimented his blonde opponent.

"You're not so bad yourself Orochimaru," Naruto complimented back, "Though you seem to be losing your touch, or are you just not ready to face Konoha?"

"I'm a snake in the grass, I'm biding my time waiting to strike," Orochimaru said, "I'm going to destroy the village very soon."

"Well, I can't in good conscience let you do that," Naruto stated, "So what say, you and me take this spar up a notch. Death match style."

"I think you're onto something there," Orochimaru said, thinking that if he got rid of Naruto here and now, he wouldn't have to worry about the Kyuubi container when his invasion started, "Should we set terms for this death match of ours?"

"But of course," Naruto said, "If I win, I get everything that is yours, including that village of yours and all of your people, subordinates, and prisoners."

"And when I win, Konoha will burn to the ground since the village will be less one jinchuuriki," Orochimaru said, "Based on what you've displayed so far, I can tell that should you live to see the invasion, my forces would most likely find you as more than a troublesome obstacle."

"If you say so," Naruto said, "So you ready?"

They were standing on opposite ends of the now clearing that they had converted the dense forested area into.

"I was born ready," Orochimaru smirked, then prepared himself to kill the blonde, he decided to use just enough power to overwhelm the blonde while keeping him still hidden from detection by the Hokage and his crystal ball.

It all happened so fast. They both charged, and landed crouched on the side of the clearing that their opponent had formerly been readying himself on.

It was like a duel between two elite swordsmen.

"It's over," they both said at the same time before both dropping to the ground, faced down and neither of the two of them getting up.

**#poof#**

The Naruto that had been fighting was an Advanced Kage Bushin all along, pumped full of chakra that it could take more than just a few blows. The real Naruto had been moving in the shadows himself, acting more like a clone than his clone did. He'd attacked the Sannin at the last possible moment, using a technique which sent the Sannin's soul straight into the jaws of the Shinigami.

It was one of those things he had inherited and learned from Kousen. He had turned his body into that of a specter, a form very similar to the one that the shinigami had which allowed him to slip his hand through the mortal shell and grasp the soul.

Orochimaru had a particularly weak soul, but a strong will, but since it was a soul versus soul bout, Orochimaru had been forced to succumb to his superior opponent's strength.

Their world revolved mostly around survival of the fittest after all, and it appeared that Orochimaru had bitten off more than he could chew. Not that the shinigami was complaining, she had been after his escapist soul for several years now.

The soul was able to transcend through most mortal boundaries, it existed in a realm all its own, and could interact with its own kind in such a realm as all of those realms existed in one separate yet interconnected realm. There were techniques and rituals that could be used to breach such realms, for challenging and or treating a soul.

It was a modified ritual and technique of sorts that he had forced himself to learn just in case he needed to get rid of an abomination and plague upon the earth in the surest way possible. It wasn't something he could spam on enemies, as it required a great amount of chakra to perform, nigh masterful control, a greater will and a stronger soul. There were also a few other things to consider and take into account, such as the victim would need to least expect something like it being used.

It was the actual sending of the soul to the next great adventure which had a certain set of requirements, not what he planned on doing next.

'_Before I forget..._' he recalled another conversation with Kousen from the past, '_Things will be different this time around, I've seen how things can progress, I've lived long enough to have seen so many scenarios. Don't be their punching bag, if you can help it. Should a time or a chance present itself, take it and change the world._'

It was not really an order, or rather it was more of being somewhere between an order, advice, and a suggestion.

With a dead body on the opposite side of the now clearing he was in, Naruto decided that he would be putting that conversation's topic into play. He decided then and there that since his village was more or less still screwing him over, he might as well turn the world into his playground, and the first step was staking his claim to a part of the world in some way, shape, and form.

Orochimaru's corpse was the answer.

That and a little bit of something else he had managed to obtain on accident, but according to Kousen had been rather expected on his part. It was possibly the closest he would get to the locked away and slumbering potential that the kami dreaded ever bearing witness to.

He approached the body and proceeded to strip it of all of its clothing, Naruto didn't really mind seeing the adult male form in all of its glory, even though the glory was rather pale in tone due most likely to lack of adequate sunlight or genetics. Once that was done, two palms were slammed on the chest and abdomen of the corpse, chakra flared briefly and was followed by the whole body almost instantaneously being covered by an intricate web of seals.

The network of seals was to be the solidified and almost perfect connection and pathway for Naruto to be connected to the body of the sannin. After moving back, he surveyed his handiwork, which was a puppet of sorts that he didn't control with just his chakra, but also with a section of his soul residing in the shell.

It was a rather complex process that most wouldn't dare perform or have the luck of surviving such a ritualized technique. But he was Uzumaki Naruto, and when it came to the impossible and impossible odds he made them real or got over whatever limitation governed most of these kinds of situations.

He smiled a small smile of triumph when his latest extension of his self stood on its own two feet and gazed back at him with a matching set of purple tinged eyes that had red rings with single tomoe on each ring. But they were only visible briefly as the eyes changed back to their original slitted amber form.

Then there was a smile, such a wicked smile or smirk that graced the serpentine face, a matching kitsune grin on his core body's face. Followed by a disturbing pair of laughs, ones that scared off anything that dared to remain within their dual vicinity.

Having two bodies, with only one mind and soul, was a challenging concept to comprehend much more manage to continue as usual. Puppetry was one thing, but living in two bodies and moving around at the same time performing different tasks was another thing entirely. But thanks to his special advanced eyes, and a number of things at his subconscious disposal, he could do it, almost flawlessly.

It was in a way similar to how clones worked, the more in tuned ones to their creator that is. His clones were him and he was his clones. If that was how good he was with just chakra connecting him and then, when it was the soul that formed the main connection...

"This will be interesting won't it," Naruto said.

"Indeed," Orochimaruto agreed, it was only fitting that one person agreed with himself.

Naruto didn't have to worry about his occupying and now owning the body of Orochimaru and how he would be interacting with the world around them using it. He gained everything from the man, from knowledge to power, to even the summoning contract with the snakes though only for that one body and not his core self and form. It was part of the process of acquisition, he gained everything that had to do with the original Orochimaru once he became this new Orochimaru.

They parted ways after Orochimaru redressed, Naruto went off in search of his trash team while Orochimaru went off in search of genin team, he needed to give them some additional orders. Kill the Uchiha and all that, there was also the cursed seal that still needed to be given. Sasuke needed his shortcut to power, it just wouldn't feel right if the genin was spared such a shortcut to power.

It didn't take long for either of the blonde's forms to find the rest of team 7. The two regular run-of-the-mill genin were resting at the base of a tree, both still a little bit shaken from the experience and encounter. Sasuke's senses were not in top form and therefore it was rather easy to ambush him and implant the seal on his neck and leave the parting message of 'If you want more power, come to me and I shall grant you with more...all I ask in return is your loyalty and service'. A partial lie considering that the form was that of a serpent given human form.

But it would be something that the Uchiha would remember even after he woke up from him sealing induced coma. It was an unconscious Uchiha and panicking Haruno that Naruto stumbled upon mere moments after Orochimaru's departure.

Thanks to Orochimaru, team 7 already had all of the two required scrolls and even though one member was more or less incapacitated the team made their way to the tower to finish the exam.

Being now a part of the one that had implanted the seal, Naruto knew how to wake up the Uchiha just in time for the team to pass without meeting any additional obstacles in the forest.

The team was told that for the duration of the remainder of the second part of the exams, they were free to go about the tower as they pleased, minus obvious restricted sections. They were even allowed to venture forth and out of the tower and back into the forest, but at their own risk. They could rest, train, and do a whole host of other things save for leave the testing grounds which was the entire training field.

During that time Naruto kept to himself, after finding a small dark room in one of the lower levels of the structure, he entered a meditative state, one where his senses were even more heightened and he more or less ran on autopilot should anyone come to bother him. It was the best state of mind to maximize Orochimaru, or lesser number of bodies running around the place.

Team Oto was given orders to eliminate the Uchiha should a chance ever present itself. If they failed they would be as good as dead in the eyes of their master.

Once relaying such orders were over and done with, Orochimaru exited the forest while leaving a blood clone of himself in his stead to stand in when his genin team made it to the tower for the preliminary rounds. He had other things to busy himself with, it was time to seek out the second body to add to the collection of Naruto's Six Paths.

He had a day to do it, but with his speed technique, he found that getting from one place to another would be easier than pie. Akasuna no Sasori would be easy to track down, especially thanks to Kabuto's connection and information to the puppet-wielding shinobi.

Seeking him out was rather easy, taking him was equally easy as well. All he had needed to do was act like the serpent that he was and strike. There wasn't anything that the puppet master could have done to prevent what happened to him. All it took was a single opening and it was over. Ambushes were pretty useful for taking down high profile enemies.

There was also the fact that Orochimaru had become Naruto's Deva Path. Sasori was inducted as Asura Path, thanks mostly to his being already more puppet than man, the man part was just his still living and beating heart and mind thanks to the use of a lot of complex seals.

The two Paths made their way swiftly into Konoha, bypassing the barrier thanks to Orochimaru's knowledge about it and how to get around the security feature.

"*"

If one knew how to manipulate the random picker, one could essentially chose who would fight against who during the preliminary rounds. Therefore it was easy for Naruto to make it possible for him to end up fighting someone other than Inuzuka Kiba, he wanted someone that would or could prove to be more of a challenge and thus ended up fighting one Hyuuga Neji.

He stood still like any good ninja could, if they really wanted to. Had everyone not known that he was supposed to be down there, they wouldn't have even sensed his presence, even the Hokage had been surprised at the apparent ease in which Naruto masked everything that would give his position away all the while just standing there before his opponent.

Neji was not intimidated at all and just chalked it up to sheer dumb luck, a fluke if you will since he was one of those that didn't practice looking underneath the underneath, which should have been a motto for all those in the military profession of shinobi.

"_A dobe will always be a dobe,_" Neji mumbled under his breath as he got into the fighting stance of the Hyuuga's Jyuuken.

"_Right back at 'cha,_" Naruto whispered soft enough that only Neji heard, who tried to ignore the retort.

"Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji...BEGIN!" the proctor of the prelims shouted before giving the two combatants some additional space.

Neji wasted no time and attacked his foe intending for a quick fight, not at all caring about whether or not his opponent would survive his onslaught. Most people in the audience thought that Naruto was way outclassed, and that he should just forfeit to save him any more embarrassment.

While the audience believed Neji to be winning, Naruto and his opponent knew otherwise as not a single attack actually hit anything. Not even the 32 and 64 palms managed to get a clean hit in, all were evaded by Naruto and some quick movements almost bordering on reflex. Naruto moved his body out of the way of each strike while making it look like each strike managed a hit, not a clean one, but a hit nonetheless.

Wary of his opponent, Neji moved back several paces to re-assess the situation he found himself in. He'd thought that what one displayed most of one's life was that person's true face and worth, he hadn't fully grasped the possibility of one hiding in plain sight. The orange tracksuit should have given away a part of Naruto's true face.

With a chance so blatantly and obviously given, Naruto charged. He basically bull rushed his opponent at a speed that left a single after image, the one that remained where Naruto had been standing in tranquility only a moment before. The charge resulted in Neji being flung into one of the walls of the indoor arena painfully. It took him a moment to comprehend what had just happened before he felt a hand grip his face before the arm that it belonged to lifted him off of the ground.

The chunin hopefulls and the not all that experienced veterans in the field thought that Naruto had used a kind of henge, while the more experienced members of the audience saw something different. The Hokage and his jounin noticed a seal appear on one of Naruto's hands before seemingly shattering before he gained some height and muscle mass.

Kousen had sealed away his real body in a sense, sealed it beneath a particularly powerful illusion that fooled even the reality of the world. It made the facade he wore real even to the laws that governed the world and nature in general. It was that powerful, complex, and unique. It made him look the way he had looked for most of his still rather short life.

With opponent raised off the ground and unable to feel the floor or any part of his face or see for that matter, Naruto channeled a considerable amount of chakra into his hand.

The onlookers feared that Naruto was planning on crushing his opponent's skull, and no one failed to realize that the proctor was being held back from declaring the winner by some unseen force.

From his other hand a smoke bomb dropped obscuring all those that didn't have a way to see past the smoke what was happening. Naruto didn't like restrictive seals, like the one he knew that Hyuuga used, a perverted version of a security seal that all of the clan used to sport at some point in time in the past. So he decided to make a mockery out of one of the noble clans of the village by removing the caged bird seal from his opponent, he knew Neji had the abomination, and even gave him a new seal in the form of his old one but with different effects and function. He return the seal to what it had originally been which was a protection against others gaining the bloodline or even a more detailed understanding of the bloodline, it also served as protection from having another restrictive slave seal being put in its place.

When the smoke cleared, Neji was on the ground clutching at his head which was suffering from a massive headache, one that surpassed any torture some of the main house members had ever inflicted upon him in the past. Nothing came without a price after all, and it just so happened that pain was the price for freedom.

Seeing that his opponent wouldn't be rising to his feet or returning to his senses anytime soon, Naruto reapplied the seal that had hidden his truer form. He changed appearance as the illusion snapped into place as soon as the seal was activated.

"Winner Uzumaki Naruto!" the proctor was finally able to declare, just before medics came to take care of the rocking in place and in pain Hyuuga.

Hinata managed to defeat Kiba, her teammate, with a surprise show of power on her part before she reverted back to being her shy and lack in confidence self when she was declared the winner of her bout.

Uchiha Sasuke was paired off with Abumi Zaku and won by not only breaking his arms, but also by breaking his neck in a taijutsu combo he partially stole from Rock Lee from that one time he had more or less fought and lost against his fellow yet more senior genin.

Aburame Shino managed to defeat Akado Yoroi by the overwhelming number of chakra draining insects at his disposal, more than any fancy moves and tactics. It was really just a chakra draining technique battle, where the more powerful and effective one won.

The rest of the fights happened as had been expected or planned by the one that decided on who fought who, since Orochimaru and Naruto stopped playing with the machine.

For the finals, the starting battles were thus:

**Round 1: Naruto vs Hinata**

**Round 2: Sasuke vs Gaara vs Dosu**

**Round 3: Shino vs Kankurou**

**Round 4: Shikamaru vs Temari**

They each had a month to prepare for the finals where they would showcase their skills, the bare minimum as they, most of them, understood it. It wouldn't do if potential enemies saw how all of their tricks, now would it.

Once all the teams were wished some luck and after they all went their separate ways, it was only then that Naruto realized that no one aside from himself, Sakura, and Kabuto, knew that Sasuke had a cursed seal on him. It was an interesting development.

To add a bit more of a bloody challenge for the Uchiha, Naruto had Orochimaru remove Dosu from the picture, he was an annoyance anyway seeing as he couldn't really reign in his own ego, there were more than enough egotistic bastards within the village walls anyway, what was one less.

Sasuke would get focused training from Kakashi, the other combatants would be having their training as well, and before anyone could suggest someone to train for Naruto he was already no longer mere blip on everyone's collective radars. He was nowhere to be found.

Naruto had decided that it would be best if he continued to gradually reveal his true self, it wouldn't do if he was not promoted due to not showing that he was ready for the rank of chunin due to the things that most people knew about him.

Though knowing that his opponent wasn't really much of a challenge against him of all people, considering not only who she was but also how she felt for him, he wasn't so dense that he couldn't tell when a girl fancied him. He didn't really need to train for his fight against her, what he did need to train for was his fight against Sabaku no Gaara.

At the first chance that he got, he got permission from the Hokage to use any training field that he chose, irregardless of which one it was or how dangerous it was. He only stayed long enough to be granted such permission, as he didn't want to be asked what he would be doing as well as about the changes that the old man must have noticed.

He entered the forest just as Mitarashi Anko left. Once inside he created as many Kage Bushin as he could in one go, then another batch after resting some to gain back some of his expended strength. There was more than a thousands of himself in the forest when he was done, and adding Orochimaru and Sasori into the mix, made him have even more ways to train himself.

It was Kage Bushin training method times three. He would be prepared for the invasion he would be leading, in a sense. Fighting on both sides was going to be rather enjoyable.

After the first two weeks he decided that he needed to do something reckless, something that fit in with his false and real personality. He needed to do something to break the monotony of training. After meditating on the matter for a day, he decided that since he knew everything there was to know about Orochimaru's Cursed Seals he would be removing the one from the original test subject since she didn't need or use it apparently.

He left his clones, all of them, in the forest to train, they hadn't been found out yet since no one really visited the forest unless given a training assignment or it was Anko, but she hadn't come by the forest ever since the second portion of the exam had ended.

He knew where everyone in the village lived thank to all the times he spent in all the places to gather information in the village about the village and beyond. It also helped that he managed to get a copy of the list of addresses of where everyone in the village lived, right down to their room number. That also meant that he had a list and general to in-depth profile of everyone in the village, something which the Kage and the Kage's kage, could hardly boast about having and knowing and having memorized that when someone moved or something changed the memory archive or it was easily updated without skipping a beat.

Getting to Anko's place wasn't all that hard, she lived in an actual house since it made it harder for most people to break in and treat her things like people treated his more public things, the things he considered important were stashed somewhere else other than his apartment.

He reached out with his chakra senses to see if she was home, finding her not yet there, he decided to dramatize his removal of her seal a little bit. He found the security seals of the property and deactivated them, a large majority of seals had a backdoor that seal masters could locate and use to tweak or deactivate a seal.

With those things out of the way, Sasori made his way into the house, picking a lot was easier than pie for a puppet master who was not only a craftsman but a master of many technical fields. Lock picking was like tweaking a puppet or unlocking the secrets of a human body for the forbidden puppet art of human puppetry.

He waited in the bedroom, and due to a bit of curiosity and boredom decided to rifle through the woman's drawers, which would surely have the effect of her getting pissed on at him for potentially sniffing her underwear.

Orochimaru entered as well, but made himself less visible by blending into the wall like a chameleon of sorts, he was the one that would be removing the seal his predecessor had left on the woman's neck all those years ago when she was still rather young and innocent. He would be ambushing her in a sense from behind, which would give him access to her more matured and sensitive neck, where he would sink his fangs in her once again, but this time to remove which he had placed rather than add something else there.

Naruto himself would be staying on the wall of the property where all the security seals converged, the cornerstone of the defense of the property to be more specific. He would remain there to keep the seals dormant instead of dismantled should he leave them deactivated for too long.

Naruto wore what stage hands would wear during plays or dramas, an all black uniform that would allow him to blend in more with the shadows, with a few dark gray areas to make his blending easier as a cutout shadow tended to stand out more than one that wasn't so perfect. He lowered his mask and kept his forehead protector, so that no one would really suspect him as an enemy.

Orochimaru was not in his jounin attire that he chose to wear as he posed as one, nor what he wore within the Forest of Death. He was actually in something closer to civilian attire, similar to what he wore back when he was younger and still in the service of the village he used to serve, back when the body contained its original soul.

Sasori stuck to wearing just a black cloak over his form with dark blue pants and shinobi sandals, he didn't really need to wear much since most of his wasn't even human to begin with. His upper body also needed the least amount of clothing on since it was where the majority of his puppets were stored, his body was like one big mobile storage scroll.

He didn't have to wait long for her to arrive home from a day of work. She didn't pay attention to the him on the wall, nor did she sense the him hiding in her house, the only one she noticed was the red head riffling through her underwear drawer. While she was tired enough to fail to notice the presence of the other two hiding ones, she was home and thus didn't really need to be as paranoid as when she was out on a mission, she was still awake enough to notice the red head.

What kunoichi wouldn't be able to notice something like that, irregardless of how dark it was in her home. It was her precious underwear drawer for crying out loud. It was like Kakashi and his Icha Icha safe.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she shouted, rage clearly noticeable in her voice as well as the leaking killing intent she was sending the red head's way, it wasn't anything like the killing intent he had grown been forced to endure during his younger years.

"Riffling through your stuff...I didn't think someone that dressed like you had a lot of innocent looking pieces in here," Sasori said offhandedly, "There are even some with bears on them..." he shoved a hand back inside the drawers, and came up with one with the head of the Yondaime on it right above where her special place would be when wearing it, "Yondaime themed ones too.."

"Put those back! All of them or I'll...I'll.." she clearly didn't know what she was going to do, but in her mind she promised that her victim was going to wish they had never been born, "Why are you in here anyway? How did you get it? I have security seals that were created by Jiraya-sama himself when he was feeling guilty about what his teammate did to me."

"The seals were a cinch," Sasori informed her, "Almost every seal has a backdoor, or a way for a seal master to get around and tweak it. Your security seals have all been deactivated, don't worry they're not destroyed just dormant."

"So what do you want with me? If you wanted to hurt me or kill me you would have done so already," she said, her rage receding in favor of a bit of fear for what lay in store for her against someone clearly out of her league.

"Nothing harmful I assure you," Sasori said as he return all the things he had take out back to where they belonged, using nothing more than invisible strings, "What my purpose here and doing what I was doing was to piss you off at the start...but more to distract you to allow my friend to go all kyuuketsuki on you."

"Wha...ooh...mmm..." she couldn't form the question mentally or vocally as she was far more preoccupied with remaining standing as a pair of strong arms took hold of her body and a mouth trailed kisses along her neck before a pair of fangs sunk into her flesh and sucked out a poison that had melded with her body for all these years but had never been willingly used.

She was released from her assailant's hold momentarily, just enough time for him to lick his lips and retract his fangs before his hands were on her once again.

Feeling light headed she didn't protest when he lifted her in his arms and laid her on her own bed. Time then seemed to slow around her, a single second lasting for minutes upon minutes more as he slowly removed the cloth that hid her form from the world, the cloth that protected her flesh from the bitter cold of the night and the heat of the sun in the day.

Her mind was swimming in pleasure as his hands passed over her flesh, caressingly and teasingly. His fingers never remained in one place for too long, only long enough for her to long for it in that place.

She thought that more would come when he abruptly stopped and when she went to grab his arm to ask him why, she noticed that she had been dressed by him in her loosely fitting nightclothes, ready for bed. At least she looked ready for bed when her body was anything but ready due to her assailant's ministrations.

"Why?" was the only word managed to escape her lips, as her mind was still swimming with the remnants of what been done to her, it was as if she had been drugged but she knew that that was next to impossible with all the training she had undergone in her youth under the tutelage of one the greatest warriors the village had ever produced.

"_Rest...you've been put through far too much already.._" came the serpentine reply, a voice and tone that she would never forget and forever remember as it used to haunt her nightmares and her dreams. She felt too weak to respond to the feelings and memories that were resurfacing upon hearing his voice, so she simply lay there on her bed, relatively helpless.

"Come, my friend," Sasori spoke and stood up on the floor and began to glide across the ground instead of actually walking, "Our work here is done.."

"What are you talking about?" she said as sleep began to claim her.

"_Take a look in the mirror in the morning, m'dear,_" the serpentine whisper came again, soothingly and sending her even deeper into the arms of Morpheus, "_You'll see what we're talking about..._"

His words faded even more at the end as she finally fell asleep.

The two Paths and Core, left her house after reactivating the security seals and adding a few of his own. He returned to the Forest of Death and resumed his training, but not before remembering to leave an advanced Kage Bushin at his apartment just in case anyone came looking for him. He'd spotted Iruka heading for Anko's house just as they were leaving after all. It was just a precaution, but in his profession being paranoid was a healthy habit to have.

"*"

In the morning Anko found herself just looking at herself in the mirror trying to figure out what in the world had changed, she found that nothing had changed. Or at least she just didn't see it. She turned to her friend who had come by her house, twice, to check up on her, and it wasn't Kurenai.

"Do you see anything different?" she asked him.

"I would...maybe...if you put some more clothes on," he said, it was none other than Iruka.

"Stop covering your eyes, you've seen me in all my glory before you know," she told him, a bit irritated.

"But we were still...kids back then.." Iruka whined, even though he really did want to take a look.

"Iruka! Just do it!" Anko irritably said as she grabbed hold of her male chunin friend and had him look at her, "Treat it as a mission if you want, I'll even pay you!"

"Err..." Iruka said, as he stared blankly at her.

"That didn't come out right...did it," she said, and blushed a little, then asked him, "Well? See anything different?"

"...boobies..." Iruka said before being whacked on the head by his friend, "S-s-sorry...hehe...umm...well..."'

"Well?" she said as he looked at someplace that she normally didn't like looking at and could have missed due to the habit.

"..err Anko...I don't know how to say this...I found it..." he said, his uncertainty clear in his voice.

"Well...what is it?" she asked, or more like demanded of him.

"I don't know what whoever it was that you had over last night did...but whatever he or she did removed _**IT**_," he said emphasizing that one word since he didn't know how she would react to such news.

"You had better not be joking!" Anko whirled around to face Iruka while raising her male friend into the air by his shirt.

"...boobies...oops...I'm not kidding! I'd never joke about that!" he said, very very nervously, more since he acted perverted a moment before he said that last part.

"Really?" Anko asked him, somewhat innocently while still holding him up in the air.

"Hai Anko-chan," Iruka said, calming down some.

"We've gotta tell Nai-chan!" Anko excitedly said as she dropped Iruka on her ass and began getting dressed in a most unexpected manner of dress, "And Iruka-kun, you owe me a month's supply of Dango for perving on me."

"Hai, hai, ok," Iruka said since it was unavoidable, at least this time he'd be spending his hard earned money on a girl instead of some blonde little boy who wasn't really so little anymore.

"You don't have to sound so down about treating me you know," Anko said and pouted while Iruka just gaped at her when his eyes landed on her dressed form.

He could count the times he'd seen her wearing something decent during her adult years on one hand, this time just added a new finger. It was more than startling, he didn't think that her curse had anything to do with her choice of clothing after all it was clothing and not at all a part of her bdoy.

"People wanted to see a whore and a bitch," Anko answered the unasked question, "So I gave them one. Though I did and still do love the pleasurable benefits of how I acted and dressed. Right now, I'm not that person, without the seal I don't have to worry about something that can't possibly be true anymore."

"Anko-chan," Iruka said as he got off of the ground, "I never thought of you as anything but Anko-chan.."

"Thanks Iruka-kun, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook," Anko told him as she began loading an number of protection on her person hiding them bneath the folds of her clothes. She was wearing a simple everyday kimono that a number of other women in the village could be seen wearing daily. She wouldn't really stand out, the one thing that would make her stand out was who she was while wearing what she was wearing.

"You know, people might think I've finally got myself a girlfriend if I'm seen walking around the village with you," Iruka joked, though in his mind he wouldn't have minded if she was his girlfriend.

"I'm sure some of the guy's will be jealous of you too," Anko said, "So let's go."

"Hai," Iruka said and began using everything he learned in etiquette class, starting with opening and hold the door for her.

They walked, mostly due to the fact that Anko wasn't used to walking around in something other than her skirt and trench coat. This relatively new outfit, which she made sure was always ready in case she needed to use it, was something she wasn't used to using. She wasn't one of the kunoichi sent out on seduction missions after all as her seal marred her skin and her talents were needed in the Torture and Interrogation division.

Iruka gained some rather jealous looks from most of the male populace, since Anko even wearing normal clothes was still more than just eye candy. She was still that hot to look at.

He decided not to push his luck with a bit of a joke like back in his prankster days, so refrained from putting an arm around Anko's waist.

The woman in question was wishing that Iruka tried to do something perverted, since she'd had a kind of crush on her exceedingly nice friend for some time now, she just didnt' want people to start disliking him for being more than just her friend. She also didn't think that he had what it took to take on the pressure of being her boyfriend.

"Can I treat you to dinner, instead of dango, later?" Iruke suddenly said, he almost clamped a hand over his mouth when he realized what he'd said, so he just smiled and decided to make it seem like he meant to say that thought out loud.

"Are you asking out? For a date?" Anko asked, a bit surprised at the turn of events, they were only half way to Kurenai's house, "You had better not be joking Iruka-kun."

"I'm serious, hehe, and no, I'm not taking pity on you or perving on you," Iruka said, though a small part of him was imagining a scene from what little of Icha Icha he had read back when he was curious about sex, but with him and Anko in the scene and not the original characters, "I...yeah...hehe.."

"I'd like that," Anko said and moved her body closer to his as they walked, "You can put your arm around me you know, or hold my hand if you want. We've been friends long enough for that not to be so awkward, and you did just ask me out and I did just accept."

"Ah..well.." Iruka said, and copied an action that Naruto sometimes unintentionally did when he was embarrassed or nervous about something, "Ah...well...that's..."

Anko didn't give him much time to come up with a response to what she said and acted as forward as she usually did. She grabbed hold of his hand in the more intimate way of holding hands, and forced him to move faster, blushing slightly as did he.

"Hurry up Iruka-kun, I wanna tell Nai-chan the good news!" Anko half-whined.

"Hai!" he said, getting over his nervousness at just holding Anko's hand, since as surprising and unbelieveable as it sounded, he was the virgin of the two.

"*"

"Wonder who that girl was?" Morino Ibiki commented to one of his workmates as they walked off to work.

"Anko's gonna wanna kill her won't she," Yamanaka Inoichi who worked part time with T&I division said.

"Yeah," Ibiki said.

"*"

It was a slightly blushing Iruka and Anko that Kurenai opened her apartment door to find. She was rather confused for a mere moment before she began asking all sorts of questions about the fact that they were holding hands and blushing, the red growing with each question, even though some of them were things that Anko was used to hearing and in some cases doing.

It was really just the fact that Kurenai was the one doing the asking that made them act he way they were.

"Well?" Kurenai said, impatiently.

"Maybe we should contionue this conversation inside your apartment, instead of out here where so many are likely still eavesdropping," Anko said.

"Oh..right..come in then," Kurenai said and gave way.

"Well?" Kurenai asked once again once all three of them were comfortably seated, Anko found her kimono quite comfortable while sitting.

"I don't know how to say this without you getting the wrong impression," Anko began to say, but Iruka decided to just say what she was trying to say.

"Anko found someone to remove _**THAT**_ seal from her body," Iruka stated.

"Iruka, you had better not be joking," Kurenai threatened.

"I wouldn't joke about something like that" Iruka firmly stated, "That response is something I was expecting to have come had I said that I got Anko-chan pregnant and we were going to have a civil wedding this afternoon."

"You're not are you?" Kurenai wasn't sure if that part was a joke now.

"That was a joke, an example really," Iruka said, "I'll still the virgin of the three of us you know!"

"I can fix that you know," Anko decided to say, after showing Kurenai the now sealess spot on her neck which just sported some bruising, in the form of a hickey.

"Ah...heh...gulp," Iruka didn't know what to say.

"So did you ask Iruka-kun to hide the spot with a camoflauging hickey?" Kurenai decided to ask, smirking a bit.

"What? No!" Anko said, blushing even redder than Iruka already was.

"Oh, then who put that there?" Kurenai asked.

"Shit!" Anko exclaimed bolting to her feet, "I just remembered! We have to talk to the Hokage now!"

"What? Why?" Iruka asked, "I know he deserves to know about this recent development, its not like _**he**_ visited you and removed the thing from your ne..ck...did he?"

"Are you two coming with me or not?" Anko demanded an answer, an immediate answer.

"I'm coming," Iruka said.

"I'll come too," Kurenai said and prepared to leave her apartment the normal way.

"How urgent is talking to him?" Iruka asked Anko.

"One of the guys that were with me last night sounded like _**Him**_," Anko admitted.

"Ok," Iruka said and grabbed onto both women, channeled chakra, and found the next thing the two kunoichi noticed was that they were in a room that could have passed as an unused broom closet.

"What did you do?" Anko asked, it wasn't that it was cramped in there, but it was dark.

"Got us to the Tower in the fastest way I know how," Iruka said, "Just promise that you tell no one about this."

"Why?" Kurenai asked.

"Its an Anbu-level secret," Iruka said, admitted about a part of his life that the two kunoichi didn't know about, and wouldn't have learned had he not admitted it himself.

"So...Hokage?" Anko asked, impatiently.

"Let's get out of this broom closet first and hope that no one's passing by, or else I might have to defend myself from Asuma getting the wrong idea," Iruka said, and found that his life might have gotten a whole lot shorter than it relatively already was.

"I'll speak with Asuma after our talk with the Hokage," Kurenai said, trying to ease Iruka's worry, since someone had seen the three of them exit the closet.

"That would probably make things worse," Iruka said.

"Considering the circumstances and stuff.." Anko said, "I'd believe the word of a stranger over your own Nai-chan."

The three friends found the Kage in his office not doing paperwork for once, nor was he reading porn, he was actually sleeping with a bubble or something growing and shrinking from his nose. It made Anko think about popping it to wake the old man up since she needed to speak to him, but Iruka stopped her from even trying.

"Why? Its just a bubble," Anko said.

"He's Hokage," Iruka said, "Its also the reason why no Anbu are posted within the office when he's sleeping like this."

"Why?" Anko asked.

"That bubble...well...there's a reason why Gai-san shouts about the Flames of Youth so much..." Iruka said, that explanation was all the kunoichi needed to know to trust Iruka's word.

"So how do we wake him? The secretary just told us to go on in after all," Anko said.

"Let me," Iruka said and stood in front of the kage's desk, "Hem, hem...HOKAGE-SAMA CODE ORANGE!"

The Hokage woke up alright, he woke up, and stood up too. His hands slammed onto his desk almost causing cracks to spiderweb away from palms due to the force he put behind them.

"Gather the chunin, inform the Anbu! Get me UMINO IRUKA now! He must be stopped I don't need any more paperwork!" the Hokage barked out causing the Anbu that hide outside of his office to barge into the room almost as fast as the Hokage woke up, they too were surpsed into going into a mode that was even more severe than being ordered to Hunt for Tora.

"Iruka, good you're already here...what are you doing here now that I think about it...you woke me up...didn't you..?" the Hoakge asked.

"H-hai Hokage-sama," Iruka said, scratching the back of his neck, "It was the only way I knew to wake you up...gomenasai..."

"Anbu false alarm," the Hokage said, while the Anbu could be heard grumbling as they went back to into position around and outside of the office, "So...what's so urgent that you couldn't wait for me to wake up from my nap?"

"Hokage-sama," Anko said.

"Are you three planning on having a polygamous civil marriage or something?" the Hokage's conclusion wasn't that far from what Asuma would be thinking about when he finally found Iruka, "While the Umino clan could use some restoring, I don't think angering Asuma is a good idea. Playing with my son's heart too."

"Its nothing like that!" Iruka and Kurenai said at the same time.

"You know what they say about denying something so vehemently," the Hokage said, "Anyway, if its not about that, then what is it about? Did Mizuki escape and no one informed me?"

"Nothing like that Hokage-sama," Anko said, "Two guys broke into my house, bypassing the seals that even yourself said were good enough to keep anyone short of a seal master out, one riffled through my underwear drawer and sniffed some of my used panties to keep me from noticing his accomplice who surprised me from behind, sucked on my neck, and proceeded to strip me naked before dressing me in my sleepclothes then leaving. I woke in the morning to Iruka's incessant knocking, and after stripping in front of him found out that the guy that gave me a hickey also removed _**THAT**_ seal."

"You know...you can role play all you like...and tell me about it...but I'm not the writer of Icha Icha, my student is," the Hokage said, "And really Anko. Joking about it..."

"I'm not joking or telling you about some sick fantasy I cooked up Hokage-sama," Anko said, and moved nearer to the desk before exposing some skin for him, causing some blood to begin to drip before the flow stopped as he noticed that the hickey was just a hickey and the seal was no longer there, not even when Anko channeled some chakra into the space.

"So two seal masters disabled your home security seals just to delve into your underwear, see you naked, and remove your curse seal?" the Hokage asked, "Why didn't you come to me sooner? Did you get a good look at any of them?"

"One was a red head, looked to have been in his late teens to early young adulthood," Anko said, "He wore a black cloak, as far as I could tell...and I think he mastered the use of charka strings since he moved some stuff around using an invisible foce."

"I don't think I know of a lot of people matching that description," the Hokage said, before their conversation was interrupted by the Sandaime's seal master student entering the office via the window, as was his choice and habit.

"I know of one, and he my spies told me he was spotted in one of the nearby villages to this one a few days ago," Jiraiya said, "There's only one red headed chakra string using seal master in all of the Elemental Nations, Akasuna no Sasori, Sunagakure's S-rank nuke-nin on par with our own Orochimaru."

"How long were you listening?" the Hokage asked his student.

"Only heard the description of Sasori," the Sannin said, "Why?"

"Nevermind," the Hokage said, then returned his full attention to Anko, "What about the accomplice?"

"That's the real reason why I rushed over here with Iruka-kun and Nai-chan, Hoakge-sama...the other guy sounded like _sensei_. He even knew enough about me to get me to drift off to sleep. I was...I felt so defenceless when he...they could have done anything to me and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. Thankfully they only removed my seal."

The Hokage then noticed that Iruka began to look a bit conflicted.

"This is not the time to feel jealous of others Iruka-kun," Kurenai told her friend.

"Its not about that," Iruka said, "I believe that there was a third accomplice."

"What do you mean?" the Hokage asked.

"I was on my way over to Anko's house when I saw someone that looked like Uzumaki Naruto leaveing the scene," Iruka stated, "I'm having a hard time believing that Naruto would have any dealing with an S-rank nuke-nin."

"We'll have to visit Naruto-kun about this then," the Hokage said, "I don't believe that there is anyone in this village who would willingly impersonate him, and I doubt anyone outside of the village knew enough about him to try."

"So you're saying that gaki was there too?" Anko asked.

"It is a distinct possibility," the Sandaime said, "He apparently has more secrets than what he really looks like that are still unknown even to me."

So the group of now five, plus a team of four anbu, visited Naruto's apartment to find Naruto-clone there waiting for them along with Sasori-clone.

"We have been expecting you," Naruto-clone spoke, "Please come in."

"Yes, please do," Sasori-clone said.

"At least it can now be confirmed that you have dealings with a nuke-nin," the Hokage said, "Explain the events of last night concerning Mitarashi Anko. And release the Seal of Illusion."

"Can't," Naruto-clone said, "Clone, Boss is out training, left me for question answering purposes."

"Alright..." the Hokage said, "Now please with the answers."

"Met a snake in the grass during the second part of the exams," Naruto-clone said, "My team left me as a distraction of sorts to deal with it. The snake was defeated by a new friend and ally, the snake's son. Sins of the father, shall be rectified by the son and all that."

"And Akasuna no Sasori?"

"Sandaime Kazekage-teme was a teme to the highest degree," Sasori-clone said, "He was more like a mix of you and Shimura Danzo, just a lot more Danzo than you, Hokage-sama. But when it comes to Naruto-dono, I am a friend an ally, a fellow artist. I manipulate puppets, he manipulates people."

"I don't see why you even bothered to make contact with him," the Hokage said.

"A former spy of mine informed me about him, so I decided to come and help him against an organization I am a part of," Sasori-clone said, "While hard to fathom that is all I am telling you and if you do decide to end me, know that you have only been speaking to a clone all this time and that Naruto trusts me more than he trusts anyone in this village. All thanks to the actiosn of a majority of this village. While he does trust some of you, he does not trust you will the majority of his secrets."

"When I next see Naruto I can have him arrested for suspicions of being a traitor to the village," the Hokage said, "So you had better give me a good reason not to."

"Boss is the most loyal Shinobi that Konoha has ever seen since the founding," Naruto-clone said.

"Had he wanted revenge on the village instead of wanting to protect it, he would have ordered the Kyuubi to finish what was started on the day of his birth," Sasori-clone said.

"What are you talking about?" the Hokage and Sannin demanded, they both were worried even though they knew the strength of the seal.

"Boss has known about the Kyuubi since he was four years old, it was Kousen-jii-sensei that informed him of his burder and his duty, a duty given to him by his own father as both gift and not a curse," Naruto-clone informed them, "There is one force in the whole of the world which the Bijuu all collectively fear, and that is the wrath of Kousen-jii-sensei. Kyuubi is now, nothing more than a very powerful summon at Boss' disposal. Had he wanted to betray the village for whatever reason, he would have just let Kyuubi out to play."

"But to do that he would either have to use the Bijuu's chakra or die in the process," Jiraiya said.

"Kousen-jii-sensei is a very very very very old man," Naruto-clone said, "He is also one of Boss' ancestors, which has made it possible for Boss to actually have a bloodline heritage of sorts, one that hopefully will never fully awaken."

"Who is this Kousen you speak of?" the Hokage asked, "It is a familiar name, but I can't seem to remember where I heard it..."

"You of all people should know about him," Sasori-clone said, "You are the famed Professor and the titled God of Shinobi. Tougeika Kousen is a man of myth and legend, some of the stories being true, like the fact that he is even older than the Bijuu themselves. This man is said to always apper when an event that affects the whole of the world takes place or when he haso only one remaining direct descendant."

"That can't be true...it just can't..." Jiraiya said.

"Wht do you mean?" the Hokage asked his student.

"Minato told me about a man that had approached him one day, back when he was just a genin," the Sannin said, "Said his name was Tougeika Kousen, and offered the gaki some training which was refused. The man then informed Minato that should he ever leave his own flesh and blood alone in the world, then he would offer that child what the father had denied himself of, as well as the means to change the world for good like many others before him."

"Uchiha Itachi was the one that told me about this Kousen," Sasori-clone said, "He shared it with me after one of our organization's meetings. It got me curious, I wanted to meet this man that some legends claim had influenced Chikamatsu Monzaemon to walk down the path he had. There is supposedly a tablet in a property of the Uchiha which details the life of the Rikudou Sennin, where the name Tougeika Kousen is mentioned, along with some facts about the Being."

"I see..." the Hokage said, he never thought that something connected to so many legends and myths had been happening right under his very nose, "So tell me what the supposed son of the snake was doing in this village other than to correct the wrongs of the father."

"He too goes by the name Orochimaru, like the father in honor of the good that the father had done in his lifetime as a loyal warrior of Konoha," Naruto-clone said, "He is within the village to protect the village from his father, and a planned attack on the village that is slated to happen during the finals of the chunin exams. Boss is training in order to be prepared not for the exam, but for the defence of his village, which despite how he has been treated because of his burden he still intends to protect with his all."

"I see," the Hokage said, "Forgive an old man for thinking such thoughts about a precious person, but I needed to know. But why did you have to go through such underhanded means?"

"Would you have believed me if I had just come up to you and told you I could remove something that Jiraiya of the Sannin couldn't?" Naruto-clone and Sasori-clone asked at the same time.

"Well...no," the Hokage said, "Your Fool-Mask was simply too good I must admit, and as for you, Sasori I would have sent you to the T&I instantly."

"I'll keep that in mind then," Sasori-clone said, "I'll pass on that message to Orochimaru since he did not only inherit the name but looks that went with it."

"I...see...that would be trouble...nevermind," the Sandaime said, as he caught himself almost sounding like a Nara male, "I know you have a few more or a lot more secrets Naruto, but know that my door will always be open to you, and since you can claim them to be clan secrets feel free to do so as I'm sure you know a whole lot more than you let on. Sasori, if you come across more information about the planned invasion, feel free to inform me, I shall inform my secretary to let you pass a well as my Anbu not to bother you."

"I'll keep that in mind and shall not betray the trust you have place in me," Sasori-clone said, "Why are you being so trusting all of a sudden?"

The Hokage popped the clone of Naruto before answering, as he didn't need the blonde to hear his next words.

"Naruto is a very good judge of character, I know that he doesn't trust easily, since no one in his position should, but...I know he sees the good in all people, and knows who to trust and who not to trust," the Hokage said, "So I will trust you since he trusts you."

"To betray him would be like betraying _myself_," the inflection upon saying that one word wasn't lost on the Hokage but he would let it go for now as it didn't seem all that important, "If that is all, I will now dispel to let the Master know of what has transpired in this room with such important people."

Silence blanketed the room once the Sasori clone dispelled.

"I can't believe I wished that my half-brother of sorts fucked me last night instead of stopping...eww.." Anko expressed her disgust while at the same time still wishing that the ministrations had been continued since it really had felt heavenly.

"Please stop," Jiraiya said, "I don't enjoy imagining my teammate, even a look a like, naked...eww...ARGH! LET ME PEEK AT YOUR PANTIES AT LEAST!" Jiraiya tried peeking under Kurenai's dress to rid himself of the image of his male teammate naked and doing the nasty with anyone.

The Sandaime had heard worse already and thus was not all that affecfed.

"We have a village of shinobi to prepare," he said in his Sandaime Hokage voice, "I trust that the dissemination of this information shall be discreet, it would not do for our enemies to be tipped off that we know abou their plans."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the two jounin, chunin/former Anbu, and Sennin said, saluting their village leader before relaxing.

"*"

"That was a close one," Naruto said as he was very thankful for his ability to think on the fly, he'd made some of the stuff he'd told the Hokage up, at least he could keep his secret to himself for a little while longer or as long as necessary.

"Indeed," Sasori said, talking to oneself became normal after two weeks.

"I have a force to call upon that will soon love me rather than fear me," Orochimaru said.

"I am my in with the S-rank organization known in some circles as Akatsuki," Sasori said, "All updated information about the Jinchuuriki and their whereabouts is gained through myself, I also have a spy network far superior to Jiraiya of the Sannin."

"I need a way to gain some more power within the village," Naruto said, then remembered something from Orochimaru's memories.

"Shimura Danzo is no longer a root that helped nurture the great tree," Orochimaru said, "He is a rotting root now, or more like a separate weed altogether."

"I...forget I...We have less than a week to bring Danzo into the fold," Sasori said.

"And with him Ne will be ours," Naruto said.

"He will be Preta Path," Naruto said, "Now let us continue training, and turn this forest into a true death trap!"

"HAI!" an ungodly number of clones shouted as one as the training went up a whole different level of notches.

At the end of the third week, Naruto believed that his core body was up to the task of challenging a superior ninja. Sure he had Orochimaru and the ever upgrading Sasori, but he needed his core to be strong since as the core controlling body was usually defenceless when the puppets were rendered useless by an opponent. He didn't need such a weakness and thus continued to train. Kousen had told him to never slack off in his training, as the stronger one was, the better they could protect those precious to them.

Orochimaru had set up a meeting, thankfully, with Danzo for the end of that week. It came as no surprise to the old war veteran that Orochimaru would come prepared with two subordinates, or that was what Danzo first thought. He too had brought two support person of his own as a precaution, it was best to be prepared when dealing with a snake after all.

"No words need be spoken," Orochimaru said, "I came here for one purpose and one purpose alone."

"And that is to betray me is it?" Danzo said, almost reading Orochimaru's mind.

"In a sense," Orochimaru said, "To the winner go the spoils, in this case. When you are defeated, all of Ne will be _**MINE**_."

The last word was spoken by all three Narutos, the other two revealing themselves, as Orochimaru stepped back to take the place of the Core Naruto.

"So you have decided to betray the village," Danzo said, not really uderstanding or seeing greater picture.

"I am not betraying the village at all," Naruto said, "I am protecting with my all, unlike you who would rather burn it down and build on it's remains. I am the last scion of an ancient line. I am the direct descendant of the one who protects the whole world...no..the whole of our world's existence from those that would try to enslave it, cage it, or destroy it."

"**Tell me,**" all three Narutos spoke, "**Does the name Tougeika Kousen ring any bells?**"

The three bodies of Naruto looked upon Danzo with their doujutsu active, tomoe slowly spinning on their rings and sea of purple.

"How do you know such a name? One whispered in the shadows as the man that even the Bijuu themselves are to cower in both fear and shame while in his presence," Danzo demanded, he had once had an Uchiha under his control but had died during a mission share what he knew about the secrets of the Uchiha with him. One of those secrets was the connection between the Rikudou Sennin and the immortal that defended the world from others like him. It was said that even the gods themselves worshipped the ground he walked on.

"**I know, for I am his last surviving direct descendant,**" the three Narutos replied.

"I see," Danzo said, "Fine then. If you are able to defeat me, by your own power. If you are able to show me that your power is enough to protect the great tree, then I shall fall to the side, and hand over Ne to you, for you to do as you please. I will not allow a mere weakling to succeed where I seem to be failing as of late."

"Thank you for this chance to see how strong I have become," Naruto said, and appeared before the taller man, gripped the war hawk before he could react accordingly, and performed his mercy killing. Shinobi style.

Naruto stepped back a moment later, leaving the organization and looking through of the new set of memories and knowledge to be processed by his other two fourths of himself, the Core didn't need to worry about it really since he was already quite used to having more than one thought process being active at the same time. He was in multiple bodies all the time as it was.

"What just happened?" Torune and Fuu asked.

"I have been reborn," Danzo spoke, "Ne will assist in the protection of Konoha. I will not let it be said that I stood by while the village was attacked, call back all of our operatives."

"Hai Danzo-sama," Torune and Fuu replied, but before they could leave were stopped in their tracks by a force that they failed to identify, their only clue was Orochimaru's hand moving from fist to open palm.

"Tis not Danzo inhabiting that body now," Orochimaru said.

"**It is Tougeika Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto,**" the four Narutos said at the exact same time.

"Deception, one of a shinobi's true powers," Torune stated, "Your will be done, Naruto-sama."

"Where should we report to for orders Naruto-sama?" Fuu asked.

"For the next week the Forest of Death will have to do," Naruto said, "No one goes there due to just how much Killing Intent has been felt coming from that area. Dismissed."

"**That went well,**" Naruto noted.

"*"

He stood among his fellow chunin hopefulls, he still wanted the promotion even though he was already technically a higher position and rank in everything thanks to his three other bodies.

"Will Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto please remain, all other participants head to the participants box," the proctor for the match, the same one from the prelims as he had been allowed to flee by Kabuto who convinced Baki of the Sand not to kill the 'spy', "Alright, Round One of the Chunin Finals between Hyuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto...BEGIN!"

He stepped back far enough for the two genin to have enough room to do whatever they planned on doing.

Hinata didn't really look like she had changed much in such a short time, even her confidence in herself hadn't seemed to have changed much. While Naruto on the other hand was showing his real self, physically and mentally. It was time to come out of the proverbial closet, showing who he truly was, though not that he was gay or anything like that.

He wore what could be called the standard Konoha Anbu uniform, minus the mask, cloak, and sword. He did have a face mask like Kakashi though. On the backs of his gloves were also the Uzumaki swirls that Konoha wore in honor of the fellow founding clan from Uzu, something which recent memory has forgotten. He wore his forehead protector on his forehead proudly.

He was also taller, and sported some more muscle than he previous did, more for speed than strength though.

"The only reason I never acknowledged your feelings for me is because of how weak you are," Naruto spoke, it was trash-talk time after all, "While it is all well and good for you not to want to hurt others, I detest the fact that you chose to not fight any of your own battles, always relying on someone or something else to fight for you. You even choose to not fight for yourself. You've leaned on me and what I am capable off rather than believing in your own self-worth. What need have I of one that is more like a puppet or puppy that only follows others and their expectations."

"W-what?" Hinata said, startled from whatever she was thinking after checking Naruto out.

"I said that you are unworthy of my attention due to your own lack of self confidence and self worth," Naruto stated, "With the way you are now, I doubt that you will ever be able to change anything. How can you hope to help your clan, when you cannot even help yourself."

"I...but I..." she tried to find words to defend herself against his own words.

"I'm sure you'd love to blame the way you have been treated for most of your life leading up to this moment," Naruto said, "You withdrew into your self, instead of facing your demons head on. While I on the otherhand, who has faced far worse, have done what you cannot. So if you do not have what it takes to attack, then forfeit as you are not worth my time. I have spent my life training to grow strong enough not only to protect myself, but those precious to me."

"Well?" the proctor said, "You know, talking has its time, but this is a venue for your to showcase what you are capable of. So are you two going to fight or not?"

"I...I will fight," Hinata decided, she might as well start changing herself sometime, now was as good a time as any.

"Good," the proctor said.

"Get on with the fighting alredy!" some random spectator shouted, amidst some 'boos' that were being shouted by the peeople, "We're not here to hear some worthless prattle!"

"So much for the Hyuga clan!" someone else shouted, which earned a glare from all the Hyuga in the stadium.

Insults and more were raining down from the audience, it made Hinata's confidence take nose dive and her self pity soared to even greater heights.

'_Maybe I went a little bit overboard..._' Naruto thought to himself, '_Nah...she deserved it for all those times she perved on me._'

While the insults and more were raining down on he two first rounders, Naruto decided that he had more important things to do than listen to it all and be subjected to it all. He sat down on the ground and began to meditate, scaring a whole lot more people than he had intended to since he was shattering perception after perception of him with every action he was taking.

With his Core body delving into himself, or resting really. The other bodies had things of their own to do. Danzo was busy giving out orders pertaining to the protection of the village from the civilians in the stadium to the ones out and about in the village that would need to be taken to shelters as fast as possible. Orochimaru was busy faking being Kazekage since the real Yondaime Kazekage was dead at the hands of others who didn't like the way that the Kage was thinking, especially about backing out of the invasion collaboration agreement. Sasori was coordinating with Kabuto regarding the invasion, as well as making sure that all of Oto knew that as soon as the fighting got too tough they were to make a run for it back home. They were also to make themselves look like they were a part of different villages that might and still had grudges against Konoha, making the invasion look like it was an effort made by multiple countries.

It was a drastic change of plans, but the Oto-nin followed it to the letter in fear of Orochimaru who could ilterally take on all of them and still come out on top and relatively unscathed, not that anyone of them would rebel since he had brought only the most loyal of his forces for this undertaking.

What the Oto-nin didn't know was that their leader was planning on faking his death, just to see who was truly loyal to him. Following that, his '_successor_' would come for each and every one of them to lead Otogakure as the Nidaime Otokage wearing the same face and bearing the same name as the Shodaime Otokage. It was to be the rebirth of Orochimaru.

Not even Kabuto knew that plan of course, but should he need to be told, he would be.

Hinata attacked suddenly out of anger, fear, and frustration. She had become a cornered animal, and had acted in the only way that she could. Had it not been for his own senses, reflexes, and extra set of eyes, he would have been hit by a jyuken enhanced strike to the head which could have temporarily disabled his core body, with multiple containers for his soul one body wasn't really much fo a problem, it was just that it was at the center of all his plans. It was also his original and first body.

"Finally," Orochimaru grumbled, he had been rather diappointed and impatient with the girl.

She was now fighting like a wild animal, lashing out at anything within striking distance. She was a wild animal with shinobi training, and with some jyuken under her belt. A deadly combination since she had more or less snapped and was just fighting to get away from it all. Like how some people read and wrote to get away from it all, she ended up going berserk to get away from it all.

"Now this is more like it," Naruto declared as he began dodging strikes from the girl that probably still had a huge crush on him irregardless of his belittling of her, Sakura was like that with Sasuke so why not Hinata with him.

He waited until she had showed most of what she was capable of before sending her a single powerful strike to her stomach instead of her solar plexus, sending her into a wall, coughing up blood along with whatever she had eaten for the past 12 hours.

It had taken just one strike, and it was lights out for the girl.

"Winner Uzumaki Naruto by knockout!" the proctor called out.

Naruto simply walked over to the other competitors and took a seat to return to hs meditation.

No one bothered him about his brutality and treatment of the girl.

Sasuke's match skipped since he had yet to arrive but it was agreed that he was already no longer permitted to be promoted this time around due to being late. Orochimaru had made sure to comment on the blatant favoritism that had almost been showed by the village toward one of its own.

Kankurou gave up as soon as he was called, stating that he was no match against someone that would just eat his chakra like lizards ate flies. It was more like a jab at the Aburame more than an explanation really.

Shikamaru had given up when he was just about given a win, but those that knew about the invasion, which was most of those higher than genin and some chunin, knew that he must have been conserving his own strength.

Sasuke arrived after almost being completely disqualified. He fought Gaara as best as he could, even managing to wound the jinchuuriki, that had the effect of the jinchuuriki nearly going berserk and the invasion to begin.

Most of the genin were ordered to go with the civilians to the shelters, some like Shino and Naruto were ordered to do what they could to keep anyone from going after the civilians.

Shino went off in one direction while Naruto took off after the Sand's big guns, or gun really. Gaara would be transforming and would be needing some space to do it too.

Orochimaru took on the old Hokage, but made sure that he old man skewered him with his own sword before the old man had to resort to something drastic. Orochimaru of the Sannin needed to perish in order for Deva Path Orochimaru to rise from his predecessor's ashes.

Sasori had Kabuto call for the gradual retreat of Oto's forces as soon as he lost temporary connection with Orochimaru, though he did regain when the Sound 4 took the supposedly dead body away with them. They were loyal at least. Through his puppets' eyes that were scattered around the village and forested ares, Sasori could see who were loyal to Orochimaru and who were only with him for the power he promised them. He knew who to go after to kill, and who to go after to join the new Oto.

Before the retreat though, Naruto unleashed hell upon a transformed Gaara, one whose body was in Shukaku's control. With no summoning contract with the toads to do something similar to the Yondaime, Naruto did something which actually did scare anyone that managed to witness the sight. The Kyuubi raored with all his might and viciously attacked the tanuki, his foul chakra could be felt all the way in the village of Konoha. Those that could remember the feel of it almost stopped fighting, almost.

Those that new better or more than most, shouted for their comrades to keep fighting as well as supporting Naruto.

Naruto eventually got Gaara to wake up, and defeated him without killing him as well as sharing how he was so strong, which got Gaara and him on each other's precious persons list.

"*"

"Due to what you displayed during the exams and during the succeeding invasion I hereby promote you to the rank of Chunin," the Sandaime said from behind his desk and motioned for a jounin to hand out the chunin vests of those promoted, "Congratulations Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, and Aburame Shino."

It was just coincidence that everyone that had been promoted were from Konoha. The other villages just lucked out reallyk, what with Suna being the only ones with participants apparently.

"Due to being promoted, you are no longer members of your genin cells unless required for a mission," the Sandaime said, "That will be all. Dismissed."

They went their own separate ways once they left the Hokage Tower. The Nara to meet up with his now, former team for the time being until they were all of the same rank, the Aburame to meet with his own former team, one that wasn't all that happy anymore due to what had happened during the Chunin Exams. Shino laid part of the blame on Naruto, while he didn't hate the blonde, that didn't mean he liked him.

Naruto went off to his apartment, just to gather his stuff in preparation for taking on his first missions as a chunin. Once he had all of his gear he returned to the Hokage Tower and headed for the mission hall to see what he could find on such short notice. He lived on his own, in a village that a majority of which didn't like him, and so needed funds to continue living on his own.

As a newly minted chunin he was expected to request a C-rank as was his right as someone with a C for their rank. Instead he surprised the whole hall by requesting a D-rank mission. Specifically Capture Tora the Cat. The one mission that no self-respecting shinobi would willingly go on. Sure the pay was a bit higher than normal, but it was the most difficult out of all the lower ranked missions.

Once he was registered as the one to take on the mission, he left the hall. He decided that it was time to train, and what better way than pretending that the cat was a nuke-nin.

It didn't really take him all that long, just around five hours to capture the cat. His clones were a lot of help, and after the clones proved to be of so much help, he decided that the next day would be filled with missions, his clones would be performing all of the missions he would be taking.

For the rest of the week the mission hall actually had to eventually set a limit to the number of D-rank missions that Naruto could take at a time. The genin teams were running out of teamwork training missions due to him.

As soon as he walked through the door of the mission hall the monday of the next week Naruto was handed a stack of mission scrolls for him to complete within the day, and was told that that was all the D-ranks he would be allowed to take. So he asked for any labor intensive C-ranks that were available, like plowing a field or something like that.

What he got was around twenty of such missions, clearing a field of rocks, plowing a field so that planting can start, planting on the very same field, fertilizing said field, and watering it even. It was a multiple part set of missions. And there were five other sets like it. By this time all chunins knew about Naruto's ability to create kage bushin, and some even realized that he had improved upon the technique to make the clones able to take more of a pounding.

It took him roughly that single day to do over fifty D-rank missions and 20 C-rank missions. It was a record to beat all mission records. For the rest of that week he kept performing the same number of missions, including some downgraded B-rank missions just so he would accept them.

**ALL** mission records.

As it went, he held the most number of solo D to C rank missions in all of the history of the village. He had a grand total of 700 D-rank missions, 140 C-rank missions, and 2 A-rank missions. The first A was when he stopped Mizuki, and the second was when he stopped Gaara from rampaging through Konoha.

It was an extraordinary feat in and of itself.

"Naruto.." the Hokage addressed his favorite genin, though he would never admit it out loud, "I have a mission for you."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruto said standing at attention instead of continuing to look at the photo collection of Konohamaru that the Hoakge decided to share with him during this particular visit to the Hokage's office.

"You do know you don't have to be so formal with me, even if I am giving you a mission," the Hokage said, as he set aside the photo album, "I've been meaning to step down for some time now, my recent battle with my student really made me feel my age. I am not getting any younger as you know, and my time might come sooner rather than later."

"Please don't say that Jiji," Naruto said.

"It is merely a statement of fact Naruto, but I'm not saying that I will be dying any time soon," Sarutobi Hiruzen said, "But I am still in need of a Godaime and no I am not going to promote you, you still have a number of years before you are ready for the position."

"Then what is my mission Jiji?" Naruto asked.

"You are to track down my only female student, Senju Tsunade," Hiruzen said, "I would like her to take my place as Hokage, as well as to help her fulfill one of her dreams, that being upgrading the medical program of the village."

"Do I go solo or do I get a team?" Naruto asked.

"Solo in a sense," Hiruzen said, "My other remaining student Jiraiya has already been dispatched, by the council who decided to go behind my back for the same reason that I am sending you."

"I won't fail you Jiji," Naruto said as he turned to leave.

"I trust that you will bring her back, if she refuses the position of Hokage I will be forced to do drastic things which I will regret...for the most part anyway," Hiruzen said, "No shinobi is above the word or summons of the Hokage. I am calling her home, use whatever means you have at your disposal, but bring her home. She more than anyone needs to come come and accept...no...forgive and forget all past sins that have taken such a toll on her life that she would refuse to even visit once in the past how many years."

"I'll bring her back in no time old man," Naruto said, "That's a promise of a lifetime!"

Upon hearing those words the Sandaime knew that Naruto would be coming home alright and with Tsunade in tow, kicking and screaming if need be. Naruto had never broken a promise, not even that one time that he had been bleeding rather profusely after a beating by some drunk villagers. That was a rather disturbing sight and thought, but it was a prime example of just how much Naruto put into his promises.

Since the old man had told him to bring her back by any means necessary that meant that he could use his other forces to aid him in his quest...err..mission. He had Sasori stop whatever he was doing and had Orochimaru wake up as well. Danzo ordered his subordinates to track down Tsunade and make sure that wherever she was, she would stay there.

He left the village with an official mission scroll, signed out at the gate with his two fellow chunin friends Izumo and Kotetsu, and went off in search of the wayward daughter of the village. He was joined soon after by none other than Sasori, followed closely by Orochimaru. Danzo remained in the village, but Ne operatives shadowed Naruto and his party and knew to follow Naruto since he and Danzo were now one and the same.

The plan was simple in a sense, Orochimaru would be going to wherever Tsunade was, since she didn't know about he changes in the world of shinobi all that much she wouldn't know that the Orochimaru that would be approaching her was the _Son_ of her teammate. She would then be manipulated into doing some stuff for him, and if they didn't work. He'd just see how good he was against her in..._gambling with one's life._

Orochimaru had actually gotten quite far in his recruitment drive as well as in his reshaping Oto into something that was more and more like a modern shinobi village. He was also gaining the respect of his people, even faster than his _father_ ever did. There was just something about being caring and powerful that got people to like and respect him rather than to fear and respect him.

Kabuta had been informed of the secret, the man's loyalty skyrocketed when he was told such a secret. He was loyal to Naruto now, though would only answer to Orochimaru rather than Naruto's Core if he could help it. He chose to think of Orochimaru as the son of his old master, the one that gave him the break he wanted to have but just couldn't get through legal means.

It took them a while to get to Tanzaku Gai which Naruto learned was where Tsunade was through Danzo's own spy network, the information had been relayed through the soul connection of course since Danzo had received the information while in Konoha.

Once there, Orochimaru and Kabuto left to seek out the kunoichi, while Sasori went off to keep any Akatsuki operatives away. With just his core left, he went about looking for something to do.

He found that something by accident, it was a wandering kunoichi by the look of her, she was carrying around a little pig.

"Why aren't you wearing a forehead protector?" he asked her out of the blue, even from his other memories no matter how bad of a shinobi one was, when one was still practicing one always wore their protectors, it was a show of pride, unless it was undercover work that is.

"Oh, I don't really need to since I'm not an active kunoichi, by the way, how were you able to tell?" she asked him.

"You seem kind of familiar really," Naruto admitted, if she were a few years younger she'd be a ringer for one of the girls in his other memories, "I'm Naruto by the way, chunin of Konoha."

"I'm Shizune, jounin and iryo-nin of Konoha, though I'm really just a traveler," she said, "I'm traveling with my master so I get special clearance to slack off a bit."

"Cool, wish I could do that," Naruto said, "So where's this master of yours at? You looking for him or her?"

"I'm looking for her yes," she said, "It wasn't too long ago but she took off in some direction when I wasn't looking. I don't really know why though. You here on a mission?"

"Yeah, but that can wait," Naruto said, "I'll help you with this search and whatever if you want."

"I'd like that," she said to him and she told him just who her sensei was, which made him grin a bit wider.

"That is sooo good to know," Naruto said, "I have been tasked with finding her actually."

"Really? Why?" Shizune nervously asked, "Your not a debt collector now are you?"

"Nah, Hokage-jiji asked me to look for her for him," he told her, it wasn't a secret anyway, "I know she's got issues and all that, but running is never the answer."

"I've tried to convince her to go back, even for a short while," Shizune admitted, "But she always come up with some excuse or some debt collector comes a calling."

"Well I promised the old man that I'd bring her back to him and the village and I've never broken a promise and I'm not about to start now," Naruto said with overflowing confidence and resolve, "Even if I have to drag her kicking and screaming."

"I don't think you could do that," Shizune said, "You're just a chunin, what can you do?"

"You'd be surprised what I could do as a genin," Naruto remarked, then continued their search for the elusive older blonde.

They found her just after she had a little chat with Orochimaru, it was really just thanks to that little chat that Core Naruto managed to track her down.

"Ah Shizune, I was just about to look for you," she informed her apprentice, "An old friend of mine just approached me with a proposition, if I do what he says he'll bring back precious people. I'm really liking that offer, but I still don't know what he wants me to do. Who's the brat?"

"I'm Naruto, and Hokage-jiji has assigned me the task of bringing you back, whether you like it or not," Naruto stated, "So what's it gonna be?"

"So where's that sensei of yours, don't even try denying it brat, you look perfectly like the type of gaki that Jiraiya would go after as an apprentice, ever since his last one died I'm sure he'd want a carbon copy like you," Tsunade mocked, thinking that Naruto really was Jiraiya's apprentice.

"Sorry lady, but me and that other teammate of yours aren't in that kind of relationship," Naruto stated as fact, "I'm here on my own, in a sense, while he's here on other's orders. I was personally asked by the old man to come get you, and when the Hokage says come home, no one is permitted to not follow that order lest they be labeled a nuke-nin."

"And what makes you think I'll come with you?" Tsunade demanded.

"I'll bring you back kicking and screaming if I have to," Naruto stated, "That's a promise of a lifetime."

"You shouldn't throw promises around like they're candy, brat," Tsunade said not taking him seriously at all.

"You know, if I didn't need to take you back alive, I would kill you right now and you wouldn't know it til you were already dead," Naruto stated, it was a fact too since he'd done it three times already, well two times really, "I promised the old man I'd bring you back, and I shall bring you back. Now come willnigly or as I said earlier."

"Not a chance in hell brat," Tsunade responded.

"Then I guess my other alternative will have to be scapped," he said and summoned his other three bodies to his side, he could do that thanks to the Rin'negan he possessed.

"You work with Orochimaru!" Shizune paled as her sensei said such a thing.

"Had you accepted my offer I would have gladly brought them back for you, for a time," Orochimaru said, "Just enough for you to give them a proper farewell, exchange words and all that. Then you would have to fulfill your end of the bargain by going back to Konoha."

"And if that didn't work...well," Danzo continued where Orochimaru left off, then snapped his fingers which caused around 50 Ne Anbu to surround the ground on all sides, cutting off all escape routes.

"And if this still hasn't convinced you," Naruto said, "I've got about 200 puppets that say I'll stop at nothing to keep my promise to the old man. So what say you?"

"Puppets?" Tsunade asked and only then noticed Sasori standing behind the blonde brat as well, "I see...how is it that you have the support of three such people."

"Oh, that's easy," Naruto said closing his eyes for a moment only to reveal a pair of orbs that Tsunade had not been expecting at all, "I've got a set of eyes that say that nothing is impossible."

"Fine, I'll come back with you," Tsunade decided, there was no use arguing with this one blonde who she knew what and who he really was.

"Good," Naruto stated, then ordered Ne to return home while Orochimaru went off in search of Kabuto who was probably worried about him, and Sasori return to his Akatsuki duties.

Danzo simply left via kawarimi, with the amount of chakra Naruto had Danzo could kawarimi from one side of the world to the other without any problems whatsoever.

Jiraiya just missed them.

When they left and Naruto made sure to add a seal on the two women to ensure that they would not be able to reveal just what he was and could do to anyone without his permission. He also had the memories of how she had agreed to come with him, it took all his imagination to do it but he managed to do it and not get killed in the process.


	136. X5

He was kept away from the rest of the village, not for his safety, but for theirs. The only people he allowed to be near him or leave his presence alive was the Hokage. If anyone else so much as looked at him, or acknowledged his presence it was an instant death sentence. This was why the Hokage had made sure that he was given, and he owned it, a strip of land to call his own. It was located behind the Hokage Mountain, and had a number of security seals in place, not to keep him caged in, but to keep anyone that was not supposed to be in there...out.

The plot of land was as large as the Uchiha Clan District, it was walled off, which served as potentially the last defence against any would be trespasser, and held a single house at the very center of it. The property was meticulously maintained. A single cottage at the center of a large expanse of nothing but fruit and flower bearing trees and a number of other things that could be found in a garden.

He was Konoha's Demon Container, but ever since his fourth birthday he became more than the demon he had contained. Someone had decided that when he had been four years old that it would be a good idea to _finish_ what the Yondaime had started. Slamming a tri-pronged kunai that had once been used by the Yondaime into the very center of the spiral seal on the, then, child's stomach was the dumbest idea anyone had ever though of.

The kunai was covered in a number of space-time seals, which once made contact with the containment and purification seal on the, then, child's stomach had a lot of unknown consequences, one of which was the total conversion of what had once been half of the Kyuubi's chakra, the other half was then used to try and reverse whatever damage had been caused, only for that chakra to be converted as well. The Kyuubi had died, but in its place it's continer was in a sense reborn as the new Kyuubi...or more precisely a Juubi due to the child having enough chakra to form a tail of his own.

The experience had destroyed all the innocence that the child had had, something had to take its place, and thus the Demon of Konoha was born. Not just in looks, but in personality, and a lot of other things. Shimura Danzo who had originally wanted to turn the boy into a living weapon didn't dare speak about him now, not after he had tried to take the boy and mold him in his own image and likeness, the boy had proceeded to tear the old war hawk to pieces, and it was only thanks to the intervention of the old Hokage that his old rival's life had been spared.

He was the epitome of anti-social, save for his interactions with the Hokage who was the only person he actually trusted. He'd do anything for the old man, even promise to not kill anyone when he attended the Ninja Academy.

He hated people with a passion, it was partially due to how he had been treated and almost disemboweled and almost died during that one time, that one time that killed his prisoner and having himself turned into what the majority of the misguided villagers already believed him to be.

Since he hated people so much, and would kill any given the chance, Konoha decided to turn his compound into Konoha's excecution grounds, just shove a prisoner through gates that only he and the Hokage could open, and no one would even be needed for clean up. The Hokage actually even asked him to keep the village's Forbidden Scroll for him, then spread that information of its new whereabouts just to rid the village of a few more enemies. Needless to say, after the first 50 attempts had failed at obtaining the scroll.

Kumo had actually tried having a second village representative infiltrate the village in the guise of trying to form another peace treaty only for this jounin to not ever return. Konoha couldn't be faulted with his sudden disappearance when it was explicitly stated in an agreement with Kumo that should their representative decided to enter the compound behind the Hokage Mountain Konoha would not be held responsible.

Kumo had not been able to do a thing, they could not demand a thing either. Konoha was not at fault and their man had not been able to return even in a body bag. Kumo spies had though Konoha overconfident when it came to the security of their prized scroll since there were no guards, just some seals that most elite shinobi could bypass, and a wall.

Beyond the wall had been a beautiful and bountiful garden, and at the center was a single cottage good for a person or two to live comfortably in. They thought it safe to send in one of their own to retrieve the scroll and their representative had paid the price for the action of trying.

The man had suffered being eaten alive after all of his limbs had been severed and as his blood watered the plants that grew closer to the house, each one was rather poisonous, and none of their poisons had an antidote yet, save for the demon ordering the poison to stop its effects. It wasn't or shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone that knew of that secret that the poison would obey.

His name was Uzumaki Naruto, he dropped the Uzumaki part since he didn't want to belong to a human clan. So he setteld for just his name, the name his parents had given him and which was also probably the only thing from them which he treasured.

He didn't have a default form other than his humanoid one, which had pointed ears, longer canines, slitted pupils, and claws instead of regular nails. He wore clothes though, since it made the Hokage happy, and whatever the blonde could do, within reason of course, to make the old man happy, he would do.

Attending the Academy and not killing anyone or eating anyone even a tiny part of them was just one of those things that were within reason. Many on both civilian and shinobi councils had tried to make the Hokage see reason, but they had all failed when he almost declared Martial Law on them, which was his right as the Kage.

These men and women were all part of the higher ups of the village and thus knew whatever was needed to be known about Naruto. It was because of what they knew that they dared not act against he Sandaime, for should the Sandaime be lost to the village...well...Naruto would be free to feast on them all, and sate his hunger for vengeance.

The choice for the village was simple, keep the Demon on their side, or die. It was that simple. Though no one voiced such thoughts out loud, but they did make sure that Konoha knew not to mess around when Naruto was concerned, not that many of them would ever really get to interact with him.

The Sandaime was the key to that, but when he finally succumbed to death... that was something that both councils truly feared. So they tried to think up or come up with ways to get Naruto to like more than the Sandaime, most plans failing tragically while others simply weren't even acted upon due to some uncontrollable forces.

Some councilmen had tried to get their daughters to get close to the boy, but all those poor girls got was the fear of boys in them. They were even scared of their own fathers after they had tried _befriending_ Naruto, of course their manner of befriending since they had been told by their parents that Naruto should become their friend was to demand of him to become their friend.

In another less abused and less attacked life he might not have had the chakra control to perform an actual genjutsu, but being the demon that he was, control was a thing of the past and all that was required of him was his vast and near infinite stores of energy and his imagination. All he needed to do was think it and will it to happen for it to happen. He could even bend reality to a degree but rarely did he use that ability.

Whatever he did, no one that experienced it would talk about it. But whatever it must have really been bad. Some sadistic genjutsu users had bribed the councilors' families into allowing them to use their daughters as a means of figuring out what had been used by showing the girls a number of situations and having them experience a number of experiences. These practicioners were eventually caught and fed to Naruto, but not before 16 girls were mentally broken from their experiences.

To the point that euthenasia had to be used.

Then one day Naruto was in a particularly bad mood that the Hokage was lucky enough that the, still, blonde recognized him as a trusted friend. Whatever had caused the blonde to get into a bad mood was anyone's guess, but seeing how he almost massacred the Hokage, everyone that knew about him and regularly observed him with binoculars could tell that he was in a rather foul one indeed.

It had taken much prying, but since the Hokage knew that Naruto was quite prideful, he knew that he had to be very persistent, but at the same time prepared to bolt for his life if the blonde got too annoyed with even him. He found out that the blonde was frustrated with himself, a part of him wanted to talk to another human but another part of him wanted to rip all humans, except for the Hokage, to shreds.

After finding that piece of information out, the Hokage spent days trying to figure out who it was that Naruto wanted to interact more with, and seeing as the blonde refused to say who or which of the many people in the village it was, he had to resort to watching the blonde. It was troublesome and tiring, but someone had to do it.

Eventually he chanced upon a little dark blue haired and partally lavender eyed Hyuga. The heiress of the Hyuga clan herself. A pretty shy little thing, that if the rumors were to believe was not treated very well by her own clan.

"A-ano...H-Hokage-sama...ano...umm..." she said as the Hokage knelt down to her level and asked her what was wrong, since she too seemed a little down, "T-There's a b-boy in m-my c-class..."

"Oh?" the Hokage said, prompting the girl to continue.

"He's always by himself," she shyly said, "I wanted to talk to him...but he..he just disappears whenever I'm near."

"Ah...that would be Naruto-kun," the Hokage said.

"So that's his name," she said, shyly, apparently he had never been introduced and while most preferred it that way as to keep him as the monster that Konoha tried to hide, it did make making friend a whole other level of harder, though it was surprising that the Hyuga hadn't tried to have the little girl have an accident regarding Naruto yet.

"Yes, that is his name," the Hokage said, "And if you want to talk to him or play with him, you'll have to ask your father about it. Naruto...well...he's special. Very special...so you'll have to ask your father about it. Ok?"

"H-Hai, H-Hokage-sama," she replied, she was extremely nervous since she was talking to the most powerful man in all the village.

"Good girl," the Hokage said as he stood back up and went off in search of Naruto who was probably already home by that time.

Hinata had, for once in her short life, not wasted any time and rushed off home to ask her father for permission to talk to Naruto. Hiashi was more than just surprised that his daughter wanted to talk to the demon, he really was a demon after all, of all...well...people.

"I will allow this...but...if anything happens to you, I will not be held responsible," Hiashi said, though it pained him, "This...Naruto...he is very dangerous...VERY dangerous. But if you manage to gain his trust, you will have a protector and friend for life."

She'd asked him what he meant, but he told her to wait and see.

The next day, after class, her father and the Hokage took her to the compound behind the Hokage Mountain, the very same one that the whole village called The Den, or as some called it The Dead End.

She had heard stories about it the place and wondered why the lonely boy, Naruto, would live anywhere near that scary sounding place. Some parents had told their children to be good or else the monster that lived in The Den would come for them and eat them.

Children had a thing for sharing stories, gossiping more like, they grew to believe their parents' stories or warning or threats when most parents agreed or told the same stories to their children.

"Now Hinata-chan," the Hokage said as they reached the unprotected gate, "From here on, only I can go with you. Your father cannot join us...unless he doesn't value his life."

"Oh...um...ok," Hinata said, and followed the Hokage through the gate, literally though the gate as the wooden and metal ones that had stood in the illusion's place had been destroyed some time ago by an angry Naruto for reasons that no one could really fathom or dared to even.

She instantly fell in love with the garden, it was like a small piece of paradise lay before her. But she had a purpose in the garden and so continued to follow the Hokage as he led her to the very center of the property where a small cottage stood, lazing about in a hammock on the front porch was none other than Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, I've brought someone with me today," the Hokage said, "I know I'm old and probably won't be able to stop you if you decide to kill or eat her, but if you could, please try not to. I'd rather not have another child's blood on my hands."

Upon hearing the word 'her' Naruto got up and off of his hammock and looked at what or who exactly the Hokage had brought with him. 'Meal' was a word that flew out of his mind the very instant he laid eyes on her. It was the girl he had wanted to talk to, just to say 'Hi' or something mundane like that, though he didn't really know how to since most of his interactions with people other than the Hokage had been more along the lines of 'AHHHH...munch munch munch...'

"H-Hello...Naruto-kun," she greeted him, her stutter was out of nervousness and habit.

"Hello," he replied in turn, surprising himself at how easy that was, and the two lasped into silence.

"I will leave you two alone for a while, so Naruto...please," the Hokage asked.

"I won't eat her, promise," Naruto said, and any demon worth his pride would avoid breaking such a thing, "Or intentionally hurt her."

"Thank you," the Hokage said before making the long walk back to the only entrance to the whole garden, the only one that wouldn't attack him anyway.

The Hokage returned to the cottage two hours later, since he still had work to do other than visit with Naruto, only to find the blonde sleeping, while in the form of a small werewolf while Hinata petted him. He thought that Naruto was at peace with himself, but had to duck as a set of earth javelins were sent his way nearly skewering him. He would have tried to defend himself or ask what he hell was that for but he heard some gurgling sounds from behind him. Turning around he found a would be assassin impaled by the multiple spikes.

Then he watched in fascination as the earth swallowed up the body and the stain of blood seeped into the soil.

"So I take it you're feeling better?" the Hokage asked the light blonde werewolf.

"Better," Naruto mumbled as Hinata continued to pet him like she would a puppy or a cat.

"That's good to hear Naruto," the Hokage said, then began to say the words he wished he didn't have to be the one to say, "But it would seem that it is getting late and Hinata-chan needs to go home now."

"I don want Hina-hime to go home," Naruto said with his eyes still bit closed to the world.

"But I have to go home Naruto-kun," she told him as she stopped petting him, but before he could argeue or try and forbid her from leaving or do something he would regret, she added ,"But I promise that I'll come by again. Ok?"

"...Ok..." he said as he reverted back to his more human form, "I'll...walk you to the gate..."

"Ok," she said to him and held his hand in her equally small one, and let him lead her to the gate of his gardenesque home.

Once she was _safely_ out of the gate, and the Hokage was with her, the gate behind them turned rather solid, she found herself facing around half of her clan, some worried faces and some disappointed ones.

"I am glad that you are unharmed," Hiashi decided to speak as he walked up to his daughter, "Care to share what you did in there?"

"Couldn't you see, tou-san?" she asked him.

"Unfortunately...no," it was a difficult thing to admit seeing as the Hyuga prided themselves for their ability to see though everything and anything, Naruto really liked his privacy, it was either that or he suddenly didn't want Hinata to see how much of a monster he could be.

"Oh...tou-san...ano..um..." she began to say, the Hyugas wondered what such a tiny thing wanted to say, "Can I visit him again?"

"If I didn't let you come by again, he'd probably go on a rampage looking for you," Hiashi said, and thus allowed his eldest daughter to visit the blonde any time she wished, but made sure she understood that she was to inform him before she did. He also decided to let up on his eldest and focus more on his youngest daughter. It wouldn't do if she suddenly complained about how she was treated by her clan only for the blonde to take such things the wrong way and finish what the Kyuubi started.

News spread like wildfire about how the Demon had another person that he wouldn't attack, Hinata was instantly both a hero and someone to ignore as much as possible since no one wanted the demon's eyes on them for saying something wrong to her. She didn't really enjoy the turn of events, but she couldn't just abandon Naruto, especially not after she told him that she would visit him as often as she could and that if she couldn't visit him on a certain day that she said she would she would ask the Hokage to tell him. That last part was just so that he wouldn't worry, and after the Hokage told him what had almost happened one time when Naruto got worried about him, she was glad that he saw her as one of his two precious people.

Hiashi encouraged his eldest when it came to her friendship with Naruto, it was his own way of doing his part to keep Konoha safe after all. It was also his way of trying to atone for not protecting the son of his late wife's best friend. He also really hoped that his eldest would make the demon more human, contrary to what the rest of the village had tried to do and succeded in doing which was turn a human into a demon, one that should be considered as the strongest one in the world. One that could not be sealed, period.

When it finally came to the Genin Graduation Exam, it took the efforts of both the Hokage and Hinata to get Naruto to even think about trying for the rank of genin, then it took them hours upon hours of convincing to actually take the test, and well there was a trend that had to be followed until he relented and passed the exam with flying colors placing him at the top of their year, when it came to the final exam anway.

When Naruto passed and a team was selected for him to be a part of, the Hokage had to come up with some iron clad orders for Naruto to follow, else the village would probably be short of several jounin and newly minted genin, not to mention clients too. He actually toyed with the idea of not giving Naruto such explicit orders and letting his old teammates and rival be the demon's jounin-sensei, but scrapped the idea as they weren't that much of criminals to deserve such a gruesome fate. Not yet anyway.

Naruto was placed on Team 7, disappointing Yuuhi Kurenai since Hinata was also placed on the team that went, traditionally to Hatake Kakashi. The third member of said team was Uchiha Sasuke, the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre.

It was for the best, since Kakashi had been the student of Naruto's human father, and it was also a good thing to have the only person other than the Hokage that could more or less control Naruto to be on the same team as him. It was really for the best of everyone, even Sasuke benefited from it, he got someone his age to measure himself against, someone that even Kakashi was more that wary of.

Kakashi had been warned against using the phrase 'come at me with the intent to kill'. Did he listen? No. Did he live? Yes, all thanks to Hinata just being in the same place at the same time as Naruto when he was about to kill the jounin, literally kill him. The decapitating blow was mere inches away from the jounin when Hinata asked Naruto to behave himself, and said that she'd be unhappy if he killed their sensei.

After that incident, Kakashi was forced to pass his team since Hinata actually threatened him with Naruto if he didn't pass them. For once Sasuke knew that he wasn't top dog in the team or village, it was either Naruto or Hinata or both, but one thing was sure in his mind. Do not make Hinata unhappy. Ever.

**EVER**.

Sasuke also learned the value of respect and manners, as well as the lesson of just agreeing with everything that Hinata said or else Naruto would be set loose on your tail. This was the reason why Kakashi stopped being late for anything important, and didn't read porn within the range of Hinata's eyes while in public.

One way that Sasuke benefited from being on the same team as the scariest kuniochi after Mitarashi Anko and the Demon that dined in The Den, along with Hatake Kakashi, was that he got to skip those boring low paying D-rank missions, and went straight into C-ranks with gained him a lot of experience in a lot of aspects of his profession and life. He learned quite a lot, one of these things being humility.

He also learned that killing wasn't easy, even though he usually saw Naruto loving it. Hinata usually ignored that quirk of Naruto, she actually ignored a lot of the things that Naruto did that she would normally not like seeing or hearing about. She decided that so long as they were on a mission she would just ignore it, but if they were not on a mission, she didn't want to see or hear about anything of the sort.

Sasuke learned to respect Naruto for his killing prowess, but vowed to never become so accustomed to it that he would enjoy the act. He didn't want to be labeled as a monster, just as Naruto had for the whole of his life been. He didn't think he could survive just a label being placed on him, since it wouldn't really help his chances of reviving his clan if all the girls didn't like him or were scared of him. Hinata was a one in a million girl, and there was no way he was going to go challenging Naruto for her.

That was suicide.

He actually shuddered whenever he thought about that one mission where the opposing Kumo genin team, a veteran team at least, had informed them, after incapacitating Kakashi, what they would do with Hinata once they were finished with both Sasuke and Naruto.

Team 7 followed a few simple rules. At the top of the list was 'Keep Hinata happy', for if Hinata was happy Naruto was happy, and if Naruto was happy, nothing...bad would happen. Normally anyway. That rule was followed by 'Keep Naruto happy'. Rule three was follow what Kakashi-sensei said since he was the official leader as well as the veteran.

If keeping Hinata happy was rule one, well the Kumo team broke that first rule by threatening Hinata. Threatening Hinata was worse than making her just unhappy.

It was only after that mission that Kumo labeled the Hyuga as off limits, and a two genin made it into the Bingo Books, to the Hokage's dismay. Hyuga Hinata was listed as an A-class threat, while Naruto was given the honor of being the only SSS-class threat in Kumo's Bingo Books.

Hinata was made an A-class threat not because of her strength or anything like that, she was placed that high since just a frown on her face set Naruto on whoever made her frown like metal to a magnet.

The only reason Kumo learned of the incident was because Hinata said she wanted to go home as Naruto was about to finish off the last member of the enemy team. The guy became a hero or a celebrity in his home village for surviving something that could not have been human.

Sure he was more or less spared, but he lived and that was what really mattered.

Kumo recognized Konoha's strength after that.

Really recognized Konoha's strength.

They believed that not only had Konoha trained their jinchuuriki but turned him into something almost as powerful as any of the bijuu, while the truth was that he was a literal demon and had been holding back a lot of his power since he didn't want to hurt Hinata accidentally.

"Mission time team," Kakashi informed his team at their usual meeting spot, "Hokage-sama has ordered our team to assist another genin team, one that bit off more than they could chew. Since we're the most experienced when it comes to fighting, we have been selected as back up. So pack up for about two weeks worth of mission time and meet back here in around an hour."

"Hai," was the reply of two of his genin, while Naruto just diappeared as soon as the orders were given.

Sasuke packed up and sealed his stuff into storage scrolls, while Hinata was given a standard chunin traveling kit, and storage scroll.

Naruto was told that during the mission he could kill as much as he wanted so long as it was not a frienldly or a client, the Hokage was also the one that got Naruto what he would be needing for the mission, complete with some storage scrolls to put in whatever he couldn't finish eating for later, along with some for heads of people with bounties.

When the team got to Nami no Kuni and to the house of the client, it took all of Hinata's hugging power to keep Naruto from killing Haruno Sakura after she started talking, rather loudly, and spouting nonsense. Kiba, who more or less insulted Naruto by stating that team 7 was just there to watch and protect the client while team 8 did the actual fighting since it was their mission originally. Then there was also Kurenai who just didn't like the fact that Kakashi got Hinata and that Hinata was always so close with the demon of Konoha.

"Naruto," Sasuke decided to speak up since Hinata was getting tired from holding Naruto, literally, back, "If you kill them, the Hokage will not be pleased, and I can tell that Hinata wouldn't be happy about it either. Team 8 are allies remember."

"Fine," Naruto said, powering done so to speak.

"So this is the back up you sent for Yuuhi-san?" Tazuna the bridge builder and client of the joint mission asked, "They don't look like much, and that psychotic blonde brat looks like he's got some issues to deal with."

"Naruto! He's the client! You can't kill the client!" Kakashi held Hinata at arm's length in between himself, the client and Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, if you kill the client then we fail our mission you know," Hinata said, not botherd at all by what Kakashi was using her for since he'd done it several times to keep Naruto from killing clients or Sasuke or himself or her father, sister, cousin, and a whole host of other people that got on Naruto's bad side on a good day. Her pout also usually helped.

"Tazuna-san," Sasuke butted in, his sane teammates appreciated him for the action, "Is there anyone that Naruto can actually kill? If he's going to kill someone he might as well help finish the mission."

"Gato of Gato Shipping Industries," Tazuna supplied, "He's the one bleeding this country dry and the very same one that wants to kill me and stop the completion of my bridge."

"Hime?" Naruto asked, she did stop him from killing about five people so far, so he just wanted her confirmation before he went out hunting and scaring the crap or life out of a lot of people innocent and not.

"Go ahead," Hinata said, "Just don't come back all bloody alright."

"Hai Hime," Naruto said, "Almost anything for you," he turned on his heel and left the house, his chakra becoming more visible as it formed a cloak around him the farther away he got.

"So how's a team of brats going to help?" Tazuna asked once Naruto was finally out of sight and hopefully hearing, "Sure you're all genin and shit, but I wanted real ninja not wannabees."

"Oh Tazuna-san," Sasuke spoke up, his fully matured sharingan blazing in both his eyes, they had evolved into Mangenkyo thanks to Naruto doing something upon Hinata, the Hokage, and partially Kakashi's request, "I wouldn't say we're uselss at all. Kakashi-sensei alone is an S-level threat, while Hinata-chan is an A-level threat, I'm a B-level threat, and well Naruto..."

"What about that blonde?" Tazuna asked, Team 8 knew nothing about the listings in the bingo book, Kurenai wasn't a rookie for nothing after all.

"Naruto-kun is on Kumo's Bingo Book in a category all his own," Hinata supplied.

"The dobe's probably an E-level threat," Kiba mocked, which obtained him a glare that could freeze and then some.

"SSS-class," Kakashi supplied instead so that the genin would take the inforamtion seriously, Shino sure took the information seriously, his bugs kept wanting to fly away in fear or abject terror more like, "Naruto is the strongest genin Konoha has ever and will probably ever produce. Frankly, he's stronger than all the genin Konoha has combined, and chunin, jounin, Anbu, Hokage...hell the whole village's power put together in one person. So yeah, you're paying for a C-rank mission and you get two of the strongest genin of Konoha at he moment, I have been considered for the position of taking over as Hokage by the Hokage himself, but I've turned his offers of being his replacement down. Then you also have Naruto."

"Aren't you bragging a bit too much Kakashi?" Kurenai said.

"Not really," Kakashi said, "Our mission record speaks for itself, as does the internation Bingo Book, where all listing and bounties relating to Shinobi are listed."

Before the conversation could go any further Naruto opened the door, in one hand was a fancy looking cane and pipe, while the other held a briefcase.

"That was quick," Kakashi noted.

"What's in the case?" Sasuke asked, he knew that the cane and pipe were souvenirs for the Hokage since Naruto had done soemthing like this on a few previous missions.

"Deeds, titles, checks, bank account information, wills, trusts, you name it," Naruto said, "I know people value money and this place looks like shit. So I took everything that the pig-man had and brought it here for the use of the people that could make this shithole look worth destroying in the future should anyone else decide to test my patience."

"Oh, good," Kakashi said, "I guess we won't be needing to worry about anymore attacks on Tazuna until the bridge is completed."

"I want to go home," Hinata said, it was her way of being lazy and while the rest of her team knew that it wasn't like they minded, Naruto didn't care that he was being used by her to get them home faster, since as he'd said he do almost anything for her.

"Well you can't do that," Kurenai said.

"Why not Kurenai-chan?" Kakashi asked, mocking her a very little bit with his question.

"You clearly don't need us here anymore, Yuuhi-san," Sasuke added, "Why can't we just go home?"

"what about the bridge, that's the real mission here, what if someone attacks the bridge before its finished?" Kurenai said.

"Yes, what about my super bridge?" Tazuna asked, "I clearly can't rely on Yuuhi-san's team, since they did request for back up."

"Come with me," Naruto said, as he motioned for the old man to follow him and the rest of Team 7 following after their teammate, Team 8 and Tazuna's family followed, followed by a bunch of curious Wave citizens.

"So...we're at my unfinished bridge," Tazuna said, "Now what?"

"Close your mind and picture what you want the bridge to look like and be, and keep that image in your mind's eye until I tell you to open your eyes," Naruto ordered, an unusually kind voice something he'd picked up after spending so much time with Hinata, he was bound to influenced somehow.

When he was sure that Tazuna was picturing the bridge in all its eternal glory, along with everyone whose hopes and dreams were connected to the promise that the bridge held for all of them, he slammed his hands against the ground while sending an ungodly amount of power through the very earth itself. The power was felt by everyone present, and those who would recognize the power anywhere could also feel it being used.

Those whose eyes had remained open watched in awe as a miracle happened right before their very eyes. The uncompleted bridge began completing itself. Naruto was warping reality to fit his needs, to fit the desires, wishes, and dreams, of those assembled. And since he was a demon of much pride he was making sure that it would last long after Nami no Kuni was just a blip in History.

"You may open your eyes now," Naruto instructed before he began to walk back in the direction of Konoha, his team not following after him, that didn't stop him since to him the mission was over, and he could trust Kakashi and Sasuke to keep Hinata safe from relative harm.

He was slowly learning to trust and to expand his bubble of precious people, though he'd be damned if he just let either of the other two males order him around like he allowed the Hokage and Hinata to do.

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Kurenai asked her more senior comrade.

"Nope," Kakashi said, "He's well within his rights to leave. The mission's done, the bridge is finished after all."

"But it wasn't actually built, it even feels like a really powerful genjutsu," Kurenai said.

"I dare you to try and break the so-called illusion on the bridge," Kakashi said, "Naruto has the power to bend reality to his will, the only reason it feels like an illusion is because of his demonic pride."

"What does his being a demon have to do with anything?" Kurenai asked.

"Naruto's pride makes it so that should he create something it will stand the test of time," Sasuke replied, "Hinata dared him to bring her a rose made out of something that could shatter a diamond as thick as an Akamichi, and he did. To this day not even Chidori or Maito Gai has managed to even dent it."

"I don't see your point," Kurenai said.

"Tazuna-san," Kakashi called out to the man who was admiring the bridge, checking each and every detail and even having some of his people sketch the many intricate designs that covered the bridge for further study.

"Hai?" Tazuna said and walked over to the arguing ninja, "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if we could test the sturdiness of the bridge," Kakashi said, "While I have full confidence in my genin's abilities when it comes to making Hinata happy, and getting this mission finished in record time sure did that, my colleague doesn't believe in the integrity of the creation."

"I've checked about a fourth of the thing, its more solid than what I was going to accomplish," Tazuna said, "Some of the others were thinking of naming it the Great Naruto Bridge actually. But go ahead, if you manage to blow a chunk of it off I'll add your name to the name as well."

"Thanks," Kakashi said, "Well Sasuke, think of the bridge as if it is Naruto, minus the I-will-kill-you-painfully-before-eating-you part. Ok?"

"I am so going to enjoy this!" Sasuke exclaimed just as Kakahi's hasitly created Kage Bushin moved the people of Wave to a safe distance away.

Instead of seeing an insane genin destroy their hopes and dreams right before their very eyes, they saw the greatest light show that they'd ever witness in their whole lives, unless Hinata got Naruto do perform for the people of Wave of course.

Then Kakashi joined in using as many, or all the destructive and flashy jutsu he knew and had copied. There were a lot, and once he was out of those he went about opening the gates. Sasuke benefited from copying all those techniques.

"So why aren't you helping them?" Kurenai asked the girl she wished was on her own team instead of a known pervert's.

"My attacks revolve around harming or hindering a chakra system," Hinata calmly replied, "I'm just here to make sure they don't die of chakra exhaustion."

"Kiba, Shino," Kurenai addressed her male genin, "Go help those two boys out will you. I'm still not convinced."

"Hai sensei," the two boys said, as most boys were like, they had a thing for causing or trying to cause a lot of destruction.

Hinata called over her teammates who were almost dead on their feet.

"Time to rest boys!" she shouted, Kurenai had never encountered a Hinaita this confident before, "If you're not rested up by morning I'll tell Naruto-kun you made me worry about you."

"How 'bout we just head on for Konoha right away?" Kakashi said, not bothering to hear her reply scooped her up in his powerful arms and made a mad dash for Konoha, Sasuke managing to keep pace with him. The fear of Naruto was in them.

When they got there, it was nighttime, and the gate chunin were the same as they usually were. Kotetsu was awake while Izumo was taking a nap. One would think that as a hidden village security would be tighter.

"Hey guys!" Kakashi said, dashing into the village, Sasuke only stopping long enough to sign back in before dashing away after Kakashi, "Bye guys!"

"I swear those two get faster each time Naruto gets home before them," Kotetsu said, "I wonder how bad Hinata's been threatening them..."

It was two weeks of intensive rest from chakra exhaustion that team 7 was informed of their being entered into the Chunin Exams. Sasuke and Hinata were told that the first part of the exams was something that they didn't really need to take, but for appearances sake they would be attending. Naruto on the otherhand would be waiting within the Forest of Death for his team and a smorgasborg.

"So...do we get a free pass to chunin?" Sasuke decided to ask, "I mean we already do perform as chunin anyway."

"Erm..that's not for me to decide," Kakashi said, "I would be considered as biased a bit with regards to you two, and I don't think anyone really wants Naruto to be promoted. Ever. Not that he really cares."

"Oh I'd like to see the day Naruto becomes Hokage," Sasuke commented, "Can you imagine how much fear all the other hidden villages would have? They'd see a Konoha-nin and run with the fear of Naruto in them!"

"That doesn't sound so bad," Hinata added her two ryo in.

"Now that I think about it, that would be a bit bad ass," Kakashi said, "Alright. I've made up my mind. Make sure Naruto gets promoted, do whatever you can, and I'll do whatever I can. We'll make all of Elemental either love him, respect him, or fear him the most!"

"Hai sensei!" the two genin agreed before cackling madly, Mitarashi Anko, and the rest of the T&I Division that witnessed the latter end of the conversation began to inch away slowly before running to The Dead End only for the Hokage and all the available Anbu stop them from commiting suicide.

"I don't care if the world is ending," the Hokage stated, "If you see those three cackling again, pay it no mind. I do it myself, its rather healthy really, and it keeps Naruto away from the village sometimes."

"Why would you want to really keep him away from the village but at the same time want him to be a ninja of Konoha?" Morino Ibiki asked.

"He needs more...people in his life," the Hokage stated, knowing that it didn't matter if Naruto heard him since the blonde was well aware of his ulterior motives, "That and what better way for the village to show its strength than to have a genin kick some ass! He's so young and he's already a triple S-class threat to Kumo! I'm so proud! Even Orochimaru wasn't that bad ass at that age!"

"Err..." the nin didn't know how to act as their Hokage reached into the deep end and didn't look like he'd be coming back any time soon.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," a random Anbu said, "A number of chunin and jounin already respect and fear Naruto, some of them actually want him to get the hat. I'm one of them. That kid's not all that bad really, deep down. Though you'd have to either dig really really deep, or become like his team and Hokage-sama is to him."

"Ok..." Ibiki said, "So...what's in there anyway?"

"You'll need to ask Hokage-sama when he's not doped up," the Anbu said, "Or ask Kotetsu and Izumo to take you to the observation deck. Although you'll have to bring your own...feed...if you want to see the show."

When the Chunin Exams finally arrived, Team 7's two human members waited for the thing to start in the room assigned to all the hopefulls. They were not worried at all, they had faced the fires of the fear o Naruto and lived to talk about it, or more like Sasuke had and Hinata was the one that could stoke the flames or snuff it out if she so wished, to a certain extent of course.

"So what do you think the other teams think of us?" Hinata asked her teammate that sometimes hid behind her with their sensei when Naruto was in a particularly foul mood.

They heard whispers of recognition from some of the older genin.

Then the other _rookies_ arrived.

"Where's the dobe?" Kiba asked as he pranced over to the two, "I heard you all need to be here to even participate."

"We're here just for show," Sasuke stated, "Naruto's already at the testing site for the second part of the exam. The Forest of DEATH just got an upgrade on the DEATH part."

Upon hearing the name 'Naruto' many of those veteran teams began whispering and thinking about quitting while they still lived, while others thought that Konoha was just bluffing.

By the end of the first part of the exam, a large number of genin remained, most thinking that this 'Naruto' couldn't possibly the SSS-class threat in the Bingo Books, they forgot to take into consideration that Hinata and Sasuke were A and B class respectively.

Once they were finally outside of the Forest of Death all the participating teams were given some forms that stated that the village would not be responsible for their deaths while taking the exam. Team 7 was not issued any such forms since Naruto wasn't likely to let anything happen to either Hinata or Sasuke.

After their task was explained to them, all the teams were allowed to enter the exam grounds..but not before Anko decided to scare the chunin hopefuls a bit.

"Hokage-sama gave our resident DEMON the green light to kill any and all of you!" Anko shouted, then cackled madly, "Since you all signed the forms, the village won't be held accountable for so many dead genin!"

"Can we go in now?" Sasuke impatiently asked, "If Hinata doesn't get in there, there won't be a Forest for the next time the exam is held here you know."

"Hokage-sama's hoping Naruto will have calmed down some to let the exams be held in his compound when that time comes," Anko admitted, "And it sounds like such a good idea."

"I'll tell Naruto-kun about that," Hinata said, "But I doubt he'd like it. You do know he loves his garden a lot, takes care of it, and should any of his fruits or flowers get stomped on...well...inter-village relations will be the least of the world's worries."

"On second thought, go right on in," Anko said, she didn't want to be partially responsible for the end of the world after all, all because of a bruised apple or fallen petal from a rose.

The duo easily tracked down their third teammate who had managed to trap a certain serpentine sannin by the name of Orochimaru. Normally something like that would be a cause for concern, but it was Naruto doing the catching.

"You gonna kill him? Wel really just need the head as proof you know," Sasuke stated.

"Uchiha!" Orochimaru shouted and tried to give Sasuke a love bite.

"He's Jiji's student," Naruto said, "I think Jiji would want to deal with him. His bounty for Alive is bigger than Dead anyway. You need a boost in your rank anyway. B is too low for an Uchiha."

"Alright," Sasuke said, "I'll bring him in, you two take up guard positions...by the way...do you have the scrolls we'll be needing?"

"I have several already in my posession," Naruto stated and showed him just how many scrolls he had at his disposal.

"That's a lot of scrolls Naruto-kun," Hinata noted, "Why so many?"

"Found a bunch of extras laying around, probably from previous exams," Naruto replied and began to lead the way to the Tower while Sasuke enjoyed dragging the nuke-nin by his long and well maintained hair.

By the time that Umino Iruka appeared before them, Orochimaru was already at his 75th attempt at comitting suicide, attempt because Sasuke wanted him alive for presenting to the Hokage.

"Is that who I think it is?" Iruka asked his former students.

"If you think its Orochimaru of the Sannin, then yeah," Sasuke replied, "I need an upgrade on my danger level, so we brought him in alive, he's been trying to kill himself all the way here though."

"I...I'll go fetch Hokage-sama," Iruka made to leave the room.

"No need," Naruto said, "I'm faster, I'll fetch him."

As soon as he finished his sentence, he was gone. He really was fast since a moment later Hiruzen was with them all, and he was even dressed in his battle armor.

"OROCHIMARU!" the Sandaime exclaimed when his eyes landed on his wayward student, he then rounded on the genin, "What? When? How? Why? Where?"

"Naruto found him skulking in the Forest of Death, said he was your student so you might want to dole out punishment, I'm the one who supposedly captured him, he's been wanting to kill himself for the past how many hours or minutes though, can I have a danger level of at least A-class now?" Sasuke said.

"I see," the Hokage said, "Iruka-kun, please take my wayward student to Ibiki, and pump him for everything he knows before handing him over to Anko."

"Thank you for being so merciful sensei!" Orochimaru said as he was dragged away by Iruka who felt rather badass dragging a sannin away for questioning, "I won't forget your kindness! You're still my favorite sensei!"

"I was your only sensei!" Hiruzen shot back, then addressed the three overpowered genin, "Since your team is the official first to arrive at the Tower you may go about and do as you wish, just don't leave the training field for the duration of the remaining days. Naruto you may return to the Forest and...for a lack of a better term, feast."

"Yes!" Naruto whooped for joy then ran out of the Tower in the form of a nekomata.

"Hinata-chan," the Sandaime said.

"Hai?" Hinata said.

"How do you think your cousin would feel about being in an arranged marriage?" he asked her, she was the heiress of her clan after all and thus should know something about such things.

"I don't think he would care much about it, he's so focused on his hatred," Hinata said, "Are you offering something?"

"I'm offering to have peacetalks with Kumo again," the Hokage said, "I will permit you to leave the Forest of Death for the duration of the remaining days if you will consent to speaking to your father about allowing your cousin Neji, to be Konoha's part of an arranged marriage with Kumo."

"Why all of a sudden?" Sasuke asked, he didn't get it.

"Naruto-kun took on the form of a bijuu that can and has only been found in Kumo," Hiruzen said, "I'm thinking of making it possible for war never to be had again between Kumo and Konoha by tying the Kage's family to the Hyuga."

"Oh, so Hinata's cousin will be paired with the jinchuuriki of the Nibi?" Sasuke asked.

"Precisely," the Hokage said, "So what do you say Hinata?"

"I guess getting laid my get that stick out of my cousin's ass," Hinata said and thus agreed to the Hokage's plan and was escorted out of the Tower by a team of Anbu.

"Do I get to serve any particular purpose?" Sasuke asked the Kage.

"Do you even like anyone in this village?" the Hokage asked him, "As I recall you plan on reviving your clan."

"No one has caught my interest," Sasuke admitted, "Most kunoichi with Hinata as the exception have just not been...well...I don't like fangirls."

"I see," the Hokage said, "Well then I guess the only thing I can do to help you with regard to your dilemna is to set you up in a political marriage that will benefit the village as well. Does being married to an older woman bother you?"

"Well...no," Sasuke admitted, the thought actually fueled some fantasies he had actually, "But I'd still prefer someone my age so that we'd be able to relate with each other more."

"Alright, I think I've found a match for you," Hiruzen told the young Uchiha, he grinned evily.

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, are you planning to boost Konoha's standing again?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, yes I am," the Hokage said, "After the second part of the exams is over and done with, I will have a mission for Team 7, and it will boost your danger levels a class higher or more depending on how much fear you can generate from the country I shall be sending you to."

"But what about for now? Do I get to do anything special in particular?" Sasuke asked.

"There is a genin team from Oto," the Hokage said, "Make it impossible for that team to move forward without help from Naruto and I will automatically promote all three of you to Chunin irregardless of you joining the third part of the exams."

"Hai Hokage-sama," Sasuke said, "I will not fail you."

He ran out of the tower leaking so much killing intent that some of the plant life actually began to die before and after he passed. Spending so much time around a demon eventually influenced him, and some of the demonic energies were bound to change him. Uchiha Sasuke was now a half wolf half hawk demon, he just didn't know it yet.

His form gradually changed as he sought out his prey, slowly shifting into the demon that he could have also become had Orochimaru managed to give him a love bite, but instead of a human face he had a wolf's face, and instead of hand like wings he had hawk's wings.

Hinata was probably the only one that would never change into some sort of demonic entity, she had far too much innocence in her, far too much good in her. No matter how many she had alreay killed, she never liked it or enjoyed it. She was the angel in a team of demons. She was their innocence, and they were her hatred.

Team 7 was Team AfterLife, or so the Hokage decided to dub them.

Kakashi was more or less the only human of the team really, a human that was strong enough to fight alongside demons and an angel. Hinata too had already undergone some form of transformation, though she too was unaware of it. There was a reason why she was the healer of the team and why Naruto called her hime, his hime, his princess.

When the five days of the second part of the exams was up, Team 7 made their way to where all the teams were instructed to gather for the preliminary rounds of the final portion of the exam.

One genin, a veteran in the rank decided to quite while he was ahead, leaving his teammates, the rookies, Team Gai, and the Suna team as the participants in for the tournament.

"Killing is permitted, but please only keep it to a minimum," the proctor said, then called out the first two combatants hesitating a little bit, "First fight, Uchiha Sasuke versus Sabaku no Gaara!"

"Kukukuku," Sasuke chuckled as he made his way to the center of the battle floor his opponent doing the same.

"Mother looks forward to feasting on your blood," Gaara mentioned monotnously.

"I will enjoy putting the fear of Naruto, through me, into you, Ichibi no Jinchuuriki," Sasuke retorted.

"Hajime!" the proctor said as he moved over to where the Hokage was.

"What are the chances of the Uchiha winning, Hokage-sama?" Anko asked.

"Slim," the Hokage said smiling, "Slim that he shall fail. Naruto will probably kill him if he loses, if Gaara doesn't first that is. On the other hand, if he does lose and Hinata feels bad, Suna will be just another splotch of blood in the sand."

"Let me show you what a monster can do!" Gaara shouted as he attacked viciously with his sand as he remained in one spot.

"Let me show you what a real demon can do!" Sasuke said as he jumped into the air, his wings growing out of his back, while bypassing his shirt somehow, and kept him airborne.

"Sasuke-kun can fly?" Sakura said.

"Sasuke-kun is so cool!" Ino said.

"So that's where that youki went," Naruto noted as he felt some his power leeching away not that he minded since he now had a demonic teammate, though one weaker than him but a demon still.

"Go Sasuke!" Hinata cheered.

"Sasuke! If you lose I'll lock you in Naruto's compound for a month!" Kakashi called out.

"**Konohagakure no Sato Hiten Katon Jutsu: Hi no Ishi!**" Sasuke breathed in a deep breath then exhaled the hottest of flames that he could subconsciously tapping into his growing demon chakra core as well as his human one, he still had that one regardless of his transformation from a human to a full fledged demon.

The 1st floor of the fighting hall was turned into a sea of flames while Sasuke completed his transition into his full demon form, it was humanoid in appearance. Half-wolf and half-hawk. He could have passed of as as a crow-demon even, his Mangenkyo Sharingan eyes blazing with his inner power and hils own Will of Fire.

Gaara's sand stood no chance against the scorching heat of the flames that were a representation of Sasuke's burning Will of Fire. He had put his will into the flames that he had exhaled, the flames of Amaterasu would surely be no challenge against such passioante flames of more than youth.

"I will not die here!" Gaara roared before forcing himself to sleep, which caused the partial release of the Ichihbi whose form instantly turned to glass no matter how much of its chakra it brought to the fore.

"Winner Uchiha Sasuke!" the proctor declared since Gaara was trapped within glass armor that was slowly suffocating him.

"MEDIC!" the proctor shouted.

"We can't get him out! The glass is too thick!" the medics panicked that they couldn't do their job.

"Let me," Sasuke said as he glided down to the base of the glass statue that was once all of Gaara's sand, he slammed a fist against the weak spot of the glass and the whole thing cracked and splintered and shattered, releasing Gaara.

"H-How?" Gaara asked, barely able to speak.

"One tail is nothing compared to ten, and I have to deal with ten tails almost every day," Sasuke stated, "Be grateful that this one was your opponent and not Naruto."

"Alright," the proctor said then announced the next combatants, "Will Naruto and Akado Yoroi please come down," they did, "HAJIME!"

This time the proctor shunshined behind Hinata.

"You woudln't really kill a fellow Konoha-nin would you?" Yoroi asked, sweating profusely hoping that his status as a spy had not been found out.

"Naruto-kun, Ibiki has just informed me that Yoroi is a traitor to Konoha," the Hokage announced for all to hear, "FINISH HIM!"

Naruto did just that, it didn't really matter that Yoroi was still fully able to take on a normal human. Naruto was far from human, so he did what he did best.

He opened his mouth so wide that many wondered how it was possible, a whole arm shot forth from the opened maw and grabbed onto Yoroi who had no time to even scream before he was pulled into Naruto's gaping maw, which slammed shut. He swallowed, then burped.

"Excuse me," Naruto said, he still had manners after all, this was followed by Yoroi's clothes and slashed forehead protector flying out of his mouth.

"Winner by consumption Naruto!" the proctor announced, still hiding behind Hinata.

"Next up Hyuga Hinata versus Hyuga Neji! Get down there, trash talk, and fight!" the proctor said as he hastily formed a shield of earth in front of him which was behind the Hokage.

"I would like to say that it is your fate to lose and for me to win..." Neji said, "But it seems that even fate is scared of Naruto. Let us fight, but first please ask Naruto-sama to not interferre since I might hurt you."

"Sure thing Neji-nii," Hinata happily said and turned to face Naruto who was lazily leaning against the railing, "You stay up Naruto, understand?"

"Hai hime!" Naruto replied, looking a bit bored out of his mind.

"Happy?" Hinata asked her older cousin.

"Relieved," Neji said, "I no longer hold a grudge against you or the main house after Uncle informed me of the true events of my father's death, I also have a healthy fear of your boyfriend.."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Hinata vehemently denied while blushing furiously, "_not yet anyway_." the whisper was heard by every sensitive ear in the vicinity, even Naruto caught it and unnaturally blushed a little and resolved to correct that little fact soon. He called her Hime already anyawy, might as well go the rest of half of the way to mate.

"Hinata-sama, we both know that you're already an A-class threat to a number of other villages, even our ow," Neji said, "So let's skip the fighting and have you give up to give chance to others to gain rank? Please?"

"Ok," Hinata said, she reaaaaally didn't like fighting anyway, "Proctor I give up!"

"Winner Hyuga Neji by forfeit!" the proctor said dispelling his earth wall and walking back to the center of the fighting floor.

"Now that Team AfterLife is done, we can finally have some normal matches," the Hokage said, then called out, "Will TEAM KAKASHI please leave the Forest of Death, whoever Naruto and Sasuke will be fighting in the finals will be announced later on, but I want you all to get started on the mission I talk to you, Kakashi, about earlier!"

"Hai Hokage-sama!/Jiji!/Sandaime-sama!/You owe me one!" Team AfterLife/7/Kakashi said as they ran out of the Tower after Naruto who had left while shouting 'Hai Jiji'.

While everyone else was enjoying the remainder of the prelims, Team 7 was already on the road heading speedily towards Iwa. Their mission was get Sasuke into a politcal marriage with the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, by kidnapping her and holding the village hostage via Naruto in the form of a Ten Tailed Fox.

Kakashi knew the lay of the land well, and was there for that reason. Hinata was there to keep Naruto from going overboard, and Sasuke was there to get married, and perform the kidnapping.

Getting to the hidden village in less than a day was fairly easy, all the team had to do was have Hinata ask Naruto to get them there really fast. All she really needed to do was say..

"Naruto, I'm tired of all this running," she said, and poof they were just a few meters away from Iwagakure no Sato. Just like that.

"Happy Hime?" Naruto asked.

"Hai," she said cutely.

"Ok," Naruto said and plopped himself down on the ground as he began to grow out his ten tails of malevolence and power, along with growing out his ears, and fur.

"Chibi Juubi!" Hinata squeeled and glomped Naruto in a hug and began petting him and caressing his tails and fur like the first time the two of them met, which seemed so long ago already.

"Err...right," Kakashi said, "Well Sasuke I've already given you a map, directions, her picture, and a bunch of other things you might need. So get going with the mission. Remember, Iwa values strength more than Konoha values compassion. So go all demon if you're caught, I'll do the negotitating part of things."

"Got it," Sasuke said and began his infiltration mission.

Getting into the village was rather...easy, espeically with all the notes Kakashi had on the village's security as if he had done something like this in the past, which was likely. Though the reason back then was just to get some secret recipe for Ramen that the Yondaime Hokage wanted so badly since it was his and his, then, girlfriend's favorite food of all time, and the Tsuchikage had the secret recipe sealed within the village's Forbidden Scroll.

Findnig the whereabouts of the village's princess, she was the only non-married member of the Kage's family after all, was rather difficult. Patience wasn't really Sasuke's thing at the moment since he almost feared for his life, almost since he could just call for help and Hinata was sure to send Naruto running to his aid.

"Um excuse me," Sasuke said to one of the patrolling Iwa-nin.

"Yes? How can I help you?" the Iwa-nin said, taking Sasuke for a civilian, "You new around here?"

"Ah, yes," Sasuke admitted, "I'm looking for Kurotsuchi...whoever she is. I have a message for her, but I kind of got lost the direction given to me weren't all that helpful, there were even notes about ramen and stuff."

"Err...ramen? That sounds kind of familiar," the Iwa-nin said, but couldn't really remember from where, "Kurotsuchi-hime is usualy found with her grandfather or father at the Tsuchikage Tower, you can't miss it, its the biggest building in all of Iwa."

"Oh..thanks," Sasuke said, he realized that he really would have to go into demon-mode just to get out of the village with his captive and himself alive and intact too, "Could you show me the way? I was told that the message was quite important. And I wouldn't want to get lost, or lose the message, or get in trouble..."

"Err alright kid," the Iwa-nin said, Sasuke didn't look like much of a threat, he didn't even have a forehead protector with him even, "Right this way."

"Thank Shinobi-sama!" Sasuke said, acting like a child, it was a bit of an insane plan, but he wasn't Naruto's teammate for nothing.

They former human members of the team, not counting Naruto, were all somewhat insane in their own rights. Even the Hokage himself had lost a few more screws after spending so much time around Naruto. Even Danzo had gone off the deep end after having a pleasant conversation with Naruto after he had bribed the demon into not killing him by sacrificing around 50 of his own very very loyal operatives. It was a productive conversation which led Danzo and all of Ne into becoming very very much more loyal to the Hokage and by extension Naruto.

Hell, Hyuga Hiashi, Hinata's father already had a file at the Hospital stating that he had had bouts of being clinically insane. But those came and went, and no one in the Hyuga clan wanted him to be replaced anytime soon since the alternative was either Hinata or Hanabi.

"Tsuchikage-sama? If you're not busy I have a civilian with a message for your granddaughter," the Iwa-nin that helped Sasuke said after peeking into the Kage's office to find the Kage ranting and raving and basically chastising his granddaughter for messing up his card tower.

"What? Now?" the old man Onoki demanded.

"What? Why me?" the girl arguing with him asked, confused that some civilian would have a message for her.

"Uh yeah, though the kid mentioned something about ramen in the directions, it sounded so familiar," the Iwa-nin said and had to doged out of the way as the Kage rushed passed him and dragged Sasuke into his office so fast that there was sonicboom.

"Who are you really, and what is your real purpose in my village?" the Tsuchikage demanded, all the righteous fury of a Kage visible like a dark aura around him, "Did the Hokage send you to steal my ramen recipes again?"

"N-No sir!" Sasuke squeaked, he never thought he'd find an old man that could rival Naruto in scare-levels.

"Oh? Then what are you really here for?" the Kage demanded, "You here to kidnap my cute granddaughter or something?"

"Eheh...erm..." Sasuke was a bit at a loss for words at that accusastion which was due to it being more or less true, "Actually, yeah. Hehe."

"Well you've obviously been caught," Onoki said, "What do you plan to do now?"

"Will you let me use the window?" Sasuke asked, "Oh, and by the way the name's Uchiha Sasuke."

"Uh..sure?" Onoki said, shrugging, it wasn't like some upstart could do anything now that he was caught after all.

Sasuke opened the window and cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.

"Naruto! Hinata! Kakashi-sensei! I got captured! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me later!" Sasuke shouted, the shout was heard all over the hidden village and a little bit beyond.

"You are pathetic for a shinobi, you know that," Kurotsuchi commented as she walked within grabbing distance of Sasuke.

"Not really," Sasuke said, "I got into the Tsuchikage Tower didn't I? I also got close enough to you too."

"Yeah, so?" she asked.

"My mission was to kidnap you...sort of anyway," Sasuke said, "So how about it? Come quietly or kicking and screaming?"

"Are you Uchiha so arrogant as to believe that you could escape from this office alive?" Onoki asked him, demanded more like really, "I wasn't aware that Konoha-nin could fly or float."

"Well, you don't know much about Konoha then," Sasuke said as he grabbed Kurotsuchi around the waist and jumped out the window with her in his arms, kicking and screaming too. He then transformed before the eyes of many worried and angry spectators into the demon that he was and shot out of the village seconds before Naruto leaned against the walls of the village in Juubi no Kitsune form with both Kakashi and Hinata standing on his head.

Sasuke landed on said head moment later, still holding onto Kurotsuchi who was actually clinging onto him for dear life since she was more than just scared of the very big monster standing just outside of the gates of Iwa.

"Tsuchikage-sama! It is I Kakashi!" Kakashi shouted, making his voice louded with chakra, "We, as represenatives of Konohagakure no Sato, by order of the Sandaime Hokage, now hold your village hostage. If our conditions for the release of your village are not met, my demonic student Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, will obliterate the village!"

"**No need to brag Kaka-sensei,**" Naruto grumbled, "**I don't need to be known as their son. I wanna be known for myself.**"

"You're a demon of far greater size and might than all of Konoha's summon bosses combined and you're worried about being in the shadow of your parents?" Kakashi asked, "Are you insane?"

"**Do you want me to eat you?**" Naruto asked offhandedly.

"NO! Sorry! HINATA HELP!" Kakashi pleaded.

"Naruto-kun, behave," Hinata chastised.

"**Hai, Hime,**" Naruto said while not facing away from the village.

"What are your conditions?" Onoki said as he floated in front of Team 7, he was but a speck of dust compared to the size of one of Naruto's eyes. While he put up a brave front, he was shaking in fear on the inside, not even the jinchuuriki of Iwa would be a match for soemthing this big.

"Oh Konoha just wants a permanent peace treary with Iwa," Kakashi said, eye smiling even, it was rather infuritating to the Kage, "To seal the NAP and peace agreement, your granddaughter will have to be the submissive wife of one of Konoha's resident demons, Uchiha Sasuke, who I can assure you is the third strongest genin of Konoha. Yes sir! You heard right. GENIN."

"Is that true?" Kurotsuchi asked her captor, who was still in his demon form, which was kind of actually badass looking and quite sexy to her.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, then he remembered what the Hokage told him awhile back, "Err no, actually we're unofficially chunin, we just need the paperwork for it to be official."

"Why wasn't I told about that?" Kakashi asked.

"It was just a few days ago," Sasuke informed the man, "The Exams are just a formality for Team 7. I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to promote us to jounin when we get back, or after the invasion of the remnants of Oto and Suna."

"You know about that?" Kakashi asked.

"Hai, sensei, Orochimaru wouldn't stop talking about it for the first thirty minutes as we dragged him to the Tower," Hinata informed the man, they were ignoring the Tsuchikage who was growing annoyed that he was being ignored, though he still his tongue as Naruto gazed at his village rather hungrily, "It was after that that he tried committing suicide because of Sasuke's impressive death glare."

"I'll agree jiji!" Kurotsuchi shouted, making the decision for her grandfather, she saw the conflict in his eyes.

"Fine! You Konha-nins win! I give up!" Onoki shouted and skulked back to his Tower, "But if you," he pointed at the Uchiha, "Hurt her or make her unhappy or whatever, I'll beat you within an inch of your life!"

"I've heard that before and experienced it!" Sasuke retorted, "Its what Naruto calls spars!"

"You are all crazy!" Onoki said, "Inform your Kage that I agree, I'll even come watch the Chunin Exam Finals! You can get married after it!"

"Thanks old man!" Sasuke called out and began to life off, his powerful wings lifting him off of Naruto's head.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said, Kakashi held onto Naruto's head for dear life with all the chakra he could spare at he moment, Hinata didn't have to worry about anything as Naruto's chakra held her fast to his head in anticipation of the rest of her statement, "I'm tired. I wanna go home please."

"**Hai, Hinata-hime!" **

Iwa, as a whole, was so glad that they had agreed to the conditions of Konoha, especially after witnessing Naruto leave via Hiraishin scaring the crap out of all of them that had lived through the time of the Yondaime Hokage as well as grew up on the stories of such a powerful and hated man. Onoki hoped that his granddaughter would be happy, and that his own son would not try to kill him, his back wouldn't be able to help him in that fight.

"**Konoha! We're back!**" Naruto happily announced as his large form appeared in a flash of yellow light followed by a much smaller flash of purple light courtesy of Sasuke who was getting the hang of being a demon.

To say that the village was in chaos was an understatement. The Majority of the village were running around like headless chickens while getting ready for a battle that they knew they couldn't win, especially since the Hokage himself, and the Anbu, were all laughing their heads off at the sight of the village doing what it was doing.

"How was the mission?" the Hokage shouted out his question enhacing his voice with his chakra, there were still three weeks before the finals and so not that many foreigners were within the village yet.

"Success!" Kakashi shouted back before he was thrown at the Hokage courtesy of one of Naruto's tails.

"That's good to hear," the Hokage said just as a Kage Bushin of Naruto caught the jounin-sensei, "When did you learn Kage Bushin Naruto?"

"Oh...when I was five I think," Naruto said, not really sure, "One of the guys I ate tried defending himself with some. Chakra smoke is rather spicy or maybe that's cause he had a fire affinity."

"I'm leaning toward the fire affinity," the Hokage said, "So why don't you dispel and get back to being pint sized."

"Hai Hokage-jiji," Naruto-clone said, and did just as requested.

The rest of the month before the finals went about without much problems. Oto-nins were eaten alive by Naruto and Sasuke who found out that human flesh was kind of tasty, especially the ones that had a fire affinity like he did. Kakashi turned some of the spies they managed to uncover into training dummies for himself. Hinata just chose to train with her clan, which had the side effect of her father going clinically insane for the remainder of the month while he trained his nephew to be able to be more than just an ant in Naruto's way.


	137. X6

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out to his jounin-sensei who was just walking out of the hospital.

"Sorry Naruto, I can't train you for the finals," Kakashi said, visibly brushing off his student yet vowing to make it up to the blonde after the finals as he felt he owed his Uchiha of a teammate more than he owed the his sensei, "I've got to train Sasuke, he's got a tough opponent. But worry not.."

That was as far as Kakashi could get since Naruto decided to interupt his excuses.

"Ah..hehe...don't worry about that Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said, he looked and sounded happy while deep down he was disappointed, "You don't have to worry about me! I was just going to ask if I could use Training Field 7 for when I prepare myself! I've already got a strategy and everything!"

"Oh really? And to think I even got a friend of mine to train you," Kakashi said, wondering if the blonde was just acting since he did in fact get Ebisu to train the blonde, "I guess I'll have to tell my friend that he doesn't need to train you. He's a jounin just like I am too."

"Yeah, I guess you'll have to do that," Naruto said, he had already noticed the approach of Ebisu and was glad that he didn't have to deal with such a person, a person who didn't really like him anyway and saw him as a negative influence on the Konohamaru corps.

"If you say so Naruto," Kakashi said then began to walk of, "Good luck on your training then..._you'll need it_."

Naruto heard what the jounin had mumbled to himself, with his stronger than normal senses he managed to catch what should have normally not been heard. He felt rather down deep inside since he found that his sensei really didn't have any faith in him at all. Just like everyone else in the village. No one even really congratulated him on getting a spot in the finals, some going so far as to say that his entry was more out of pity rather than actual skill.

The only people that bothered to genuinely congratulate him were the Hokage, Iruka, and the Ichiraku family of two. That was it. Just four people, countable on only one hand, and not even the full hand. Just four fingers.

He felt all alone in the world, since two of those people couldn't even help him due to their duties to the village, while the other two didn't know squat about his career seeing as they were both in the culinary arts and not the military.

He felt a bit hopeless as he walked to his team's traditional training field wondering what he would be doing, he knew his weaknesses, he'd always known that as far as genin went he was probably the most pathetic. Sure he could use a kinjutsu, but that was really it, and his learning it had even been a fluke.

He knew that he had a lot of points that needed to be upgraded, to be made better. Just mentally listing down the areas in which he had to improve was tiring since it was basically all over the place. Taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu even, and other things, the most important and glaring weakness that he had was his chakra control. He had so much chakra but every time he performed something that required the use of charka, he squandered what gigantic stores he had.

Even his clones, those wonderful and solid clones, he could make 50 when he only needed 20, and would make 20 when he only wanted 5. Just to make 5, he would need to want to make a dead looking one.

Sakura could think that it was her that held the team back, but with her smarts and chakra control it was clear that with only a little bit of intensive training she would definitely go places. Naruto knew that the village prized those with great to almost perfect chakra control, irregardless of their chakra stores since that could be fixed with a little bit of training.

He stood at the very center of the field in which he had first had some real fight experience, even though he didn't really get the true purpose of the exercise. He just stood there, looking as if he didn't know what he was doing, but he tried to make himself look like he was just organizing his thoughts in preparation for some intense training.

'_I...I really am hopeless...I don't even know what to do...where to start...and the only people I can count on that would be willing to help me are too busy at the moment..._' he mentally said, then decided to throw caution to the wind and did the one thing he never thought that he'd ever do, pray, '_I know I stopped believing that any of you were there...you never really answered my pleas when I was younger...but well...I feel really alone right now...I mean...yeah...if you could show me a sign, a bit of help with my life right now...I don't really know how to proceed as things are...I want to be Hokage you all know that...but...if I can't even become a chunin, what hope do I have of actually reaching my goal...I mean, let's look at things from a logical point of view, I'm not dumb enough to not realize that I can't keep relying on lucky breaks...I know the value of hard work and all that...so please...any sign of what path I must now take to move forward on my journey to attaining my dream.._'

He hadn't really realized it, but all of his past pleas for aid and guidance had been answered, he just refused to see them as they were. He had called out for aid, and aid had come in the form of the Hokage and his Anbu. He had called for guidance, and he was enrolled into the Ninja Academy. He had wished for acknowledgement and he had gotten the Ichiraku family that occasionally allowed him to eat for free or even added some more nutritious things into his ramen, or served him only the freshest ingredients so that they were the healthiest things he could eat. He asked for acceptance, and he got his secret admirer who drew strength from his actions, from his never give up motto. He asked for love, and he had that, he had that from the very beginning.

He had been closing his eyes hoping that when he opened them some sign would be shown to him, in some form, but in a form that he could understand and recognize. He was lost.

There was a rustling of leaves as the wind in the field blew all around him. Then the rustling stilled and the wind seemingly died down.

So he opened his eyes wondering what it had been, since it had this feel of abnormality to it.

As soon as he had opened his eyes he so desperately wished that he had kept his eyes shut tight, as he now gazed upon a figure that stood upon the bladed end of a a tool that normally farmers used to reap the harvest from their fields, and leaned on the wooded part of the thing. The figure wore a black hooded cloak over his lean form, and wore black loose fitting clothes, black leather gloves and boots too.

What gazed back at him were a pair of topazes on blankets of amethyst. The skin of the man was of the same color as pearls, he had a thin face that had a look of peace about it more than anything else. It had a certain calm to it that made one think of dropping one's guard completely.

But Naruto knew better, he had felt the aura of the Being before him. He knew the feeling that permeated the very air around the two of them. The field was soaked up in the Being before him's aura, it was a balanced combination of life and death, just as how chakra was both physical and mental. There was even a silent hum in the air, one that bordered on peace and chaos.

The Being stepped off of the blade and flipped the tool around a bit until it rested on his cloaked back, seemingly clinging onto the fabric by some unseen and unfelt force.

"**Young One, I have decided to answer your call this time,**" the Being said, "**I have been called by many names during my stay in this existence. This world's people have called me by many names ****and many titles. But for you, and you alone, I will be Tougeika Kousen**," he bowed somewhat mockingly as an assassin would to his intended target.

But it was not in mockery, that much Naruto knew. The man that stood before him, this Being that stood before him, put not only him on edge but he could feel the Kyuubi in him stirring, then suddenly found himself enveloped in a fierce inferno of chakra. The Kyuubi had decided that there was a threat worth protecting its host from and against. He knew the futility of such an act but he had to try, the last time he had encountered the Being before his host he had been a single entity and not the scattered and fragmented beings of chakra that had roamed the world for a time due to the machinations of fate, destiny, and the kami bestowed power unto _**that **_Sage from a long time ago.

"What the?" Naruto said as the Kyuubi wrapped a protective cloak around him, it was a very foreign feeling.

"**So Kyuubi feels threatened by my presence,**" Kousen noted aloud, "**It feels that it's host needs its unholy protection. Interesting, and here I thought Kyuubi had no compassion nor a heart. Interesting indeed.**"

"W-Who are you?" Naruto asked, more out of fear than curiosity since he felt like he was that proverbial cat at the moment.

"**I already told you who I am...perhaps the question you are wanting an answer to is 'what'?**" Kousen said.

"H-Hai," Naruto said nervously.

"**I am the great-grandson of Death himself,**" Kousen stated matter-of-factly, "**I am a son of the AfterLife, that state of existence between just after the tour of the mortal coil and the everliving existence of immortality. I am a son of paradise, of eternal torment, of servitude, and of duty**. **I also just so happen to be the Father and Mother of this world.**"

"Why me? Why now?" Naruto asked, he didn't really know why he was asking such questions, but just decided to go with his gut feel on this one.

"**You have proved yourself entertaining to me, and thus I have decided that in order for you to stay away from stagnation I should lend you a helping hand,**" Kousen said, "**You believe that the higher powers have never listened to you, have turned a deaf ear to your pleas. Well, you are mistaken! They have heard each one! Each sincere and unique one! They have also always answered! It was you who did not hear them, see them, appreciate what they had all done for you all your life. From it's beginning to this very moment.**"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, confused and growing a little bit angry, "Where were these higher powers, these deities, these gods, when I was hungry? When I was lonely? When I was hurting?"

"**When you were hungry you were given ramen, when you were lonely you were given friends and family, when you were hurting you were given love and compassion,**" Kousen relied, his patience growing thin, as far as one as old as himself could get anyway, "**Sarutobi Hiruzen was the first, he had been with you from the very beginning. Ichiraku Teuchi and Ayame, were additions as you grew a little bit older. Then a few more years along the line Umino Iruka joined. There are others, but they have yet to really hold out their hands to you. We 'higher powers' merely govern the flow of things, but when it comes to people, and those of sentience and souls, we give you free will to chose how to proceed when presented with opportunities to do good or evil. As for after you grew a bit smart enough to fight back or hide better, well it was your choices and actions that lead to ****whatever situations you found yourself in.**"

"But those were people! My precious people!" Naruto stated heatedly and firmly at the same time, "They were and are people!"

"**You really are as dense and dumb as you look,**" Kousen mused out loud, loud enough for the blonde to get a bit more angry at him.

"I am not!" the blonde retorted, "I'm plenty smart! Its just you people that don't know how to appreciate the awesomeness that is I!"

"**Ungrateful brat! More opportunities would have presented themselves to you had you not been so stupid in the first place! More compassionate even!**" Kousen roared, "**But enough about how stupid or ignorant you are! You needed a wake up call that the higher powers do indeed and have indeed listened. Here I am. And you are going to wish you were never born once I'm through with you! I'm going to train you into becoming one of the most, if not the most, powerful warrior this Age has ever seen! So prepare yourself, for you have just landed yourself in HELL!**"

"Why should I train with you?" the blonde roared in response, he didn't like being told what to do, especially not by some lecturing asshole of a higher power.

The Kyuubi in him sucked back in all of its power once it felt the death glare directed at its host, it knew better than to go any more against the boss of the Kami Corps that he already had in his attempt to protect its host or even give Naruto a mental boost to understand what Kousen was really saying. The underlying meaning behind Kousen's words, but it appeared that Naruto was far too set in his ways, too blind, too ingnorant, too deaf, to hear the message that was being conveyed to him.

"**Because you are being given, in the form of myself, a sensei that will focus on you and you alone, one that will not be satisfied until you have reached the vision that I have of you in my own mind,**" Kousen stated, "**I know of your full potential, and I intend for you to eventually reach it, and go beyond it. I will stop at nothing to make sure you reach my goal. For the rest of this month, you will not exist to all those you have formed a connection with. You will be as a ghost to this village. You shall not exist! So mote it BE!**"

There was a shift in the way the world revolved, Naruto felt the change and didn't know what it meant for him for the rest of the month, but he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like it one bit.

"**For the rest of the week, when you are not actively training under myself, you will venture into a world where all of your blessings had not happened, had not been sent your way,**" Kousen stated, "**As of this moment, not a single higher power wants anything to do with you. What about myself, you might ask, well all I want from you is for you to provide entertainment, what better entertainment than one that will be able to overcome any physical and mental obstacle. Should I wish for you to destroy a village, you shall have the power to do so. I don't care about you at all, just your entertainment potential.**"

"Why should I listen to you?" the blonde demanded, not wanting to do anything he didn't want to.

"**You obey every single thing I ever tell you to do, or I destroy Konoha, a fate worse than death if I say so myself,**" Kousen said, "**I will make you immortal and you will live out the rest of your immortal life knowing that it was all because of you that Konoha was destroyed. And should you ever find some other precious person as you call them, I will take them away too. I will kill them, each and every one of them in the most painful way possible. Extremely slow and painful deaths, ****and I will make sure they know who to blame for their pain and suffering.**"

**Hell Day 1**

It wasn't like Naruto had much of a choice after Kousen had made that vow. He couldn't do anything other than do everything that Kousen ordered him to, from groveling on his hands and knees and proclaiming that there was no one in all of existence greater and kinder than Kousen himself to almost fainting from chakra exhaustion from calling forth as many clones as he could with his, meager compared to Kousen, chakra stores.

50,000 Kage Bushin were divided into groups by Kousen and ordered to perform a number of exercises that would have the original grow exponentially mentally, the physical part was where the fun really began as Kousen made sure that Naruto pushed his _mortal_ body well past its limits.

Kousen was not satisfied whenever Naruto eventually managed to meet the expectations he had put forth for the blonde to meet. Run ten laps around the training field? Make that 15 more. Done with 15? I said 25! It continued over and over again in that same vein.

Kousen made Naruto constantly feel like he was just inches from death's door but knew that he would be unable to find any reprieve in death as he had even seen the Shinigami walk away from him, tauntingly. He tried praying to the higher powers to forgive him and to help him, but his pleas fell on deaf ears and he even felt even more tired and painful for even trying.

He was ordered not to seek sustenance of any kind for the duration of the day's training. Whenever he dared to try to get even a sip of water, images of his precious people along with images of the innocent being tortured relentlessly flashed through his mind. He also felt like he was experiencing the very same torture over and over, Kousen sometimes would even go so far as to make it seem as if he, Naruto, was the one performing the torture on the people he was seeing being tortured.

It went on for an entire day.

Unknown to the blonde, the only reason why his body could continue performing exercise after exercise was because Kousen had given his advanced healing factor an additional accelerated boost.

"**Dismissed for the day, you are to return here tomorrow at first light, at exactly first light, should you not...there will be consequences,**" Kousen ordered and promised before simply vanishing, but not before he sent Naruto flying in the direction of the village proper via slamming of his weapon of choice into the blonde's back, causing untold levels of pain for the blonde to enjoy.

**Hell Night 1**

Naruto hadn't known or expected what had happened to him that first night back in the village proper.

His first destination, while feeling all tired and in pain was the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, he needed some good old ramen to feel rejuvenated, especially after not being able to eat or drink for an entire day, or as long as the sun had been up.

Once he got there he was treated the very same way that he would have been treated anywhere else. No compassion whatsoever was shown to him, and his wallet felt extra light since he had been forced to pay for all the supposedly free meals he had had recently and was told he could pay after his next mission after the chunin exams.

Then when he went to find Iruka to see if the man could help him out a bit, or just to tell the man about how his day had been, Iruka brushed him off as a nobody. The man had even dared to call him a demon, and tried to attack him. The only reason why he stopped was because he saw some of his students from the academy and it would be really bad if they saw him attack a fellow konoha-nin, even one that had passed since Konoha needed its weapon.

The kicker of the night was when he barged into the Hokage's office and received the beating of his life, as well as a number of punishements and restrictions being placed on him. Almost everything that the villagers had wanted done to him had been done to him.

He was eventually thrown, not into his apartment, but into a cell deep beneath the village. He was caged like an animal, he was the weapon the village could use whenver it wished to flaunt its power. Teamwork was not what Konoha was known for, but power, plain and simple power.

The Sandaime's Law wasn't to protect Naruto or give him a better future, but to protect the younger generations' innocence. Nothing at all to do with Naruto.

He was only allowed out in the village during the day time so that the village could use and abuse him. He was a jinchuuriki, he had an advanced healing factor that made sure that he could not be killed, the Kyuubi would not permit its host from dying after all. It had its pride as a demonic entity after all.

**Hell Day 2**

Unfortunately he arrived after the first rays of light had rise above the horizon.

The mental torture he had been forced to endure was one unlike any other, it would fuel his nightmares for decades to come, if he never found a way to get rid of them. He also had to endure gaining all of the memories of all of his clones from the day before all at once and experience the pain of having his mind automatically and systematically sift through all that information.

Then the day truly began, the number of clones doubled, and what he needed to do doubling as well.

Kousen decided that day 2 would be the day he began killing Naruto. Killing the blonde and bringing him back at full health before killing him again. It would be a day for the blonde to forever remember, as it was the day he started dying.

It was mostly physical deaths that befell the blonde, each one more creative and extensive than the last. This coupled with all the mental torture that he recevied, it was only thanks to Kousen that he hadn't gone insane, that and the fact that for the duration of the training period, Naruto would be forced to always retain some modicum of sanity.

The blonde also refused to give up on the idea that it was all one big nightmare.

The days and night proceeded in the same manner, the training and the torture doubled as each day passed.

On the **15****th** day, Naruto decided that he had had enough of the nightmare that refused to end no matter what he tried. So he attacked Kousen physically, and received his first taste of witnessing his beloved Konoha destroyed right before his very eyes and by his very hands. But it wasn't the village that he had come to know during his training, but the village as he knew it had been before his training had begun.

He bore witness to all the looks of betrayal and somewhat triumph in the eyes of each and every person he tortured and killed with his own two hands. He got to know all the people of his beloved village almost intimately in a lot of cases and intimately in a lot of other cases. He got down and personal with nearly all of the villagers, both the traitorous and innocent. When he was done with the village itself, he was sent out into the field, into the world and took down all that had ties to the village.

When Kousen said that Konoha would be destroyed it was not the walls and foundations, but the people. All of the people.

That was when Naruto got to experience true hell, as he mercilessly killed every man, woman, and child, of the Idea that was Konoha.

When it was all over, and when he was the only Konoha-nin that remained in the world. It was the **16****th** day of Hell. And things began all over again, but with Konoha intact as a visible reminder of what could happen all over again.

On the **25****th**day he dared defy Kousen, and it was much worse as he got to experience the joys of slaughtering not only Konoha, but also the rest of the Land of Fire.

One person at a time.

One life at a time.

Whenever he finally ended the life of a person, he ended it that life while looking directly into the eyes of the person whose life he was ending. He glimpsed the last thoughts of all that he killed. He saw the utter betrayal and all manner of other negative emotions as he killed them, after torturing them first.

He was irrevocably innocent no longer. Kousen had taken it from him, and he would never truly heal from the Hell that he experienced that 25th day of training.

A small part of Kousen knew that he had gone overboard with this one, but he frankly didn't give a damn. He couldn't find it in him to care at all about this one insignificant blonde. He had met countless others like him, so what was this one blonde compared to the countless more that he would meet somewhere down the line. They were mostly the same, save for those rare diamonds in the rough that had done more than impress him.

On the 29th day, Kousen revealed something to the blonde, another form of eternal torment. He informed the blonde that he would never be able to end his, Kousen's, existence for the to end Kousen was to doom everything in their somewhat shared existence.

Then finally came the last day of Hell. Naruto had dreaded the arrival of that one particular day, a large part of him actually wanted Hell to continue since he had lived countless lives already, through his clones and through all the things he had already experienced.

Kousen had pounded so much into his head and heart within the span of a month, and had even done wonders for his physical form. The only thing that Kousen could not train the blonde in was how to live his life, how to live period. Life was a lesson and a classroom all its own, and for each and every person the lesson was different, since everyone experienced things differently, and Naruto still had a long life ahead of him.

"**Your training under myself ends today, as does the illusion that was the village of Konoha as you knew if for the duration of the month**," Kousen informed the blonde that was far too tired to stand definatly before him, but by the way the blonde glared more than daggers at him he, Kousen, knew that the blonde actually still had some fight in him left, "**I have one final order for you, one final challenge. I order you to LIVE. Live your life, live for the moment, cherish each moment with those you cherish for you never know, it could be their last. Let me be the nightmare that haunts your dreams, let me be the doubt that haunts your thoughts. Let me be cause of all the suffering that you could prevent. Hate. Live. Grow. Love. Enjoy. Celebrate in the near fact that what you might still celebrate, I might never get to celebrate again.**"

"Though...I...hate...you...with...almost...every...fiber...of...my...Being...there..will..always..be..that part of me that forgives you and thanks you for what you have done," Naruto said panting before and after each word, slowly regaining energy he didn't think he even had, "I really don't know why I am thanking you...it might be because thanks in part to you I am even more insane than I ever was before...but thanks anyway...Kousen-sensei. I appreciate all that you have done to me, both the good and the bad, and I shall with an unwavering spirit never forget your teachings and strive to do what is right...and stop being so dumb as you consider me as being."

"**Whatever, you failure,**" Kousen stated, but secretly he was proud, proud that the blonde had not fallen to the dark path, proude that the blonde retained whatever the hell made him himself, he also blamed that curse like thing that the blonde and almost all of his incarnations throughout the ages, whatever it was.

With those parting words Kousen just vanished, but of course not before slamming the butt end of his weapon of choice upon the blonde's head knocking him unconscious.

Naruto awoke early, the very same time that he woke up every morning after he found out how to escape from his cage and get to the clearing on time. It took him a while to realize that the hellish nightmare was over. He had learned quite a lot from the experience, an experience he never wanted to experience again, and would never wish for anyone to experience as he had. It was far too inhumane for anyone to experience. He doubted that he would manage to keep what sanity he retained if forced to experience it all again.

He raced to his favorite ramen bar just to see if everything was back to the way things had been, back to the way he knew things to be and not that false semi-illusion that Kousen had forced him to experience night after night after night.

He partook of a breakfast of ramen, Teuchi's first bowl of the day being his first meal of the day, and not only did he insist on paying for it, he also paid his tab in full, while thanking the father and daughter pair for all the things they had done for him, knowingly and unknowingly to their confusion. They just took whatever he said and did that morning in stride, chucking it up to nerves on the blonde's part since the finals were that afternoon.

He did the same thing, almost the same thing with Iruka, which caused the chunin to wonder what in the world could have happened to the blonde to make him more aware of the world around him and not just his problems and insecurities.

The Hokage had a similar reaction to the blonde's sudden change in personality and attitude, and almost had the blonde arrested for being some kind of impostor were it not for the fact that the blonde managed to spout memory after memory that only the two of them would know. Naruto even managed to freak the Hokage out with the knowledge of the invasion along with a bunch of other information about almost everything and anything in general. The blonde had turned into some kind of almost mentally unstable lunatic full of information after just one month of near solitude.

"Where'd you get all this information?" the Hokage asked Naruto as he prepared his armor for the fight ahead as well as glared at Naruto as the blonde had filled the old man's desktop with all sorts of scroll loads of information ranging from the invasion plans to the prices of sake in the Land of Earth.

"I pissed off someone I should not have pissed off and ended up undergoing an experience mere mortals were not meant to undergo," Naruto replied, "That and...well...I got nothing."

"However you managed to obtain this information I'll have it passed along to the Intelligence Division for study," the Hokage said, "I have this feeling telling me to trust the information you have supplied, as well as a feeling telling me that you need a bath, a fresh set of clothes, and that you could potentially be late for your own match."

"I'll get right to that then," Naruto set before vanishing in a burst of unexpected speed, he didn't even know he could move that fast. This meant that while he had gotten quite a lot out of his training, he still wasn't all that accustomed to how his body worked yet. All the times he hadn't broken things were just luck.

He did all the things that he needed to do, but made sure he did it all very carefully, he didn't want to break anything on accident.

It was only when he was preparing some exploding tags that he remembered all that he knew about seals and decided to use them to limit his power, exponentially. He had enough strength in him to knock Kyuubi out with one well placed hit, and the bijuu knew it having experienced it already.

He made it to the arena in record time, and relatively at the level of power he would have had had he not trained at all during his one month for preparation for the finals.

"Hyuga Neji versus Uzumaki Naruto...Fight!" Genma shouted before leaping away from the two combatants.

"Give up and spare yourself humiliation dobe," Neji spoke, as emotionlessly as possible.

"I promised I'd beat you," Naruto said, "And I always keep my promises."

The fight began with Neji furiously attacking, pokes and palm thrusts, but nothing seemed to manage to hit Naruto as he slowly began releasing tiny percentages of his power. His plan was to tire out Neji, or at least try to while not revealing just how powerful he had become.

He knew everything there was to know about Neji, just like he knew everything there was to know about every single living person in the Land of Fire. Every dark desire and haunting nightmare.

"You're boring me," Naruto said just as his clone dispelled itself from all the dodging it was doing, since it didn't appear like Neji would allow himself to seem like he was weakening when in truth he was nearly on his last leg even without performing the Kaiten.


	138. Y1

~_From what your file told me...you've lived a rather...hectic...yet...bland life~_ the Being in a black business suit told him as they sat in the small cubicle like conference room to have their discussion, it was a discussion about the life that had been lived and what was to become of the soul that had passed into the state of being that was 'dead'.

"You know..." he, the 'dead' man, said, "I'm quite new to this being dead thing...so...what's going on? Last thing I remember was seeing darkness, a bring light, and then I'm being escorted here by wraiths and finally I'm here talking to you. What's going on?"

~_The short of it is that you are indeed dead, this is just a part of the process..and you'll love the fact that it is indeed very much normal..along with everything that will come after this short review of your life_~ the business suit wearing Being said ~_And I believe I forgot to introduce myself, forgive me, I am Agente Cuarentayseis. I am your assigned Death Reaper._~

"I see," the man said, "So...well..now that's that's been cleared up a bit...why don't we proceed. I am ready for whatever is to come."

~_Just so you know, nothing is expected of you. Everything from here on out is all up to you, more or less_~ Agente Cuarentayseis said.

"What do you mean by 'more or less'?" the man asked, using air quotes.

~_There is still a standard number of things that have been set on more or less stone, things that normally cannot be altered unless regarding a special case of sorts, no worries though, you are not a special case_~ the Death Reaper stated.

"I see, thank you for clearing that up," the man said, "You were remarking on the blandness of my life, were you not?"

~_I was indeed... You... Your life in general was a uniformed work of art, you did everything that was expected of you with nary a complaint_~ the Death Reaper said ~_Your childhood was a moderately generic affair, your school years were very much in line with what was expected of you, compared even to some of our standards here. Your adult life was rather straightforward. Businessman, athlete, politician, peacekeeper, ambassador, hero._~

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" the man asked.

_~That's really up to you_~ the Death Reaper stated ~_Your life's worth has been weighed and all of your actions have been judged. You now have three choices, moving on to your Heaven, reincarnation with two sub-choices to make things interesting, and remaining here in the Halls of Judgment. Any questions before we proceed?_~

"What are the differences between all three? The pros and cons? What difference does it make which one I choose? Why do I choose anyway?" the man asked in calm succession.

_~Heaven, to the more logical mind, is a state of bliss as well as an opinion. To us that remain in the Halls it is a mystery that few choose to experience... Reincarnation is simply being reborn in a new body be it in one's original world or existence or in another, as for the sub-choices I am not able to share them should you choose not to partake of this option... Lastly there is remaining within the Halls, you would be given a number of additional choices, but to summarize what it means, it is to work here_~ the Death Reaper explained to the best of his ability.

"You have yet to explain why 'tis I that chooses," the man promted.

~_Ah yes, that question... as per the Speakable Rules... Each individual existence is given the irrevocable ability of Free Will. I am quite sure a man as learned as you knows what Free Will is_~ the Death Reaper responded, ~_Of course, the other part of the 'why' is due to the fact that it is your continued existence that we are discussing_~

"Tell me.." the man said, "Have I ever been reborn before?"

_~No~_ the Death Reaper responded without hesitation _~Your soul is a relatively new Idea that has yet to blossom into a Novel, a Saga, a Series, or an Epic. It is..a..Short Story if you will. You are given the choice because it is YOUR story, not anyone else's._~ the Death Reaper added as an afterthought.

"Oh," the man said, he hadn't been expecting that, "Is that normal?"

_~Relatively speaking, it is_~ the Death Reaper replied _~The definition of normal, too, is relative. It is an opinion that varies from individual to individual._~

"What more can you tell me about Heaven?" the man asked, he needed to know as much about his options as possible before making such an existence changing decision, "And should I chose reincarnation, will I retain my memories of this first life?"

_~There are many versions of Heaven, each one depends on the person, Heaven to myself would be different from what you might perceive as Heaven after all, I really can't elaborate anymore than that_~ the Death Reaper admitted ~_As for this first life's memories...well... If you do opt to go through reincarnation...hmm...tricky question... Let's just say that when you return to the Halls, should your next life's End send you back into my company, your first and second life's memories will be known to you_~

"Since I can't see myself working within these Halls for all of eternity... It is a permanent job or is it contractual?" he asked, it was too an afterthought.

_~Depends on the position you will be applying for, though just as life is not a permanent thing...normally...so is working within the Halls_~ the Death Reaper replied.

"I think I know enough now to make my decision," the man said.

_~Very well... I have given you the three standard choices, which will it be?_~ the Death Reaper asked as he began pulling out some forms from out of seemingly nowhere.

"I choose to join the ranks of the Halls of Judgment," the man replied, sure of his decision and that it was the best choice out of the three.

_~Very well_~ the Death Reaper not needing to ask if the man was sure, he held out a leaflet of sorts which had a list of all open positions as well as brief descriptions of each _~Please peruse until you find which one you feel best fits your preferences. Note that you will need a second and third choice._~

The man looked through his options and tried to find three that he thought suited the kind of soul that he was and the life he had lived. He was sure that he could find somewhere in this almost AfterLife where he would fit in. There were so many choices as he came to find, and he had been told that there was no actual time limit for him since he was not yet assigned a position within the ranks of the Halls.

The Halls of Judgment were neutral grounds respected by All, save perhaps for _Those Five_, Devil himself as Master of the In-Between, which was where the Halls were situated, and Death himself who considered the Halls as part of his territory.

There was a war being waged between the two penultimate Core or Main AfterLives, All Heavens and All Hells. A war whose prize was the nigh complete control of All Heavens and All Hells. It was a war between the old order and a new order. It was a war that under no circumstances would ever spill into the Halls.

"I have made my decision," the man finally said, after an unknown amount of time.

He went through the motions of job recruitment, from initial interviews, background checks, testing, and the like. His first two choices were jobs that he lacked one thing or another to be considered for, it was his strategy not that he wanted to clue anyone into it. His third choice was to be one of the ones that welcomed souls and existences, or Ideas as they were sometimes called, into the Halls. Like a bellhop or doorman of sorts.

When he got tired of that after countless nameless number of years, he decided to go into a retirement of sorts, but instead of choosing Heaven, he chose reincarnation instead. But, as he found out, there were less sub-choices or sub-options available to him due to working in the Halls.

He didn't really mind, and was actually gladdened by that fact. Saying his farewells to his former co-workers and Agente Cuarentayseis, he walked into one of the Reincarnation Corridors to be reborn into a new life, to gain a new existence, to add a new chapter to his soon to be growing novel.

It took a number of centuries before he was welcomed back by his assigned Death Reaper within the very same cubicle in the Halls of Judgment. He only regained his memories of his first life after asking whether or not he had been reincarnated before. It was standard procedure after all.

It was a little bit odd for him, his second life was one in which he had been a girl, one that had gained a form of immortality and lived for a number of years before finally finding one that fulfilled a contract of sorts, it was the exchange, that final exchange, which led to her death. To freedom from a world that was filled with constant change in one way or another.

Once again he chose to work in the Halls. He had found his first experience of it rather worthwhile for a time and thus wanted another go at it. Little did he know that it was going to be quite a cycle that would last him several back and forth trips. Several lifetimes, which would eventually gain him the nickname 'Cycle'.

His first life was that of a hero, his second was that of an immortal _witch_ that granted powers to others in order to fulfill some sort of contract, his third life was one of those that had chosen to make a contract he could read minds, followed by a life where he could command. It went like that for a number of reincarnations, he served a purpose in each life, was an actual character with an interesting story to tell and not just some generic tale. When the life was over and the chapter ended he returned to being part of the 'death' process, from a doorman to a clerk to an information personnel, to a bookkeeper, to a number of other positions, each one in a different department and level than the last one.

He eventually grew determined to have a taste of each one of the available positions. He viewed it as something that he chose for himself as well as his new purpose in AfterLife.

He treated each reincarnation of himself as a vacation from his, now, contractual service in the Halls. His work in the Halls was work, and his lives were vacations, enjoyable vacations with purposes, just the way he was used to. He wasn't sure if he liked them all that much when it came to the purpose part.

He wasn't the oldest soul that worked in the Halls, but he was definitely no longer the youngest. By the time he had gained an office administration position he had already lived 99 lives, including his first one. He was like an avatar in a massively multiplayer online role playing game, the kind where one could change jobs all the time any time. He was also the kind that leveled up, in a sense, after every quest, each quest being each new life.

He went by the name Cycle, and he held the record for most number of consecutive Reincarnations after Hall work. He was presently one of the souls that oversaw that all documents pertaining to new Ideas were completely filled out and filed before the new Idea could be completely processed. It was a time taking and rather mentally taxing task and experience for anyone handling such affairs.

He celebrated life whenever he chose to return to it. Sure working in the Halls was living in a sense, but it was different from really being alive since the only thing that occupied his time was one thing and one thing alone, work. There was no real social interaction, there were no real breaks aside from the ones he gave himself, there was no sleeping, and since he was more or less dead no eating or drinking either.

There was a knock on his door, an unexpected one which shattered the relative monotony of his afterlife. It was so unexpected that he actually fell out of his chair and his paperwork went flying everywhere.

"C-come in!" he squeaked as he rushed about his office organizing everything all over again.

The Being that entered his office was truly one whom he had not been expecting at all. It was one of _Those Five_, one of _Them_. _Those_ whose names were rarely if ever spoken or mentioned in any kind of conversation as it _Their_ names were taboo, but it was more out of a whole other level of fear and reverence that _Their_ names were rarely, if ever, mentioned.

"Based on that gobsmacked look on your face, I would have to believe that I was not one whom you were expecting to ever grace your presence," _HE_ noted.

"H..a..yes sir, my apologies for the mess," he said, his office was still a mess as he had only managed to get some semblance of order back again before the door had been fully opened, "Tis an honor sir, to meet you, and even more to be in your presence, sir."

It was like being starstruck.

'_So this is what it must have been like for those other people in my first life,_' he mentally mused as he tried to regain some semblance of composure in the presence of one of _Them_.

"It is likely that what you are feeling is indeed similar to how all those masses of people felt while in your presence during your first life, and a few following ones," _HE_ said, "But enough with the pleasantries, and down to business Cycle."

'HE_ knows my name!_' he was indeed starstruck, on the inside more than the outside.

"I have come with a proposition of sorts," _HE_ said, "It has come to my attention that you have a record, in fact the only record holder of consecutive reincarnations after working in the Halls. An unprecedented number of voluntary community service followed by reincarnation. There is talk of a promotion for when you return from your hundredth life."

"P-Promotion sir?" he asked, "But is no such thing as a promotion for those who volunteer to work in the Halls, sir."

"You are a special case," _HE_ stated, "You have been considered, and the promotion will likely take place when you return irregardless of whether or not you want it. It is an honor and privilege that is to be bestowed upon you. But _I_ on the other hand have a fleeting suspicion that this is not what you want."

"Err...yes sir," he responded, "I'm not really looking forward to being permanently on the payroll, so to speak. I'd rather keep my voluntary independence."

"In this case you don't really have a choice when it comes to the promotion," _HE_ said, "But I have an alternative for you, where you will be permitted to continue working in whatever position you wish, save for the ones that actually do require being promoted, which would cut off some of the other low-level position from you, and still being able to go on these vacations of yours."

"I'm willing to take whatever alternative this is," he said, as he didn't want to be stuck on a singular set path and he thought that whatever the alternative path was couldn't be all that bad.

"I propose that you permit yourself to change your views," _HE _said, "While many would like to be normal, the state of being normal as in not standing out is relative to each and every individual. It is an opinion, and yours needs changing if you are to retain the status quo you wish for yourself to retain."

"I thought you said I'd be able to continue hopping positions and departments?" he asked.

"You will, though you will be have a more jack-of-all-trades position rather than what you are used to," _HE_ said, "I would like to elevate your position or ranking in the greater scheme of things. Similar in the way a mortal transcends past the limitations of mortality and joins the ranks of the immortals."

"I see..." he said.

"I highly doubt that you do since you tend to avoid any mention of the higher powers of which I speak, even going so far as to turn down the recommendation of Agente Cuarentayseis," _HE_ stated, "To join the ranks of the Death Reaper which is in another department of the Halls."

"In most RPGs, not counting Disgaea, there is nothing above either level 99 or level 100," _HE_ said, "When you return after your next lifetime, whether you like it or not, you will be promoted. Either to whatever positions your bosses here in the Halls chose, or I shall elevate you. But unlike your bosses, I will give you choices concerning what you may become."

"I'll take yours then, at least I'll have a choice," Cycle said, "Its like work in the Halls and reincarnation in one isn't it?"

"You could think of it that way," _HE_ said, "But at the same time, it will be your last choice. No more Heaven for you."

"I don't mind the heaven ban, since I've more or less already discovered my own heaven," Cycle said, "I know it was an accident, but it looks like I'll be getting to experience all three of the standard choices after all. I know its unique in a sense, but at this point in time I no longer mind."

"That's good to hear," _HE _said, "A sign of change, which is a good thing, since in Imagination, it is best that we do not stagnate, as stagnation is the number one enemy of us all."

#

"FORMER SQUAD CAPTAIN AIZEN SOUSUKE YOU ARE HEREBY SENTENCED TO 18,800 YEARS IN MUKEN, THE 8th AND LOWEST LEVEL OF THE UNDERGROUND PRISON!" one of the six judges of Central 46 announced loudly for all the chamber to hear.

"I see... I am to receive judgment from the likes of you?" he said as he sat on the throne like chair in the center of the chamber of Central 46, "That seems..rather comical, don't you think?"

His response to his sentence was met with much outrage for his continued lack of disrespect for the judiciary body of the society that he was a criminal of. It was a refreshing change from the snootiness that he would normally equate them with.

His eyes were covered, his mouth was sealed, and yet he continued to mock him. His role in the greater scheme of things had ended, it wasn't likely, he knew somehow, that he would ever be released back into the world, so he resigned himself to his fate while mocking those that would imprison him.

"Any final words before you are imprisoned indefinitely?" came a mocking voice that penetrated the darkness that was his vision as he was led away from the chamber.

Of course, with his mouth sealed it was unlikely that he would be able to come up with a verbal answer. With each of his limbs bound as well it was hard to even flip the speaker the bird. So he settled with mentally insulting all those that had opposed him.

He was a battle hardened man, he'd memorized long ago all the sounds that were heard or could be heard on he battlefield, right down to even the slashing of a sword through the air. He wondered why he heard it all of a sudden, thinking perhaps that it was possible that instead of there being a possibility that he would somehow manage to escape his punishment they had sent someone to end his existence.

He waited for the blade to pierce his flesh, but the blade did not even touch his skin instead it touched another's. There was a gurgling scream of pain as blood rushed out of the oral cavity along with the throat wound which must have been where the blade had pierced its victim. These sounds were soon followed by others, the just as corrupt soldiers of an imperfect society fell to this mysterious blade.

The song that the blade sung was not one that he was familiar with, but it had this feel about it that made him know that it was one that even his old blade would not have been able to defeat in any battle. There was an age old power within it, being restrained by its metallic sheathing that kept all those around it whole.

Lifeless bodies fell to the ground around him, leaving him standing in whatever place he was at that moment. He waited for what was to come next, and tried to reach out with his senses to _see_ where this mysterious blade master was in relation to where he, himself, was standing.

It was a dizzying wait as he tried to find his savior or future murderer. Then it came, not a blade through his chest, but a hand on his shoulder, one cold to the touch yet warm to for his existence.

"_Instrument of change, your role in this life is over, your new one awaits you and is ready to begin,_" the voice was not an ordinary voice, it was something he had never imagined to be possible.

Thousands upon thousands of voices speaking as one. It was both frightening and, as he dared to think, humbling. He dropped to his knees and his blinded eyes gazed upon where he felt the core voice had come from, and not wildly swinging his head around at all the echoing chamber of voices that filled his ears.

"What choices are available to me?" he asked, while at the same time not knowing why he was asking such a question, but for some reason felt that it was the right thing to say at the time.

"_A hundred lifetimes in one will be your base,_" the thousands upon thousands of voices echoed into his ears, "_Enlightened you shall be, your choices are thus... Your ambition made real but of this entire fraction of AfterLife... Master of Shadows, of Darkness, of Fear... Puppet Master of a Thousand Puppets..._"

The thousand voices would have continued to list of the possibilities, but was instead interrupted by Aizen.

"Why bother with enumerating these choices, you should already know what I would chose," he said, "I've grown tired of mine own monotony, I chose to be a jack of all trades, a practitioner of all and at the same time a true master of none! It would be fitting, wouldn't it?"

"_Perhaps... Well then, is this your final answer? Know that there is no going back, and that once the decision is finalized, the change and ascension been accomplished, there will be no chance for even higher promotion,_" the thousands of voices flowed into his ears.

"I have made my decision, I will be a specialization-less god among gods," Aizen decided, then in a hundred different voices of different genders and ages he spoke, "I have made my choice, so let it be as I have spoken."

"_So be it,_" thousands upon thousands of voices decreed, "_By the power vested in me by _Crius Crossworld _of _Those Five_, I bestow upon thee, Cycle Ouroboros, the mantle of King of Spirits, the mantle of God of Death, the mantle of Fears Made Flesh, the mantle of Messenger and Guide of Souls, the mantle of Lord of Changes._"

"I am honored to hold such titles," Aizen said, "But I think you are mistaken my naming, I am Aizen, not this Cycle person you just named."

"_My apologies _Aizen_" _the thousands voices said, not a hint of sincerity in the legions at all,"_Forgive me for forgetting that you are still in this hundredth life and have not yet been granted all that you now are meant to be._"

"Then fix me," Aizen, nearly demanded, he held back his commanding tone due to the instinctual fear of reprisal from this Being that he could not see.

"_Very well then,_" the thousands upon thousands of voices said, with a hint of disdain.

Aizen heard a blade being unsheathed, then he felt the air parting for what could have been an ethereal blade. Then he felt the blade itself, pierce his flesh. It passed right through his chest, through his heart, and out of his back. It felt like a hook had passed through his torso, before it was forcefully pulled upward, splitting him in twain.

He would have screamed had he been given the chance, after all he had been able to hold a conversation with the Being that had severed his connection to his 100th life even with his mouth being sealed as it had been, or so he thought as he had failed to notice that it was only his bindings over his eyes that had not been removed.

The last thing he saw in his one hundredth life was the form of the anthropomorphic personification of death, or Death himself. A wraith, a black cloaked skeleton, wielding a scythe, but instead of a tool for harvesting fields, was used for harvesting souls. The stereotypical western form of the Grim Reaper was his very last sight.

His next waking moment was as himself, his entire self with all of his memories and experiences within himself, along with all of his gained powers and abilities, and then some. He was all the things that Death had decreed that he become.

He was Cycle Ouroboros.

He had gone by so many names already, so it wasn't really that odd that he would go with one that he had been given, rather than one that he had lived as already.

He no longer had a default form, he was as formless as energies that freely floated around everything, those particles of half-formed ideas that littered Imagination. He was like those countless little things, those words without meaning or sentences without form.

He decided to change that as soon as possible, he could not progress any further if he did not have a base form, if he lacked a default form. So he gathered what he liked best from all of his forms, all 100 of them.

He decided to stick with the basic physical form of his previous life, that of Sousuke Aizen or Aizen Sousuke. He added two inches to his height though, changed his one eye to match Lelouch Lamprouge, and the other to match the amber of Battousai. He took up Alto Saotome's ponytail hairstyle, but kept his dark brown hair color as well as that bang hanging at the front. His clothes were not what he had been wearing when he had last died of course or last lived even, they were replications of his uniform whenever piloting a mecha when he was Kira Yamato.

He decided that he needed a time piece and thus he created, for himself, a pocket watch similar to the one he used when he was the head butler of Ciel Phantomhive.

Just to add some semblance of superficial protection, he gave himself a revolver and two scrolls, it was something he had had back when he had been Genjo Sanzo.

He stopped at that, and was satisfied, it was a mix and matched look from different lives, but he managed to somehow make it work. It was just his outside look and didn't hold as much power as what he held within him, which were his powers and abilities.

It was a formless place that he found himself floating almost endlessly in. It was a simple void, nearly unlike anything he had ever encountered in his many lives and travels. But at the same time it seemed so familiar, a little fresh to his mind. There was something about the endless void of oblivion that surrounded him that called out to him as a child would a parent for some reason.

He then recalled one of the mantle that was now his. King of Spirits. It hinted to a dream he once held, he once held as Aizen Sousuke. It was a dream that could still be fulfilled all that would be needed was somewhere to begin.

No one in his old existence knew where the Spirit King had come from, or how the first Hollow found its form, or even how the first demon sprouted its first horns. No one in the history of Heaven, Hell, and Hueco Mundo, knew where it had all began.

But Cycle knew, as if it were instinctive. Everything started somewhere, one just needed to know where to look or how to act to find the answer to such questions.

He now had power to rival a lot of higher powers, and so he decided to carve history in his own image and likeness. He knew not what world he would be ending up in, nor was he aware of what time in the existence it was. All he knew was that now that he had the ability to, he would fulfill his dream. It wasn't so far out of his reach as it once had been, and he didn't even need some sort of upgrader material or shortcut to accomplish his feat.

He didn't even have to worry about some carrot-topped kid meddling with his ploys and plans, since all he had to do this time around was start from scratch.

He became the very first Shinigami, choosing to, at first, take on the form of the Shinigami form he had associated the station with when he had spent several lifetimes in the Elemental Nations or the existence of Naruto. With such a form, he began molding a plane of existence for the good souls, the virtuous, the pure and innocent, and the like. Seiretei and Rukongai.

Then he created another realm, the second of three realms that were under his jurisdiction. Hueco Mundo, the land of the heartless, those empty shells of forgotten emotion or purpose or whatever perverted mutation formed after the link between a soul and its mortal shell were forcefully severed.

Finally, he created a Hell, where all the bad eggs went.

It was he who brought forth the first Shinigami, the first Hollow, and the first Demon. He birthed them from three brothers that had dared to try and best him. Three brothers Peverell.

Antioch became the first demon, one who was stripped of most of his own free will and forced into eternal servitude to Cycle. He was then elevated to the station of Devil, Governor of Hell.

Cadmus became the first Hollow, he desired for things long lost and long gone, something precious was taken from him. He became a beast in a sense, but the most powerful and sentient one that there ever was and ever would be. There would be no other like him as even his own children would never be able to match his greatness. He was then elevated to the position of Emperor of Hueco Mundo.

Lastly was Ignotus, who became the first Shinigami, protector and guide of souls in the afterlife. A cousin of sorts to the Death Reapers that served Death, but did not operate in the same manner as Death's own armies did since in this existence the rules were a little bit different, for a time of course as eventually the dead would also pass on.

He then stepped back from his three creations once he was sure that they could go about their work without him there to hold their figurative hands. He had other more important and pressing matters to attend to after all. Such as getting used to being a Being that was the sum total of 100 lives. While he could have simply willed himself to be able to do everything and know everything, he had learned through countless eons of working in the Halls that working for something instead of going through a shortcut was more fulfilling.

It took him several eons and world resets, a world reset being the reseting of an entire world, like in a video game where a character is reborn or a game can be replayed. He accidentally blew up the world of life several times in mastering himself. It was no big deal really since the souls that generally populated his world had a habit of going through just as many reincarnations as he did, though they usually stopped at 99 before passing on finally and allowing a new soul to join the lifestream.


	139. Y2

'_Wake up... Wake up... WAKE UP!_' was the mental shout the echoed within his mindscape. It was quite deafening that he couldn't help but bolt up in the sitting position lest he suffer another deafening shout.

He didn't know what was different but he knew that he had recognized that voice. The voice that had shattered the peaceful transquility of his slumber. It was so disturbing and distrusting...

He looked back wondering what he had been doing before gong to bed that night. All he could think of was spending time with his beloved sister. That was it really, that and planning for the destruction of Britannia. It was either his sister taking up his time or his scheming, his hobbies like gambling and such didn't really take up all that much time.

Since he was already awake and his clock told him that it was already 5 in the morning, he might as well start his day early for once. He went about his daily morning routine before leaving his room in a neat mess that only he could understand.

He had a light breakfast before leaving, it was a weekend so he could afford leaving to do whatever it was that he had planned for the day. A part of him wondered why he was moving as if on auto-pilot, as if some other force was moving him, making him move like a puppet moves thanks to some strings.

He failed to notice that he had left the academy and even most of civlization, delving deep into woodland territory, then mountain. He didn't even realize that he had been traveling at a speed that most men would not be able to move at even with the aid of a knightmare frame. He was moving faster than even the eye could follow, but none of that really mattered as he moved and moved and moved.

He also failed to notice when his clothing shifted their shape from his everyday clothes to something that made him look more like some kind of warrior monk and samurai hybrid. He had all their weapons strapped onto his person as well. They just appeared from out of seemingly thin air.

He continued to rush through the woodlands, then the forested areas, mountains, and more. Up until he found himself deep within the bowels of Mount Fuji, deep beneath anything anyone mortal had ever discovered during any lifetime in the world for that matter. Save for two.

Abe no Seimei and Jimmu.

It was there that these two mortal men met with something that they would never reveal to anyone, not even giving any hint to anyone. It was also in that one special place that certain original items could be found, such as the true Kusanagi, Yata no Kagami, and the Yasakani no Magatama, among other things. But the most important thing that lay there was a single crystal ball.

When he gazed upon the ball, his mind was assaulted by numerous and uncountable memories. A hundred lives worth of memories to be exact, along with the unlocking of many many doors and windows within his vastly aged soul.

He had lived one hundred lives before this one, this one where a higher power had decided that he needed to be awoken from his slumber, so that chaos could be sown into the world.

He gained everything he had lost when he had been born into this life, from the very first life he had ever lived to the very last one. He had been a warlock, a wizard, a sorceror, a goblin, a dragon, a mage, a hero, a champion, a knight, a king, an emperor, a ninja, an assassin, a soldier, an archer, a thief, a murderer, a rapist, a banker, a strategist, a tactician, a baker, a chef, a dancer, a writer, an actor, a painter, he had been many things.

The only thing that had been missing in his list of past lives, professions, roles, and the like, was being an actual omnipotent god. But thanks to his awakening, he had become just that, or as close to it as he could with some limitations that he found had been placed on him by some unseen and more powerful force.

The other things that littered the chamber in which he stood made more sense once he knew everything that he had ever known in his past lives. From the library worth of recipe books to the reverse edged japanese sword that lay on a stand in one part of the chamber.

His revenge against his father, in this life, didn't seem so far from his grasp anymore, after all he had gone through the motions with far less around four times before. Once as what he presently was, once as his former best friend, once as a future accomplice, and once as the very man he wished to see fall.

He gathered all the things in the chamber and stored them in a pocket dimension that he had decided to create on a whim. In it he stored everything from the chamber, choosing not to leave anything behind as everything could be of use to him.

When he fully realized what he had become, he skipped the evil smirk and went straight for the evil maniacal laughter which could have chilled even the most cold hearted of men to their very souls.

He had things to do, plans to be turned into a reality, and a war to prepare for. But first...

He was going to have fun, add a little chaos in the country that he now, once again, resided.

He was, in most definitions of the word, god. He could do nearly anything that mortal men were not meant to or could ever really hope to really dream of. In short, he was a main character in a god-fic fan fiction.

His first order of business was to screw with his father and uncle in the one way he was sure would leave those two old men, even though one of them looked like a kid, scratching their heads likes monkeys in confusion. He headed for the World of C, where he proceeded to do the one thing that even the collective consciousness of the world didn't think was possible.

He merged with it, partially only. It was his way of becoming god of the world. He would be pulling a 'Joe Black' though, being in more than one place at the same time. Multiple parts of himself running around the world doing as he, the core consciousness, chose.

With the future of the world secured, with the flow of time continuing to move forward, he set about doing something that some would think of as insane.

He revealed himself a little bit, only a little bit. He went as the Battousai of legend along with Jimmu, both of whom he had been in the past. Perhaps not of this world, but of similar ones.

It was in Kyoto that the two bodies of Lelouch vi Britannia, otherwise known as the guy whose sum total of a hundred lives merged with his 101st life, decided to make their pseudo debut. The Six Houses of Kyoto had accidentally unearthed a double burial site, one which apparently had been protected by some sort of supernatural barrier. Their people unearthed two stone coffins, coffins that were sealed shut and chained to prevent whatever lay within from getting out.

Humans are curious by nature, and so the people that unearthed the two coffins decided that it would be a good idea to open up the two _prisons._ What they found were what they thought to be perfectly preserved bodies of two legends of their nation's rich history.

What came as even more of a surprise was that when the bodies were about to be taken out of their beds, the one with long red haired tied in a high ponytail leapt out of his own coffin, with katana and sheath in hand stood guard before the other coffin.

"I will not let you lay your filthy hands on my emperor," Battousai stated, his amber eyes glinting in the lamplight.

"H-How are you alive?" one of the excavation crew members asked, scared for his life, believing that they had unearthed a portal into the afterlife, it was really just Lelouch playing with time and his other bodies.

"I was given the command to defend Jummi-sama until Zero-sama summoned us to the field of battle," Battousai said, "But since you have awakened us...explain your actions or.."

"That is enough," Jimmu ordered as he rose out of his own coffin, his clothes were the garb of a samurai and not an emperor, but he was a warrior first and foremost, it was the role this life and body had been given, "We are awake. We shall simply have to await Zero-sama's summons."

"Err...umm..." it seemed that no one really knew how to proceed, until someone decided that perhaps the heads of the Kyoto Houses should be informed of the development. The two awoken guests were then led to a lounge where they were given refreshments as they waited for their hosts.

It was Lord Taizo Kirihara and Lady Kaguya Sumeragi that appeared as their hosts, they were also the only two that were available at the time.

"Lord Taizo Kirihara-dono," Jimmu greeted, "Do you remember us?"

"I...no, I can't say that I do," Taizo said, "Should I know you two, who are claiming to be legends from history."

"We are speaking of our master, the core, the puppeteer that pulls our strings," Battousai said, "You know him, that man that seeks to destroy the world and birth a more peaceful and gentler world."


	140. Z2

He'd been living with Nana Ebb ever since he was five years old, his aunt had dropped him off at the boundary of the old woman's lands as she could no longer take his unnaturalness as she called him and whatever he could do, intentionally or not.

Nana Ebb had been his mother's godmother, and his great-great-great-grandmother's godmother as well. She was an old woman that never aged past whatever old age she looked, physically speaking of course. But she did age, as all things that continue living age.

She had recognized what he had had after he broke down a week into his stay, he had told her that his skin was extra sensitive, that whenever he touched something non-living his whole body trembled for a scant moment, and should he touch a living thing be it plant animal or person, he got a slight headache, and if held onto that person or living thing for too long they would either suffer a headache or fall into a coma like he suspected his uncle had.

She had explained to him that it was a manifestation of a gift that he and he alone had been given well before even he was born. It was something that made him entirely unique, something that only he possessed. She told him that there was no name to the particular gift, just that it came as a power, it came with a price, and it gave him a name.

Names have power, she told him once. This was why she told him and anyone she met to call her simply Nana Ebb, for giving out her name to just about anyone could grant them power over her by simply using it.

She told him that she could and would help him with his gift, but her help would only and could only do so much and the rest would be up to him.

She explained to him what she knew of his gift.

She told him that he was wrong with what he believed to be true. His skin was not sensitive, his whole body was. It was sensitive in the sense that it absorbed everything that it touched, replicated it within him, and returned what had been the basis for the replication back to where or what it was just as he was about to cut the connection.

She told him that his body automatically had him assimilate and replicate his environment, everything around him. His body needed to understand and know everything around him to better protect him, to make him adapt more easily and quickly.

She told him that his gift was a form of survival. It was a adaptation, in order to survive a changing world one needed to be able to quickly adapt. To evolve. That was what his gift was, evolution.

For the time being the only thing he could evolve was himself.

Once his body absorbed something, information, properties, and all that and everything that had to do with something that he had touched, including the air itself, he would be able to recreate such a thing as part of his body, and later on with much practice he would be able to separate it from himself or even affect the world around him.

He had asked her of course how she knew these things, this was when she decided to tell him a part of what she was, what his mother and his other ancestor had not known about her. The rest of the world, the governments of all the countries were made aware of her existence. She was a guardian of sorts, one that was not talked about at all and that only a scarce few had the clearance enough to really fully know about. She guarded time in a sense. She guarded the flow of time, she was preservation. Nothing was lost in time as she kept a part of it or all of it preserved.

There was a reason why she was perpetually old, that was because she watched over, protected, and preserved everything that was affected and lost in time or by time. She showed him what she meant when they visited a part of her lands that had living breathing dinosaurs, and a few other creatures that the world as a whole had forgotten about. She didn't bother showing him all the rest, the ones from other worlds, other dimensions, other universes, other realities.

He understood then and there.

He was special, just like her. But she corrected him and told him that he was even more special than she was. She wouldn't explain why that was, and he didn't want to know just yet.

So they continued from there as if nothing had changed save for that fact that he learned as much as he could from her, one that had been alive or in existence since shortly after the beginning of it all. Since shortly after the birth or start of Everything. Nana Ebb, as she herself had admitted and claimed, was a child, a daughter of Time himself.

He learned not only about his gift, but all other things as well, anything he wanted to know about, she taught him. She never ran out of things to teach him since she had been alive since after the dawn of time. She had also delighted him with stories about his mother as she grew up and stayed with her on occasion, as well as stories about the friends his mother had brought to the home the two of them lived as she was growing up.

One such friend was a Severus Snape, kind young man that had fallen to one side after some machinations of fate, politics, school bullying, misunderstandings, and such. She told him that he had been quite the prodigy in potions and chemistry, a step just above his mother.

While he wanted to meet this friend of his mother's, he knew that meeting could wait. Nana Ebb had other plans after all, such as sending him to school, regular human schools, multiple ones at the same time, all over the world too. While she could teach him many things, she believed that he needed to learn the one thing that one person alone could not teach. Social interaction.

So he went to many schools, all over the world. Learning whatever he wished, while at the same time still getting the proper and right education for one his age was meant to receive. He adapted to each and every situation that presented itself, as a form of practice for intentional use of his gift should he ever decide to use it. He made quite the number of friends, there were no end of them, these people that wanted to be near him for him.

He'd even managed to meet some people that considered him as not only their friend, but as something more, though not in the romantic sense. These were the people that he had saved, Nana Ebb tsked at the fact that he seemed to have inherited a Hero complex or a saving people thing from one of his ancestors or distant relations.

He wasn't really aware of it all that much, but he had a growing army of people and beings that were willing to go to the ends of the world, or even the universe for him. They'd walk into the gates of hell if he so wished. All because of a few small deeds that he had done for them. While they did seem small to him, these deeds meant a lot to each of them separately.

There was also one more thing that they would each do. They would crush anyone that would ever dare to use or harm their friend, divine punishment would be nothing but an ant bite compared to what they had planned for anyone that did anything to their friend.

Some going so far as to think of him as their master.

Then the day came that Nana Ebb had been waiting for. The day that Harry Potter received his Hogwarts Acceptance Letter. While it was not the only school in the country, it was the most prestigious and the one that his parents had already reserved a spot in for him. He would not be receiving a letter from any of the other schools because of that. That and it was tradition for an heir of the school to be educated there.

By the blood of his father he was an heir to the school, and by the blood of his mother he was an heir twice of the school's founders.

He sent back his reply, while he was in Hong Kong, he accepted of course and Nana Ebb couldn't have been any prouder than she had been when he said he wanted to make sure that the school knew he was coming, while at the same time make those that had left him with his aunt to know that he was more than well taken care of, just not by his aunt.

He got his school things from all over the world, since he believed that this Diagon Alley would just be too full of people for him to wander around as he wished to. He may have been a recognized adult due to his status as one of Nana Ebb's citizens, he had diplomatic immunity in all the countries all over the world since he lived with her, and would forever have that status even if he moved out of her house. Even as a recognized adult in all those countries most people would still treat him as a child due to his height, not that he was short for his age, but just that he still looked like an 11 year old child.

The only reason he even bothered to visit the Alley was to visit the Goblin run bank. The goblins treated him with a little bit more respect since he was a recognized citizen of Nana Ebb's lands, lands that even during the time of Merlin were said to be held in greater esteem than even Avalon or any of those other places such as it. The goblins remembered the time before Merlin, the time of Atlantis and the time before that. Nana Ebb and her lands had been there even before those times, and would remain even after the world was gone and dust.

He only checked on his accounts, Nana Ebb had made sure that his money didn't lay dormant in their vaults, and that they moved around and added to his already vast wealth. She wanted him and his future family to be able to live as comfortably as possible should the economy of the world collapse for whatever reason, like if her father decided that he was bored and came for a visit or something like that.

He withdrew some additional funds to add to his allowance that Nana Ebb had given him, it was just for whatever caught his fancy should any manage to do that. He had found at an earlier age that the magical world wasn't as magical as one born out of it would view it, if one could become all of it if he so wished. Though he wasn't done adapting to everything yet. He believed that he never would be finished, which was why he also believed that some of what Nana Ebb was, had rubbed off on him.

When it was time to leave for school, Nana Ebb surprisingly went with him to the platform, accompanying her were some of his _friends_, those that called themselves his unworthy subordinates. They were quite weird, but he liked them all the same.

He had no problem finding the train at all, and no trouble getting on and finding a compartment. He was just like the animals of nature, he was seemingly invisible even though he was there. It was a kind of automatic defense mechanism he had. The magical world, this magical school, it was a new experience and since he believed that he didn't really know anyone he could depend on there he closed himself up and hid in plain view.

He didn't really make any new friends on the train, he didn't make any as he didn't speak with anyone. Being seemingly invisible without even really trying made most people ignore his very presence, as if he had cast a notice-me-not charm on himself.

He was noticed by his schoolmates only briefly and that was when he was sorted into Ravenclaw of all houses, the hat had claimed that he would do well in any of the houses, especially the two that had a male founder each, but his lineage didn't limit him to just those two houses and thus he chose Ravenclaw for those that loved knowledge or loved to learn, something he did eagerly.

As soon as he joined his house amidst a regular volume of applause, he was ignored once again. He became from then on the quiet and shy boy of Ravenclaw, almost like a ghost. He was almost like a ghost in so many ways, but whereas his classmates and housemates paid him little mind the house ghost took a shine to him like she had never taken a shine to anyone else before.

Her predecessor, the Gray Lady, had left the school some years ago leaving her as her replacement. She too was a Ravenclaw herself, though not of the main line, but a branch line that had been all but forgotten. That line had also died with her, as ghosts could not conceive. She had been murdered like her predecessor by her would be suitor.

Her name was Amalthea Ravenheart, or Thea Ravenheart, but given the nickname The Maiden.

She liked this Harry Potter that hid himself from the world, this Harry Potter that could walk through walls and float as good as any ghost. She also liked this Harry Potter for not bothering her about her successor as he only wanted to know her herself, just as he wanted to be seen as just himself.

The year didn't go about how some people would have wished that it did. For example Professor Severus Snape didn't find it in himself to hate the child of James Potter, he couldn't even find the little boy all he saw was Harry Potter the son of his late ex-best friend and the only woman he had ever really fallen in love with.

He wondered what kind of life did the boy live to make him this invisible, he wasn't prideful or arrogant like the man had originally thought he would be, he wasn't even aiming to be the center of attention as the boy's father had always been. He was just there, seen, but not heard, in plain view but not noticed.

As for the Headmaster of the prestigious institution, he had planned to test the young boy, but now he seemed that he could not depend on the boy after all. There was nothing special aside from the ability to keep out of sight. No one would flock to a chosen one that didn't want to be seen and was good at hiding. No one would want to fight alongside a hero as pathetic as Harry Potter portrayed himself to be. The old goat began to believe that the prophecy he had heard had been a false one, and began to make plans anew, disregarding Harry Potter altogether, for how useful or powerful could one small shy and quiet Ravenclaw be in the greater scheme of things.

But something did happen at the end of the year. Harry Potter did save the school and the wizarding world from the resurrection of the Dark Lord Voldemort. It was just that no one knew that it was him that had stopped the robbery from the passageway whose main entrance could be found in the third floor of the school. No one knew but himself, the Maiden, Nana Ebb, and of course the school herself.

Then summer began and Harry returned to the way he had always been, the lively little leader that saved people, persons, and beings, from whatever plight he chanced upon when finding them. He was the happy-go-luck boy once again, or tween really. The wizarding world was like some kind of oppressive cage that kept what he really was like locked away. He didn't know what he was so afraid of or worried about really.

Then came his second year of magical schooling at Hogwarts. It went about the same way as his first, the only difference being that he saved the school from closing as he saved a kidnapped girl from the clutches of a soul piece that had possessed her through her writing in a diary. He had also managed to take an old serpent back home with him that Nana Ebb could better take care of the poor old girl. The school was no longer a place for the creature.

Then third year came around and supposedly a dangerous criminal had escaped from the wizarding prison of Azkaban. Nana Ebb didn't like the fact that justice was not done, she had known all along of the innocence of the man that had escaped from the inescapable, like the Rock that was Alcatraz. She helped Harry gather evidence to clear his godfather's name, while at the same time taught him how to keep better control over the Dementors that had been ordered to patrol the wizarding school of Hogwarts.

Nana Ebb had had him touch Death, they visited the Veil of Death within the bowels of the British Ministry of Magic where that physical representation of the veil that separated life from death could be found. Harry touched the space between, the arch, the ethereal cloth, and everything else in the chamber, before leaving. He even managed to hear a whisper of good luck from the great beyond. Nana Ebb told him it was one of his distant cousins.

He believed her as he always should as she had no reason to lie to him. Even if she did, she would not have been able to. He was her uncle in a sense after all, and at a higher rank than her. Not that she told him that. He was simply still too young and inexperienced to know of such grand things.

Her father had entrusted her with the care of this one, this cousin of his, until he found his name and his true power.

Then it was the summer of third year, the summer before the fourth. Harry was spending sometime in Paris where one of his distant cousins, as Nana Ebb had called the older man, lived. The man owned and lived in a local sanctuary where a notorious hunchback supposedly lived. There was no hunchback of course, just a bunch of monsters, demons, angels, and more. There were a few wizards and witches, but they were a minority when it came to Harry's relative's community.

It was supposedly a holy place, but the god that had inhabited long ago had permitted another to take His place. That was Harry's cousin. The god that had no religion and no need for belief to sustain him. He also worked as the potions professor and master of Beuxbatons, the French equivalent of Hogwarts.

"So little cousin, how has your summer been so far?" Clement, as that was what Harry's cousin's name was, said.

"It's been alright," Harry replied, "Though I'm a bit worried about what's in store for me in the coming year."

"No need to be worried about that," Clement said, "I'm sure it'll be some sort of adventure. Oh, and before I forget, you should stop hiding who you really are. You worry your friends you know, some of them have actually come to me and asked that I help you with your wizarding confidence issues."

"What do you mean? What have they told you?" Harry asked, as his legs dangled over the ledge of the cathedral, they were on the rooftop after all.

"That you become one with nature, avoiding contact as much as possible and that your only friend in that school of yours is Amalthea Ravenheart," Clement stated, "Now, no need to worry what others might think of you, despite your gifts, you are still you and they are just like everyone else...just with a lot more expectations...or at least they had a lot more expectations from you at the beginning. At this point in time you no longer need to hide since they see you as just another face in the crowd."

"Alright...if...something comes up, I'll show my true colors," Harry promised, "Now show me how to fly like an angel like you promised."

"Sure thing.." Clement said and proceeded to do so.

The year started out normally, or as normally as it could start. But there was a difference in the air, everyone at the castle had felt it as soon as Harry sat down beside one of the third years, a girl that all had deemed as loony Luna Lovegood. She wasn't all that well liked, and was the easiest for bullies to target.

He had spoken to her during the ride to the school, surprising the normally ditzy seeming girl. It was all an act of course, a way of coping for the loss of her mother which she still felt to this day, but that was more because she hadn't really found a friend that understood her and didn't mind her eccentricities.

It was the first minor change. No one paid much attention to it after they realized that two of the school's weirdos were now friends or at least on speaking terms.

No one minded it until Harry set his foot down when the older students started to try and bully Luna. Professor Flitwick had to be called in to deal with all the damage that Harry had done. He was a master in several martial arts and also had the ability to turn his entire body into something harder than diamond in less than a blink of an eye.

No one dared mess with Luna and any of her things EVER again. No one even called her Loony after that, the Ravens knew to steer clear of Harry's bad side. Not only did the bullies and the rest of the house gain a healthier respect for one of their own, but they also had the fear of The Maiden put into them as she gave the whole House stern talking to, when a ghost girl is angry you best not be in her warpath.

Then the greatest thing to happen in the history of his stay in Hogwarts happened, it was after the other participating schools of the Tri-Wizard tournament arrived, the names had been placed in the Goblet of Fire, three champions had been chosen.

Then a fourth slip of paper left the goblet's mouth.

"..Harry Potter.." the Hogwarts Headmaster reluctantly read out loud.

He stood up from his seat, as the hall silenced itself. Not a word was spoken as he made his way to the antechamber behind the staff table to meet with the other champions.

The Headmaster followed, and the interrogation began, though it didn't flow in the way that had been wished.

"I shall not be representing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but Nana Ebb's Lands, and the various magical institutions that have not been able to participate in this auspicious tournament," Harry simply stated, it was so calm and confident that no one chose to argue with him and his decision, though the ministry officials and the headmasters did pale a bit upon hearing the name Nana Ebb. They all clearly knew who she was and what power Harry actually had in the world by uttering such a claim.


	141. Z5

He had been a friend of the Uchiha clan far long before the clan was given or had chosen that name. He had been one of the few people alive, or to have lived long enough to claim that they had been there at the final battle between the Rikudou Sennin, or Sage of Six Paths, and the Juubi. He was that old.

He was also very much immortal, it wasn't some curse or punishment either, it was a choice he had made and never regretted. It was also part of the job description.

He was Shi no Tatsujin, or Master of Death. He was the first one and the last one in this existence.

His existence had changed over the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years that he had been around. He had witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, the end and beginnings of worlds. He had seen it all, and over countless cycles of life and death. He was the Overseer, the gods of death revered him as their leader, their general, their commander, and their king. He was the one whom Death himself gave commander.

When he trudged upon the realm of the mortal coil he usually went by the name Tougeika Jinkun. It was a name that meant a lot to him as it was what best fit the name that he was born with, which was how he chose it as his true name, the name that set him apart from his fellow _brothers_ and _cousins_.

He had chosen to be closer to the Uchiha clan, from the very beginning, as he was more used to the ways of battle rather than peace. All his life and immortal life he had more experience, through the many wars and minor conflicts, with his field or profession. While death was as much a part of life as life was as much a part of death, he was more intune with the death aspect of the cycle which he oversaw. He also got along quite well with the older of the descedants of a man that had held both the ideals of peace and rule with an iron fist during two halves of his life.

There had also been the fact that he looked more like the Uchiha himself, rather than the peace loving, but still quite powerful, Senju. It was thought that the two brothers who fathered and founded the two strongest and most well reknowned clans of the Age of Shinobi were two halves of the same coin, the two halves of their own father, who was viewed as perfection or as close to a god as a mortal possibly could become.

One's strength was the other's weakness while one's weakness was the other's strength. There was always a balance within and between them, and they always subconsciously tried to recreate the balance that had been in the Sage.

He knew this, and knew them both, and tried his best to protect them from destruction every chance that he got or got wind of.

Niether clan really needed any of his aid, they were both rather strong in their own rights. But it was the offshoot clan known as the Uzumaki that had actually seen his help rather than the two major halves of the whole that had been the Sage. They were a great majority that had at first not known their place in the world, not until he first taught them the art of sealing, fuuinjutsu. They took to the craft and the art like fish took to water, but at the same time as how birds took to flight.

For the Senju the only help he ever really managed to give them was unlocking the deeper connection to nature that they had within them, they had inherited the body of the sage after all.

The Uchiha on the other hand had inherited the eyes, and so they had gained quite a lot of almost god like, and in some cases god like abilities. Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, Izanami, Izanagi, Susanoo, and a whole slew of other abilities that had been named after deities. They were also given a single contract, not to a normal summon like those cats and ravens that they had made some agreements with somewhere down the line. The contract was one which had not been created by mortal means, but by a decree from the Overseer. Summoning the Shinigami. The prerequisite for the Dead Demon Consuming Seal that would later be created by Namikaze Minato with the help of seals from the Uzumaki clan and after stumbling upon the then forgotten contract of with the Shinigami.

The Shinigami that was summoned depeneded on the level of the summoner, as well as the need. For there were ten Shinigami that lead the forces of the Overseer. He had his own army at his beck and call since he was a king of sorts, the only thing missing was actually forming a Seiretei and Hueco Mundo, which he didn't since he saw it as more work for him.

He had been a friend of the Uchiha clan for such a long time, so long in fact that very few within the clan even knew about him. Truthfully it was the elder council of the clan that knew of his existence, them and the Hokage that needed to know about him. The Shodaime Hokage had known about him too, but that was due in part to his wife knowing about him, and almost getting himself and his whole clan killed in a skirmish with the Kaguya clan.

It was due to his favoring of the clan and his friendship with the clan that he walked the streets that night. That he came upon a clan being taken down one man, woman, and teen, at a time. Normally he wouldn't have acted as he had, but this time was different. The clan was being massacred right before his very eyes. He may be immortal and the one that the AfterLife referred to as the Overseer, but he was not omniscient, he blocked that ability from himself as it made his life a whole other level of boring.

Three parties were attacking and taking down clansmen. Uchiha Itachi with his more pure intentions, Uchiha _Madara_ with his feelings of revenge and loathing, and Shimura Danzo's Ne who viewed that the clan was a liability to the village as a whole and needed to be eradicated as best and as much as possible.

Figures in shinobi shozoku appeared out of thin air, or seemingly so, the attackers of the clan could do nothing more than gape as their numbers dwindled as these ambush attackers took their lives one at a time. Ne lost quite a lot of operatives that night, around fifty to be exact.

Madara was forced to flee as he was chased away to beyond the Valley of the End by no less than the ten Shinigami commanders under the Overseer's rule. Each one wearing the robes of the priest or monk, while wearing that demonic and horned mask. Each bearing a knife, one so small, but sharp and long enough to cut out a man's soul from his mortal shell.

Itachi himself bore the burden of trying not to run off and peeing in his pants at the sight of Overseer stalking ever closer to him.

"Why?" it was a simple question, but brought Itachi's mind to a standstill. He couldn't answer for the life of his brother, or for the safety of the village. But before this one man, this one Being, this one entity, which he had discovered while reading the ancient tablets of the clan, he could not lie, could hide nothing if the Being so wished.

He was trapped. He was between a hard place and the Overseer of death himself.

He had no choice, so he spilled his figurative guts.

When he was done, he was on his knees, crying for all the sins he had just commited against his family, a family he should have protected above and against all things, not this village that would not be able to truly mourn their passing.

"The path you have chosen to tread and path you had chosen for your brother to walk," Jinkun said, "Is not a path I would have chosen, nor a path that leads to forgiveness and the protection you sought for the village. It shall not bring about peace, but the continued revolving of the cycle."

"O-Onii-san?" Uchiha Sasuke stuttered in question as he stands a few meters behind Jinkun having heard everything that Itachi had admitted to.


	142. Z6

He didn't know how long he had been wandering within this sewer like limboic space. It wasn't torture by any means, but knowing whether or not he was dead was eating at him from the inside. He wanted to know of his fate, what had happened to him. The last thing he remembered while he was in the waking and known world was a palm thrust to his gut and suddenly finding himself waking in this dark and damp sewer with pipes leaking and crisscrossing the ceiling while murky knee deep water flooded the floor.

He felt as if he had been wandering around the place for days, weeks, months, and, on some occasions, years. It sometimes felt that long, he had never thought that he could feel such a depth of loneliness in his life before. It was even more depressing a thought that wondering why he had been hated for something he had no control over and at the time had no idea about.

He'd never once considered that it was possible to feel even lower than he had ever felt in the past. He had thought that he had been to the depths of hell and back, but apparently that was not true as he found himself in the worst kind of situation one such as himself could find himself in. He had taken for granted all the people that he had been around, and now he missed them so. He even missed the feeling of the fox in his gut, one of the only real constants in his life.

Now he couldn't even feel anything of the fox, not matter how much rage, anger, or even hate, that he brought to the fore, nothing happened. He remained as he was, alone in the labyrinthine sewer system that didn't seem to have an end.

He grew rather cautious and paranoid after the first few horrors had pounced on him from out of the shadowed corners of the twists and turns and bends and other walkways and pathways that he passed by on his way in finding a way out of the place or whether or not he was still among the living or finally among the dead.

He was as paranoid as a certain law enforcement official that had a thing for having his single unnatural eye zooming and whirling all over the place. The only thing missing with the blonde was a peg leg and an unnatural eye, and shouting "Constant Vigilance!"

Just like many of the things that he had to fight off to stay whatever he was, be it living or dead. He fought as ferociously as he had ever fought before, he didn't know why, but he did, and every time that he won he felt stronger somehow, but still quite lonely. These attackers, these creatures, these shadowy things. They were a mystery to him, but at the very same time he knew without a doubt that they were not alive in any sense of the word. They weren't dead either. They were more like ideas, that was the best way that he could rationalize what they were exactly.

He eventually stumbled upon a gate, but instead of it being a sealed one like he had expected it was open. The gates themselves had been flung wide open. But the thing that made more than just his skin crawl was that they were not flung outward, but inward and the hinges looked to be in rather weak states. There was no other way to describe the state of the hinges, it was as if they were barely holding on.

He knew something was definitely wrong with the place. He knew that the gate was not supposed to be open like that, he knew that it was supposed to be closed, to be holding something at bay.

But that something was nowhere to be found, the gate had been broken into, forcefully too. It was like a covenant had been broken, that a truce had been irrevocably shattered.

He found two people laying down almost face down on the ground by each of the two gates. One person who he didn't ever to expect to see, while the other gave him the same feeling as well. It looked like they had been through hell, like they had fought something or someone with what must have remained of their life forces or something.

The Yondaime Hokage was the man, and the woman must have been someone important to this blonde's hero, or he supposed.

He couldn't think of anything that could have done something like that to his hero and the woman. He really didn't or couldn't think of anything, since his hero had managed to seal the beast within his gut and apparently tie the two of them soul to soul or so he thought that was what had happened.

It was only thanks to his paranoia that something was still out to get him that he managed to jump out of the way in time, just before a large something was flung out of the silent darkness that lay beyond the broken in gates.

It was large, larger than anything the blonde had ever encountered before, easily dwarfing that blasted snake that had swallowed him whole, that he had to make use of his signature technique to escape from.

He leaned against the wall, while at the same time trying to make himself as small as possible. He gazed at what had been flung out of the depths of what could have been the abyss itself.

It came as a shock to him when he realized what exactly he had been gazing at, and it was at that moment that he realized where exactly he was, and he wasn't sure if he had finally fallen over the edge and into the deep end or what, but he knew that he was in the limbo where his mind met his soul. It was the Kyuubi, the beast that he kept within himself, that he protected and defended the village in which he lived from day to day, even during the days before he knew what he was doing.

It's once proud and majestic fur coat that had been tinted crimson and dark orange, was now nowhere near that once splendorous coat. It was now an ashen gray, nothing splendorous or wondrous about it anymore. It's once powerful and swishing tails were reduced to limp appendages hanging from its weakened body. It was far from its once majestic form, far from that entity comprised of malevolent yet powerful chakra that had once nearly ravaged one of the most powerful hidden villages in the world.

He wondered what could have done such a thing to the beast. It was supposed to be some sort of demon of legend, not this weak and quivering thing that lay on the flooded floor of his mindscape.

From where he was crouching in the ground, he was startled out of his inner musings about the beast by a silhouette catching his attention. It grew more and more defined as time wore on.

A moment or two or more pass by before the young blonde can finally make out what the figure from the darkened depths of the seal that could be found on the threshold between his mind and his soul.

He had never seen an older man in his entire short life. But even though the man was old, the young blonde could immediately tell and recognize the power just waiting to be unleashed that was being held just within the stranger's skin.

He didn't know what he was dealing with, only that whatever it was had power. There was no mistaking this old old man for a weak entity, for not just about anything can make its way into where the mind meets the soul.

"Who are you?" they were the first three words he actually spoke while within his own mindscape.

The question was 'who' and not 'what', since 'what' was power, unmistakeable power.

"_Who am I, you ask,_" the old man's voice seemed to come from everywhere, a thousand or more voices echoing all around the chamber, in varying styles, tones, and even languages, and all throughout the words being heard the old man's lips never moved, "_I am that one unavoidable and final truth, that one experience that none escapes from. All eventually fall prey to who and what I am. Care to guess?_"

The question was an explanation only, even though the last statement sounded like a form of insult geared toward the young blonde's intelligence or semi-lack thereof.

While his public face showed a fool, he was no ordinary fool, but a masked one. Like those masked elite that performed the highest of the high missions for the continued protection and prosperity of the village, he wore a mask to hide his own true face. While not a genius or a prodigy, he still had brains, he just assumed that people wouldn't treat him right even if he did show those brains that he had and that helped him whenever he went on some pranking binge of sorts.

He was able to connect the dots quite easily, especially with the additional hints he had been supplied.

"Death," the young blonde stated, as fact and not guess.

"_A sharp one you are,_" the old man complimented with his thousands of echoing voices, "_The other three failed to realize that fact before it became almost too late. Now,_" he gestured to the three spiritual bodies, "_As you can see, they lay about on the floor, near lifeless as two of them should actually be. Know this young one, no one cheats death, and no one cheats __**ME**__._"

"How did they manage to cheat you? Escape you temporarily? Why did you have to be the one to retrieve them?" the young blonde asked, he believed he had all the time in the world for answers, and he was right.

"_I was cheated through a deal, a deal with a rogue that shall meet punishment as well, as for why I am the one standing before you now, speaking these words with you,_" Death said, "_To simplify my reasoning, I was bored._"

"So in order to alleviate your boredom, you came here, into me to retrieve what had escaped from your clutches and their fate," the young blonde said, "Why did you wait for my arrival then? For me to discover them laying about on the flooded floor of this prison?"

"_I found you interesting that's why,_" Death stated as fact, "_There are so few souls worthy of becoming one of my generals. I see in you, that potential. What say you, child of genius and prodigy? Son of fortune and fame? Heir of chaos and anarchy? Will you accept the mantle of Shi no Tatsujin and all the responsibility such a station holds?_"

"Why me? Shouldn't there be others more worthy of your trust? What did I do to deserve your explicit attention?" the young blonde asked.

"_You simply are at the right place, at the right time, and with the right circumstances,_" Death replied, "_So what be thy reply to mine offer?_"

"What's in it for me? I wouldn't want to have to take on another mantle if it had no benefits for myself," the young blonde said, he knew much about survival of the fittest, he was a survivor after all.

"_The Corps that is made up of the Shi no Tatsujin of the many worlds, realms, dimensions, and existences, that come under my jurisdiction, are charged with overseeing life and death,_" Death explained, "_In order to do this, they are granted powers over life and death. The power to create and to destroy, these two being the general classifications of what one with the title and position have access to._"

"So I get powers, what am I supposed to do exactly?" the young blonde asked, he was referring to his responsibilities should he accept the position.

"_You will be charged with the responsibility of making sure that the wheel continues to turn, that the cycle of life and death does not fail or falter, that no one escapes my clutches,_" Death stated, "_That's basically it, you may intervene whenever you wish, and may grant immortality to a select few but always within reason and only for the right reasons. So what say you?_"

"Before I answer that," the young blonde said, "What will become of the three souls between us?"

"_Your parents will be granted a few minutes to speak with you, as was their original intention for evading their predetermined and inevitable fate,_" Death replied, "_While the beast will be separated from your soul. It will no longer hold any power over you, nor will it be able to influence you. It's power, both halves of it shall never again be its own and shall be transferred over to you, to bolster your already formidable stores. Its soul shall remain within you, as it was originally sentenced. So what say you?"_

"I think, I'll accept," the young blonde replied, finally making the decision, after all what did he have to lose.

"_Good, good,_" Death said, expecting that answer.

The blonde didn't know what to expect next. He stood as tall as he could waiting for whatever was to come. It came as an expected surprise, Death stood before him cloaked in darkness and wielding a large pendulum-like scythe, his skeleton visage gazing down at his most recent recruit.

"_I bestow upon thee this Cloak of Invisibility, that you may walk wherever you wish,_" Death stated, then draped a silken cloak upon the blonde's astral form, "_I bestow upon thee this Stone of Souls, that you might judge souls rightly, that you might see what mortal eyes are unable to see,_" he placed a necklace around the blonde's neck, it was a lightly pulsating blue stone on a simple leather cord, "_Finally, I bestow upon thee, this blade, that you might deliver your enemies into my waiting arms or heal your allies and friends,_" he then handed over a kunai, of all things, with a sheath to the blonde, "_With these gifts do I confer upon you the title of Seitoshi no Kantoku, may these gifts serve, and by association me, well._"

"I swear to serve to the best of my ability," the blonde said.

"_Now, do you have any more additional questions before I leave you with your parents before they are forced to finally move on?_" Death asked him.

"Aside from the general things that you've already explained to me," the blonde said, "What other things will I be having to oversee? I know for a fact that there is a Shinigami in this world of mine."

"_Actually, there should be ten Shinigami in total. The summonable one being the least powerful of the ten, though now it falls to you to decide whom from your forces shall take up those ten mantles,_" Death replied, "_In this world, in this existence, you are what I am when it comes to all things Death. There is no higher power when it coems to Death for I am Death himself. In comparison, you are the King of Life and Death, you have an army at your beck and call, your own legion of Death Reapers. Do with them as you please, the knowledge of their and your duties shall come to you in time._"

"Thanks for the heads up, sir," the blonde said, and watched as his superior and _Emperor_, if he was a King, fade his this place where his soul met his mind. Leaving him with his parents as they did the only thing they could think to do having such a short time with him remaining, and of course finally being able to speak with him. They told him all that he needed and wanted to hear as well as a bit more than all three of them had bargained for. All that needed to be said was said, and all that really needed and wanted to be done had been done.

Silently in the background the prison of the beast was reconstructed and the beast sealed once again. This time its power not with it. It was a mere remnant, a shell of its former self. To unseal it would not mean the end for its most recent and final host. For how could one expect to kill someone that was essentially the Death of the world.

With hugs and kisses, their final farewells given, the previous generation left their legacy in his space between the mental and the spiritual with only the caged and shivering beast and the anthropomorphic personification of final and unavoidable truth.

It was a cold atmosphere that pervaded the space, or it would have feel cold and lifeless had anyone else been there to experience it. But to the two entities that mattered, it all felt normal as they were both in their more imposing forms.

Death himself came in many forms, so it should not have come as a surprise that his newest lieutenant or commander of sorts would have the ability to gain or go about using many forms.

The _King_ and the _Emperor_, stood or hovered before one another.

It wasn't really a stand off, as there was a comfortable silence between them. It was just that they were waiting for something, Death knew what it was, while his subordinate just assumed that that was what they were doing.

"What are we waiting for exactly?" the young blonde that looked like the Grim Reaper said, his patience wore out, he was still a teen or kid at heart after all, it was to be expected.

"_I do hope you learn patience, eternity is a long time you know,_" Death stated, not scoldingly though, "_We are waiting for your awakening. Your physical form and more mortal shell are knocked out. You are in a form of coma right now, and before you bother questioning the authenticity of what just happened, don't. You already know that it was and is real._"

"I wasn't about to go ahead and think that, it hadn't even crossed my mind," the blonde said, "I was just wondering what we were waiting for."

"_I know,_" Death said, "_I'm only here to keep you company for the time being. Out in the waking world, your comrades are duking it out with some foreigners on your home soil. An opposing team with regards to this exam you are still taking, I believe. If you wish to view the waking world with your own _eyes_, then you must will it to be. That's part of how your new abilities work now._"

"So its a to think is to create kind of thing?" the blonde asked.

"_You could say that,_" Death said, "_Though not everything needs to be thought of, some things are subconscious decisions, and others are just plain automatic._"

"Ok...so all I gotta do is will myself to do whatever?" the blonde half asked.

"_Basically...let me put it this way,_" Death said, "_Chakra is Spiritual Energy combined with Physical Energy. Your new abilities are chakra, and the two elements that make it work are Will and Belief, which are basically almost the same thing._"

"I get it, or got it already, no need to treat me like how the rest of the village does," the blonde griped.

"_It's your own fault for not being brave enough to face the world with your true face,_" Death countered the trivial complaint.

"Whatever," the blonde said, and then delved within himself...

Death faded away, his mindscape did as well.

He was in the clearing where his fellow rookies were just finishing their bout with the genin from Oto, from Sound. The genin of Orochimaru, the knowledge just came to him unbidden, almost.

He gazed at his comrades and noted that he could not only read their thoughts, but their motives, their plans. Everything they knew, he too now knew, they were all as open as any open book. He could read them like he had never read anything before.

It was a partial omniscience, a term that came to him just as all the other knowledge did. It was one of his new abilities. He was not on the same level as a Supreme Being, one of the actual gods, or those beyond like his _Emperor_. He was a higher power, but not with all the perks that some had. He was rather grateful for that though.

It came as a shock to him to find out that his own teammates had given up on him ever awakening, while the others really didn't seem to care all that much about him. It was probably mostly his fault anyway, he didn't really spend enough time to get to know any of them, to actually form some sort of connection with any of them. He hadn't yet touched their lives.

Then there was the talk of just leaving him there, within that little hole in the tree.

Teams were supposedly only able to pass if they were complete. But as Sasuke and Sakura rationalized, the Hokage wouldn't disallow Sasuke a chance to showcase his skills to all the possible clients that would want to see the last loyal Uchiha. The old man would be forced to do as the Uchiha said, allow him to participate, the alternative was a lower rating in the eyes of the potential clients of the village.

"Meh, he was always alone, so I doubt he'd mind if we just leave him there," it was rather surprising that it was Nara Shikamaru who said it, the guy found everything troublesome, but for him just to say something like that. It was just shocking, but shouldn't have been surprising either.

Before he could come up with a really bad opinion of Shikamaru, some additional thoughts made their way to him.

'_If he's really never gonna wake up...then I guess it would be better if his body remains here...I shudder to think what would happen to it should it be brought back to the village...after all...I've seen the way most look at him,_' were the thoughts of the Nara, an insightful and very intelligent Nara.

The others' thoughts were more along the lines of let's get this over with we have an exam to complete and continue to compete in, in a myriad of forms of course.

Had he been using his public face at the time he would have been surprised that they could just do that. Leap away as he watched them do, leaving his body behind in the tree.

They had abandoned him. Even though one of their number thought about his well being, sort of.

He knew what he needed to do. He needed to wake, to rouse from his coma like state. So just as how he had managed to leap out and into the waking world as some form of spirit, or in his spirit form, he did the same to wake his body up.

As soon as his eyes finally opened. He screamed.

It wasn't a scream of pain, but something else.

An energy built up around him, a visible aura formed. It took on more physical traits until it was fnially able to actually interact with its surroundings.

The tree that the blonde's body had originally inhabited shattered into sawdust just as the rest of the surroundings were swallowed up by his aura. It wasn't blinding in intensity, but it did the trick.

The scream that continued to ring in every ear the whole world over was soon forgotten as the entire world of life shook.

The aura burst, like a bubble bursting upon hitting a spike. But instead of a pop, it was a silent scream all its own. It was a call. A call that no living managed to hear, but every dead and dying heard loud and clear.

It was a summons.

It was him, the _King_, summoning his army to welcome him into their world.

While the dying didn't understand what they had heard, why they felt a pull of sorts in the Forest of Death's general direction, the dead knew it, recognized it, and rushed in that direction. They heeded the call of their liege, lord, and king. Their boss was calling and they were more than ready to answer.

While the living could not see them, numerous forms humanoid mostly came rushing through the streets of Konoha, some on the rooftops like ninja, others taking a more subtle route through underneath the earth itself. They came in droves, until more than a thousand of them littered the floor and branches around the clearing where the blonde _King_ stood waiting for them.

Upon waking his physical form was no more, it and his spirit, his soul, were just one thing. Upon waking his form shifted to the most powerful form in his arsenal, Seitoshi no Kantoku.

As soon as each one arrived they all took kowtowed to him. It was what they were supposed to do after all.

In the Hokage's office, hidden in one of the safes, a summon contract burst into black flames. The Shinigami contract was no more, as the one that was summoned could not in good conscience serve two masters, thus erasing that one possible way of having more than one.

She was the last one to arrive at the clearing, but unlike the others, he took to one knee before her master. Though she kept her ceremonial mask on.

"Hear me! Hear my words! I am Naruto, Seitoshi no Kantoku!" he announced in a loud voice laced with an ethereal accent, one that rang in the ears of all present to hear them, or that could hear them for only the dead could as he willed it to be so, "Rejoice!"

He didn't really get to say more as his forces jumped up as one, and a single unified voice, cheered.

"Silence," it was a simple statement, but all heard it and obeyed.

He then unsheathed the blade that he had been gifted, and had it change forms as well. From a kunai to a chokuto. What happened next was rather unexpected, even to himself, as he only followed instinct, of sorts, to perform what needed to be done to create the other nine commanders of his legion.

He thrust the sword downwards, since in the form of Seitoshi no Kantoku he was taller, the height that he should have been at the age he was and would only grow taller as he aged passed this day. The sword pierced the mask of his highest ranking subordinate, forcefully splitting it into two, and going through her beautiful face, her skull, her brain, and that's where things got a little bit tricky, as he also managed to pierce her heart, before the blade shot out of her back, flicking nine separate globules of blood onto the forest floor.

"Rise my children, your master beckons," he stated, they were the words that needed to be said.

Nine figures rose from the pools of blood that the globules had turned into.

They were his children, his and the woman that knelt before him.

He pulled the sword from within her and sheathed it once again. It was the part of him that had created the nine through her, thus making her their mother.

She kind of looked like a mix between the mature Uchiha Mikoto and the immature Sumeragi Kaguya. The nine newborns with young adult bodies.

Seven of them were men, while two were women. Seven princes, and two princesses.

The princes each could have passed as carbon copies of their father, save for the lack of whisker marks that still adorned his cheeks, they a remant of his mother after all, and the fact that they each had dark hair. The darkest shades of indigo, violet, brown, green, gray, black, though one of their number had snow white hair. The two women had red hair, one had light red hair while the other had blood red hair. They also looked more like their mother, than their father.

They were named: Shiro (white), Aoi (blue), Murasaki (violet/purple), Kasshoku (brown), Hisui (green), Kaihaku (gray), Kuro (black), Akai (light red), and Chi (blood red). They men each wore something that was between a kimono, shinobi shozoku, and gi or dogi, colored in black but accented with the same color as their hair. The two woman were in kimonos, one white as snow while the other as black as night. Each one had embroidered designs done in the color of their hair, Akai had cats while Chi had foxes.

"We've tarried far too long from our separate duties and live," the blonde said, breaking away a little from the prescribed protocol, "You all have your separate duties, the ones that have been at this long, while others have yet to receive their assignments. Those that already know what to do, return to your duties, those of you without any duties at the moment remain."

More than ninety percent of the legion left to return to their duties and afterlives, theirs were the souls that had chosen to remain, to serve, or gain purpose. The souls that remained were the most recently deceased, ones that had not yet been collected, and not yet made the decision of passing on or remaining to serve as a soldier in Seitoshi no Kantoku's army. Seeing as they were in his presence, instead of waiting for their fate or haunting some battlefield, he assumed that they were willing or had chosen to serve him.

His sons and consort, of sorts, was another matter.

"Speak my sons and daughters," he stated, not shrinking or growing, and waited for that was were born from half of him and half of his almost consort and almost wife Shikyo, the shinigami that his own father had summoned to be able to perform the resealing of the Kyuubi.

"What of us, what are our roles in your _kingdom_?" Kuro asked, as he was the ninth of the siblings, his voice too laced with that ethereal accent, laced with that otherworldly quality that would not be unmistaken for what it could be or who or what it belonged to.

"The world is vast," the blonde stated, which was true, "Divide the world amongst yourselves. There are thirteen grouped nations, continents of sorts if you will. The capital of my kingdom shall remain as Elemental. Choose your own, rule in my stead, watch over them as my eyes and ears. You report only to your mother and I."

"Kantoku-sama," Shikyo said, "What of me? I have dissolved my contract with the Kages. What am I to do now?"

She had served as the leader of the shinigami forces of the existence since time immemorial, waiting for the day that Death himself would appoint his own actual representative. She had done her best, even though she had started out as a lowly Death Reaper herself. She only really appeared and took the souls of the worthy herself, those pristine souls and those far too tainted for anyone else of her former forces to have to deal with.

"For the meantime I would have you locate all the paperwork that has been waiting for me to look them over and take care of them," he told her, he sounded like a warrior off to face his hardest battle yet, "Once you've done that inform me of it, whatever happens afterward is up to you, for now at least."

"Understood," Kuro said, "May we divide the recent dead that wish to serve amongst us as well?"

"Go ahead," the blonde said, "Shikyo, you as well. Stick to only three and have them come to me once you have chosen, I'll have them slip into this exam to spice things up a bit."

"Hai, Kantoku-sama," she said, bowed to him from her kneeling position. She only got up to her feet when he began to walk away.

Once he was out of sight, he shifted his form back to his original one, the short blonde kid with whisker marks and that couldn't really hope to scare anyone bigger or taller than him. He knew he still had all his gifts, and could do as he pleased within the boundaries of his powers and abilities as well as some unwritten rules which he found he knew by heart, but wasn't able to share. They were the non-interference laws, that applied to certain situations but not all the time, in order not to curb fun potential.

He had been left in the forest, by himself, as a mercy by one, and as trash or excess baggage by the others. He knew what he needed to do, he needed a pair of scrolls for his personal use, and to get to the tower before the deadline. He would also need an extra pair for the team that he would be entering in the name of some other village.

Shikyo found him just as he let created over a hundred clones of himself using his so far signature jutsu. They needed no orders since he was actually a master of the jutsu, he just didn't let anyone know that little fact. He hadn't dared show his true face yet. Their marching orders were to locate as many scrolls as possible and return to him with them. He had a feeling that the exam hadn't changed ever since the second portion had been designated in Training Field 44.

There were surely some scrolls that had been lost to the exams of the past.

"A team from Iwa I see," he said, with how he looked and how his voice was, no one would be able to tell that he was what he was. He hardly looked dangerous, maybe to himself, but to others he looked relatively harmless. But in the world of shinobi, looks can be deceiving.

A pair of clones returned with several scrolls tucked into their jumpsuits.

They'd apparently found another team's cache from a previous exam. There were seven pairs of scrolls between the two clones.

"Take three pairs and head for the tower," he ordered the dead veteran genin from Iwa.

"I have a question," one of them said, raising his hand as if he were in a classroom.

"Yes?" Naruto said, facing the fellow genin.

"We're of the AfterLife...how are we supposed to continue to participate in this exam?" the genin asked.

"Being the nigh omnipotent being that I now am," Naruto said, "I can make it so that you, my subordinates, are visible to the living world."

"Oh, ok," the genin said, "So...by your leave, my lord."

"Go," Naruto ordered, it need not be said though.

He waited where he had been for the rest of his clones to return, along with them their memories of what they had faced as well as the lay of the land. He didn't have to wait long as they became a steady stream from all directions, carrying with them all sorts of things, not only their objective but other useful things too.

Ranging from clothes, some torn and worn while others new, to weapons and other kinds of scrolls, some he recognized as storage scrolls. Which would be very useful in a few moments time.

Once the last of his clones dispelled, and he had organized their memories and integrated them flawlessly into his own, he sealed everything in different scrolls. He knew how to work storage scrolls and storage seals due to seeing them in action several times when he was a kid. Some people had tried to end his life with things they pulled out of such scrolls. Some had tried to even seal him into those seals, different seals at the same time.

The Hokage had ended up teaching him about storage scrolls actually, because of that one experience. Though he rarely ever used that knowledge.

He made his way to the tower, the central structure of the training field, and laid down the two required scrolls as he had seen another team do, the Oto team to be exact, and waited for the jounin or chuunin or even Kage that was going to meet with him.

It was the Kage that arrived for him, there were apparently cameras watching this one entrance into the tower. The Hokage himself was the one that came to greet one that he thought could be some sort of impostor.

"Tell me something that only Uzumaki Naruto would know," the Hokage demanded, "If I find your answer not sufficient, I shall cut you down where you stand."

"You taught me about storage seals after I almost went through the experience of being pulled into multiple storage seals at the same time," Naruto told him, "Which brings me to what I need to say before you decide to disqualify me for arriving without my team."

He created a single clone and had it take from him the storage scroll that held within it all the other storage scrolls, and had it unseal the one that kept the other scrolls related to the exam itself, before resealing all the rest back into the main scroll which was handed back and returned to wherever Naruto kept it in the first place.

"As you can see I have more than the required amount of pairs of scrolls, and while I might not have actual humans as teammates I can create as many solid clones that could henge into stand ins that I want," Naruto said, "I was left for dead, one out of mercy, while the others just didn't really care. May I participate in the remainder of the exam?"

"I believe that you are who you say you are and look you are," the Hokage said, "As for participating in the exam...while I could say that I can't show favoritism, I have already allowed your other two teammates to pass without you. Also, since you are already clearly here, then technically your whole team is here and thus you have passed with them."

"Thank you," Naruto said, scowling a bit, before covering it up with a smile, the look had not been lost to the Hokage.

"I know you may think a little bit less of me," the Hokage said, "But what would you have me do? The clients expect the last Uchiha to give them a bit of the show, so does the different councils of the village."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Naruto said, "As long as he doesn't ever get your hat."

"I doubt he even sees it as worth becoming one of his ambitions," the Hokage said, "Well, I think we've tarried long enough. You have a preliminary to attend to, so follow me."

They traveled to large indoor arena of sorts where all the others participants that managed to pass the exam were already waiting for the Hokage to arrive. While the old man had been expected, no one, save for the Iwa team, had been expecting Naruto.

The Konoha rookie genin had thought him dead already, though no one had bothered to inform the younger of the two Hyuuga participating in the exam. Not even the near heartless Sasuke dared to mess with such an unknown.

Instead of walking toward his team, Naruto moved over to where the Iwa genin were standing, he dared not shoot a death glare at any of his batchmates lest one of them actually die. He was who he what he had become after all, and that was a good enough reason for a death glare to actually work.

Gekkou Hayate took over from where the Hokage left off about what the Chuunin exams was all about, and it definitely wasn't just about possible promotion. They were then herded to the raised walkway to wait their turn in the arena for their spot in the finals where they would showcase their skills to the clients and everyone else that would watch their fights.

Naruto remained with the Iwa team, rather than move on over to where team 7 and the rest of the supposed friendlies were.

Kakashi eventually got fed up with the stubborness of his blonde genin and walked over prepared to drag a sulking, to him, blonde back to where team 7 was waiting for their turn.

"Naruto.." was the only thing Kakashi managed to say before he was subjected to a glare of annoyance.

"I don't want to have to stay with trash," Naruto stated, which jolted something within Kakashi, reminding him about the words he had said to his team on their very first day as a team. It was then that he looked back on what was said to him and what had happened concerning Naruto, then even further when it came to the true team dynamics, he hadn't really been much of a sensei to the blonde, a blonde that hadn't really bothered to complain until now.

The blonde hadn't complained in the past, but had decided to do so after he had been abandoned, and treated like trash.

"I...I'm sorry Naruto," Kakashi said, he didn't really know what to say to the blonde at this point in time, "I...I'll leave you with your..." he chanced a glance at the Iwa-genin, "...friends...now."

"Much appreciated," Naruto said, then continued speaking this time his words in a whisper so that only Kakashi would be able to hear, not that the Iwa-genin would be bothered by such information since they already swore fealty to Naruto, "_I know for a fact that my own father didn't show any favoritism when it came to his time with you._"

That one statement really struck a chord in Kakashi, he had a lot of baggage, therefore that one statement really caused something to stir within him. It was shame and even more guilt.

"_Don't worry, I only found out about it during my near ascension to the afterlife,_" Naruto, once again, whispered.

Kakashi was more like a zombie when he returned to the spot where his other two students were standing and watching Shino take out Zaku. His fellow jounin noticed his change from that determined sensei to this excuse of a jounin that returned.

"What happened Kakashi? What did he say?" Gai asked, and Kakashi knew that he must have looked perfectly pathetic and problematic when Gai refrained from shouting and at the same time refraining from calling him eternal rival.

"I'm a failure as a sensei," Kakashi admitted to the one person that he knew he could count on no matter what he ever did, he would never admit to it but he saw Gai as his best friend.

"How can you say that when your team made it to the preliminary rounds?" Gai asked.

"Ask your students what mine and the other rookies did to Naruto," was Kakashi's reply as he moved to stand near enough to his students to be identified as the team leader.

Gai decided to leave his friend alone for the time being and get the full story from his students who had yet to share their stories about their Forest of Death adventure.

The shinobi watched as the matches took place, and the winners won, some losers losing their lives.

Naruto looked on as his Iwa team decimated the team from Ame, the Ame-nin only managed to survive after realizing that the Suna team was no worth messing with.

They had no chance of winning or living after Naruto gave the Iwa team the go ahead. It appeared that the Ame team was slated to die anyway.

So die they did, in the least bloody way possible. It was a contrast to what everyone present knew about Iwa and their fighting tactics, which usually dealt with crushing things and brute force.

The Iwa-genin gave nothing away as they stood at the ready for their matches to start, and once the go signal was given, they bull rushed their opponents and made their deaths as quick and painless as possible. They separated their opponents heads from the rest of their bodies as swiftly and cleanly as possible. The action and professionalism showed by the three surprised even the genin themselves, they realized that it came with being what they had become.

Death came in many forms, they displayed one of them.

"Will Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto please come down for your match," Hayate said aloud.

Kiba jumped over the railing with his ninken, while Naruto simply appeared near the proctor. It was a move that surprised all those present, save for the Hokage and some hidden Anbu that had chased after the blonde during his academy days, back when he displayed his true skills during his pranking sprees.

While his chakra control really hadn't been all that up to par, his other skills were more than they needed to, especially since he had been more than able to evade the Anbu that chased after him. It was only thanks to wanting to get caught or showing pity that he got caught. Had it been anyone else running after him, they would not have been able to as even Shimura Danzo had secretly admitted to having given up on capturing the boy and turning him into a mindless weapon.

When it came to civilians though, he had promised the Hokage that he wouldn't fight back, they knew not what they were doing with their eyes that look upon the world clouded by hate. The civilians also usually caught him unawares and in his panicked state and the fact that he was a kid during those times, he didn't think of using his skills.

"What the hell? How'd you..?" Kiba didn't know how to react either, he just found himself mechanically walking to where he was supposed to stand, "Never mind," he ended up grumbling, Akamaru, his ninken, at his side both preparing themselves for battle.

Naruto seemed to loose that happy go lucky face of his once he appeared on the arena floor. It coupled with his distancing of his self from his team, and how he had just appeared on the ground, lead people to believe that something had indeed changed, and it was something that had happened in the forest.

"You two know the rules," Hayate said, then moved back to give the two combatants some room, "BEGIN!"'

It was as anyone expected at all, Kiba was just about to get into his trash talk routine, one that he had been practicing for just to look cool in front of the girls and ladies present when suddenly he felt the air rush out of him. It was so sudden, so surprising, so out of normal. No one had seen it coming, in fact no one had seen Naruto move.

There were no afterimages as far as they knew, there was no flash of light to betray what had happened exactly. It was like watching the Iwa genin fights all over again, this time no one knew whether or not a fellow Konoha-nin would spare a comrade's life.

It was only when the two sharingan users in the audience decided to reveal their special eyes did they see it. See what was happening down below them, and everyone that saw their eyes grow wide knew that something was afoot.

What they saw was Naruto moving at speeds that did leave afterimages, the long standing Naruto on the field of battle was an afterimage. It was the afterimage of afterimages. Littered all over the field of battle were dozens upon dozens of afterimages, though they dissipated after only a few scant moment. They lasted for such a short time to most everyone else, but when it came to the sharingan they lasted long enough to be seen a bit clearly.

The two of them didn't know that Naruto could move so fast. Kakashi's thoughts lead down the road of the possibility of his near death experience awakening some long forgotten bloodline in the blonde, something that even his sensei and his wife hadn't ever managed to unlock either. He was wrong of course, but Naruto wasn't about to steer him down the right path of thinking.

No, he had another thing in mind.

He proceeded to beat the crap out of Kiba, for no other reason than the fact that he could and no one could stop him. Except maybe the proctor, but with the way the man was watching the fight, it wasn't likely to be anytime soon. It was payback time for a time that the dog-lover might have forgotten or buried deep within his mind. A time where his clansmen had spurned him on to make sure that Naruto got one of those beatings on his birthday of all days.

He knew without a sliver of a doubt that it had been Kiba that had let loose his family's hounds on his trail. He knew it, because that was one of the things that he had seen in the young Inuzuka's mind.

Akamaru was an innocent in the semi-fued and thus was taken out of commision as a mercy, knocked out and not dead though. It was set aside by, to the audience, an invisible force.

At first it was having the wind knocked out of him, then the cuts began appearing. Kakashi and Sasuke knew something had changed. Really changed. The others only knew a fraction of it. Kakashi feared that Naruto might have snapped, while Sasuke wanted whatever power Naruto had gained.

The match was finally called when Kiba simply dropped onto the ground looking as if he had been bitten by all the dogs in the Inuzuka kennel, which was the fate that Naruto himself had suffered that one birthday because of his opponent. The cuts had been caused by regular kunai enhanced with a little bit of _something_.


	143. Z7

His name was Tougeika Kousen, it was the name given to him by one of his many _grand_-_uncles _and not the one his parents had given to him but it was close enough that it was still his own name. He was the great-grandson of a higher being, a higher power, one that usurped a the former lord of the lofty heights that he now ruled over.

He had grown bored of his life in that lofty heaven, and thus had decided to go off on his own, to his own parents' relief that he had finally decided to leave the nest, so to speak.

He left those lofty heights, and rode the train whose tracks could only be found in the tiny cracks and spaces between existences, the big kind of existences that comprised of worlds, universes, dimensions, realms, and realities.

It was a long journey, but he had been able to afford the ticket. He paid in power, something he had inherited a lot of from his great-great-grandfather. _Power_, plain and simple as it was was what powered the train. It wasn't normal energy that gave life to the train that could crossover, into, between, and everywhere else _In-Between_, it was a mixture of everything that could be considered as power, including force, and all those other sciencey stuff.

He sought out a world that was still rife with adventure and mystery, as well as had some fighting in it too. He liked conflict, it was probably influenced by one of his great-great-grandfather's _cousins_. Once he found a world worthy of his attention, he got off on that existence's train station, and walked into the fabric of time of that world.

Stepping out of the train station, he arrived in his new home. To any observer it would have looked as if a hundred torii gates sprung up out of nowhere and a man, fully grown, wearing the garb of the shinigami, minus the mask, walked through them and suddenly stopped after stepping past the last one.


End file.
